As Black Friday and Cyber Monday approach, it's important to ensure your marketing efforts are properly tracked and measured. Now is the time to start planning, strategizing, and optimizing your campaigns. Other businesses are already taking action, so we need to stay ahead of the game.
At Analytics Mates, we believe in helping business owners and fellow digital marketers by sharing valuable insights. After some discussions, we decided to share a topic that could benefit you and your company as we prepare for one of the biggest sales events of the year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
One of the most effective ways to track and optimize this type of campaigns is by using UTM parameters in Google Analytics 4 (GA4). UTMs give you detailed insights into which channels, mediums, and campaigns drive the most traffic and conversions. This guide will help you organize your UTM parameters to get the most out of your Black Friday and Cyber Monday marketing efforts.
What Are UTM Parameters?
UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) parameters are snippets of text added to a URL to help track campaign performance in analytics platforms like GA4. They consist of five key components:
- Source (utm_source): Identifies where the traffic is coming from (e.g., Google, Facebook, email).
- Medium (utm_medium): Defines the marketing medium (e.g., CPC, email, social, or even custom such as marketing_campaign).
- Campaign (utm_campaign): Specifies the name of the campaign (e.g., BlackFriday2024, CyberMonday2024, bfcm_2024).
- Term (utm_term): Tracks keywords for paid search campaigns (useful for PPC).
- Content (utm_content): Differentiates between similar content, such as ads or links, within the same campaign (useful for A/B testing).
By adding these parameters to your URLs, you can track the success of individual campaign elements and measure which efforts yield the best results. Here is an example of what your URL with UTM parameters should look like:
https://www.analyticsmates.com/black-friday-sale/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=marketing_campaign&utm_campaign=bfcm_2024&utm_content=hero_banner&utm_term=black_friday_deals
Why UTM Parameters Matter for Black Friday & Cyber Monday
The holiday season is one of the busiest and most competitive times of the year for e-commerce, with businesses running multiple marketing campaigns across various channels. To ensure the success of these efforts, it's important to have a clear understanding of which campaigns are driving the most traffic and conversions. This is where UTM parameters become indispensable. By using UTM parameters, you can accurately track the performance of each campaign, measure ROI, and make data-driven decisions to help you plan things ahead and also to optimize your marketing strategy throughout the holiday period. Here is an overall reason we need to take note why UTMs are beneficial:
The effectiveness of each campaign: You’ll want to know if email, social media, or paid search ads are driving more conversions. Running multiple campaigns will produce and send different forms of data into your system, in this case Google Analytics 4. So by leveraging UTM parameters, you are segmenting your campaigns so it would be easy to track and analyze them and can clearly distinguish their results. This also applies to A/B testing - Use UTM content to determine which version of your ads resonates most with customers.
Setting Up UTM Parameters in GA4 for Holiday Campaigns
When organizing your UTM parameters for Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns, consistency is crucial for accurate tracking and analysis. Here's how to effectively structure your UTM parameters for GA4:
Create a Naming Convention
Before implementing UTM parameters, we need to establish a consistent and well-organized naming convention. A structured approach not only keeps your data clean but also ensures it is easy to analyze in Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Consistency in naming helps prevent confusion, allows for better reporting, and makes it easier to attribute traffic and conversions to the correct campaigns. This step is essential for maintaining clarity and accuracy in your performance data, especially when managing multiple marketing campaigns.
For example:
- Source: Use the platform name in lowercase (e.g., google, facebook, instagram).
- Medium: Use consistent mediums such as email, cpc, social.
- Campaign: Keep the campaign name simple but informative, like BlackFriday2024 or CyberMonday2024.
- Term: Include relevant keywords for paid search.
- Content: Use descriptions like promo_a or discount_10off for A/B tests.
Use Google’s UTM Builder
To avoid manual errors, use Google’s Campaign URL Builder tool to create UTM-tagged URLs. This ensures each link is structured correctly with no typos, which can skew your data.
Apply UTM Parameters to All Campaign Links
For a holistic view of your campaigns in GA4, make sure that every link you share in emails, ads, social media posts, and paid campaigns includes UTM parameters. This way, all traffic coming to your site is accurately attributed to the right source, medium, and campaign.
