Published on 2025-06-29T18:34:12Z

What is a Custom Campaign? Examples, Tools, and Best Practices

Custom Campaigns in campaign tracking & analytics are specialized URLs tagged with parameters that allow marketers to measure the performance of individual marketing initiatives. By appending UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) parameters such as utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign to links, you can attribute incoming traffic to specific campaigns, channels, or creative elements. Tools like utmguru.com simplify the process of building, managing, and storing UTM URLs, while analytics platforms such as Plainsignal capture and report on these parameters in a privacy-focused, cookie-free manner. Custom Campaigns provide actionable insights into which marketing efforts drive the most engagement, conversions, and ROI. Implementing a consistent tagging strategy ensures data accuracy and enables teams to make data-driven decisions across digital channels.

Illustration of Custom campaign
Illustration of Custom campaign

Custom campaign

Tagged URLs using UTM parameters that track and attribute marketing campaign performance across channels.

Understanding Custom Campaigns

Custom Campaigns are URLs enhanced with query parameters to provide detailed tracking and attribution of marketing activities.

  • Definition

    A Custom Campaign is a method of tagging your marketing URLs with UTM parameters to identify the source, medium, and campaign name driving traffic to your site.

  • Core utm parameters

    Custom Campaigns typically use these standard UTM parameters to capture essential data for analysis:

    • Utm_source:

      Identifies the origin of your traffic, such as a newsletter name or search engine.

    • Utm_medium:

      Specifies the marketing medium, for example email, cpc, or social.

    • Utm_campaign:

      Defines the individual campaign name, like summer_sale or product_launch.

    • Utm_term:

      Used to note paid search keywords for more granular keyword-level tracking.

    • Utm_content:

      Differentiates similar content or links within the same campaign, such as header_link or footer_cta.

Why Use Custom Campaigns?

Implementing Custom Campaigns empowers marketers with precise insights into campaign performance.

  • Accurate attribution

    Tagging URLs ensures you know exactly which marketing efforts drive traffic and conversions.

  • Performance comparison

    Compare the effectiveness of different channels, creatives, or audience segments side by side.

  • Granular reporting

    Access detailed views of campaign data at the source, medium, term, and content levels for deeper analysis.

Building Custom Campaign URLs

Custom Campaign URLs can be constructed manually or with the help of dedicated tools to minimize errors and save time.

  • Manual query string assembly

    Append UTM parameters directly to your URLs using the correct syntax.

  • Using utmguru.com

    utmguru.com streamlines URL tagging with a user-friendly interface and helpful features:

    • Utm builder:

      Guided form to enter and validate source, medium, campaign, term, and content values.

    • Url generator:

      Instantly generate properly formatted UTM URLs without manual string assembly.

    • Saved templates:

      Store frequently used parameter sets for quick access and consistency.

    • Chrome extension:

      Tag links on the fly without leaving your browser, directly from any webpage.

Implementing Tracking with Plainsignal

PlainSignal offers a lightweight, privacy-focused analytics solution that automatically captures UTM parameters.

  • Installation snippet

    Include the following code on your site to enable PlainSignal tracking:

    <link rel="preconnect" href="//eu.plainsignal.com/" crossorigin />
<script defer data-do="yourwebsitedomain.com" data-id="0GQV1xmtzQQ" data-api="//eu.plainsignal.com" src="//cdn.plainsignal.com/plainsignal-min.js"></script>

  • Tracking utm parameters

    PlainSignal automatically logs common UTM values and presents them in the ‘Campaigns’ view of the dashboard for easy filtering.

Best Practices and Common Pitfalls

Adhering to best practices ensures reliable data and avoids common mistakes when using Custom Campaigns.

  • Consistent naming

    Use lowercase, hyphens or underscores, and descriptive terms to maintain uniform tags across campaigns.

  • Avoid parameter reuse

    Do not recycle campaign parameters for different initiatives to prevent data overlap and misattribution.

  • Test your urls

    Validate tagged URLs by performing test visits and reviewing data in your analytics tool before going live.

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