Why Attributer doesn’t just capture raw UTM parameters

Attributer is designed to be a wholistic marketing attribution tool rather than just a raw UTM capturing tool. It is designed to capture information both on people who come via paid channels with UTM parameters, as well as people who come from organic channels like Organic Search, Organic Social, Referral, etc.

As a result, our data structure has predefined Channels (that are very similar to the channels you see in Google Analytics) in order to properly capture information on people who arrive at your site from organic channels.

Read the rest of the article to understand what UTM parameters Attributer does and doesn’t capture.

Raw UTM Parameters we don’t capture

Attributer doesn’t capture the raw data from the UTM Medium parameter. Instead, we use that parameter to determine what Channel the user has come from. Some examples below:

• If UTM Medium = paidsearch then we consider that to be from the Paid Search channel and would write ‘Paid Search’ into the Channel field
• If UTM Medium = paidsocial then we consider that to be from the Paid Social channel and would write ‘Paid Search’ into the Channel field
• If UTM Medium = email then we consider that to be from the Email Marketing channel and would write ‘Email Marketing’ into the Channel field
• If UTM Medium = affiliates then we consider that to be from the Affiliates channel and would write ‘Affiliates’ into the Channel field
  

So whilst we don’t capture the raw value of the UTM_Medium parameter, there is a relatively close match between the values you would commonly use in the UTM_Medium field and the Channels Attributer maps them to.

For a full breakdown of how Attributer categories visitors into Channels, see this article.

Raw UTM Parameters we do capture

If a visitor is determined to be from a paid channel (which includes Paid Search, Paid Social, Email Marketing, Display, Affiliates & Other Campaigns), then we capture the value of UTM Source, Campaign, Term & Content parameters.

This data is captured in the Channel Drilldown fields as follows:

• Channel Drilldown 1 is populated by the value of the UTM Source parameter
• Channel Drilldown 2 is populated by the value of the UTM Campaign parameter
• Channel Drilldown 3 is populated by the value of the UTM Term parameter
• Channel Drilldown 4 is populated by the value of the UTM Content parameter

For more information on what data gets written into the Channel Drilldown fields, see this article.

Note that the Channel Drilldown 4 field is an optional field you can add if you need to capture the UTM Content parameter. You can read more here.

Customising the data that gets sent to your tools

If Attributer’s Channel structure isn’t working for you, it is possible to customize it (in a way).

While you cannot edit the rules for how Attributer categories visitors or what data gets captured in the fields, you can manipulate it before it reaches your CRM (or even once it’s inside your CRM).

To learn more about how to use Attributer to create a custom attribution system for your business, check out this article.