When you launch an affiliate marketing program, a lot of time and attention goes into finding the right products to promote and managing your merchant list. But the fact is, you need to put just as much effort into your link-building strategy if you want to maximize affiliate earnings.
Adding UTM parameters to your affiliate links lets you track the effectiveness of each individual link, based on a number of factors. And Sovrn Commerce makes it easy to build, manage, and track the performance of your UTM-optimized affiliate links.
All about UTM parameters for affiliate links
Urchin Tracking Modules, more commonly known simply as “UTM” parameters, are short pieces of code that can be added to a URL to track important information about each individual link. When a user clicks on a link with UTM parameters, the UTM tags provide granular insights about exactly where that click came from.
As you develop your affiliate program, you’ll inevitably create a lot of links. You may promote the same product on several different pages and any number of channels — like your website, social media, email, paid ads, and more. You might use the same link in multiple campaigns or individual pieces of content.
Managing all those links (and tracking their performance) can get confusing in a hurry — unless you have the right tools.
Our Commerce platform lets you track affiliate link performance using five UTM parameters:
- utm_source identifies the advertiser, site, or publication that is sending traffic to your site.
- utm_medium shows the medium (or channel) that generated a click — e.g., email, CPC, or social.
- utm_campaign lets you flag an individual campaign name, tagline, or promo code.
- utm_term identifies paid search keywords used in a specific campaign.
- utm_content can be used to differentiate individual links or CTAs within a piece of content.
These UTM parameters let you break down performance data on every link, so you can easily assess what’s working — and what’s not. You can even append multiple UTM parameters to each affiliate link, to provide incredibly granular insights about link performance. This article provides more details and step-by-step instructions for setup.
Analyze your affiliate link performance
In order to maximize your affiliate earnings, it’s important to understand exactly which links are getting clicks and earning commissions. Sovrn Commerce lets you generate a customized CUID/UTM report to provide link-level performance metrics for your affiliate program.
The CUID/UTM report provides deep insights to help you analyze things like:
- Which products and merchants are resonating with your audience
- Which content, channels, and campaigns are performing best
- Which sources are bringing the most traffic to your site
You can even see exactly how much revenue you’ve earned on each combination of UTM parameters.
Report data is easy to sort and filter so you can uncover exactly the insights you need.
To build your CUID/UTM report, just visit the Analytics page (also called the Publisher Dashboard) in the Commerce platform and click on the “Reporting” button. Select the site(s) and desired timeframe for your report, then choose the CUID/UTM report from the list and click “Send.” Your report will be delivered directly to the email address on your account — usually within a matter of minutes. For more information and detailed instructions, check out this article.
Want to drive more affiliate revenue?
Sovrn Commerce is the fastest, most flexible way to earn through ecommerce and affiliate marketing. Our UTM tracking and reporting capabilities are just two of the many ways Sovrn can help you optimize your affiliate marketing strategy and maximize your affiliate revenue.
If you’re a current Sovrn Commerce affiliate partner, feel free to reach out with questions. Our support team is standing by to help you reach your audience and meet your revenue goals.
If you’re not already earning with Sovrn Commerce, sign up now! Once you complete the approval process, you can start earning right away.
