# UTM Parameters in AcelleMail — Tracking Clicks to Your Analytics Tool > Configure UTM tags once in your campaign settings — AcelleMail appends them to every link in the email automatically. This guide walks the campaign-level + global UTM settings, the post-send click report, and how the UTMs land in Google Analytics or Plausible. - Canonical URL: https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/setting-up-utm-parameters-for-email-campaign-tracking - Author: Ryan Walsh, Audience & Analytics Editor - Category: Analytics & Reporting — Open rates, click maps, campaign performance, device reports, exports - Content type: tutorial · Difficulty: beginner - Tags: Acellemail - Published: 2026-01-25 · Last updated: 2026-08-15 - Reading time: 8 min - Publisher: AcelleMail Knowledge Base, https://acellesend.com/kb --- ## Why UTMs and where they go UTM parameters are query-string tags appended to your campaign's outbound links — `?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spring_launch` — that your analytics tool (Google Analytics, Plausible, Fathom, Matomo) reads to attribute traffic + conversions back to the email that drove them. Without UTMs, every click from your email shows up as **(direct) / (none)** in analytics. With UTMs, you see "spring_launch newsletter drove 1,847 sessions and 312 conversions" — the kind of report you can defend in a quarterly review. The good news: AcelleMail handles this for you at the campaign level. Set it once, every link gets tagged. ## Set UTMs in the campaign builder ### 1. Open campaign settings → URL parameters When you create or edit a campaign, the **Tracking** (or **URL parameters**) section in campaign settings has fields for the standard UTM keys: - **utm_source** — where the click came from. For email: usually `newsletter` or your brand name like `acellemail`. - **utm_medium** — the channel. Almost always `email` for AcelleMail-driven sends. - **utm_campaign** — the specific campaign identifier — `spring_launch_2026`, `weekly_digest_w17`, `cart_abandonment_v3`. - **utm_term** (optional) — usually paid-search specific, sometimes used for segment-of-list identification. - **utm_content** (optional) — variant identifier — `header_cta` vs `footer_cta` to A/B test which link position pulls more. A standard configuration: ``` utm_source: newsletter utm_medium: email utm_campaign: spring_launch_2026 ``` Click **Save**. AcelleMail will append these to every link in the email automatically — you don't need to add `?utm_source=...` to each individual `` in the body. ### 2. Verify in Preview Open the email Preview, hover over any link — the URL shown at the bottom of the screen will include the UTM query string. If you don't see it: - Check that **Tracking** is enabled in the campaign settings (some installs default it off) - The link is to your own domain (some setups skip UTM-tagging on external partner links) - The URL doesn't already have query parameters that conflict (AcelleMail will append `&utm_source=...` rather than overwrite) ## Read the click report after sending ### Tracking log — per-click audit Campaign → **Tracking log** tab shows every action (open, click, bounce) with timestamp + subscriber: ![Tracking log — per-event audit](https://acellesend.com/plugins/acelle/landing/images/help/kb/analytics/03-tracking-log.png) For UTM verification, find a Click row → the destination URL stored is the original link (without UTMs) — AcelleMail tracks the *click event* server-side via the redirect, then forwards the user to the URL *with* UTMs appended. ### Click log — link-level click breakdown The **Click log** tab focuses on click events specifically: ![Click log per subscriber](https://acellesend.com/plugins/acelle/landing/images/help/kb/analytics/04-click-log.png) ### Links report — aggregated per-link totals The **Links report** rolls everything up — per-link click count + unique clickers: ![Links report — per-link aggregate](https://acellesend.com/plugins/acelle/landing/images/help/kb/analytics/06-links-report.png) This is the most useful view for content optimization: "Did our footer CTA outperform the header CTA?" → look at the per-link click count. ### Click map — visualisation of where clicks went The **Click map** overlays click counts on the rendered email: ![Click map overlay](https://acellesend.com/plugins/acelle/landing/images/help/kb/analytics/02-click-map.png) The heatmap tells you the same thing as the Links