Where a visitor comes from can tell you a lot about their expectations. Did they click a link ad on LinkedIn? Or arrive from a partner newsletter? Where someone comes from should shape what they see.
Using UTM parameters, you can personalize their experience right from the first page they see without needing to know anything else about them.
Examples of traffic-based personalization include:
Showing a tailored hero message for LinkedIn campaign visitors
Displaying a top bar for returning newsletter readers
Offering a special deal to visitors from a partner site
UTM parameters are tags added to a URL, and can look like this:
?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=coffeelovers
This will help identify where your traffic is coming from. Personalization tools like Umbraco Engage can use these to trigger different experiences based on that data. See this article for an in-depth explanation of UTM parameters.
Most campaign-based personalization focuses only on the landing page. But you can do better. By keeping campaign context visible throughout the session (for example, using a persistent top banner), you maintain relevance and guide users more effectively.
In this video, you'll see how easy it is to create campaign-specific experiences with Umbraco Engage.
This demo covers:
Creating a segment for visitors from a specific campaign using UTM values
Personalizing the homepage header to match the campaign intent
Displaying a persistent top bar across the site while the session lasts
Keeping your personalization and analytics clean
You can try it yourself on thebeanery.coffee.
Visit the site with a UTM-tagged URL, example URL/like from a campaign or newsletter, and watch the message adapt!
Take the personalization product tour
Or check out the full Engage feature tour
Once you start personalizing more content, it becomes important to track what’s live, what’s performing, and what can be retired.
Here’s how Umbraco Engage helps:
Applied Personalization Overview: See which segments are connected to which content or pop-ups at a glance.
Goal and Segment Reporting: Get insight into whether your personalization actually moves the needle.
Control Groups: Measure performance by comparing personalized content against a non-personalized baseline.
You can access a full list of active personalization rules and variants directly in Engage’s backoffice under “Applied Personalization.” It’s a handy overview when juggling multiple campaigns or segments. Check out the video above to see it in action.
Retire or delete unused segments and variants regularly. Use clear naming conventions to avoid confusion. Think of it as spring cleaning for your digital experience.
That wraps our series on personalization, but it’s just the beginning for you. By combining persona/segment-driven content, goal tracking, behavioral triggers, and now traffic-based personalization, you have a solid strategy to start experimenting and optimizing your user experiences.
Here’s what you can do right now:
Identify key traffic sources and create a test segment using UTM parameters
Add a campaign-specific hero or top bar for one of your landing pages
Check your “Applied Personalization” overview and clean up anything that’s out of date
Start small, track results, and scale what works
Want to see what this looks like in action?
Book a discovery call for Umbraco Engage or jump into the interactive demo.
Thanks for following along! I hope this series helped make personalization not just possible, but practical. We’re already working on the next series, which will cover the theory and implementation of A/B testing; another important tool in the marketers toolbox.
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In Part 1, we explored the importance of identifying your audience through personas and content scoring. Part 2 emphasized setting clear goals to guide your personalization efforts. Now, in Part 3, we'll bridge the gap between strategy and execution by diving into practical personalization techniques that can transform your website's user experience and conversion rates.