What UTM parameters should a pet products store use?
Use the standard tags: utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign, plus utm_content. For a pet store, the work is tagging reorder emails and texts, inserts, QR codes and influencer links. Then repeat sales stop landing in Direct.
By Joris van Huët, Founder & CEOUpdated 5 min read
Run the numbers for your store: the free UTM builder.
If you sell pet products, use the standard UTM parameters: utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign, plus utm_content to tell links apart. What changes is where you put them: reorder emails and texts, packaging inserts, QR codes and pet influencer links. Untagged, those visits can land in Direct, and repeat sales look like they came from nowhere.
If you sell pet products
Pets eat every day, so food, litter, treats and supplements run out on a schedule. If you sell those, a large part of your revenue may be the same bag bought again. That reorder can start from a reminder email, a text, a bookmark or the address printed on the bag. A printed address gets typed in and arrives untagged.
Beds, toys and gadgets behave differently. A buyer may compare for a week, read reviews and come back through an ad or a creator's post. Those journeys are longer, and every link on the way needs its own tag to show up.
Your referrers are unusual too: breeders, groomers, vets, shelters and pet influencers. Shopify's campaign tools let you create a shareable link with custom UTM parameters for each influencer you work with. Shopify also offers short links and QR codes that track visits back to a campaign, online or offline.
What one store's data shows
One store's anonymised GA4 export, 1 January 2024 to 21 August 2026. It holds shares of revenue only: no ad spend, no order counts.
| What the export shows | Share of revenue | Source cell |
|---|---|---|
| Direct, in last click, first click and touched views | 57.7% | Channels sheet, Direct row |
| Journeys with 1 touch (0.5 days to buy) | 79.5% | Journeys sheet, 1 touch row |
| Journeys with two to three touches (12.5 days to buy) | 12.2% | Journeys sheet, two to three touches row |
The export does not say what Store A sells, so read it as one store's pattern. It is not a benchmark for pet stores. On the Channels sheet, Direct holds 57.7% of revenue in every view. In the Journeys sheet, single-touch journeys account for 79.5% of revenue, with 0.5 days to buy. Journeys with two to three touches on the Journeys sheet hold 12.2% and took 12.5 days.
If your own export looks like this and you sell food or litter, ask one question. How many of those quick, single-touch purchases were reorders that began with an untagged email or a typed address? The export cannot answer that. Your tags can, from the day you add them.
Which pet store links should you tag first?
Start where reorders start, then work outwards.
- Reorder emails and texts. Use utm_medium=email or utm_medium=sms. GA4's channel rules file those under Email and SMS, so repeat buyers stop hiding in Direct.
- Packaging inserts and QR codes. Build the link with tags before you print the code. With a source like insert and a medium like qr, no default channel rule matches, so GA4 files the visit under Unassigned. That is fine, as long as you know where to look.
- Pet influencer links. One link per creator: the platform as utm_source, as Google advises, and the creator's handle as utm_content. If you pay per sale, utm_medium=affiliate puts the visit in GA4's Affiliates channel.
- Vet, breeder and groomer cards. A printed address arrives with no tags. GA4 classifies links from offline documents, such as PDFs, as (direct) / (none) too. A tagged QR code fixes both.
- Subscriptions. If renewals are charged without a store visit, there is no link to tag. Check how those orders reach GA4 before you judge any channel on them.
Keep values lowercase. GA4 treats Dogfood and dogfood as two values, which splits one campaign into two rows.
What to do this week
- Find your reorder campaigns in Shopify. Open Performance by UTM campaign, under Analytics > Reports with the category filter set to Marketing. Pass: your reorder emails and texts show as named campaigns. Fail: they are missing, so their links carry no tags yet.
- Tag one insert with a QR code. Build the link in the Campaign URL Builder with utm_source=insert and a campaign name, then scan it with your phone. Pass: the visit appears in GA4 under Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. Fail: it shows as Direct, so a redirect or shortener dropped the tags.
- Give each pet influencer their own content value. Keep the platform in utm_source and put the creator's handle in utm_content on every link they share. Pass: each creator shows as a separate row when you add Session manual ad content to Traffic acquisition. Fail: they share one row, so you cannot tell who sold the dog food.
Check the homework. Your GA4 Attribution paths export already holds the evidence. Causality Engine reads that one file and shows what each channel caused next to what last-click gave it, in 1 to 2 minutes, for €99 once (excluding VAT), refundable within 30 days. Check the homework
Sources, 1 October 2026: URL builders: Collect campaign data with custom URLs (Google). Default channel group (Google). Understand (direct) / (none) traffic (Google). Traffic acquisition report (Google). Understanding campaigns (Shopify). Marketing reports (Shopify).
Related answers
Frequently asked questions
Should reorder emails carry UTM parameters?
Yes. Tag every reorder email and text with a medium GA4 recognises, such as email or sms, and give each flow its own campaign name. Some email tools add tags for you, so check their settings first to avoid two sets on one link.What utm_medium fits a pet influencer?
If you pay per sale, use affiliate, which GA4 sorts into its Affiliates channel. If you boost the post as a social ad, use the platform as source and a medium starting with paid. Keep the platform in utm_source and give each creator their own utm_content value, so their sales do not blur together.Do QR codes on pet food bags need UTM parameters?
Yes, if you want the scan credited. A scan arrives with no referrer, so an untagged code tends to look like Direct. Tag the link before you print the code, and give each product line its own campaign name.
Go deeper: Causal attribution, explained.
Sixty-second versions of these ideas: Causality Engine on YouTube Shorts.
Keep reading
Terms in this article
- Ad SpendAd Spend is the total amount invested in advertising campaigns. It is measured against Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) to evaluate campaign effectiveness.
- AnalyticsAnalytics is the systematic computational analysis of data. It reveals customer behavior and measures campaign performance.
- AttributionAttribution identifies user actions that contribute to a desired outcome and assigns value to each. It reveals which marketing touchpoints drive conversions.
- CausalityCausality is the relationship where one event directly causes another, essential for identifying specific actions that drive desired outcomes in marketing.
- InfluencerAn Influencer affects purchase decisions due to their authority, knowledge, or relationship with their audience. They drive consumer behavior.
- P ValueP Value indicates the probability an observed result occurred by chance. A low p-value suggests a campaign's impact is statistically significant.
- RevenueRevenue is the total income generated by the sale of goods or services related to a company's primary operations.
- UTM ParametersUTM Parameters are URL tags marketers use to track campaign effectiveness across traffic sources. They provide data for accurate campaign tracking and attribution in analytics platforms.