# UTM Best Practices

## Overview

UTM parameters are the foundation for accurate campaign tracking in HockeyStack. Every campaign, ad, and link should use UTMs so that traffic, conversions, and engagement can be attributed correctly to their source.

This guide outlines best practices for structuring and maintaining UTMs across all marketing and GTM activities.

### 1. Always UTM Everything

Every campaign, link, or creative that goes live should include properly formatted UTMs.\
Without UTMs, traffic from your campaigns may appear as “direct” or “unattributed” in analytics, making it impossible to measure true ROI.

### 2. UTM Structure

Each UTM combination must be **unique to one ad**. No two ads should share the same full combination of parameters. 

Additionally, each URL should contain **only one instance of each UTM parameter** (for example, `utm_campaign` should appear only once).

<table><thead><tr><th>Parameter</th><th width="133.7421875">Purpose</th><th width="322.37109375">Example</th><th>Notes</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>utm_source</strong></td><td>Identifies the traffic source or platform</td><td><code>google</code>, <code>meta</code>, <code>linkedin</code>, <code>x</code>, <code>newsletter</code>, <code>partner-hubspot</code>, <code>event-dreamforce</code>, <code>creator-alexb</code></td><td>Use <code>partner-</code>, <code>event-</code>, or <code>creator-</code> prefixes for clarity</td></tr><tr><td><strong>utm_medium</strong></td><td>Describes the marketing channel</td><td><code>cpc</code>, <code>paid_social</code>, <code>email</code>, <code>display</code>, <code>affiliate</code>, <code>referral</code>, <code>organic_social</code>, <code>qr</code>, <code>sms</code></td><td>Keep channel naming consistent</td></tr><tr><td><strong>utm_campaign</strong></td><td>Groups related ads or assets under one initiative</td><td><code>2025-10-ai_launch-leadgen-prospecting-us-01</code></td><td>Follow this naming convention</td></tr><tr><td><strong>utm_content</strong></td><td>Distinguishes between creatives or ad variants</td><td><code>image-a-1080x1080</code>, <code>video-15s-v2</code>, <code>lpa-headercta</code></td><td>Use for A/B testing or multiple formats</td></tr><tr><td><strong>utm_term</strong></td><td>Captures keyword or audience segment</td><td><code>marketing-analytics-software</code>, <code>c-suite-list</code></td><td>Optional; primarily used for paid search or segmented audiences</td></tr></tbody></table>

***

### 3. UTM Campaign Naming Convention

To ensure consistency across teams and reporting tools, use the following pattern for `utm_campaign`:

```
YYYY-MM-<product-or-offer>-<objective>-<audience>-<region>-<seq>
```

#### Examples

| Field                | Example                                              | Description                   |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------- |
| **YYYY-MM**          | `2025-10`                                            | Month of launch               |
| **product-or-offer** | `ai_launch` or `ebook_analytics`                     | Campaign focus                |
| **objective**        | `traffic`, `leadgen`, `retarget`, `webinar`, `promo` | Primary goal                  |
| **audience**         | `prospecting`, `customers`, `csm-list`, `lookalike`  | Target group                  |
| **region**           | `us`, `emea`, `apac`, `global`                       | Target geography              |
| **seq**              | `01`, `02`, `03`                                     | Sequence number for iteration |

> **Example:**\
> `2025-10-ai_launch-leadgen-prospecting-us-01`

If you change anything mid-campaign (like offer, copy, or audience), create a **new sequence** (`02`, `03`, etc.) instead of renaming the existing one.

***

### 4. Formatting Rules

* Use **lowercase only**
* Use **hyphens (-)** instead of spaces or underscores
* Avoid special characters (`&`, `%`, `$`, etc.)
* Don’t reuse UTM strings across campaigns
* Don’t modify existing UTMs mid-flight—create a new version instead
* Ensure no duplicate UTM keys in a single URL

***

### 5. Example Full URL

```
https://hockeystack.com/demo?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=2025-10-ai_launch-leadgen-prospecting-us-01&utm_content=video-15s-v2&utm_term=marketing-analytics-software
```

***

### 6. Quick Checklist Before Launch

✅ Every live link contains a full UTM string\
✅ UTM combination is unique to the specific ad or asset\
✅ Each UTM parameter appears only once in the URL\
✅ Campaign name follows standard naming pattern\
✅ Parameters are lowercase and hyphenated\
✅ No reused or renamed UTMs mid-campaign

***

### 7. Why This Matters

Proper UTM hygiene ensures:

* Accurate multi-touch attribution inside Atlas
* Cleaner reporting in dashboards and data syncs
* Better segmentation in audience workflows
* More reliable AI insights and intent scoring


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