Ever found yourself scratching your head, wondering which of your marketing efforts is really bringing people to your website? I remember my first time trying to figure that out, it felt like throwing darts in the dark. That’s where UTM parameters come in, and when you pair them with HubSpot, you get a super clear picture of what’s working. This isn’t just about getting traffic. it’s about understanding where every visitor comes from, what campaign caught their eye, and how effective your messaging actually is. , making data-driven decisions is crucial, and mastering HubSpot UTM tracking is your ticket to precisely measuring your marketing ROI and optimizing for even better results.

Table of Contents

What Are UTM Parameters, Really?

Think of UTM parameters as little digital breadcrumbs you leave on your links. When someone clicks a link with these “breadcrumbs,” your analytics tools, like HubSpot, gobble up that information, telling you exactly where that visitor originated from. It’s like having a detailed map for every single click.

UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module, which honestly, is just a fancy name from Google Analytics’ predecessor, Urchin. Most people just call them UTM tags or UTM codes. They’re basically small bits of text you add to the end of a URL that’s your website address. For example, instead of just yourwebsite.com/blog, it might look like yourwebsite.com/blog?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=summer_sale. See that ?utm_ part? That’s where the magic happens!

There are five core UTM parameters, and you’ll use some or all of them depending on how detailed you want your tracking to be:

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utm_source: This one tells you where the traffic is coming from. Was it Facebook, Google, a specific newsletter, or another website? This is a required parameter.
- Example: utm_source=facebook, utm_source=google_ads, utm_source=newsletter_may
utm_medium: This identifies how the traffic got to you – the marketing channel. Was it social media, email, cost-per-click CPC, an organic search, or a referral? This is also a required parameter.
- Example: utm_medium=social, utm_medium=email, utm_medium=cpc
utm_campaign: This parameter is all about the specific campaign you’re running. Think of it as the name of your marketing initiative. Is it your “Black Friday Sale,” a “Product Launch,” or a “Spring Collection” promotion?
- Example: utm_campaign=black_friday_sale, utm_campaign=new_product_launch, utm_campaign=q4_webinar
utm_term: This is mainly for paid search campaigns. It helps you track the keywords you bid on. While Google Ads has its own robust tracking, you might still use this for other platforms or for more granular insights. This parameter is optional.
- Example: utm_term=buy_running_shoes, utm_term=digital_marketing_course
utm_content: Use this to differentiate between similar pieces of content or links within the same campaign. For instance, if you have two call-to-action buttons in one email, you can use utm_content to see which one performs better. This is super handy for A/B testing! This parameter is optional.
- Example: utm_content=hero_banner, utm_content=text_link_bottom, utm_content=sidebar_ad

By combining these parameters, you build a unique URL that gives you incredibly detailed insights into your marketing performance. It’s like turning on a flashlight in a dark room. suddenly, you can see everything clearly.

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Why Bother with UTMs in Your Marketing Efforts?

you know what UTMs are. But why go through the “trouble” of adding these little codes to your links? Well, it boils down to making smarter decisions and proving your marketing efforts are actually paying off. Many marketers still struggle to pinpoint which channels generate the most engagement and conversions. UTMs cut through that confusion.

Here’s why they’re such a must:

Pinpointing What’s Working and What’s Not: Without UTMs, you might know you got a lot of traffic from social media, but you wouldn’t know if it was from your latest TikTok video, a sponsored Facebook post, or a link in your LinkedIn profile. UTMs give you that granular detail, telling you exactly which specific ad, post, or email drove the traffic. This helps you measure the success of your campaigns with great precision.
Measuring Real ROI Return on Investment: This is huge! You spend money on ads, time on social media, and effort on email campaigns. UTMs help you connect those efforts directly to website visits, leads, and even sales. By tracking conversion rates and attribution, you can see which campaigns are truly generating revenue and adjust your budget accordingly. You can essentially attribute conversions and actions to specific marketing efforts.
Optimizing Channels and Content: Ever wonder if your email subject lines are better than your social media captions? Or if a banner ad performs better than a text link? With utm_medium and utm_content, you can literally A/B test different elements and see which ones resonate most with your audience. This data helps you refine your strategies and allocate resources to the most effective approaches.
Understanding the Customer Journey: A potential customer might see your ad on Instagram, click a link in an email, and then finally convert after an organic search. While HubSpot’s tracking code gives you a good overview, UTMs allow you to see the specific touchpoints within those channels that influenced their decision. This helps you build a clearer picture of their path to conversion.
Better Segmentation and Targeting: Once you start collecting UTM data, you can use it to segment your audience within HubSpot. Imagine creating a list of contacts who came from your “Spring Sale Facebook Ads” and then sending them a follow-up email tailored to that specific campaign. This leads to more personalized and effective communication.

