What are UTM parameters and why do we use them?

UTM Parameters (stands for "Urchin Tracking Module") are a set of codes attached to a website URL that allow digital marketers and e-commerce business owners to track visitors to their website from various sources and media platforms across the internet. The start of a UTM code in a website URL is designated by a "?" symbol, and usually looks something like the following:

Using the above URL on a Facebook ad would make it so that when I check my Shopify Reports for my store (example.com), I would be able to see that the utm_source is "Facebook", and the utm_medium is "paid" for every visitor that found my site by clicking on the above link. UTM codes are a very useful tool for tracking your visitors, however, just using UTM codes alone without using Cometly will cause major gaps in your ad tracking.

This is because if a visitor comes back to your store later on WITHOUT any UTMs in the URL on their next visit, your Shopify reports will record this sale as a "Direct Visit" and you will not be able to see where the sale came from. With Cometly, our pixel will be able to remember all of your visitors (including visitors coming back on a different device) so if they ever come back to your store and make a purchase as a "direct visitor" Cometly will remember them and be able to attribute the sale to the correct FB ad.

Cometly uses an advanced UTM code, {{ad.id}}, so that the Comet Pixel will know exactly which FB ad each of your visitors clicked on. You can use this {{ad.id}} code on one of the following 5 main UTM Parameters (it does not matter which one):

Now that you know exactly what UTMs are, how they work, and why they are so important, lets make sure you get each of your ad's UTM parameters set up perfectly for tracking with Cometly!