Campaign Tracking Fundamentals

CAMPAIGN TRACKING
FUNDAMENTALS
MARCH 8TH & 9TH, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Kayden Kelly
Founder, Managing Director
www.blastam.com

OBJECTIVES
1) Tagging Overview
2) Tag Speciﬁcations
3) Troubleshooting
+Bonus Analysis Tips

2

OBJECTIVES
1) Tagging Overview
3) Troubleshooting

3

BENEFITS
of Campaign Tracking

4

Without tagging, all visitors appear to come through as
“organic,” “referral,” or “direct”
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Direct, Referral, Email, CPC, &
other campaigns mix together 6

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Campaign Tracking Fundamentals

$ Direct
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$ Inﬂated Direct
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$ Direct
$ Email
9

Optimal accountability is achieved when
see each marketing campaign separately 10

How does
Campaign Tracking work?

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Campaign measurement is performed by
adding tags to your destination URLs
http://www.medicare.gov?utm_medium=cpc
&utm_source=bing&utm_campaign=brand-
branded_keywords&utm_content=are_you_eligible_for_
medicare&utm_term=medicare_eligibility

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http://www.medicare.gov
?utm_medium=cpc
&utm_source=bing
&utm_campaign=brand-branded_keywords
&utm_content=are_you_eligible_for_medicare
&utm_term=medicare_eligibility

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See all
post-click
performance in
one place
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ONLY
Adwords CPC “pre-click”
data available in GA

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All campaigns need to be tagged
in order to be tracked in Google Analytics

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Campaign Tagging
STANDARDS

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Be consistent
(standardized tag names will make future
analysis easier and more effective)

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Always use lowercase
(Note: we always added a
custom proﬁle ﬁlter in Google
Analytics to enforce lowercase)

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Spaces can be tricky due to necessary
URL encoding

utm_campaign=open%20enrollment

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UNDERSCORES
Use underscores in place of spaces

utm_campaign=open_enrollment

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Use dashes
to separate values in a tag

utm_campaign=open_enrollment-blog_post

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Don’t use punctuation
like commas, question marks, periods,
colons, semicolons, etc in campaign
tags (unless it is for a site URL)

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Keywords = KEYWORDS
Don’t use anything but
keywords in the keyword ﬁeld

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Don’t use agency names as
campaign names
Use true campaign names for effective multi-directional
analysis.

If necessary, add agency name after campaign name
(e.g. utm_campaign=campaign_name-agency_name).

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If you link to a micro-site or external site

! that is under your control make sure
cross domain tracking is in place.

Be careful about 301, 302, ad serving and
meta refresh redirects that will lose
campaign tracking.

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Campaign Tagging
TOOLS

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Google URL Builder: http://blast.am/urlbuilder

Campaign tagging spreadsheet to simplify tagging
especially for paid search

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Campaign Tagging
Requirements

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Required Tags
Source is where the visitor was sent from.
Examples: google, nytimes.com, facebook.com
Medium is the channel through which the visitor arrived at
your site.
Examples: cpc, display, social, organic
Campaign should either indicate the overarching name for
the marketing effort or just the speciﬁc ad campaign in
which the ad lives.

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Optional Tags
Keyword is the search term that you bid on (search
engines only)
Ad Content should indicate the ad name, copy, or other
helpful information to identify the type of ad that was
clicked.

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Tagging Overview
Any Questions?

?
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OBJECTIVES
1) Tagging Overview
3) Troubleshooting

33

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Email Campaign Tag Specs

Example Email Campaign Tagged Link
http://www.domain.com/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter-
creativeprolist&utm_campaign=salesandpromo-make_it_surprising-hurry&utm_content=09am-08_20_11-
creativepro-body

Example Email Reminder Tagged Link
http://www.domain.com/my/book/widgets?
utm_medium=email&utm_source=reminder-2&utm_campaign=your_book_is_ready_to_order&utm_content=b
ody
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1

1
Header Navigation Links
Specify header navigation in “Ad Content” tag.
http://www.domain.com?
utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter-
creativeprolist&utm_campaign=salesandpromo-
make_it_surprising-
hurry&utm_content=09am-08_20_11-header

