Published on 2025-06-29T17:37:10Z

What is UTM Medium? Definition and Examples

The UTM Medium parameter (utm_medium) is a key component in campaign tracking and analytics. It specifies the marketing medium—such as email, CPC, social, or referral—through which traffic arrives at your website. By tagging your URLs with utm_medium, you can segment traffic by channel in analytics platforms, attributing conversions accurately and optimizing your marketing mix. Tools like UTMguru streamline the generation and management of UTM tags, while privacy-focused analytics services like plainsignal can record and analyze tagged visits without cookies. Consistent use of clear, lowercase medium values helps maintain data integrity and enables reliable cross-channel comparisons.

Illustration of Utm medium
Illustration of Utm medium

Utm medium

UTM Medium (`utm_medium`) defines the marketing channel (email, cpc, social, etc.) to attribute and segment campaign traffic accurately.

Definition and Role of UTM Medium

This section explains what the UTM Medium parameter is and why it is essential for campaign attribution and traffic segmentation in analytics.

  • What is utm medium?

    The UTM Medium parameter (utm_medium) identifies the marketing channel or medium driving traffic, such as email, social, cpc (cost per click), or referral. It works alongside other UTM tags to build a complete picture of user acquisition.

  • Why utm medium matters

    By specifying the medium, analytics platforms can group sessions and conversions by channel, allowing marketers to compare performance across email, paid search, social, and more.

  • Common medium examples

    Typical values include email, cpc, social, referral, and organic. Choosing standardized, lowercase names prevents data fragmentation.

Implementing UTM Medium in Campaigns

Learn how to generate and manage UTM Medium values using manual methods and SaaS tools to ensure consistency and efficiency.

  • Using utmguru for utm generation

    UTMguru.com provides a UTM builder and generator, allowing you to create utm_medium tags, save them for future reference, and use its Chrome extension to apply tags directly to URLs.

  • Manual url tagging

    Append ?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spring_sale to your URLs manually. Ensure proper encoding and consistent naming conventions.

  • Tracking with plainsignal

    Integrate utm_medium with PlainSignal’s cookie-free analytics by including their script in your page. PlainSignal will capture and report on UTM parameters without relying on cookies.

    • Plainsignal setup code: 
      <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>

Examples of UTM Medium Usage

Practical examples of how different mediums are tagged and why choosing the right medium is critical for accurate reporting.

  • Email campaigns

    Use utm_medium=email for newsletters, drip campaigns, and other email-based communications to distinguish this traffic from other channels.

    • Lifecycle emails:

      Tag onboarding or re-engagement emails with utm_medium=email and specific campaigns to measure conversion at each stage.

  • Paid search (cpc)

    Assign utm_medium=cpc for Google Ads or Bing Ads to track cost-per-click campaigns separately from organic search.

  • Social media ads

    Use utm_medium=social or utm_medium=paid_social for Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn ads to analyze social advertising ROI.

Best Practices and Common Mistakes

Guidelines to ensure your UTM Medium tagging yields clean, actionable data and pitfalls to avoid.

  • Maintain consistency

    Always use lowercase, hyphens instead of spaces, and a predefined list of mediums to prevent data fragmentation.

  • Avoid overlapping mediums

    Don’t use social and paid_social interchangeably. Define discrete medium values to avoid ambiguous reporting.

  • Check for typos

    Misspelled medium names (e.g., emial instead of email) create orphaned traffic data. Verify tags before deployment.

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