utm_medium
This parameter is easy. I find the best value for utm_medium is email. That’s it, nice and simple. utm_source
The source parameter is useful for tracking the type of email and the segment receiving the email message. utm_content
You can use the content parameter to identify different variations of an email message. For example, parents of high-school-aged children receiving a back-to-school campaign message may get a different themed email message than parents with grade-school-aged children. Some organizations like to use the utm_term parameter when tracking email. This provides a fifth parameter to hold more information about the email campaign, I personally do not like this method, as it adds nonkeyword data to keyword reports. If you choose to use utm_term to track email, be sure to add an include filter to any profiles that are used for search engine optimizations (SEOs) or CPC analysis.
With the rise in popularity of Google Analytics, many email vendors have integrated Google Analytics tracking. Most of the integrations include automatically adding the campaign tracking parameters to the links in your email message. Figure 9-9 shows the integration of Mail Chimp with Google Analytics.
Figure 9-9. Some tools, like Mail Chimp, will automatically tag email links for you
By default, Mail Chimp will use the current date for the campaign name, the email list name for the source, and a value of “email� for the medium. It will not use a value for utm_content. While this can be enormously helpful and save you much time, make sure the default values used by your email provider jive with your overall link tagging strategy. Check with your email provider to determine if it integrates with Google Analytics.
Tracking Email | 101