GA4 UTM Parameters

The introduction of GA4 has led to enhanced utilization of UTM tags in conjunction with GA4’s event tracking framework. UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module, and UTM codes are snippets of text that can be added to the end of a URL to help track and measure marketing campaigns that lead traffic to a landing page. It’s query parameters you see at the end of a website’s URL like this:

Here are some of the most used UTM parameters are and a simple way to remember them taking example of a cat named Patrick

• utm_medium – The channel that sent the traffic such as organic, paid, or email. In the cat analogy, this will be “cats” for cat family
• utm_source – The specific source/ platform that sent the traffic, like Google, Bing etc. In the cat analogy, this will be “house-cats” as Patrick is a house cat
• utm_campaign – The specific campaign that refered the traffic. In our example this will be “patrick”, the name of the cat

Notice that like common best practices for file naming, we are using lower case and separating words by hyphen. That’s because UTMs are case sensitive and just like any URL parameters, its not advised to have space in-between words.

GA4 UTM Parameters– Whats new?

GA4 offers more UTM parameters than UA, which gives you more control over the data you collect, and allows you to track more specific information about your campaigns. In addition to the standard UTM parameters, you can now also collect 4 additional parameters:

• utm_source_platform: The platform responsible for directing the traffic.
• utm_creative_format: The format of the ad, such as video or display.
• utm_marketing_tactic: The targeting settings for the ad such as prospecting, remarketing etc.
• utm_id: This is the ID of the specific campaign and is required for GA4 data importing.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4), there’s a lot of emphasis on an event-based model for tracking user interactions compared to the traditional pageview-centric approach in Universal Analytics (UA). Here’s an some details on how UTMs in GA4 and events work together

• Event-Driven Model: In GA4, events are the base of tracking user interactions. Rather than solely focusing on pageviews, GA4 allows us to track a wide range of user actions as events. These events can include button clicks, video views, form submissions, downloads, ad clicks, and more.
• UTMs as Contextual Data: UTMs can complement event tracking by providing additional context about the source and campaign that led to a particular user interaction. For example, if a user clicks on a button to sign up for a newsletter after arriving on your website through a specific marketing campaign, UTMs can help attribute that action to the respective campaign, providing valuable insights into the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
• Granular Understanding of User Behavior: By combining UTMs with event tracking, GA4 offers a more granular understanding of user behavior beyond just pageviews. You can analyze how users interact with your website or app at a micro-level, identifying which specific actions lead to conversions or other desired outcomes.

Leveraging UTM parameters in GA4 with Events data

Lets understand this better with an example. Let’s say you’re running a digital marketing campaign to promote a new e-book on your website. You’ve created a landing page where users can download the e-book after filling out a form. Here’s how UTMs and events can provide insights into user interactions:

Setting Up UTMs: You create unique UTMs for your marketing campaign to track traffic sources. For example:

• Campaign Source: utm_source=facebook
• Campaign Medium: utm_medium=cpc
• Campaign Name: utm_campaign=ebook_launch
• Campaign Content: utm_content=ad_variant_A
• Campaign Term: utm_term=ebook_download

Tracking Events: On your landing page, you set up event tracking to monitor user interactions. You define events for:

• Button Click: when users click the “Download Now” button to access the e-book.
• Form Submission: when users fill out the form to download the e-book.
• Pageview: default event to track pageviews.

Analyzing User Behavior: With GA4, you can analyze user behavior based on events and UTMs:

• Button Click Event: You can see how many users clicked the “Download Now” button and which marketing campaigns drove those clicks. For example, you might find that 100 clicks came from the Facebook ad campaign (utm_source=facebook).
• Form Submission Event: You can track how many users successfully submitted the form to download the e-book and attribute these conversions to specific campaign sources, mediums, and names.
• Pageview Event: While less emphasized in GA4, pageviews still provide valuable insights into overall website traffic, but now supplemented with event data for more context.

Optimizing Marketing Campaigns: By analyzing the data collected through UTMs and events, you can optimize your marketing campaigns:

• Identify which campaigns and channels are driving the most conversions (e-book downloads).
• Determine which ad variants or messaging resonate best with your audience.
• Adjust your marketing strategy based on insights to improve ROI and conversion rates.

By combining UTMs with event tracking in GA4, you gain a deeper understanding of user behavior and the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. This allows you to make data-driven decisions to optimize campaigns and drive better results.