report, but visually — useful for layout decisions ("our main button is below the fold; almost all clicks come from the inline text link above"). ### Campaign overview — top-line metrics The campaign **Overview** tab shows the summary: ![Campaign overview](https://acellesend.com/plugins/acelle/landing/images/help/kb/analytics/01-campaign-overview.png) This is what you screenshot for stakeholder reports — open rate, click rate, unsubscribe rate, all aggregated. ## How the UTMs show up in Google Analytics After the campaign sends and recipients click, your analytics tool (GA4 / Plausible / etc.) starts recording sessions with the source = `newsletter` / medium = `email` / campaign = `spring_launch_2026`. In Google Analytics 4: **Reports → Acquisition → Traffic Acquisition** → filter by `Session source / medium = newsletter / email`. In Plausible: filter by `Source = newsletter` directly on the dashboard. The UTMs persist across page navigations within the session, so even if the recipient clicks your email → lands on /pricing → navigates to /signup → converts, the conversion is attributed back to the email. ## Common UI signals + fixes | Symptom | Likely cause | UI fix | |---|---|---| | Click count on AcelleMail report doesn't match analytics-tool sessions | UTM-tagged links going through redirect strip the UTMs at some hop | Verify the destination URL in Preview hovers — should still have UTMs after AcelleMail's click-redirect | | Multiple campaigns showing up as same source in analytics | Same `utm_campaign` value used for both sends | Use unique `utm_campaign` per send — include week or version number | | utm_source = `(direct)` in GA despite UTMs being set | Analytics drops UTMs on HTTPS → HTTP redirects, OR JS-driven SPAs that don't read URL params | Make sure your destination uses HTTPS end-to-end; if SPA, configure your analytics tool to read query string on every route change | | Want to A/B test header vs footer CTA | Use `utm_content` differently per variant — `header_cta` vs `footer_cta` | But: AcelleMail's campaign-level setting applies one `utm_content` to all links; need link-level override (see Advanced) | ## Common UTM conventions worth adopting | Field | Recommended pattern | Why | |---|---|---| | `utm_source` | One per-channel identifier, lowercase, hyphenated | Stays consistent across years; "newsletter" works forever | | `utm_medium` | Always `email` for AcelleMail sends | Standard convention; analytics tools group it predictably | | `utm_campaign` | `{campaign_type}_{date_or_version}_{variant}` | `cart_abandon_2026q2_a` is parseable + sortable | | `utm_content` | Variant identifier when A/B testing | `header_cta` vs `footer_cta`; `button_red` vs `button_green` | | `utm_term` | Only when running paid keyword tests in parallel | Usually leave blank for organic email |
Advanced: per-link overrides, dynamic UTM via merge tags, integration patterns When the campaign-level UTMs aren't granular enough — typically when you're A/B testing within a single send, or when you need per-recipient personalization in the UTM itself — drop to link-level overrides. **Per-link override in the email body:** Click any link in the AcelleMail builder → right panel → **Tracking** section. Toggle "Override campaign UTMs for this link". Set per-link values: ``` header CTA: utm_source: newsletter utm_medium: email utm_campaign: spring_launch_2026 utm_content: header_cta footer CTA: utm_source: newsletter utm_medium: email utm_campaign: spring_launch_2026 utm_content: footer_cta ``` This gives you two click reports in your analytics tool, both attributed to spring_launch_2026, but you can break down which CTA pulled more. **Dynamic UTM via merge tag** (per-recipient personalization): Write the link directly in HTML mode with the merge tag in the URL: ```html Upgrade your plan ``` Now `utm_term` = `pro` or `enterprise` per recipient. Useful for cohort analysis in GA4: "did the click-to-upgrade rate differ across plan tiers?" **Server-side click-to-conversion attribution:** If you're running your own backend (e.g. a Laravel app, a Next.js app), capture UTMs server-side at first request and persist them in the session or a cookie: ```php // Laravel middleware example if ($request->has('utm_source')) { session([ 'first_touch' => [ 'source' => $request->get('utm_source'), 'medium' => $request->get('utm_medium'), 'campaign' => $request->get('utm_campaign'), 'landed_at' => now(), ], ]); } ``` Then