Basics of Using UTM Data in Drift

Since your business has a website, it's important to get a sense of how people are finding your content. One of the simplest ways to do that is through UTM parameters.

What are UTM parameters?

Your UTM parameters are tag-like pieces of information you appended at the end of the URL of your promotional or marketing campaigns. They identify the:

•  website a lead comes from
•  type of channel they signed up on
•  advertising campaign they were enrolled in

Here's an example how it looks inside of your URL (see the pink box below): this is a pretty typical set of four UTM parameters. To spot where it begins, the string of parameters should start always start with a "?". 

For context, this page was linked in the twitter post below:

• Source: Used to show which site the visitors are coming from
• Medium: Used to show which marketing channels are bringing the visitor to your site. Examples include, but aren't limited to, email, social, or cost-per-click
• Campaign: Used to identify which campaign the promotion is associated with
• Term: Used to manually identify paid keywords you're targeting with your campaign
• Content: Used to identify the exact element on your ad or promotion that was clicked. This is often used for optimization purposes. 

What can you do with UTM parameters?

• See where your most engaged users are signing up to your product from
• Increase signups from your advertising campaigns
• Send targeted auto messages to users who sign up from specific sources (e.g. Google ads)
• Measure the ROI of your advertising campaigns by comparing a campaign's generated revenue with its cost.

How can I use these within Drift?

1. Targeting with UTM parameters

Use UTM parameters as a display condition in the Targeting preferences of playbooks while you're in the Visual Builder view of a playbook:

Here's how it might look if you want to target audiences coming in from a specific site and search word with a playbook:

2. Filtering and Segmenting with UTM parameters

In the Contacts view of Drift, you can use the filtering by UTM related attributes to create segments. This way, you can target leads who you know were receptive to certain types of campaigns with similar content in the future. 

Got more questions about UTM parameters? Feel free to ask us in chat or at support@drift.com!