In any marketing action, it is essential to measure the impact of campaigns.
We use different platforms and channels, from ads such as Google Ads, social networks, collaborations or email marketing; everything is measurable and will be fundamental to know exactly which strategy is generating the best results. That's where UTMs come in.
In this post, we will explain what UTMs are, why they are essential and how to use them to improve marketing campaigns and increase direct sales.
What are UTMs and why are they so important?
UTMs (Urchin Tracking Module) are small pieces of text that are added to the end of a URL to track the traffic of a specific campaign. We could define them as tags that allow you to identify where the traffic comes from, the click-through and how users behave once they reach your site. If you use UTMs properly, you can measure the effectiveness of each of your marketing campaigns and make decisions based on real data.
How to create a UTM for marketing campaigns? A practical example
For example, for a Black Friday campaign with a discount code of "20% for your next booking at our hotel". In this case, different UTMs will be created and added to the links generated for this campaign to find out which platform (Email marketing, Facebook, Instagram,...) generates the most visits and conversions.
A UTM has several components, they are different parameters that serve to analyse each aspect of the campaign. These are the main ones:
utm_source: Indicates the source of traffic. For example, if you are running an email marketing campaign, "newsletter" would be your source.
Example: utm_source=newsletter
utm_medium: Identifies the marketing medium, i.e. the type of channel. It could be "social", "email", "cpc", etc.
Example: utm_medium=email
utm_campaign: Name of the campaign. Here you can specify the name of the specific campaign you are running, e.g. "blackfriday2024".
Example: utm_campaign=blackfriday2024
utm_term (optional): Helps track keywords, ideal if you are running paid ad campaigns.
Example: utm_term=friday
utm_content (optional): Differentiates content within a campaign. Very useful if different banners, CTAs, or ads are generated within the same campaign.
Example: utm_content=offerA
Once we have the parameters defined and the URL of the landing page to which the campaign traffic will lead, we will use a platform to generate UTMs such as Google Campaign URL Builder.
The landing URL would be:
https://www.hotelejemplo.com/b...
To create the trackable link (UTM) we will fill in the fields until the URL is generated:
https://www.hotelejemplo.com/b...;utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=blackfriday2024
&utm_id=0001BF&utm_term=friday&utm_content=ofertaA
See example:
Once the campaign has been carried out, it will be possible to analyse the traffic coming from this link and to know that:
The source is newsletter.
The medium is email.
The campaign is blackfriday2024.
What are the advantages of using UTM?
If we use UTM links in all our marketing actions, we get a detailed performance of all of them. In this way, it is possible to identify precisely which campaigns are generating traffic and, more importantly, which campaigns are achieving the highest number of conversions.
This allows you to improve your strategy, because by having specific data on the performance of each channel, you can optimise your campaigns, invest more in the channels that work best and abandon those that are not generating results.
It is also a way to know and understand user/customer behaviour. Thanks to our marketing report or Google Analytics or similar platforms, you can use the UTM data to know the conversion into bookings or to know what the user is doing after arriving at the landing: how long he/she spends on the page, if he/she books or if he/she is interested in other packages...
Tracking in our PMS
Specifically, GuestPro PMS offers a marketing report that allows you to track all conversions/bookings that have entered the system through a marketing campaign:
Thanks to UTMs we can monitor the conversion associated with an action that includes a parameterised link.
Tips for a good practice of using UTMs
- Establish a naming convention, keywords, references: it is important to maintain consistency in how you name the UTM parameters. For example, if using "email" as a medium for email campaigns, always use the same term and do not alternate between "email" and "mail".
- Use URL Shorteners: some URLs with UTMs can be long and unattractive to share. Use shorteners such as Bitly or Google's own shortener to make links look more professional.
- Create tracking documents: keeping a record of all campaigns and their UTMs is key to avoid duplication or errors. This helps to analyse the data more easily.
In short, UTMs are a powerful tool for any business that wants to make data-driven decisions. Using them properly allows you to accurately track which campaigns and channels are the most effective, thus improving marketing strategies and maximising ROI.
Today's consumers make decisions across multiple digital touchpoints, so having clear and detailed information about each campaign can be the difference between a successful marketing strategy and a waste of resources.