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2
Content Link
Specify content area in “Ad Content” tag.
http://www.domain.com?utm_medium=email
&utm_source=newsletter-
2 creativeprolist&utm_campaign=salesandpro
mo-make_it_surprising-
hurry&utm_content=09am-08_20_11-body

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3

3
Standard Footer Links
Specify footer in “Ad Content” tag.
http://www.domain.com?
utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter-
creativeprolist&utm_campaign=salesandpromo-
make_it_surprising-
hurry&utm_content=09am-08_20_11-creativepro-
footer

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Paid Search Campaign Tag Specs

Example Paid Search Campaign Tagged Link
http://www.domain.com/?
utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=bing&utm_campaign=us_wedding_album&utm_term=wedding_album
&utm_content=make_your_own_photo_book

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Site Placements Campaign Tag Specs

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Site Examples
http://www.domain.com/?utm_medium=display&utm_source=youtube.com-
photography&utm_campaign=us_photo_books&utm_content=make_it_surprising-
save_25_percent-300x250

Facebook Site Example
utm_medium=display&utm_source=facebook-55_70_demo&utm_campaign=us_photo_
books&utm_content=make_it_surprising-save_25_percent-300x250

Ad Network Example
utm_medium=display&utm_source=doubleclick&utm_campaign=us_photo_books&utm_
content=make_it_surprising-save_25_percent-300x250

Category Content Targeting Example
http://www.domain.com/?utm_medium=display&utm_source=category-
photography&utm_campaign=us_photo_books&utm_content=make_it_surprising-
save_25_percent-300x250
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Social Campaign Tag Specs

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Social Campaign Tag Specs
Example Social Campaign Tagged Links

Facebook Example
utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=awareness-photo_book

Twitter Example
utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=awareness-photo_book

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Affiliate Campaign Tag Specs

Example Afﬁliates Campaign Tagged Link
utm_medium=afﬁliate&utm_source=shareasale.com&utm_campaign=us_wedding_album&
utm_content=232342

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Feed Campaign Tag Specs

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Feed Campaign Tag Specs

Example Feed Campaign Tagged Link
utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner&utm_campaign=feeds.feedburner.
com/domainblog-domainerati&utm_content=google_reader

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Product Feed/Search Campaign Tag Specs

Example Product Feed/Search Campaign Tagged Link
utm_medium=feed&utm_source=google_product_search&
utm_campaign=salesandpromo-summer_discounts

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Application Campaign Tag Specs

Example Applications Campaign Tagged Link
utm_medium=app&utm_source=booksmart&utm_campaign=booksmart-
in_app_link&utm_content=pc-v3.2.10.6

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Mobile (App) Campaign Tag Specs

Example Applications Campaign Tagged Link
utm_medium=app&utm_source=domainmobile&utm_campaign=domainmobile-
in_app_link&utm_content=c102-plus

utm_medium=app&utm_source=domainmobile&utm_campaign=domainmobile-
mobile_share&utm_content=c102-plus

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Press Release Campaign Tag Specs

Example PR Campaign Tagged Link
http://www.domain.com/?utm_medium=pr&utm_source=prweb.com&utm_campaign=awareness-
event&utm_content=palm_springs_photo_festival

Note:
Page/Folder redirects, Vanity Campaign URL or URL shortener
recommended to avoid complex URLs/links in PR so that you can
cleanly include campaign tracking tags in PR.

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Offline Campaign Tag Specs

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Offline Campaign Tag Specs
Example Ofﬂine Campaign Tagged Link
utm_medium=ofﬂine&utm_source=outdoor&utm_campaign=us_wedding_album
&utm_content=make_photo_book-005021-14x48

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QR Campaign Tag Specs

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QR Campaign Tag Specs
Example QR Campaign Tagged Link
utm_medium=qr&utm_source=vehicle&utm_campaign=awareness-
photo_book&utm_content=vehicle123123

Helpful Info:
Google URL shortener http://goo.gl can be used to
create QR codes.

