On the Typof blog, we cover a wide range of topics related to increasing sales. There are numerous ways to market your store and items, including Facebook ads, Google Ad words, email marketing, guest blogging, and product reviews.
However, marketing is only half of the picture. The second half, and possibly the most crucial, is keeping track of your progress. You'll always be guessing the true success of your campaigns if you don't use effective tracking and analysis.
In this post, we'll look at how to track your campaigns in Google Analytics so you can see what's working and what isn't, as well as how to make the most of your time and marketing money.
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Campaign Tracking in Google Analytics
Assume you've lined up many bloggers to write paid product reviews for your upcoming product launch. How could you track each campaign to identify which was the most effective and which was the least effective?
This is critical information that will help you determine whether to pay for additional sponsored posts in the future. Link tracking, commonly known as UTM parameters, comes into play here.
You must utilize campaign tags (also known as UTM tags) to track your custom marketing campaigns in Google Analytics. These tags allow you to view your marketing reports individually in Google Analytics.
When campaign tracking is combined with conversion indicators such as target completions and transactions, you can pinpoint what's working (and not working). This means you can fine-tune your future marketing initiatives, guide your strategy, and reallocate your funding to the programs that are producing the best results.
UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module and is the format used by Google to track URLs. Urchin derives its name from Google's early days (2004), when it acquired the start up Urchin, which was eventually renamed Google Analytics.
UTM parameters are just short pieces of information that can be appended to the end of any URL to provide Google with more information about that link.
You've almost certainly seen them before. A link with a simple UTM Parameter could look like this: http://www.website.com/?utm_source=emailcampaign
What are campaign tags?
Campaign tags are extra parameters that can be added to the end of inbound campaign URLs. They enable you to collect information on where the link was seen and how it was shared. This enables you to comprehend and compare the performance of various marketing strategies.
You'll note that the tagged URL has extra parameters at the end. The Google Analytics tracking code automatically records and displays the value of each of these parameters in your reports. The parameters are as follows:
- Utm source, which is used to specify the campaign's origin. The easiest method to consider source is to ask yourself, 'Where is the message seen?' Because the link in the above example was shared on Twitter, the source is twitter.com.
- utm medium lets you specify 'how the message was communicated' (in our example, paid).I'll explain why I used 'paid' later, but for now, it allows me to realize that the link was shared on a social network.
- The term utm campaign refers to the whole marketing campaign. In our case, this is Twitter advertisements, which immediately reveals that this was a sponsored marketing campaign.
- You can use utm id to add your own identifier to a marketing campaign. Setting this parameter is essential if you intend to submit third-party cost data to Google Analytics (for example, from Facebook Ads).
- The campaign tags utm term and utm content are optional. They are intended for tracking on-Google Ads CPC (Cost Per Click) keywords and headlines. For instance, suppose you're running advertising on Bing. Although you can use these for various types of campaigns, I would avoid them unless you know what you're doing because they can have unforeseen consequences.
All of these correspond to dimensions available in your Google Analytics reports. The settings you set Fortum campaign, utm source, and utm medium, for example, will be found in the Acquisition report.
When you apply the Default Channel Grouping dimensions to your reports, they will also be mapped to Google's automatic marketing channel classifications. You may also design your own exploration reports to present the values gathered by Google Analytics from your marked URLs.
How do I include campaign tags in URLs?
There are several methods for adding campaign tags to your links. The Google Analytics Campaign URL Builder is the most commonly used option. This tool lets you rapidly see the various tags that can be used and create a tagged URL that you can then copy and paste into your campaign.
When you're familiar with the various campaign tags available, you can add them directly to the end of the URLs in your campaigns. You might also use another application, such as a spreadsheet, to add campaign tags and keep track of all the tags you've already used. There is no right or wrong method to add tags, so do what works best for you.
Best Practices for Creating Trackable URLs
There is no wrong way to build your monitored URLs because the reports for the links are your own; nonetheless, there are a few recommendations that will help:
- Consider a standard naming convention from the start. Because each URL will have several arguments, things might grow complicated and difficult to read later unless you follow a consistent naming strategy from the start.
- Remember that everyone who clicks on the link will be able to read the parameter names, so don't enter anything you don't want your customers to see.
- All parameters must be stated in lowercase letters.
- Because the URLs are typically long, you may always utilize a link shortened service like bit.
- Only ad parameters that are absolutely necessary.
Viewing Your Campaign Statistics
Google Analytics will automatically track the URLs you establish as they are clicked on throughout the web. Google (and other analytics tools) will collect all of the parameters from each link and show them to you in an easy-to-understand report.
Remember that it can take up to 24 hours for Google to receive and record statistics, so if you don't see clicks right away, be patient.
To see how your campaigns are performing, sign in to your Google Analytics account and select Acquisition reports from the left-hand menu. Then select Campaigns:
This report contains a list of all the campaigns you've tracked. If you have ecommerce tracking enabled in Google Analytics, you can click on each campaign to see more information on visitors as well as sales generated by that campaign.
You may analyse the data that are most relevant to you, such as sales, goals, bounce rate, page views, and so on, just like you do with any other traffic source, to identify which parts are the most beneficial for your campaigns.
When Should UTM Parameters be Used?
UTM parameters are a simple approach to track the success of a wide range of internet marketing campaigns. Some marketing actions to monitor include:
- Guest Blog Posts - You've probably heard that content is king and that you should guest blog on other websites in your area. How effective, though, are your guest blogposts? Use a trackable URL in your next guest blog post to see how much traffic and sales your pieces are generating.
- Social -You've spent numerous hours creating a Facebook fan page and a Twitter account, but how many people are clicking on the link in your profile to visit your store? Are those people also purchasing from you? A trackable link in your social profiles can assist you in determining the genuine return on investment of your efforts.
- Email -Creating out standing campaigns and composing the perfect email to deliver to your consumers takes time. Although advanced email marketing solutions can assist you in tracking sales from your emails, including a trackable URL in your emails is a quick and easy approach to determine which emails are working and which aren't.
- Getting featured by bloggers, Instagrammers, media magazines, and YouTubers with a significant following is one of the best methods to gain a lot of traffic and sales. Give them a trackable URL so you can see who is driving the most qualified traffic to your store.
- Banner advertisements - Using a trackable URL for banner advertisements not only helps you determine the performance of your campaign, but it also allows you to quickly track the success of each banner variation to discover which one works the best.
Aside from the instances above, you can use link tracking anyplace you may share a link and want to know who is clicking on it.
Conclusion
If you're not sure whereto begin, start with something simple, such as a Facebook post. You'll want to track everything as you learn more about tracking URLs. Remember, the more you track, the more information you'll have to understand what's working, allowing you to devote more time and attention to boosting those efforts while reducing time and energy spent on unproductive ads.
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