If you've ever clicked on a marketing email, a social post, or an online ad, chances are you've noticed something odd in your browser’s address bar - extra bits of text tacked onto the end of the URL. It might’ve looked like this:
?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=webinar_launch.
Those are UTM parameters. You’ve seen them. You may even be using them. But did you know they help show how effective your marketing is working?
For marketers tasked with showing impact and justifying spend, UTMs aren’t just a curiosity. They’re a vital part of revenue attribution - and one of the simplest, most effective ways to tie campaigns to results.
What Are UTMs (And Why Should You Care)?
UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module - a legacy name from Google’s early days, but don’t let that throw you off. In practice, UTMs are just simple text snippets added to the end of a URL to help track where your website traffic is coming from.
Each UTM tag serves a purpose:
- utm_source= tells you which platform the traffic came from (e.g. LinkedIn, Google, newsletter)
- utm_medium= tells you how the traffic got to you (e.g. email, social, CPC)
- utm_campaign= identifies what campaign it was part of
- utm_term= (optional) tracks keywords in paid search
- utm_content= (optional) helps differentiate between versions of ads or links
Why should you care?
Because UTMs give you visibility.
They let you track the effectiveness of your campaigns, so you know what’s working, what’s not, and where your marketing budget is actually driving results. Without them, you’re relying on guesswork or incomplete data.
If you're serious about measuring ROI or showing how marketing contributes to pipeline and revenue, UTMs are one of the first tools you should master.
How do UTMs work?
Let’s say someone clicks your ad, visits your website, downloads a whitepaper, and three weeks later becomes a qualified lead. That’s a win, but can you prove that your ad played a role?
Without UTMs, probably not.
UTMs give you the missing link between initial engagement and long-term value. They allow you to:
- See which channels are actually driving high-quality traffic
- Track campaign performance down to the individual asset or message
- Connect anonymous clicks to known leads, and known leads to pipeline
In short, UTMs help turn "we think it worked" into "we know it did." They power your revenue attribution - the process of identifying which marketing efforts lead to conversions, opportunities, and ultimately, closed deals.
This matters not just for marketers trying to optimise performance, but for the wider business. CMOs need to justify budget. CFOs want proof that spend leads to return. Sales teams want clarity on what’s fueling demand. UTMs are one of the simplest ways to give it to them.
But only if they’re implemented and captured correctly. Otherwise, you might be losing valuable attribution data without even knowing it.
How UTMs Work in Practice
To really understand the value of UTMs, it helps to see them in action. Below are a few common use cases that highlight how UTM parameters connect day-to-day marketing activities to measurable results.
Example 1: Paid Social Campaign
If you’re running a LinkedIn ad Campaign, you may link to your website using “utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=q3_launch” at the end of the link you want prospects to click on - (for example, https://yourwebsite.com/landingpage? tm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=q3_launch).
What it tells you:
Traffic came from a paid LinkedIn ad, tied specifically to your Q3 launch campaign.
Why it matters:
If form submissions on this page convert into qualified leads, you can tie those results directly to your paid LinkedIn budget—and justify it.
Example 2: Email Newsletter with Multiple Links
Considering your newsletter contains both a header CTA and a text link promoting a new whitepaper, UTMs allow you to find out how people engage with your content.
Under the header link, you can include a UTM link like ‘(original link here)?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=whitepaper&utm_content=header_cta’.
Under the text link, you include a different UTM link like ‘(original link here)?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=whitepaper&utm_content=text_link’
What it tells you:
Which links were clicked on the most and garnered the most attention.
Why it matters:
You can compare which link performed better and refine future email layouts based on real data.
Example 3: Influencer or Partner Referral
If you’re collaborating with a partner or influencer to promote a webinar or product, you can evaluate how effective your partnership is with UTM codes by giving the partner something like ‘(webinar link)?utm_source=partnername&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=webinar_promo’.
What it tells you:
You know exactly how much traffic and how many signups your partner’s promotion generated.
Why it matters:
This provides essential insight if you’re investing in influencer relationships or paid partnerships and allows you to see the ROI such a partnership offers.
These aren’t complex setups, but they provide the data foundation for smarter marketing decisions and cleaner attribution down the line. However, many marketers run into issues with UTM codes. The good news is that these problems are easily solved.
The Problem with UTMs That No One Talks About
UTMs are powerful - but they’re also fragile.
UTM parameters only exist in the URL on the first page a user visits. If your visitor:
- Navigates to another page
- Closes their browser and returns later
- Or even reloads the page from a bookmark
…the UTM data disappears. And with it, so does your ability to attribute that visitor’s journey back to the campaign that brought them in.
What does this mean in practice?
You might have spent thousands on ads, only to see your conversions show up as “direct traffic” or “unknown source” in your reports. Your ROI calculations get murky, and your ability to prove marketing's value gets undermined.
This issue is especially painful in B2B, where sales cycles are long, buying committees are large, and clear attribution is key to understanding what’s moving the needle.
Even tools like Google Analytics can only partially solve the problem—often relying on session-based or anonymous data. Anonymous clicks don’t help much when you're trying to track known leads, opportunities, and revenue, but there is a solution.
How LeadFabric Helps You Keep Attribution Intact
To solve the problem of disappearing UTMs, LeadFabric offers a lightweight, flexible script that keeps tracking data intact, even when users navigate across your site or return later.
It temporarily stores UTM parameters and automatically injects them into forms, chatbots, or any other conversion tools you’re using. That way, your leads stay connected to the campaigns that brought them in without burdening your web team or slowing down performance.
It’s a simple but powerful way to make sure your first-touch attribution data stays with your prospects throughout their journey.
We’ll be diving deeper into how this works in our next post. But if you’re already looking for a cleaner way to connect clicks to conversions - and prove the value of your marketing - reach out to us at demandmore@leadfabric.com.
