Tracking with UTM parameters
To identify the source of a lead, you can use UTM parameters. These small additions to your links help you track exactly whether the lead came from your website, an advertising banner or a flyer. In this guide, you will learn step by step how to use this feature to determine the origin of your leads.
What exactly are UTM parameters?
UTM parameters are small additions that are attached to links to track the source of a visitor or an action (e.g. a download). They help you identify exactly where the visit or interaction came from – for example, from a specific website, banner or QR code.
A UTM parameter looks like this:
https://www.meine-website.de/ratgeber?utm_source=flyer&utm_medium=qr-code
In this example:
- utm_source=flyer shows that the visit came from a flyer.
- utm_medium=qr-code indicates that the link was via a QR code on the flyer.
These parameters make it easy to see which sources and advertising measures are most successful.
Application examples
Lead source: Own ‘advice overview page’
You have a page on your website that lists all your guides and checklists. If you want to know how many downloads were generated via this page, you can track this with a UTM parameter in the link. For example, you could name the parameter ‘my-website’ to track the origin of the downloads accurately.
Lead source: Banner
Let's say you have placed a banner on ImmoScout that links to the guide ‘Private property sales’. If you want to find out how many downloads were generated by this banner, add a UTM parameter to the link in the banner, for example ‘immoscout-banner’. This allows you to clearly identify the downloads that come via this banner.
Lead source: QR code
Imagine you are advertising a guide on a flyer and have included a QR code on the flyer that links to this guide. If you add a UTM parameter to the QR code link, you can see exactly how many downloads were generated by the flyer with the QR code.
Detailed documentation
1. Implementing the UTM parameter on the desired page
To demonstrate implementation, we will go through all the steps using an example:
Example: You want to know how many downloads of the guide ‘Private property sales’ were generated via your own guide overview page. To do this, you implement a tracking parameter (UTM parameter) with the name ‘my-website’ in the link on the overview page, which redirects to the specific subpage of the guide ‘Private property sales’.
(This also works for an ImmoScout banner, QR code or other references to a landing page.)
💡 It is important that the UTM parameter is included in the link that redirects to the corresponding landing page where the download takes place.
How does this work?
- Go to the existing link on your website that redirects to the specific page of the guide ‘Private property sales’. The link will look similar to this code example:
<a href=‘https://www.immowissen.org/privater-immobilienverkauf’>To the guide</a>
- Adjust the link as described here:
<a href=‘https://www.immowissen.org/privater-immobilienverkauf?utm_source=meine-webseite’>To the guide</a>
The original link is now supplemented with a unique parameter ‘my-website’. Specifically, you need to add a UTM parameter to the link in the appropriate place → ?utm_source=my-website. If a property owner now accesses the landing page via this link and downloads a guide, you will see the lead source ‘my-website’ displayed separately in the agent app. This allows you to identify the source from which the lead was generated in future.
2. Displaying the lead source using the UTM parameter in the agent app
To view the success of individual lead sources, log in to the agent app.
- Go to the ‘Overview’ tab.
- There, go to ‘Interactions’.
- Click the arrow in the upper right corner.
- This will expand all your own lead sources and their success.
In our example, you can see that the guide ‘Private property sales’ has been downloaded four times. This means that four potential sellers accessed the specific download page ‘Private property sales’ via your ‘Guide overview page’. They then downloaded the guide there. You can see this from the interaction number ‘4’ next to the user-defined lead source ‘my-website’.
Possible applications of UTM parameters
We would be happy to show you possible areas of application for your own UTM parameters. However, these are only examples and do not represent the entire range of possibilities. They are only intended to give you an idea of what is possible with the parameters.
Your own advertising measures (A/B testing):
UTM parameters can be used to test the performance of different ads against each other. For example, the success of a blog post can be compared with a post in a forum. In this case, you want to test whether more downloads are generated via the blog post or the post in the forum for the guide ‘Private property sales’.
To do this, add the following parameter to the link in the blog that redirects to the ‘Private property sales’ page:
https://immspired.immowissen.dev/privater-immobilienverkauf?utm_source=blogeintrag
→ The original link is supplemented with ?utm_source=blogeintrag.
You can adjust the link in a forum post with the following parameter:
https://immspired.immowissen.dev/privater-immobilienverkauf?utm_source=forumseintrag
→ The original link is supplemented with ?utm_source=forum entry.
Now you can see in the BOTTIMMO app which guide download was generated via which source.
ImmoScout banner:
To test the success of a banner on ImmoScout, the link to which the banner refers (download page ‘Private property sale’) can be adjusted as follows:
https://immspired.immowissen.dev/privater-immobilienverkauf?utm_source=immoscout_banner
→ The link of the ImmoScout banner is supplemented with ?utm_source=immoscout_banner.
The estate agent can then see in the app how many downloads of the guide ‘Private property sales’ were generated via the ImmoScout banner.
In summary
To measure the success of an advertising campaign, all you need to do is add a UTM parameter to the link that leads to the page with the download option.