Understanding UTM Campaign Tracking for Unique Users

Our company uses UTM_Campaign data to gain insights by comparing how users are being acquired through various campaigns via charts. In the case of a Unique User setting, if a user initially enters through Meta (tracked via initial_UTM Campaign) and then re-enters the next day through Google, does the Regular UTM_Campaign count increase by 1 for both Meta and Google campaigns, or only for Google?

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kapa.ai
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Hi ver, Please stand by as I search the Mixpanel knowledge base for an AI-powered answer. I normally take about 15 seconds or so. In case AI cannot answer your question, feel free to reach out to Mixpanel support at mixpanel.com/get-support. If you have follow-up questions for this thread, please tag me again with your question: @kapa.ai <follow-up question> 👋
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kapa.ai
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To answer your question about how UTM campaign data is tracked and counted in Mixpanel, let's look at the relevant information from the knowledge sources:For Unique User settings, Mixpanel tracks both the initial UTM parameters and the most recent (last-touch) UTM parameters. Here's how it works:1. Initial UTM tracking: Mixpanel's JavaScript SDK tracks the first-ever UTM parameters as profile properties. As stated in the Traffic Attribution documentation: "Mixpanel's Javascript library will also track initial_utm_parameters as a profile property, based on the first ever visit. This is helpful as if a user makes a purchase or completes some other important event, it is important to know want to know what acquisition channel brought them to your site originally."2. Last-touch UTM tracking: Mixpanel also tracks the most recent UTM parameters. From the Last-touch UTM tracking documentation: "It can also be helpful to track UTM tags in a last-touch manner, which would set the UTM tag to the most recent value detected for the user. This allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of more recent acquisition channels on your user's behavior."Based on this information, in your scenario:- The initial_UTM_Campaign would remain as Meta, as it was the first campaign that brought the user to your site. - The regular UTM_Campaign would be updated to Google, as it was the most recent campaign the user interacted with.So, to directly answer your question: In a Unique User setting, the regular UTM_Campaign count would increase by 1 for Google only, not for both Meta and Google. The initial_UTM_Campaign for Meta would remain unchanged, preserving the information about the user's first touchpoint.It's important to note that you can use both these data points in your analysis to understand both the first touch and the last touch of your user's journey, giving you insights into both acquisition and the effectiveness of subsequent campaigns.
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