If you’re currently using Google Analytics to track website performance and individual digital program performance – then you’re familiar with UTM parameters. If not, UTM parameters are simply tags that you can add to the URLs or links through your email. When a user clicks on a link that’s been appended with UTM parameters, these tags help to provide detailed reporting and analytics within the Google Analytics platform regarding the effectiveness of your campaigns and how they’ve driven traffic to your site.

 

However, as you can imagine, marketing emails typically have many links – from the navigational header and footer rows to the multiple calls to action and images or content areas in between. But OptiMail’s Visual Editor and HTML Editor options provide an easy and automated way to attach these unique tags to each of the links in your individual templates without having to do so on a link-by-link basis.

 

Once your template has been created and all links have been applied to text, content, and images, click the blue drop-down arrow in the upper right corner of your Manage Template’s canvas. This is true for both the HTML Editor and the Visual Editor.  This will open the area that reveals the text entry sections for your template’s subject line, from email address, from name, and the reply-to address. You’ll also see the blue clickable area for UTM Parameters.  Again, this will appear in the same location for both the Visual and HTML Editors.

 

When clicked on, you’ll reveal the options for entering multiple tags or UTM parameters for source, medium, campaign, term, and content. You do not need to append all terms. You only need to fill in as many tags as your business needs require.

 

Some clients use “Email” as the UTM source and then work down in hierarchy because Google Analytics will provide reporting data starting from the program level down to the campaign, or email template level. It’s a good rule of thumb to start with a broad naming convention and work down to a more narrow one when grouping parameters.

 

In addition to manually adding your tags, you can also utilize dynamic tags by clicking on the drop-down arrows to the right of each text entry area. These will drop down the personalization tags also available to you when creating your templates. Consider using “Lifecycle” or another attribute that helps to determine your user’s purchaser category, for more details when reviewing campaign performance.

Once completed, click Apply and all links will be appended.  You can change your parameters as many times as you want per template and each time will simply override your last set of UTM parameters. Please note that the UTM Parameter feature currently applies to each individual template and is not a global setting.

 

In the HTML Editor, you’ll be able to switch to the source view and see links appended with your updated UTM parameters and moreover, see how they’ve been updated every time you modify or change them. However, in the Visual Editor, you’ll only be able to see your appended links when you test send your email or when you send it to your audience.