Via a click-in channel, a user enters – often for the first time – a website or an online shop. In online marketing, companies use various channels to address users and encourage them to visit the site (see also: Multichannel and Omnichannel).
Examples of click-in channels are:
- Ads in search engines (see also: SEA), e.g. Google Ads, Google Shopping ads
- Organic search results (see also: SEO)
- Display Advertising (advertising banner)
- E-mail marketing, e.g. newsletter
- Social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
- Price search engines
- Affiliate marketing
- Blogs
- Direct Type-in (direct access to the website by entering the URL)
The click-in channel is also important for personalization measures. If the channel by which the user comes to the site is known, personalization can already be carried out. Based on the channels, target groups can be identified and addressed personally with various actions. For example, bargain hunters, who come to the shop from price search engines, are a possible buyer group: This type of user is most likely to be attracted by a reference to a reduced-price offer.
UTM parameters can be used to track which channel the user uses to reach the website. For this purpose, a list of parameters is stored e.g. in Google Analytics, each channel receives its own parameter. For a Facebook post, the entire URL would look like this: http://www.examplewebsite.de/articleexample/utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social-media
These parameters have several advantages:
UTM parameters are clearly identifiable and can be directly assigned to a specific channel. This allows the users to be segmented and addressed individually, but it also provides a clear advantage for the analysis and performance measurement of individual campaigns.
The depth of tracking can be determined by the advertiser himself and should be based on the advertising campaigns planned for this purpose.
For example, it may sometimes be sufficient to use the source (e.g. social media), but it can also be useful to select a specific channel (e.g. Facebook) or even specific campaigns.