Newsletter
Know which send and which button bring visits and sales.
- One campaign per send
- utm_content to tell apart two links in the same email
- A cleaner short link in the plain-text version
Free UTM builder
Create your UTM links and see which campaign works
Add UTM parameters to your links and find every newsletter, post or poster in your analytics.
- Free, no sign-up
- Read by Google Analytics 4, Matomo, Plausible
What are UTM parameters for?
Without UTMs, a visit from your newsletter looks like any direct visit. With them, every link says where it comes from.
Know what pays off
Every visit, sign-up or sale is tied to the campaign that drove it. You know where to put your budget back.
Compare your channels
Newsletter, Instagram, poster or paid ad: you compare their results side by side, with the same rules.
Nothing to set up
Google Analytics 4, Matomo, Plausible and most analytics tools read UTMs on their own, from the very first visit.
The 5 UTM parameters
Three parameters are enough to track a campaign. The other two refine your analysis when you need it.
| Parameter | What it does | Example | In this tool |
|---|---|---|---|
| utm_source | The exact place the visitor comes from: a website, a network, a mailing list. | newsletter | Required |
| utm_medium | The type of channel: email, social network, paid ad, printed material. | Required | |
| utm_campaign | The operation the link belongs to: a launch, a sale, an event. | summer_sale | Required |
| utm_term | The keyword bought in a paid search campaign. | running_shoes | Optional |
| utm_content | What sets apart two links of the same campaign: two buttons, two visuals, two formats. | top_button | Optional |
Google Analytics 4 also accepts utm_id, the campaign ID used to import cost data. Add it to your destination URL: the tool keeps it.
Best practices
Badly named UTMs scatter one campaign across several report rows. These five rules prevent it.
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01
Everything in lowercase
UTM values are case-sensitive: “Newsletter” and “newsletter” become two sources in your reports.
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02
A written convention
Decide once and for all: source = platform, medium = type of channel, campaign = operation. Share the rule with the whole team.
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03
No spaces
A space becomes %20 in the link. Use an underscore or a hyphen instead: summer_sale, summer-sale.
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04
Never on your internal links
A UTM link between two pages of your own site replaces the real origin of the visit in your reports. Keep UTMs for links that point to your site from elsewhere.
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05
Recognized mediums
Google Analytics 4 sorts traffic into channels based on the medium: email, social, cpc. An unknown medium, such as print, ends up in “Unassigned”, but stays readable in the source / medium report.
Use cases
Wherever you post a link to your site, a UTM tells you what it brought in.
Social media
Compare Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook with the same rules, post by post.
- One source per network, the social medium
- utm_content for the format or the post
- The same UTM link in your bio and your stories
Printed QR code
A poster, a flyer or a shop window become measurable: the QR code carries the UTM link.
- The print medium for your printed materials
- One utm_content per placement
- A dynamic QR code to change the link without reprinting
Paid campaign
Find every ad in your reports, whatever the ad network.
- The cpc medium for paid traffic
- utm_term for the keyword you bought
- utm_content for each ad variant
Frequently asked questions
What is a UTM parameter?
A small label added to the end of a link, such as ?utm_source=newsletter. It does not change the page displayed: it tells your analytics tool where the visitor comes from.
What is the difference between a UTM link and a short link?
They work together. UTMs tell your analytics tool where the visit comes from; the short link makes a long UTM link easy to share. A Reco.to short link passes on every parameter of the destination URL, UTMs included, but not the anchor (#). If the URL has no utm_source, Reco.to adds utm_source=reco.to. Reco.to statistics count the clicks on the short link; the UTMs are read in your analytics tool. Discover the link shortener
Does Google Analytics 4 read UTMs?
Yes, with no setup at all. The values appear in the acquisition reports, under “Session source / medium” and “Session campaign”. Matomo, Plausible and most analytics tools read them too.
Do capital letters matter?
Yes. “Facebook” and “facebook” are two different values for Google Analytics, so two rows in your reports. Write everything in lowercase: the tool flags it and fixes it in one click.
What is utm_id for?
It is the Google Analytics 4 campaign ID, used to import cost data or link a campaign to other data. It is optional: add it to your destination URL and the tool keeps it as is.
Can I put UTMs on links within my own site?
No. A click on an internal UTM link replaces the real origin of the visit: a sale that came from Google would be credited to your banner. To measure your internal links, use the events of your analytics tool.
Can a QR code contain a UTM link?
Yes, it is even the only way to know which visits come from printed material. The longer the link, the denser the QR code: a short link keeps the code easy to scan. Create a free QR code
Are my links sent or stored?
No. The link is built by your browser: nothing is sent to Reco.to unless you create a short link yourself in your account.
A short link, a QR code and statistics for every campaign.
With a free Reco.to account, your UTM links become short links and QR codes whose clicks you can count. No credit card required.
Create a free account
The UTM builder itself stays free, with no account.