Essentially, UTM parameters are like a secret weapon for proving the value of your marketing work. They empower you to move beyond guesswork and make truly informed, data-driven decisions that push your business forward.

HubSpot + UTMs: A Power Couple for Marketers

Now, let’s talk about why HubSpot and UTMs are such a fantastic pairing. HubSpot is already a powerful CRM and marketing automation platform, and it’s designed to play super nicely with UTM parameters. This integration means you’re not just tracking clicks. you’re connecting those clicks to actual contacts, companies, and deals in your CRM. Automate Tasks in HubSpot: Your Ultimate Guide

How HubSpot’s Tracking Code Works Its Magic

First, a quick word on the HubSpot tracking code. This is a small piece of JavaScript that you install on your website. If your pages are hosted on HubSpot like your blog, landing pages, or website pages, it’s automatically there. But if you have external pages like a custom-built website or third-party landing pages, you’ll need to install it manually.

What does this tracking code do? It’s like HubSpot’s eyes and ears on your website. It collects all sorts of visitor data: page views, time spent on pages, IP addresses, and other online identifiers. This data is then tied directly to contacts in your HubSpot CRM.

The key difference to remember is that while the HubSpot tracking code tracks all visitor behavior, UTM parameters focus specifically on how visitors arrived at your site via a campaign link. The tracking code looks at everything a visitor does after they land, while UTMs tell you how they landed there in the first place when coming from a specific marketing initiative. HubSpot uses both to give you a holistic view of your customer’s journey.

HubSpot’s Built-in Capabilities

HubSpot takes the heavy lifting out of UTM management in several ways:

Automatic Tracking for HubSpot Assets: When you create emails, landing pages, or ads directly within HubSpot, it often automatically applies UTM parameters, or at least the utm_source and utm_medium values, to links you include. For example, HubSpot Email automatically tags emails sent through its platform. This helps ensure you’re always collecting some basic attribution data without even thinking about it.
Integrated Tracking URL Builder: HubSpot has a super intuitive UTM builder right inside the platform. This means you don’t need external tools to generate your links. You just plug in your destination URL and the parameters, and HubSpot creates the tagged link for you.
CRM Integration: This is where HubSpot truly shines. When a visitor clicks a UTM-tagged link and eventually becomes a contact e.g., by filling out a form, all that UTM data can be stored directly on their contact record. This allows you to see the exact campaign, source, and medium that brought them in, right within their contact profile. This provides a holistic view of their journey. You can filter and group contacts based on these UTM values to understand the impact on lead generation.

Leveraging UTM parameters effectively in HubSpot empowers marketers with valuable insights into consumer behavior across different channels and campaigns, ultimately leading to improved ROI. Mastering HubSpot’s Tracking Code and API for Deeper Insights

Your Step-by-Step Guide to Building UTMs in HubSpot

One of the best things about HubSpot is how it simplifies creating and managing UTM-tagged links. You have a few options, each great for different scenarios.

Option 1: Using HubSpot’s Tracking URL Builder The Easiest Way

This is your go-to method for creating UTM links for external campaigns, social media posts, or any link where you want explicit tracking beyond what HubSpot might automatically apply.