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TV Campaign Tag Specs

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TV Campaign Tag Specs
Example TV Campaign Tagged Link
http://www.domain.com/?utm_medium=tv&utm_source=nbc-bravo-
dish&utm_campaign=awareness-photo_book&utm_content=weekday-prime_time-
print_your_story-30_seconds

Note:
recommended to avoid complex URLs/links in TV commercials/etc so that
you can cleanly include campaign tracking tags in TV medium.

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Radio Campaign Tag Specs

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Radio Campaign Tag Specs
Example Radio Campaign Tagged Link
http://www.domain.com/?utm_medium=radio&utm_source=clearchannel-
k101&utm_campaign=awareness-photo_book&utm_content=weekend-
morning_drive-make_facebook_book

Note:
recommended to avoid complex URLs/links in Radio commercials/etc so
that you can cleanly include campaign tracking tags in Radio medium.

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Campaign MEDIUMS REFERENCE
•cpc •pr
•display / cpm / content-text •ofﬂine
•social •qr
•afﬁliate •tv
•feed •radio
•badge / widget •email
•app

Do not create mediums other than those listed unless carefully thought through and
shared with other team members.

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It is very important
! that mediums are
kept to a small set
for optimal analysis.

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Tag Speciﬁcations
Any Questions?

?
60

OBJECTIVES
1) Tagging Overview
3) Troubleshooting

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GAUGE | March 2012


Troubleshooting
Live campaigns are not showing up in Campaign
reports
• Does the landing page have working Google Analytics
page tags?
• Is there a re-direct that is stripping the campaign tags
from the URL?
• Has it been at least 24 hours? (possibly a time lag in
reporting)

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Troubleshooting
Campaigns aren’t reporting conversions, but I know
they have some
• Do you have goals set up in Google Analytics?
• Do all conversions appear to be attributed to your own
domain name? If so, there may be a key page missing
Google Analytics page tags.

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Troubleshooting
Parts of my campaign tag (term, ad content, etc) aren’t
appearing
• Are all campaign tags present in the destination URL
within your ad serving tool?

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Troubleshooting

Inconsistent capitalization is making analysis difficult
• Consider ‘custom profile filters’.
• Choose “lowercase”
• and then apply it to:
• ‘campaign medium’,
• ‘campaign term’,
• etc to force them all to lowercase

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Technical Testing via Tracking Pixel
Tool Recommendation:
You can use any of the recommended tools
described here:
http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/tracking/
gaTrackingTroubleshooting.html#debuggingTools.

Easiest to use
GA tracking code debugger for Chrome

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Technical Testing via Tracking Pixel
Looking at utmcc parameter on __utm.gif tracking pixel request...

You can analyze __utmz value within this parameter same way as described
when looking at cookie values.

GA Debugger for Chrome however, renames to friendly parameter names.

Example of GA Debugger for Chrome tool output:

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Technical Testing via Cookies
Tool Recommendation:
Use a browser plugin for Firefox Note:
Each time your
called 'Web Developer Toolbar'. campaign tracking
parameters
change, the
values in the
After installed, it has a toolbar option called 'Cookies' __utmz will
change. This is
where you can 'View Cookie Information' for the current
starting a new
page. You can also delete all of your cookies relative to session in GA.
a domain/page with this tool, which is very handy when
testing.

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Technical Testing via Cookies
After you load your UTM tagged URL, take a look at your browser cookies relative to the domain you are
on and look for the __utmz cookie. After a string of numbers in the front, you'll see a utmcsr, utmccn,
utmcmd, and possibly a few others. The full list is below with a description for each.

utmcsr - Source utmctr - Term
utmccn - Campaign Name utmcct - Content
utmcmd - Medium

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Troubleshooting
Any Questions?

?
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Quick Tips to Analyze Email Campaigns
Where to ﬁnd Campaign Data
In the ‘new interface’ of Google Analytics, go to
the ‘Standard Reporting’ tab and drill-in to the
Campaigns Report by following this path:

Trafﬁc Sources > Sources > Campaigns

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1 Email Data

Analyze by Campaign Medium This view of email
campaign data would
not be available without
campaign tracking

1

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Analyze by Campaign Source

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Analyze by Campaign & Ad Content

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Campaign Tracking Fundamentals

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