The Ultimate Guide to Tracking

Everything you need to know about the fall of UTMs and Third-Party data

The problem with UTMs

Since the early days of the internet, marketers have relied on basic tracking methods like cookies and UTMs to understand where traffic comes from and how users engage with their content.

At the time, these tools were groundbreaking. They gave businesses a way to track user behaviour, measure campaign performance, and optimise their marketing efforts. However, as the digital landscape evolved, so did the expectations of consumers and the regulatory environment around data privacy.

What once worked—sending users to generic landing pages and tracking their journey with cookies has become... outdated. With today's users expecting personalised experiences and more control over their data, relying on traditional methods is no longer enough to stay competitive.

Why relying on UTMs and Third-Party data is holding you back

Limited Data Capture: UTMs can only provide surface-level insights, often leading to fragmented data and an incomplete understanding of your audience.

Message Disconnect: With UTMs, you often end up sending all your traffic to generic landing pages, leading to a message disconnect that frustrates users and reduces conversions.

Privacy Concerns: As third-party cookies become less reliable due to increasing privacy concerns, your ability to track and understand your audience diminishes.

Lack of Personalization: UTMs don’t allow you to tailor the user experience based on specific behaviours or preferences, leading to generic and less effective marketing efforts.

Why traditional tracking falls short

Most marketers rely on methods like UTM parameters, ad pixels, and referrer data to track the effectiveness of their campaigns. These methods can work—but only if everything goes perfectly. 

Unfortunately, in the real world, things often go wrong:

• UTMs can get stripped when users share links or switch devices.
• Pixels can be blocked by ad blockers or privacy settings.
• Referrer data can get lost when people move from one site to another (especially from HTTPS to HTTP).

This leaves you with incomplete data. And what’s worse? Many of those visits end up lumped into a category you’ve seen in your analytics: Direct Traffic.

Do we have to say this again? We just want to make sure you got it the first time…The Problem with “Direct Traffic”

You might think that direct traffic means users typed your URL directly into their browser—but that’s rarely the case. More often, direct traffic is a black hole where your tracking system dumps all the visits it can’t identify.

This happens because:

• UTMs were stripped from the link.
• Referrer data didn’t make it through.
• Browsers or apps (like Instagram or Facebook) hid the source.

So, while you’re trying to analyse the success of your campaigns, you're left scratching your head, wondering why so much of your traffic is "direct" when you’re running multiple paid ads and campaigns.

Direct is not direct. It is actually your analytics telling you 

This traffic “direct i have NFI where it came from or who send us this traffic. 

1. UTM Parameters

Problem: While still used, UTM parameters often get stripped away or broken. They can also be blocked by privacy settings, browsers, or ad blockers, leaving you with incomplete data. Furthermore, managing UTM links at scale can be cumbersome and prone to human error.

2. Click Tags (Banner Ad Tracking)

Problem: Click tags were heavily used in older banner ads to track interactions. However, they're often inaccurate due to ad-blockers, or users may click by accident. The rise of programmatic advertising and more complex tracking methods have made click tags less relevant.

3. JavaScript-based Tracking

Problem: Relying solely on JavaScript can be problematic because many users disable JavaScript or use privacy tools that block it. Additionally, JavaScript trackers are slower to load and can lead to incomplete data if users navigate away from the page before the script is fully executed.

Problem: Third-party cookies were the backbone of cross-site tracking, but they’ve been increasingly restricted by browsers like Safari (with ITP) and Firefox (with ETP). Google is also phasing them out. This has led to large data gaps, especially for advertisers trying to retarget users.

5. Flash-based Analytics

Problem: Flash was once a popular technology for rich media content, and tracking Flash interactions was a big deal. However, Flash is now obsolete, and many modern browsers don’t support it. Relying on Flash-based analytics is now ineffective.

6. Server Log Analysis

Problem: Back in the early days of the internet, marketers would rely on server logs to track user behaviour. This method only provides limited information, such as IP addresses and server requests, with no insights into user engagement or behaviour across multiple pages.

7. Referrer Data

Problem: Referrer URLs show the last site a visitor came from, but referrer data is often blocked by browsers, especially when transitioning from HTTPS to HTTP. As a result, much of the traffic that should be attributed to other channels ends up categorised as "direct" traffic.

8. Pixel Tracking (Image-based)

Problem: Tracking pixels (1x1 images used to track email opens or site visits) are increasingly being blocked by email clients and browsers. Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection, for example, hides IP addresses and prevents senders from knowing whether an email has been opened.

9. Fingerprinting

Problem: Fingerprinting attempts to track users by gathering unique characteristics about their device and browser. However, it’s highly invasive, and modern browsers like Safari and Firefox have implemented anti-fingerprinting measures to protect user privacy.

10. Session-based Tracking

Problem: Older analytics platforms would track user sessions based on time spent on the site. This approach is problematic because it can't track users across devices or provide detailed insights into their multi-session behaviour.

11. IP Address Tracking

Problem: Relying on IP addresses to identify users is highly unreliable. IPs can change frequently, especially with mobile devices or users on VPNs, and they don’t offer any insight into user behaviour or intent.

12. Form Submission Tracking

Problem: Tracking conversions solely through form submissions leaves gaps in understanding the user’s full journey. It also misses users who may have engaged deeply with the brand but didn’t submit a form.

13. Ad Impression Counting

Problem: Counting the number of ad impressions used to be a popular method to track ad effectiveness. However, impressions don’t tell you much about user engagement, and many impressions may go unnoticed (viewability issues).

14. Email Open Rate Tracking

Problem: Email open rates have become increasingly unreliable as more email clients introduce privacy measures, such as Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection. This prevents marketers from accurately knowing whether their emails have been opened.

15. Device-based Targeting

Problem: Earlier tracking methods would often use the device type (e.g., desktop vs. mobile) to segment and track users. However, with more users switching between multiple devices, this form of targeting often results in incomplete user journeys.

16. Server-side Tracking

Problem: It’s complex, costly, and lacks granular user context. It faces privacy concerns, latency issues, and limited third-party support. Cross-device tracking remains difficult, while debugging and syncing data between client and server is challenging.

The solution:

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