Email Marketing UTM Tracking: Beyond the Open Rate

Open rates and click-through rates (CTR) tell you how your email performed in the inbox. But UTM parameters tell you what happened after they clicked. Did they buy anything? Did they browse your blog?

If you aren't tagging your email links, you're missing half the story. Here is the ultimate setup for email UTM tracking.

The Dynamic Duo: Source and Medium

For every link in your email, you should use a consistent source and medium. This keeps your GA4 reports clean.

• utm_source: Use your provider name (e.g., mailchimp, hubspot, klaviyo) or simply newsletter.
• utm_medium: Almost always email.

Using utm_campaign to Track Sales

This is where it gets interesting. Use the campaign tag to name the specific email you sent. For example, if you're sending a weekly blast, you might use utm_campaign=weekly-digest-may-15.

By doing this, you can go into Google Analytics and see exactly how much revenue was generated by that specific email. This is much more powerful than just knowing it "came from email."

The "utm_content" Trick

In most emails, you have multiple links to the same page (e.g., a link in a header image, a link in the body text, and a button). Use utm_content to distinguish them:

• utm_content=hero-image
• utm_content=body-link
• utm_content=cta-button

This data helps you understand which parts of your email design are most effective. For more on how these individual tags work, check out our guide on what are UTM parameters.

Automating Your Email Tags

Most modern email platforms (like Mailchimp or Klaviyo) have a checkbox that automatically adds UTMs to your links. Use it! However, if you're sending personal outreach through Gmail or Outlook, you'll need to use a UTM Builder manually to ensure those high-stakes links are being tracked.

Common Email Mistake: Tracking Sign-ups

Remember our UTM best practices: Never use UTMs to track links on your own site. If you have a newsletter signup button on your homepage, don't add UTMs to that button. GA4 should handle that through event tracking.