Access the Builder:
- Log into your HubSpot account.
- Click on Reports the graph icon in the top navigation bar.
- Then select Analytics Tools.
- You’ll find Tracking URLs in the left sidebar menu. Click on that.
Create a New Tracking URL:
- In the top right corner, click the “Create tracking URL” button.
Configure Your URL: A panel will slide open on the right where you’ll fill in the details:
- URL: This is the full URL of the page you want to send people to e.g., https://www.yourwebsite.com/new-ebook. Make sure the HubSpot tracking code is already installed on this page for full analytics.
- Campaign: Choose an existing HubSpot campaign from the dropdown, or select “Other campaigns” and type in a descriptive name for your new campaign e.g., fall_promo_ebook.
- Source: Select the primary traffic source e.g., Facebook, Google, Email Newsletter. If your source isn’t listed, you can type it in.
- Medium: Define the marketing channel e.g., social, cpc, email. This is a critical one for high-level channel reporting.
- Term Optional: If this link is for a paid search ad, enter the keywords you’re targeting e.g., affordable_laptops.
- Content Optional: Use this to distinguish different versions of a link within the same campaign e.g., banner_ad_top, text_link_sidebar. This is perfect for A/B testing.
Generate and Copy:
- Once you’ve filled everything in, click “Create”.
- HubSpot will generate a clean, tracked URL. You can then copy the shortened URL or the full URL and use it in your marketing efforts.

It’s that simple! HubSpot’s intuitive interface makes the implementation of UTM parameters accessible even to those with minimal technical expertise.

Option 2: Customizing UTMs for HubSpot Emails

By default, HubSpot injects its own UTM parameters into your email links, often using things like hs_email for source and a numeric email ID for content. This is generally helpful, but sometimes you want more control, like using the email’s actual name for utm_content. How to Make Sure Your HubSpot Tracking Code Is Working Perfectly

To customize your UTMs for emails:

Adjust Email Tracking Settings:
- In your HubSpot account, go to Marketing > Email.
- Click on the “Tracking” tab in the email settings.
- You’ll see options for how HubSpot handles UTMs in emails. You can choose to:
  - Add source tracking only if no existing tags in the URL.
  - Don’t add source tracking tags.
- Often, to use custom UTMs, you might select an option that tells HubSpot not to automatically overwrite your custom tags or to add them only if none exist.
Use the Tracking URL Builder as above for Email Links:
- Once you’ve adjusted the settings, go back to the Tracking URL Builder Reports > Analytics Tools > Tracking URLs.
- Create your custom UTM link, making sure to specify utm_source=hubspot_email or a similar consistent naming convention and utm_medium=email. For utm_content, you can use the actual name of your email e.g., welcome_series_email_1.
- Copy this custom URL.
Paste into Your Email:
- When you’re building your email in HubSpot, simply paste this custom UTM-tagged URL where you want the link to go.
- This way, your specific custom values will be recorded when someone clicks.

Option 3: Capturing UTMs with Custom Properties and Hidden Forms

This advanced method is fantastic for ensuring that when someone fills out a HubSpot form on your site, their first-touch or last-touch UTM data is captured and stored directly on their contact record. This is especially useful for understanding the initial source of a lead.

Create Custom Properties in HubSpot:
- For each standard UTM parameter utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, utm_content, create a corresponding custom contact property in HubSpot.
- Make sure these are single-line text properties.
- To do this: Go to Settings gear icon > Properties > Create property. Set the object type to “Contact” and the field type to “Single-line text.” Name them clearly e.g., “UTM Source,” “UTM Medium”.
Add Hidden Form Fields:
- When you create or edit a HubSpot form, drag these newly created UTM properties into your form.
- Crucially, set these fields to “Hidden.”
- This way, the form will automatically capture the UTM parameter values from the URL of the page where the form is submitted and store them in the corresponding custom contact properties.

This setup helps you identify specific assets and campaigns driving revenue and enhances your multi-touch attribution reports.