attach to the conversion event when the user signs up or purchases. This sidesteps analytics-tool quirks (especially the GA4 referrer-detection limits) for your most important conversions. **Integration with Plausible / Fathom (privacy-friendly analytics):** Both read the standard UTM query-string params with no extra configuration. Filter the dashboard by **Source = newsletter** to see all email-driven traffic; further filter by **Campaign = spring_launch_2026** for per-campaign attribution. No GA4 setup ceremony required. **AcelleMail API to populate UTM values dynamically per campaign:** If you create campaigns programmatically (e.g. from a marketing-automation backend), the campaign update endpoint accepts the UTM fields: ```bash curl -X PATCH "https://acellemail.com/api/v1/campaigns/{campaign_uid}" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACELLE_TOKEN" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "track_open": true, "track_click": true, "url_tags": { "utm_source": "newsletter", "utm_medium": "email", "utm_campaign": "weekly_digest_w17", "utm_content": "auto_generated" } }' ``` Useful for: triggered campaigns where the campaign name encodes a date (`weekly_digest_w17` → week 17), automated A/B variant naming, or syncing UTM conventions across many campaigns in bulk. **Disabling AcelleMail's click-redirect** — by default, AcelleMail's tracker rewrites every link to a tracking redirect (e.g. `https://acellemail.com/c/abc123/d/xyz`) so it can count the click before forwarding. The UTMs survive the forward. If you need raw direct links (e.g. for a press release where the URL should be pristine), turn off click tracking per campaign: campaign settings → **Tracking** → uncheck **Track click** → UTMs are still appended, but no redirect hop.
## Related articles - [Email analytics — beyond open and click rates](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/understanding-email-analytics-and-key-metrics) - [Email template design — best practices](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/email-template-design-best-practices) - [A/B testing email campaigns — best practices](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/ab-testing-email-subject-lines-for-better-open-rates) - [Personalization beyond first name — advanced merge tags](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/personalization-beyond-first-name-advanced-merge-tags) --- ## Related articles - [Open Rates + Apple MPP: What AcelleMail's Numbers Actually Mean](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/understanding-email-open-rates-in-the-age-of-apple-mpp): Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates 30-45% of your "opens" by pre-fetching pixels. This guide shows how to spot MPP inflation in AcelleMail (open-log IPs), what to measure instead, and how to adjust your A/B tests + reporting. - [Email Campaign ROI: Math + AcelleMail Data Points](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/email-roi-calculation-measuring-campaign-profitability): Email ROI = (Revenue − Cost) / Cost. This guide shows the math, which AcelleMail data points feed each variable, the costs people forget to count, and a working revenue-attribution pattern using UTMs + your store. - [Read the Campaign Report: AcelleMail Analytics Tour](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/understanding-email-analytics-and-key-metrics): AcelleMail's campaign report has 6 tabs (Overview / Insights / Links / Map / Sending logs / Email review) and 5 headline metrics. This walkthrough shows where each metric lives, what 'good' looks like, and what to do when a number's bad. - [A/B Report Deep Dive: Reading AcelleMail Test Results](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/comparative-campaign-analysis-ab-test-results-deep-dive): After your A/B test finishes, the A/B Report tab tells you the winner — but the real value is in the variant-level numbers. This guide walks through the report, the statistical-significance rules, and what to do for winner / inconclusive / loss verdicts. - [Click Analysis in AcelleMail: Links Tab + Geographic Click Map](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/click-map-analysis-optimize-your-email-layout): AcelleMail has two views for click analysis: the Links tab (per-link breakdown — which CTA worked) and the Map tab (geographic distribution). This walkthrough shows both and tells you which to read for what question.