Why are my UTM parameters appearing as different campaigns in Usermaven?
Some users may notice that what they consider to be a single UTM campaign is showing up as multiple distinct campaigns on their Usermaven dashboard. This issue often occurs when using special characters or spaces in UTM parameters. Here's why this happens and how to resolve it.
Understanding the issue
The problem arises because different browsers and systems may encode special characters and spaces in URLs differently. For example:
- Spaces might be encoded as "%20", "+" or left as a space " "
- Special characters like "|" might be encoded or left as - is
Usermaven stores UTM parameters exactly as they appear in the browser, without any post-processing. This means that slight variations in encoding can result in what should be a single campaign appearing as multiple separate campaigns in your analytics.
Example
Consider these three variations of the same intended UTM campaign:
- TikTok%20|%20Smart%20Performance%20Campaign%20|%20Purchase%20|%20July%202024
- TikTok | Smart Performance Campaign | Purchase | July 2024
- TikTok+|+Smart+Performance+Campaign+|+Purchase+|+July+2024
Despite being intended as the same campaign, these would appear as three distinct campaigns in Usermaven due to the different encodings.
How to resolve this?
To ensure consistent tracking of your campaigns:
- Avoid using special characters in UTM parameters. Replace them with underscores or remove them entirely.
- Use underscores (_) instead of spaces in UTM parameters.
- Stick to alphanumeric characters as much as possible.
For example, instead of:
utm_campaign=TikTok | Smart Performance Campaign | Purchase | July 2024
Use:
utm_campaign=TikTok_Smart_Performance_Campaign_Purchase_July_2024
By following these guidelines, you'll ensure that your UTM parameters remain consistent across different browsers and systems, leading to more accurate campaign tracking in Usermaven.
Additional tips
- Always preview your UTM-tagged URLs before using them in campaigns to ensure they're encoded correctly.
- We recommend using Usermaven's free UTM builder tool for this. If you're using a different URL builder tool, make sure it's configured to encode parameters consistently.
- Regularly review your campaign data in Usermaven to catch and correct any inconsistencies early.
By following these best practices, you can avoid the issue of split campaigns and get more accurate, consolidated data for your marketing efforts in Usermaven.
