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utm_id tracking with Adobe Analytics

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Hello, 

 

I don't have access to any AA account, but I am preparing a guide to track UTM parameters (mainly utm_id) with AA to be able to use it as dimension in reports. Based on various sources I found and discussions with AI bots, I have these steps:

  1. Go to your Adobe Analytics account and navigate to the Admin section.
  2. Click on the Tracking Code option.
  3. In the Tracking Code section, click on the Edit button next to the tracking code for your website.
  4. In the Tracking Code editor, find the section that defines the s.campaigns variable.
  5. Add the tracking code to the s.campaigns variable: utm_id
  6. Save the tracking code and publish it to your website.

Could you please confirm that these steps are correct? Are there any blockers or variations? Is anybody able to provide me with screenshots from AA?

 

Thank you in advance.

1 Reply

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Community Advisor

I have literally never done that... in fact, I can't even find such as section in my Admin settings... the only area I know for Tracking Code configuration is in the Custom Conversion area, but this really just allows you to rename it and change the allocation:

Jennifer_Dungan_1-1689177626927.png

 

 

If you want to track multiple UTMs (and concatenate them into a sensible order that you can parse), you can do what I do....

 

If you only have utm_id, may I ask why you are using the UTM designation at all? utm_id would be a completely custom parameter, it's not part of the standard utm items.. you could just use Adobe's default "cid" if you are planning an all-in-one parameter... it doesn't matter, you can use utm_id, it's just that utm is a callback to the original GA name "Urchin" (urchin tracking module).

I can understand adding additional UTMs to fit into an existing UTM strategy... since then the campaigns will work in both GA and Adobe without everyone needing to double campaign everything

 

 

Anyway, assuming you are using standard and custom UTMs (like we are):

 

First, in Adobe Launch, I create Query String Parameter Data Elements for each UTM I want to track.

 

Then I create a Custom Code Data Element, and I use JavaScript to pull in each of the above Data Elements (i.e. var utm_id = _satellite.getVar('utm_id');  // or whatever names I used).

The I use JS to check if they have values, then I create concatenation rules... this will depend on you.. some people just like to use specific positions for elements such as:

source_medium_campaign_type_content

and if one of them is missing, either replace with nothing, or an na placeholder (source_medium_campaign__content or source_medium_campaign_na_content)

 

or some people like to create keyvalue pairs only for what is populated such as:

s:source,m:medium,c:campaign

 

Either way, the final concatenation should be something you can easily parse with Regex if you need to extract specific values.

 

And if there isn't ANY campaigns, this Data Element just returns an empty string ""

 

 

Once you have your final Tracking Code Data Element, just pass it to the Campaign Field in your Page View Rule(s):

Jennifer_Dungan_0-1689177417050.png

 

You only need to pass this on the Page View.. because the attribution is 1 week your clicks and all subsequent hits will get the value through processing, and you will want to be able to distinguish the "instance" (the initial page load with the campaign) vs the "attributed" (all other hits)