UTM parameters
In short
UTM parameters are small tags you add to the end of a link, so your analytics tool sees exactly where a visit came from.
A link with UTM parameters can look like this: yourbusiness.no/offer?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spring-sale. Google recommends always including all three: utm_source says who sent the traffic, utm_medium says what kind of channel it was, and utm_campaign says which campaign it belonged to.
Without them, traffic goes missing
Without UTM, your analytics tool often does not know where a visit came from. Clicks from email programs, PDFs and QR codes can show up as direct traffic, and then you cannot see what worked.
With UTM you can see, for example, that the Facebook post brought 40 visits and 2 enquiries, while the newsletter brought 25 visits and 4 enquiries. Those are two rather different answers to where you should spend your time. The numbers land in Google Analytics or whichever analytics tool you use.
How to make one
Use Google's free Campaign URL Builder, or write the parameters yourself. Be consistent with spelling. If you write "newsletter" one time and "Newsletter" the next, you get two sources in the report. Keep a simple spreadsheet of the values you use, and stick to it.
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