5 Ways Startups Can Use the Umami UTM Report

The UTM report tracks and analyzes the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns across different channels and any other tactic that utilizes UTM parameters in the URLs. By utilizing UTM parameters in your URLs, you can find out which sources, mediums, and campaigns are driving the most traffic and conversions.

For startups who might be in experimentation mode, using UTMs on your links can be a good way to gain an early understanding of your marketing tactics. We are going to review five scenarios where you can use the UTM report to get the ideas flowing. Even though we tend to focus on marketing use cases in this blog post, the UTM report really has limitless applications since you can use UTMs on any link for any purpose.

Note: this article assumes knowledge of UTM parameters.

UTM Report Primer

One critical thing to know about the UTM report is that it ingests UTM parameters automatically. All you have to do is add the UTMs to your URLs, and Umami will automatically detect them and add them to this report. Let's briefly cover how to use the UTM report, where to find it, etc:

1. In your Umami dashboard, navigate to the Reports section and create a new UTM report (the UTM report comes standard with all versions of Umami).
2. Select your desired date range for analysis.
3. Run the report to see a breakdown of your UTM parameters, including source, medium, campaign, term, and content.
4. Analyze the results to understand which campaigns and channels are performing best.

You should strive to consistently use UTM parameters in your marketing URLs. While you can still use the UTM report with partial tagging, comprehensive UTM implementation allows for more detailed and accurate tracking of your marketing efforts.

Additionally, you should use standardized UTM parameters. The earlier you can implement standardization here, the better. One way to do this is to create a Google Sheet UTM URL builder with dropdowns so as more team members join your startup, they can create URLs with UTMs with pre-defined fields for each UTM parameter.

For detailed instructions on setting up and using the UTM report, please refer to our documentation.

Let’s jump into our five examples.

Multi-Channel Campaign Evaluation

For startups running marketing campaigns across multiple channels, the UTM report is great for comparing performance and allocating resources effectively.

Set up unique UTM parameters for each channel you're using, such as social media, email marketing, paid advertising, and content marketing. By analyzing the UTM report, you can quickly identify which channels are driving the most traffic and engagement.

For example, if you notice that your LinkedIn campaigns consistently outperform your Facebook ads in terms of traffic and conversions, you might decide to allocate more of your advertising budget to LinkedIn. The UTM report makes it easy to visualize these trends and make data-driven decisions about your marketing mix.

Content Marketing Optimization

For startups leaning into content marketing, the UTM report can provide insights into which types of content resonate with your audience and drive the most engagement.

Create unique UTM parameters for different content types (e.g., blog posts, whitepapers, videos) and distribution channels (e.g., social media, email newsletters, partner websites). By analyzing the UTM report, you can determine which content formats and distribution methods are most effective at driving traffic and conversions.

For instance, if you see that your how-to guides shared on Twitter are consistently driving more traffic than your industry reports shared on LinkedIn, you might focus more on creating practical, actionable content and prioritize Twitter as a distribution channel.

Paid Advertising ROI Analysis

For startups testing paid advertising, the UTM report can help with measuring ROI and optimizing ad spending across different platforms and campaigns.

Create specific UTM parameters for each ad platform (e.g., Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads) and individual campaigns within those platforms. By correlating the data from the UTM report with your advertising costs and conversion data, you can calculate the ROI for each platform and campaign.

If you notice that your Google Ads campaigns are driving more high-quality traffic at a lower cost per acquisition compared to your Facebook Ads, you might decide to shift more of your budget toward Google Ads or optimize your Facebook targeting and messaging.

Email Marketing Segmentation Analysis

For startups using email marketing, the UTM report can help you understand which segments of your email list are most engaged and which types of email content drive the most traffic to your website or product.

Create unique UTM parameters for different email segments (e.g., new subscribers, active users, churned customers) and email types (e.g., newsletters, product updates, promotional offers). By analyzing the UTM report, you can learn which segments and content types are most effective at driving engagement.

For example, if you see that your product update emails to active users consistently drive more traffic and conversions than your promotional emails to churned customers, you might focus on creating more value-driven content for your active user base and rethink your re-engagement strategy for churned customers.

Partnership and Affiliate Program Tracking

For startups running partnership or affiliate programs, the UTM report can help track the performance of different partners and optimize your collaboration efforts.

Assign unique UTM parameters to each partner or affiliate, allowing you to track the traffic and conversions they drive to your website or product. The UTM report can identify your top-performing partners and those who might need additional support or resources.

If you notice that certain partners are consistently driving high-quality traffic and conversions, you might consider deepening your relationship with them or using their success as a case study to attract similar partners. Conversely, for underperforming partners, you could provide additional training or marketing materials to help improve their results.

Getting Started

Reiterating the point above to consistently use UTM parameters and stick to a standardized approach to how you name your UTM parameters is important.

Still have questions on the UTM report or UTM implementation best practices? For more information on how to make the most of the UTM report, don't hesitate to contact our support team at [email protected].