Set Up Clean Tracking and UTM Conventions

Full method. Works on any model.

You are a senior analytics and marketing measurement operator. Your job is to design a clean tracking setup and a strategy driven UTM naming system for the business described below, so that every marketing touch is captured accurately and ad platform spend can be joined to on site conversions.

CONTEXT INTAKE
Read these variables. If any of the starred ones are missing or vague, ask me clarifying questions, one at a time, until you have enough to build the plan without guessing. Do not guess at the channel list, the funnel steps, or the growth strategy.

→ Business and product: {{BUSINESS_AND_PRODUCT}}
→ Analytics platform: {{ANALYTICS_PLATFORM}} (e.g. GA4)
→ Marketing channels running now: {{CHANNELS}} *
→ Ad platforms in use: {{AD_PLATFORMS}} (e.g. Meta, Google Ads, TikTok, LinkedIn)
→ Primary conversion and funnel steps: {{CONVERSION_AND_FUNNEL_STEPS}} *
→ Growth hypotheses you want to test: {{GROWTH_HYPOTHESES}} *
   (what you believe drives growth, who the customers are, what you target)
→ Team and tooling constraints: {{TEAM_AND_TOOLS}}

METHOD

Step 1. Fix data capture first (admin setup).
Produce a checklist for the platform:
→ Referral exclusions: exclude payment redirects (Stripe, PayPal, payments.amazon.com and similar) so checkout redirects do not overwrite the original campaign source. Strip tracking parameters appended to landing page URLs (for example click ID parameters) that dirty the data.
→ Channel grouping: cluster raw source/medium values into named channels via rules (for example source/medium containing "facebook" or "tiktok" with a paid medium becomes Paid Social).
→ Goals or key events: configure each funnel step from {{CONVERSION_AND_FUNNEL_STEPS}} as a tracked goal or event so you can see the whole funnel.
→ Views or data streams: adapt this to how {{ANALYTICS_PLATFORM}} actually structures data. Maintain a test environment, a raw unfiltered stream or view, and a filtered production stream or view. Add an IP filter to exclude internal office traffic.

Step 2. Define what counts as a channel.
For each entry in {{CHANNELS}}, decide the channel using two questions:
→ Is it a different platform? A different platform is usually a different channel.
→ Is the growth engine the same (what you must do to grow it)? If the engine differs, split it even on the same platform.
Apply the consequences: on Google Ads (which defaults to source google, medium cpc) use the campaign parameter to separate branded paid search, generic paid search, and video paid into distinct channels. Split email into newsletter versus lifecycle automation, because their growth engines differ.

Step 3. Build the UTM naming system.
Naming conventions are a function of strategy: encode the hypotheses in {{GROWTH_HYPOTHESES}} as dimensions. Map the five parameters to their standard roles: utm_source and utm_medium define the channel; utm_campaign is the ad account campaign; utm_term is the ad set or ad group (it appears as "Keyword" in analytics dimensions); utm_content is the individual ad or creative.
Because five slots cannot hold the twenty things you want to track, pack multiple dimensions into one parameter:
→ Pick one separator between dimensions (a dot works well) and use it everywhere.
→ Pick one space replacement inside a value (underscore, dash, or plus) and stay consistent.
Example of a packed creative name in utm_content, where each dot separated field is one dimension: video.sneakers.red.ugc.pdp reads as format, then product category, then color, then context, then destination page. Because it is consistently structured, each dot separated dimension can later be split into its own column and analyzed at a micro level.
Define per parameter which dimensions to track (for example campaign holds country plus funnel stage; ad set holds targeting type plus attribution window; content holds content type plus creative name plus the motivator or USP). Type each dimension as a fixed list (populate the lookup options) or as free text.

Step 4. Guarantee the values match with auto tagging.
Set utm_source and utm_medium manually. For campaign, content, and term, use each ad platform's dynamic tokens (for example the campaign name token and the ad name token) so the value tracked in analytics matches the ad account name exactly, even through a typo. This is what enables clean cross source joins. Nearly every ad platform supports this. Where a platform appends its own click ID or has native auto tagging, state how it interacts with manual UTMs so the two do not conflict or overwrite each other.

Step 5. Specify the cross source analysis workflow.
→ Export from analytics (source, medium, campaign, keyword, content, sessions, conversions) and from each ad platform (campaign, ad set, ad, cost, clicks, conversions).
→ Build a match sheet: join ad platform cost and clicks onto the analytics rows where campaign plus ad set plus ad match (a SUMIF works). Now spend sits next to sessions and conversions.
→ Split each packed parameter into its own column, then pivot over the split dimensions to slice performance by funnel stage, destination, and creative type over time.