Where to Deploy Your HubSpot-Tagged Links for Maximum Insight

Now that you know how to build those powerful UTM links in HubSpot, where should you actually use them? The short answer: everywhere you share a link where you want to measure specific campaign performance. The HubSpot: Your All-in-One Growth Engine for Business

Here are some common, and highly effective, places to deploy your HubSpot-tagged URLs:

External Ad Campaigns Google Ads, Social Media Ads: This is probably the most common use case. When you’re spending money on ads, you need to know which ads are generating clicks, leads, and sales. Use unique UTMs for each ad group, ad, or even different versions of the same ad using utm_content for A/B testing to see what performs best.
- Example: For a Google Ad: website.com/offer?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=winter_sale&utm_term=buy_coats
- Example: For a Facebook Ad: website.com/offer?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=winter_sale&utm_content=carousel_ad
Social Media Organic Posts: Even for your free social media content, UTMs are invaluable. You can see which posts, platforms, or even specific calls to action in your bio links are driving traffic. This helps you refine your organic social strategy.
- Example: For an Instagram Story link: website.com/blog/new-post?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=latest_blog_promo
- Example: For a LinkedIn post: website.com/case-study?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=case_study_promo
Email Marketing Especially External Platforms: While HubSpot emails often auto-tag, if you’re using another email platform or want very specific custom tracking within a HubSpot email, generate those UTM links. You can track different links within the same email utm_content to see what content elements are most engaging.
- Example: For a button in a newsletter: website.com/product?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly_digest&utm_content=cta_button
Guest Posts and Referral Links: If you’re publishing content on another website or collaborating with an influencer, use UTMs on the links back to your site. This tells you exactly how much traffic and how many leads you’re getting from those partnerships.
- Example: For a guest post on a popular industry blog: website.com/resource?utm_source=industry_blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=guest_post_topic_x
Offline Campaigns QR Codes: Yes, even offline! If you’re using QR codes on print materials, flyers, or event banners, make sure the URL embedded in that QR code includes UTM parameters. This bridges the gap between your physical marketing and your online analytics.
- Example: For a QR code on a flyer: website.com/signup?utm_source=flyer&utm_medium=print&utm_campaign=event_promo
SMS Marketing: When sending out promotional texts, use a shortened, UTM-tagged link to track clicks and conversions coming directly from your SMS efforts.
- Example: website.com/deal?utm_source=sms&utm_medium=text_message&utm_campaign=flash_sale

The goal is to apply UTMs strategically to every link where you want to track specific performance data. By doing so, you’ll light up your customer journey and gain unprecedented clarity into what’s driving results.

Unlocking Insights: Tracking and Reporting Your UTM Data in HubSpot

So, you’ve meticulously crafted and deployed your UTM-tagged links. Awesome! But the real magic happens when you start looking at the data. HubSpot makes it pretty straightforward to dive into the insights gleaned from your UTM parameters.

Where to Find Your UTM Data

HubSpot automatically processes the UTM parameters when someone visits your site through a tagged link. This data then shows up in various reports and dashboards: Hubspot transactional email attachment

Traffic Analytics Tool:
- Head to Reports > Analytics Tools > Traffic Analytics.
- This is your central hub for understanding where your website traffic comes from. You can easily see breakdowns by Source, Medium, and Campaign, which are directly populated by your UTM data.
- You can drill down into specific sources or mediums to see which campaigns are performing best. For example, you can differentiate between paid and organic traffic.
Contact Records:
- Remember those custom properties and hidden form fields we talked about? When a contact converts on a form that captures UTMs, that data is stored right on their individual contact record.
- You can then see the Last UTM Source, First UTM Source, Last UTM Campaign, etc., for each contact, giving you a direct link between their origin and their journey in your CRM.
HubSpot Ads:
- If you’re connecting your ad accounts Google Ads, Facebook Ads, etc. to HubSpot, the platform will automatically pull in ad data, often correlating it with your UTM parameters for comprehensive reporting within the Ads tool. This offers a more unified view of your paid efforts.
Campaigns Tool:
- If you’ve associated your UTM links with specific HubSpot campaigns, you can view aggregate performance data for those campaigns directly within the Marketing > Campaigns section. This gives you a high-level overview of how each major initiative is performing.

