https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-qmYY69kqIUTM Analytics in Steamworks provides insight into on how your UTM marketing campaigns are performing. You can use UTM parameters on a link with your Steam store page as the destination address, and Steamworks will provide insight into how that link is performing.
What is UTM?
UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) is an industry standard approach to measuring whether specific links in your marketing campaigns are being clicked by customers. A link using UTM has specifically named parameters following the link's destination address. These parameters make it clear which link was clicked when a customer visits the destination address. For more background on UTM, see here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTM_parametersHow it works
Steamworks records the UTM parameters used when a customer visits your game's store page and takes an action such as purchasing or adding to their wishlist. A dashboard in Steamworks displays this UTM information for you to evaluate how your campaigns are performing.
The report has three sections: an overview of total traffic and conversions, a graph showing total traffic and conversions over time, and a breakdown table showing how each unique combination of UTM parameters performed. There are a set of filters at the top to narrow the data to specific UTM parameters, as well as download the data as a .csv file.
Privacy
To protect customer privacy, the information provided is kept at a summary view with no personal data included. This allows you to learn how your campaigns are performing while also protecting customer privacy. Here are more details on how Steam protects customer privacy:
- Steam IDs or other personal information will never be included or available
- We only provide visit and conversion data in total numbers
- We exclude showing unique UTM parameter combinations in the breakdown table when visits for those combinations do not meet minimum thresholds.
- Some users will not be tracked based on their browser configuration or cookie preferences
Required Steamworks Permissions
Access to your UTM Analytics report is limited to Steamworks accounts with the "View Marketing Traffic Data" rights for your game.
Tracked Visits
Three types of visits are tracked for UTM Analytics:
- Total Visits: The total number of visits to your product page that had a UTM code attached to the URL.
- Trusted Visits: A subset of Total Visits that excludes bot traffic and search crawlers.
- Tracked Visits: The total number of visits to your product page for which users were also logged in. Excludes traffic that exhibits abnormal behavior such as repeated visits at a high rate.
Conversions
When users visit your store page via a UTM link and log in to Steam, Steamworks increments the "Tracked Visits" count and also reports on conversions by those users.
The types of conversions reported are:
- Wishlist: customer added your game to their wishlist
- Purchases: customer purchased your game
- Activations: customer acquired a license for your free-to-play game, or redeemed a key to acquire the game
Conversion timeframe
For the above actions, Steam will count it as an conversion if the user takes that action within 72 hours of clicking through your UTM link, even if they visit other pages in between.
Example
Here's an example of a link to a Steam store page with properly formatted UTM parameters.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/480?utm_source=homepage&utm_campaign=summer_sale&utm_medium=web
If that link was clicked by customers 20 times, the UTM Analytics report for App ID 480 would show 20 visits in the "Total Visits" column for that unique combination of utm_source, utm_campaign, and utm_medium.
The report also shows 6 of the 20 visits were by customers signed in to Steam. Steamworks attributed 2 wishlist additions, and 1 purchase, to the 6 "Tracked Visits".
Getting Started
UTM Analytics in Steamworks is already enabled for your game. Here's how to get started.
Viewing the report
You can access the UTM dashboard via a tab in the Marketing & Visibility section for your game. If you don't see the UTM Analytics tab, check if you have the "View Marketing Traffic Data" permission for the game as that permission is required.
Creating a link
Links with UTM parameters are recorded by Steam if the following criteria is met:
The complete list of supported UTM parameters is:
- utm_source
- utm_campaign
- utm_medium
- utm_content
- utm_term
Using any combination of letters, numbers, and other characters supported by URLs, you can append any term to each of those parameters for your own purpose. See example above.
There are two ways to evaluate the data reported by UTM Analytics
- The graph of data over time, and the breakdown table which supports filtering and sorting
- Download the data as a .csv file for use in the analytics tool of your choice
Testing a link
A tool to test if your link is valid is available on the UTM report via the "Test a UTM Link" button. It's also a good idea to test links in a web browser. Note: visit counts on the UTM dashboard are updated hourly. Conversions are finalized 4 days after the visit.
