UTM tags
UTM tags are standard parameters added to a link so that analytics can show which source, channel and campaign a visitor came from.
In plain words
A link in an ad, a broadcast or a post may look the same but bring people from different places. UTM tags are short labels inside the link that tell analytics: this person came from that ad, as part of that campaign, through that particular creative.
How it looks in practice
The main parameters:
- utm_source: the source, such as a platform, a partner or a newsletter;
- utm_medium: the type of traffic, such as paid ads, email or messenger;
- utm_campaign: the campaign name;
- utm_content: a specific ad or creative variant;
- utm_term: a keyword or an audience.
An example link: site.example/offer?utm_source=partner1&utm_medium=cpa&utm_campaign=autumn.
Why it matters to an owner
Tags are the simplest way to understand where clients come from. Without them, all analytics boils down to “somewhere on the internet”. With them you can compare channels by applications and, if the source reaches the sales records, by payments too.
For a team lead it helps if the sales rep can see the lead’s tag: a person from an ad with one promise and a person from a broadcast with another need different conversation openers.
Common mistakes
- No shared naming rules: one person writes “Partner1”, another “partner_1”, and the statistics fall apart.
- Tags are lost on the way to a messenger: the person clicked the link but then wrote in a chat, and the source is no longer known.
- Tags are added to ads but forgotten on broadcasts and links in chats, so their results get credited to “direct visits”.
More in Signals
- Which broadcast brought in money: measure results, not messages sentTo tell which broadcast brought money, look at people rather than messages sent: who replied, who bought, how much they paid. The company needs an honest answer: what to credit to the broadcast and what would have happened anyway, how one run differed from another, and what it cost once complaints and lost numbers are counted.
- How to grow a company: where to start when the money is made in chatsThe fastest way to grow a company is not new clients but the ones who already wrote: reply on time, take promises through to payment, bring back those who went quiet or bought once. That requires the client base and numbers to belong to the company rather than to individual reps, bonuses tied to money actually paid, and a leader who sees every week where the money leaks. A new ad budget only makes sense after that.