Creating Custom Reports for Deeper Dives

While HubSpot’s built-in reports are great, sometimes you need to get more specific. Custom reports allow you to slice and dice your UTM data in nearly endless ways:

Build a Custom Report:
- Go to Reports > Reports > Create custom report.
- You can select “Contacts” as your primary data source.
- Filter your report for contacts where, for example, “UTM Source is known” to focus only on contacts with UTM data.
- On the data tab, add all your custom UTM properties Source, Medium, Campaign, etc. and metrics like “Count of Contacts” or “Total Revenue.”
- You can then group your contacts by specific UTM values e.g., group by utm_campaign to compare the performance of different campaigns side-by-side.
Attribution Reports:
- For a more advanced understanding of which touchpoints are contributing to conversions, HubSpot offers attribution reports. By incorporating UTM parameters into these reports, you gain insights into how different marketing efforts contribute to various conversion events like lead generation or deals closed.
- You can use different attribution models first touch, last touch, linear, etc. to see how UTM-identified channels are impacting your pipeline.

Key Metrics to Monitor

When analyzing your UTM data in HubSpot, keep an eye on these crucial metrics:

Click-Through Rate CTR: How effectively is your UTM-tagged link driving clicks from its source? A high CTR indicates strong ad copy or engaging content.
Conversion Rate: How many visitors who arrived via a specific UTM link completed a desired action e.g., filled out a form, made a purchase? This is a direct measure of campaign effectiveness.
Return on Investment ROI: By connecting UTM data to your sales and revenue figures, you can calculate the ROI for each specific campaign, medium, or source. This tells you which efforts are truly profitable.
Engaging Behavior Metrics: Look at bounce rate, average session duration, and pages viewed per session for traffic from your UTM links. This helps you understand the quality of the traffic you’re driving.

Monitoring these metrics, especially through HubSpot’s custom reporting, helps you identify winning strategies, uncover areas for improvement, and continuously optimize your marketing spend.

Golden Rules: Best Practices for HubSpot UTM Tracking

you’re on your way to becoming a UTM master! But like any powerful tool, there are some best practices to follow to ensure your data is clean, consistent, and genuinely useful. Trust me, a little planning now saves a lot of headaches later. HubSpot Transactional Email Add-On Price: Everything You Need to Know

1. Consistency is Your Best Friend

This is probably the most important rule. Imagine having facebook, Facebook, and fb all used as utm_source. In your reports, these would show up as three separate sources, even though they’re all the same!

Develop a Naming Convention: Before you start creating UTMs for every link, decide on a standard. For example, always use lowercase for all parameters. Use underscores or hyphens instead of spaces spaces can break URLs or get converted into %20, which isn’t pretty.
- Example: utm_source=facebook_ads not utm_source=Facebook Ads
Document Your Strategy: Create a simple spreadsheet or document outlining your agreed-upon naming conventions for utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign. Share it with anyone on your team who creates marketing links. This ensures everyone is on the same page.

2. Be Specific, But Not Overly Granular

While UTMs allow for incredible detail, there’s a sweet spot.

utm_source and utm_medium Should Be Broad: Think of utm_medium as the “channel bucket” e.g., email, social, cpc. And utm_source as the specific platform within that channel e.g., facebook, google, linkedin. Avoid making your medium Facebook if your source is Facebook – that’s redundant and can mess with your high-level channel reporting.
utm_campaign Needs to Be Clear and Strategic: This should be a unique identifier for each major marketing initiative. Make it descriptive enough to understand its purpose at a glance.
Use utm_content for A/B Testing or Differentiating Elements: This is where you get granular. Use it when you have two buttons in one email, two different images in an ad, or varying text links leading to the same page.

3. Avoid UTMs on Internal Links

This is a common mistake. If you put UTM parameters on links within your own website e.g., a link from your blog post to a product page, you’ll overwrite the original source data. This makes it look like your internal links are the source of traffic, skewing your analytics. Stick to using UTMs for links that bring people to your website from external sources.

4. Test Your Links!

Before launching a big campaign, always, always, always click your UTM-tagged link yourself.

