Loyalty & Referrals UTM Parameters Reference Guide

UTM (Short for Urchin Tracking Module) parameters are tags that you add to a URL. When someone clicks on a URL with UTM parameters, those tags are sent back to your Google Analytics for tracking so you can gauge the effectiveness of campaigns and identify new ways to drive traffic to your campaigns.

This article lists the UTM parameters that are included by default, and how to add additional ones. The following parameters are already included by default:
 
 Medium:

• &utm_medium=[the sharing medium the click came from, can be any of the below]
  • copy_link
  • SMS
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • email

Campaign:

• &utm_campaign=referral_program

Source:

• &utm_source=loyalty

These tags can be viewed and analyzed both in your google analytics and in your loyalty dashboards. If you want to see more in Google Analytics, you can add any UTM of your own as well.

Adding URL query params

If you want to add additional UTM parameters on top of the ones that are included automatically, do so under Referral Program -> Customize Referral Program> Landing URL Query Params.

Landing URL is the URL you want customers to arrive at when they click a referral link. Landing URL Query Params are the query params that will appear in the URL as well

Tracking parameters

Using a tracking parameter on your links allows you to identify the source of the referral - if the referred customer came from an email, Facebook post, or any of our other sharing options.

When customers refer their friends through a Referral Widget or a referral form built using the Referral Program Sharing Markups, we automatically add a tracking parameter (in addition to any other parameters you set.)

Referral links that have the tracking parameters look like this:

Referral link = http://rwrd.io/2vbpeqn

• Copy Link = http://rwrd.io/2vbpeqn?c
• Facebook Messenger = http://rwrd.io/2vbpeqn?m
• Facebook Share = http://rwrd.io/2vbpeqn?f
• Twitter = http://rwrd.io/2vbpeqn?t
• SMS = http://rwrd.io/2vbpeqn?s
• Email = http://rwrd.io/2vbpeqn?e

Adding tracking parameters to emails

If you are using an ESP to distribute your referral program emails, the referral link that will be shared with the ESP as part of the referral share event will not have a tracking parameter added automatically.

You must do this manually by adding "?e" at the end of the referral link placeholder within their email format, like so: {{ event.referral_link }}?e

Make sure that any CTA’s (“Shop Now” buttons, etc) include tracking parameters as well (see below for example)

What to do if the utm_medium does not appear in the URL?

It is imperative to understand the utm_medium parameter will only show if the referral link that was clicked contained the "?x" parameter at the end of it. For example -

http://rwrd.io/bcvdiiu?c

This means that if a merchant clicks on a referral link directly from the admin, it will not translate into a utm_medium param as those URLs do not have the tracking parameters at all.

Both our referral widgets and our custom-developed referral forms should automatically generate shares that contain correct tracking - meaning, clicking any share button should share a referral link with the correct tracking parameter at the end of it.

For example, if a customer clicks on Twitter in the below widget: their link will be shared with Twitter with the "?t" tracking parameter, which will then translate into showing the utm_medium=twitter value once the referral link is clicked.

This means that we need to check if the tracking parameter is present on each share generated by the widget or our markups.