FAQ
Q. Why is Steam providing UTM Analytics?
A. This was built in response to the frequent requests from game developers for UTM reporting tools in Steamworks.
Q. Why am I not seeing UTM visits for my campaign?
A. Here are some possible reasons:
- Your Steamworks account does not have the "View Marketing Traffic Data" permission. For account permission information, please see Managing Your Steamworks Account > Group Permissions
- If your campaign just started you may need to wait for the UTM dashboard to refresh. Visit counts refresh hourly.
- We exclude showing unique UTM parameter combinations in the breakdown table when visits for those combinations do not meet minimum thresholds.
- There may be an issue with the link. Use the "Test a UTM Link" tool (available via a button on UTM Dashboard) to check if your link meets reporting requirements.
Q. What are Tracked Visits?
A. Tracked visits are by users who
logged into Steam in the browser where they opened the UTM link. This also includes visits from UTM links that open via the Steam Mobile App. Only tracked visits are eligible for conversion (wishlist, purchase, activation) reporting.
Q. Will it count as a conversion if the customer purchases a different game from my catalog?
A. Only a wishlist, purchase, or activation of the same App ID used in the UTM link will currently be considered a conversion. We hope to expand on our conversion insights to include scenarios like this.
Q. Will it count as a conversion if the customer downloads the game's Demo or DLC?
A. Demo and DLC downloads which do not include the base game are not currently included as conversions for UTM links to the base game page. If a DLC package includes the base game it will be counted as a conversion.
Q. Do you track conversion via in-game purchases?
A. We do not currently report conversion for in-game purchases.
Q. Do you track conversion via CD-Keys/Steam Retail Keys?
A. Yes, these conversions are tracked in the "Activations" section of the UTM Dashboard.
Q. Do you track conversions for playtest apps?
A. We do not currently report conversions for playtest apps.
Q. Do you support other community and store page links such as sub, curator, bundle?
A. At this time only app pages are supported. We hope to expand support for additional page types in the future.
Q. Do UTM links get recorded if the store page opens an age gate?
A. Yes, the UTM click event is recorded for the app when the age gate page is shown. Customers who decide to stop at the age gate are still recorded as having clicked the UTM link.
Q. What devices are supported?
A. Any device with a modern browser capable of showing the Steam store is supported. This includes mobile devices and tablets. We do not currently display which types of devices customers are using when they visit the store page via a UTM link click. If a user signs in to Steam on their mobile device where they clicked the UTM link, then subsequently makes a wishlist or purchase on a computer we will recognize that as a conversion.
Q. Why are my total visits different from the 3rd party reported number?
A. There can be a difference in the total visits reported by Steam and a 3rd party as Steam increments the total visits anytime the customer visits the link with UTM params on the URL. Examples include if customers share the Store page link w/UTM parameters for others to click, or visit the link using their browser history. We're evaluating how we measure total visits and will update this documentation if there are changes.
Q: Can I use UTM to create an “affiliate program” or reward players?
A: An affiliate program is where someone receives something of value in exchange for promoting your game. Steam does not offer an affiliate marketing program, but some developers have asked about creating their own by handling compensation outside of Steam and using UTM to track actions. We would caution against using UTM parameters to create your own affiliate or reward program, as such programs are susceptible to abuse by customers by holding purchases long enough to receive your reward, and then refunding those purchases. This can be difficult to prevent because the UTM report does not:
- Reveal which purchases belong to which UTM parameters, only the total number of purchases for each unique set of UTM parameters
- Adjust totals for refunds occurring 4 days or later after the UTM visit. We consider the UTM visit fully processed at 4 days.
If you are still interested in creating your own affiliate program using UTM links to your Steam store page, here are some rules to keep in mind:
- Follow all applicable legal requirements. Note that legal requirements may vary by country.
- Require from anyone who participates in your affiliate program that they disclose this fact to their audience.
- Do not advertise affiliate programs on your game’s store page.