Check if the Page Loads Correctly: No broken links, please!
Verify UTM Parameters in the URL: After clicking, look at your browser’s address bar. Do you see the ?utm_ parameters, and do they match what you intended?
Check HubSpot Analytics if possible: A quick way to test if HubSpot is picking up the data is to visit your site with the UTM link and then check your “Visits” or “Page Views” reports in HubSpot a few minutes later, filtering by the specific UTM parameters you used.

5. Review and Clean Up Regularly

Your UTM strategy shouldn’t be set in stone forever. Transactional email add on hubspot pricing

Audit Your Tracking URLs: Periodically review your existing tracking URLs in HubSpot to ensure consistency and identify any old or unused links that might be cluttering your data.
Refine Naming Conventions: As your marketing efforts evolve, you might discover new channels or campaign types. Be open to refining your naming conventions to accommodate these changes, ensuring they remain clear and effective.
Utilize HubSpot’s Features: HubSpot provides convenient features like the Traffic Analytics tool and the “Manage Duplicates” feature for URLs, helping you keep your data clean and organized.

By sticking to these best practices, you’ll ensure your HubSpot UTM tracking provides accurate, actionable insights, helping you optimize your marketing efforts and drive measurable results.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main purpose of UTM parameters in HubSpot?

The main purpose of UTM parameters in HubSpot is to accurately track the performance of your online marketing campaigns. By adding these tags to your URLs, you can identify exactly which specific source like Facebook, medium like social media, and campaign like a summer sale led a visitor to your website, allowing you to measure ROI and optimize your strategies.

How does HubSpot’s tracking code differ from UTM parameters?

The HubSpot tracking code is a JavaScript snippet installed on your website that collects general visitor behavior data page views, session duration, IP address across your entire site, tying it to contacts in your CRM. UTM parameters, on the other hand, are specific tags added to individual URLs to track the origin of traffic from particular marketing campaigns or efforts. HubSpot’s code tracks what happens on your site, while UTMs specify how they arrived from a campaign link. Navigating HubSpot Transactional Email Costs: What You Need to Know

Can I use UTM parameters for my HubSpot emails?

Yes, you absolutely can! While HubSpot automatically adds some default UTM parameters to emails sent through its platform, you can customize these settings. You can use HubSpot’s Tracking URL Builder to create specific UTM-tagged links and then paste them into your email content, giving you more granular control over how email clicks are tracked, especially for specific calls to action or promotions within an email.

Are UTM parameters case-sensitive in HubSpot?

Yes, UTM parameters are case-sensitive. Using utm_source=Facebook and utm_source=facebook will appear as two separate sources in your HubSpot reports, which can lead to fragmented and inaccurate data. It’s a best practice to consistently use lowercase for all your UTM parameter values to ensure clean and unified reporting.

How do I view my UTM data in HubSpot reports?

You can view your UTM data primarily in HubSpot’s Traffic Analytics tool under Reports > Analytics Tools. Here, you’ll see breakdowns by Source, Medium, and Campaign. For more detailed analysis, you can create custom reports by selecting “Contacts” as your primary object and adding your custom UTM properties as columns, allowing you to filter and group contacts by their specific UTM values.

Should I use UTM parameters on internal links within my website?

No, you should generally avoid using UTM parameters on internal links within your website. Doing so can overwrite the original source data of a visitor, making it appear as if an internal link was the origin of their visit, rather than the true external source like Google or a social media ad. This can skew your analytics and make it harder to understand where your traffic truly comes from.

What happens if I don’t use UTM tags at all?

If you don’t use UTM tags, HubSpot’s tracking code will still categorize your traffic into general sources like “Organic Search,” “Social Media,” “Direct Traffic,” “Referrals” based on its own rules. However, you’ll lose the ability to track the performance of specific campaigns, ads, or content pieces. For instance, all paid social traffic might just show up as “Social Media,” without telling you which ad campaign or platform was most effective. You’ll lack the detailed insights needed for precise marketing optimization and ROI measurement. HubSpot Sequences Tutorial: Your Go-To Guide for Automated Outreach

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