How to Record UTM Parameters for Users
What are UTM Parameters?
UTM Parameters are simply data tags (pairs of variables and values) appended to a destination URL (where the user is brought to after clicking the link) which often describes something about the referring source (where the user found the link or came from).
Data from these parameters are then parsed by analytics tools through tracking scripts to associate data with the respective user.
To better understand them, here's an example scenario:
- You have a landing page on your website located at
https://yourdomain.com/join-us. You have embedded your Prefinery Signup Form on this page. - Now, you setup and run ads on Facebook with a call-to-action that links to
https://yourdomain.com/join-us?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=Facebook. - Let's say Sarah is browsing Facebook and sees your ad.
- She clicks on the call-to-action and gets directed to your landing page.
- She likes what she sees and submits the Prefinery-powered Signup Form.
- In your Prefinery project user database, Sarah gets added as a new user with the corresponding UTM data:
- UTM Medium = cpc
- UTM Source = Facebook
Here are the five different UTM parameters which can be used in any order:
| Parameter | Purpose | Example |
| utm_source | Identifies which site sent the traffic. | utm_source= facebook |
| utm_medium | Identifies what type of link was used, such as cost-per-click (cpc) ad or email. | utm_medium= cpc |
| utm_campaign | Identifies a specific product promotion or strategic campaign. | utm_campaign= prelaunch |
| utm_term | Identifies search terms used by the user that brought them to the site. | utm_term= marketing+software |
| utm_content | Identifies what specifically was clicked to bring the user to the site, such as a banner ad or a text link. It is often used for A/B testing and content-targeted ads. | utm_content= footerlink or utm_content=sidebanner |
How to Record UTM Parameters in Prefinery
When using the embedded signup form, Prefinery automatically tracks UTM parameters for you.
Given the example scenario provided earlier, if a user named Sarah were to run into your Facebook ad, clicked on its call-to-action which brings her to your landing page through the URL https://yourdomain.com/join-us?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=Facebook then fills out and submits the signup form on that page - in this user's Prefinery profile you'll find that the UTM parameters are recorded.
Filtering Users by UTM Parameters
You can filter users by UTM values. For example, to find all users which came from a Facebook ad (CPC) you'd setup your filters as follows:
Note: If you're using our API, you can pass in the UTM parameters manually.