REACH allows organizations to track the source of their donations and new supporters and sponsors by using UTM parameters. 

As a nonprofit, benefit from knowing exactly which marketing campaigns – whether its through an email, social post, fundraising campaign, guest post or tweet – that brought in donations or new supporters to your cause. 

Recording and tracking your UTM codes is one more way REACH enables you to work smarter.

UTM Codes Defined#

A UTM code – urchin traffic monitor, a web analytics software that serves as the base for Google Analytics –  is a simple code that you can add to the end of a URL to track performance of your marketing campaigns and other web content. 

REACH currently records all five UTM parameters for donations and new supporters, which are:

• utm_source – where the traffic originated from (Facebook, Google, Bing, name of an email list, etc.)
• utm_medium – type of traffic the visitor originated from (cpc, email, social, referral, display, etc.)
• utm_campaign – track the performance of a specific campaign 
• utm_term – track which keyword term a website visitor came from. This is commonly used for paid search ads. 
• utm_content – commonly used if you have multiple links pointing to the same URL. 

How to Build and Add UTM Parameters#

UTM Tracking entails you adding a UTM parameter to the end of a base URL in order to track its performance. 

You will need to:

• Determine the URL you wish to track, this will be your base URL
• Create the UTM code based on the five UTM parameters above (source, medium, campaign, term and content). This UTM code answers the question(s): “Where am I sharing the link that I want tracked and what do I want it attributed to?”
  • You can add a single UTM parameter or multiple UTM parameters to your base URL
  • The title of the UTM parameter is indicated by using = after the UTM parameter and the & indicates an additional UTM parameter will follow
  • You can create any title for the parameters as desired. Example: utm_source=instagram, where you titled the source instagram, or utm_campaign=30in30, where you titled your fundraising campaign 30in30
• Add the UTM code to your base URL
• Share the URL with UTM code on the platform, email, button, etc. of your choice
• Track your URL visits in REACH – UTM parameters passed via the URL are recorded in REACH as system tags and can be found on individual records or when generating a report.
  • Note: This answers the question: “Did the link I shared result in a new donation or a new supporter?”

Best Practices when creating your UTM Codes#

• Make sure your UTM codes are consistent, clean and easy to read. Name them something that makes sense and you will remember
• Keep a list of your UTM links so everyone on your team knows which links currently exist
• Be specific with your URL UTM parameters so its easy to tell what you’re tracking and where (Example: along with the utm_medium of social, include the utm_source of Instagram)
• Stick with all lower case as UTM codes are case-sensitive

To help create your UTM code, let’s look at this URL with UTM code example:

https://demo.reachapp.co/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=instagram

Let’s break this down:

https://demo.reachapp.co/: is the base URL of your page, you want to track how many new supporters you receive to this page

?: This signals to REACH, or any other analytics software, that a single or string of UTM parameters will follow

utm_medium=social: This is the first parameter, specifically for the type of channel the visitor came from. In this case, social media.

&: This denotes that another UTM parameter will follow

utm_source=instagram: This is the second and last parameter in this example, indicating the specific website the visitor came from. In this case, Instagram.

In this example, you’re saying that once a new supporter comes in from anyone who clicks this link, the traffic should be attributed to Instagram. The “medium” is social media, while the “source” is Instagram. The source of Instagram clearly labels that the URL was added in Instagram.

Example URLs with UTM parameters could be:

https://demo.reachapp.co/?utm_medium=email: This example UTM code will help you attribute any new donation or supporter to the email you sent.

https://demo.reachapp.co/?utm_campaign=30in30: This example UTM code will help you attribute any new donation or supporter as part of the 30 new donations/supporters in 30 days campaign you’re hosting.

https://demo.reachapp.co/?utm_term=sponsor+one+child: This example UTM code will help you attribute any visitors that came to your website using the keyword term sponsor one child in a paid search ad. 

Donations: Reporting on UTM Tracking#

When a supporter submits a donation, the UTM parameters passed via the URL are recorded in REACH as system tags and can be found on the individual donation record or when generating a Donation Details Report. 

On the individual donation, the UTM parameters are listed on the Donation Details screen, this can include single or multiple UTM parameters.

UTM parameters for donations can also be tracked on the Donation Details Report. This report can be generated by going to Reports > Donation Details Report. Choose any search parameters desired and then next to Donation tags, select your UTM parameters and click Search.

Supporters: Reporting on UTM Tracking#

When a new supporter is created due to a shared URL link, the UTM parameters passed via that URL are recorded in REACH as system tags and can be found on the individual supporter record or when generating a Supporters Report. 

On the individual supporters record, the UTM parameters are listed on the supporters Details tab under Tags. This can include single or multiple UTM parameters.

UTM parameters for new supporters can also be tracked on the Supporters Report. This report can be generated by going to Reports > Supporters Report. Choose any search parameters desired and then next to Supporter tags, select your UTM parameters and click Search.