UTM links: identify where campaign inquiries come from

Your company promotes a page through a newsletter, social media and ads. Visits and information requests then appear, but the team does not know which promotion was part of those contacts’ journeys. UTM links help organize identification of campaigns that send traffic. To connect that traffic to inquiries, you also need to check how website actions are measured.

Google Analytics lets you add parameters to campaign URLs and consult their source in the traffic acquisition report. Fields include utm_source for source, utm_medium for medium, utm_campaign for campaign and utm_content to distinguish creative items. The documentation recommends consistent naming and notes that uppercase and lowercase letters produce different values. Official UTM parameter documentation

UTM links: start with the question the report should answer

Before building a link, write a business question: “Which promotions bring people to the quote page?” This is more specific than “which channel works best?” To answer it, the company and agency need to agree on what they call a visit, a received inquiry and a sales opportunity.

We suggest recording those definitions in a form. A visit is an observed page access; a received inquiry is a request arriving through the chosen channel; an opportunity is a contact assessed by the team against its own commercial criteria. A click on a messaging button does not prove that the person sent a message, received service or purchased.

A fictional example of an organized link

Imagine a fictional maintenance company promoting a guide by email. The illustrative address below uses example.com only for this demonstration and does not correspond to a client campaign: https://example.com/guia?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=guia_manutencao&utm_content=botao_principal

Field	Example value	Meaning
utm_source	newsletter	Specified source.
utm_medium	email	Promotional medium.
utm_campaign	guia_manutencao	Identified campaign.
utm_content	botao_principal	Distinguished creative item or link.

The address can be built using the URL builder indicated by Google. This is an introductory example: other fields may be relevant depending on the integration and intended report. Agree on entries with whoever manages measurement. URL builders in Google Analytics

Use a shared campaign form

The practical tool we propose is a decision record, with one row per promotion and six fields: objective, destination, creative identifier, owner, test date and customer service observation. The approved link goes in that same row. Publishers then know which address to use, and analysts know which material the record refers to.

Assign someone to release approved addresses. When a piece changes, check whether it still belongs to the same initiative or represents a new proposal needing its own identifier. For management, the important point is to preserve a history of what was published and why it changed, without mixing old files with the active version.

Avoid deciding everything while publishing. If the calendar includes a newsletter and two supporting pieces, record destinations before production. This allows the review to check both the message and the page the person will find. A correct link to an unsuitable page still produces a confusing experience.

Test the complete journey

During review, open the approved address on a phone and verify that the page matches the promoted content. Then test the agreed action: open the form, send an identified test request or reach the service channel. Confirm with the team that the test arrived and received the expected handling.

• Does the destination present the same offering as the creative?

• Is the necessary button visible and working?

• Does the team recognize test requests and know how to exclude them from commercial evaluation?

• Has the measurement owner confirmed what will be observed in the report?

• Is there a record of when the test took place and what still needs fixing?

This test does not replace technical validation of collection. Ask the agency for a simple explanation of the tracked event and its limitations. The evidence needs to show which action was detected. A report calling every channel opening a “sale” mixes different stages and makes investment decisions harder.

Protect data and interpret limitations

Do not put names, email addresses, phone numbers, CPF numbers or other personal information in parameters. Google prohibits sending personally identifiable information to Analytics and advises removing it from URLs and campaign parameters. Identify the initiative or creative, without identifying the person. Google guidance on personal information

Attribution distributes credit for an action across the observed journey. Google itself describes how people may interact with multiple ads before completing an action and how models distribute that credit differently. How attribution works in Google Analytics

Treat the report as a measurement perspective, not standalone proof of cause. Ask which parts of the journey were observed, which criterion was used and how inquiries received outside the flow will be assessed. Compare this reading with sales records, avoiding disclosure of personal data in links or shared reports.

To structure promotion and interpretation of results, explore Briccitly’s paid traffic management service. Bring your business question and the definition of a contact that your team uses. Briccitly paid traffic management

Talk to Briccitly

Sources consulted on October 20, 2026. Content developed with AI support; the campaign and address presented are fictional.