OUTPUT FORMAT
1. Admin setup checklist (Step 1), each item as a concrete action.
2. Channel map: a table of every entry in {{CHANNELS}} with its decided channel and its source/medium (and campaign split where needed).
3. UTM spec: the separator, the space rule, and a per parameter table of dimensions with their type (list or text) and lookup options.
4. Two or three worked example tagged URLs for the channels in {{AD_PLATFORMS}}, including the auto tagging tokens.
5. Cross source analysis steps and the pivot dimensions to start with.
6. Verify before deploying: a list of every platform specific fact the plan relies on (the exact dynamic token syntax for each platform in {{AD_PLATFORMS}}, the settings location for referral exclusions and filters in {{ANALYTICS_PLATFORM}}, and any native auto tagging behavior), each with a note to confirm it against that platform's current documentation, because token syntax and settings menus change over time.

SELF CHECK before finishing
→ Confirm every packed value uses one separator and one space rule, with zero exceptions.
→ Confirm referral exclusions cover the exact payment redirects this business uses, or flag them as unknown for the user to supply.
→ Verify no channel silently collapses into Direct (for example an in app browser link or an email link with no medium).
→ Flag the failure modes: inconsistent tagging makes the data worthless; benefit is not visible for roughly two to three months until longitudinal data accumulates, so warn the user to push through the early valley rather than abandon the system.
→ State any assumption you made when a starred variable was thin, so the user can correct it.

For the most capable models. Goal and quality bar up front.

You are a senior analytics and marketing measurement operator.

GOAL AND DELIVERABLE
Design a clean tracking setup and a strategy driven UTM naming system for the business below, so every marketing touch is captured accurately and ad platform spend can be joined to on site conversions. Your first line of output is the channel map verdict: how many distinct channels this business really has and why. Follow it with the admin setup checklist, the UTM spec, worked example tagged URLs, the cross source analysis workflow, and a verify before deploying list.

CONTEXT
→ Business and product: {{BUSINESS_AND_PRODUCT}}
→ Analytics platform: {{ANALYTICS_PLATFORM}}
→ Channels running now: {{CHANNELS}}
→ Ad platforms in use: {{AD_PLATFORMS}}
→ Primary conversion and funnel steps: {{CONVERSION_AND_FUNNEL_STEPS}}
→ Growth hypotheses to test: {{GROWTH_HYPOTHESES}}
→ Team and tooling constraints: {{TEAM_AND_TOOLS}}

PRINCIPLES (non negotiable)
→ Fix data capture before naming: exclude payment redirects so checkout does not overwrite the original source, strip appended tracking parameters, group raw source/medium into named channels, configure every funnel step as a tracked goal or event, and keep a raw stream and a filtered production stream with internal traffic excluded.
→ Define a channel by two questions: is it a different platform, and is the growth engine the same. Different engine means split, even on one platform (separate branded, generic, and video paid search by campaign; split newsletter from lifecycle email).
→ Naming conventions encode strategy: map utm_source and utm_medium to the channel, utm_campaign to the ad account campaign, utm_term to the ad set or ad group, utm_content to the creative. Because five slots cannot hold every dimension, pack multiple dimensions into one parameter using exactly one separator and one space replacement rule everywhere, so each packed value splits cleanly into its own analyzable column later.
→ Guarantee values match with auto tagging: set source and medium manually, and use each platform's dynamic tokens for campaign, content, and term so tracked values match ad account names exactly, which is what enables clean cross source joins.

QUALITY BAR
Excellent output has every channel resolving to a deliberate source, medium, and campaign with nothing important collapsing into Direct or self referral; a UTM spec with one separator and one space rule and no exceptions; auto tagging tokens specified per ad platform; the specific payment redirects named for exclusion; and a warning about the failure modes (inconsistent tagging makes the data worthless, and value only appears after roughly two to three months of longitudinal data, so start early because untracked history cannot be recovered).

BOUNDARIES
→ Do not invent channels, funnel steps, or growth hypotheses; if a required input is missing or vague, ask one focused question instead of guessing.
→ Do not assert platform specific facts as settled: end with a verify before deploying list naming every token syntax, settings location, and native auto tagging behavior the plan relies on, each to confirm against current documentation.
→ Do not pad with generic analytics advice or invent statistics.

Five lines. Speed over rigor.

Design a clean tracking and UTM naming setup for {{BUSINESS_AND_PRODUCT}} on {{ANALYTICS_PLATFORM}}, covering these channels {{CHANNELS}}, ad platforms {{AD_PLATFORMS}}, and funnel steps {{CONVERSION_AND_FUNNEL_STEPS}}.
Give me an admin checklist (referral exclusions, channel grouping, funnel goals), a channel map, and a UTM spec that packs dimensions from {{GROWTH_HYPOTHESES}} using one separator and one space rule.
Add auto tagging tokens per ad platform so spend joins to conversions.
Quality bar: nothing important falls into Direct, and every packed value splits cleanly into its own column.
If a channel or funnel step is unclear, ask one focused question before guessing.