How to Analyze UTM Data in GA4
Once your Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns are live, you can effectively monitor their performance using Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Here's how to review your UTM data for comprehensive insights:
Use Acquisition Reports
In GA4, go to the Acquisition reports under the "Reports" section. Here, you can break down traffic by Source/Medium and see which campaigns are driving the most users to your website.Here are the steps:
1) Log into your GA4 account and select the relevant property associated with your campaigns.
2) Click on the “Reports” section in the left-hand menu to access your data.
3) Under the “Acquisition” reports, select “Traffic acquisition” to view how users are arriving at your site. Here, you can filter by UTM parameters to see the performance of specific campaigns.
4) Use the secondary dimension feature to break down traffic by UTM source or medium (session source/medium). This will help you understand which platforms and channels are driving the most traffic and conversions.
Alternatively, you can generate a report directly from the campaign name.
5) Examine the data related to your UTM campaign parameters. Look for key metrics such as user engagement, conversion rates, and bounce rates to gauge the effectiveness of each campaign.
6) Consider creating custom reports that focus specifically on your UTM parameters. This will allow you to track metrics that matter most to your campaign goals. For more information about this you can visit our blog post on the topic about how to create custom reports for this specific event (BFCM) here.
How to effectively categorize your BFCM campaigns using Custom Channel Grouping
One effective way to track your campaigns using UTM parameters is by organizing them into custom channels. At Analytics Mates, we advocate for this approach and would like to share it with you. The concept involves using your UTM parameters—specifically, utm_source and utm_medium—to group your campaigns into custom channels. While we won’t go into the detailed steps here, but if this piques your interest, we encourage you to check out our blog post on How to Use Custom Channel Grouping in Google Analytics 4.
Tips for Effective UTM Use During the Holiday Season
Before we wrap this up, here are some additional tips we’d like to share with you when considering using UTM parameters in your Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns.
- Leverage custom channel groupings in GA4 to categorize and analyze your UTM-tagged campaigns more efficiently. This will give you a clearer view of how specific sources and mediums perform during the holiday rush.
- For each promotion, ensure that you use unique UTM parameters to avoid data overlap. This will help you accurately assess which campaigns drive the most traffic and conversions.
- Always test UTM-tagged URLs before making campaigns live to ensure that tracking is set up correctly and data flows seamlessly into GA4.
- Stick to essential UTM parameters (source, medium, campaign, content, term) to maintain clarity in your reporting. Too many parameters can complicate data analysis.
- Create a shared document outlining your UTM strategy, including naming conventions and guidelines, so your entire team can collaborate effectively and avoid inconsistent tracking.
- During the bustling Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales periods, traffic and user behavior can fluctuate significantly. It’s essential to regularly review the performance of your UTM-tagged campaigns. This proactive approach allows you to make timely adjustments and optimize your marketing strategies based on real-time data.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q:Can I use UTM parameters for paid and organic campaigns?
A:Yes, UTM parameters can be used for both paid and organic campaigns. For paid campaigns, use utm_medium=paid and for organic campaigns, utm_medium=organic. This helps you track which types of campaigns are generating the most traffic and conversions, providing deeper insights into your overall marketing efforts.
Q:How can I avoid misreporting or fragmented data when using UTM parameters?
A:To avoid misreporting, ensure your entire team uses the same naming conventions across all UTM parameters. Inconsistent or misspelled UTM tags (e.g., "Facebook" vs. "FB") can fragment data and make reporting difficult. Using a shared naming template for your team is a good practice to maintain consistency.
Q:What is the best way to structure UTM parameters for different platforms during holiday sales?
A:Each platform should have its own unique UTM parameters for tracking. For example, use utm_source=facebook, utm_medium=social, utm_campaign=BF2024_Sale for a Facebook ad. For email marketing, you could use utm_source=newsletter, utm_medium=email, utm_campaign=BF2024_Email. This lets you compare the performance of different platforms effectively in GA4.
Q:Can I track different offers within the same campaign using UTM parameters?
A:Yes, you can track different offers within a campaign by using the utm_content parameter. For instance, if you are running multiple ads for a single Black Friday campaign, use utm_content=discount_10 or utm_content=free_shipping. This allows you to track which specific offer is driving the most engagement and conversions within the overall campaign
Final Word
UTM parameters are an invaluable tool for tracking the performance of your Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns. By using GA4 and a consistent UTM strategy, you can better understand which marketing efforts are driving traffic and conversions. Take the time to organize your parameters properly, and you’ll gain the insights needed to optimize your holiday campaigns for maximum impact.
Thank you for reading!
