What is a UTM link? (and how to tell which post sold)
A UTM link is your normal web address with a few labels added at the end, so your analytics tool can tell you whether a sale came from a reel, a story or a WhatsApp message.
The problem it solves
You post a Diwali reel, a story and a WhatsApp broadcast on the same day. Three orders arrive. Which one worked? Without labels, every click just looks like "someone came to the store." A UTM link is how you add those labels.
What a UTM link looks like
A UTM link is a normal address with extra words attached after a question mark. For example:
yourbrand.in/shop?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=reel&utm_campaign=diwali-reel
Break it into parts:
- utm_source says where the click came from, like instagram or whatsapp.
- utm_medium says the type of placement, like reel, story or broadcast.
- utm_campaign names the effort, like diwali-reel.
The page the shopper sees is the same as before. The labels simply travel along in the address, and an analytics tool that understands them records them.
Reading the result
Say you tag three links:
- source=instagram, medium=reel, campaign=diwali-reel
- source=instagram, medium=story, campaign=diwali-story
- source=whatsapp, medium=broadcast, campaign=diwali-broadcast
After a week you open your analytics report and look at where visits and purchases came from, grouped by source or campaign. If the broadcast label shows more visits than the story label, you learn where your people actually pay attention. That is useful for deciding where to spend your limited time.
The exact screens depend on the analytics tool you use, so check its own help pages for where campaign reports live. For a simple setup on your own store, see connecting Google Analytics to your store.
What I am not claiming
I have not confirmed that Varchas Stores itself reads these labels or shows a built-in report for them, so do not expect a UTM screen in the admin. The labels are read by the analytics tool you connect, not by the store. If you want a shorter, friendlier explanation of the same idea, what is a UTM link for small sellers covers it from another angle, and how to tell which Instagram post brought an order has a no-tools alternative.
Naming rules that save you pain
Analytics tools treat different spellings as different things. So pick a style and keep to it.
- Use lowercase only. Instagram and instagram can show up as two rows.
- Use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Keep a small list of names in a note on your phone and reuse them.
- Make the campaign name something you will recognise in three months, like diwali-reel rather than reel1.
Where to put the link
Remember that Instagram captions do not make links clickable, so tagged links belong in places that do: your bio link, your story link sticker, your WhatsApp messages and your emails. Use a different tagged link in each place, and then you can compare them.
A small warning
Do not stuff personal details into a link. Customer names, phone numbers or order details should never be part of the address, because links get forwarded and saved. Labels should describe the post, not the person.
Where to start
Pick your next post. Write down the source, medium and campaign you will use. Build the link by hand, paste it where people will click, and check after a few days. If the numbers show up in your analytics tool, you have a working habit. If not, recheck spelling first, since that is the most common slip.