Valve introduces UTM Traffic Analysis on Steamworks
By Colin Campbell. Top image: Michal Matlon/Unsplash
Last week, Valve announced that it is updating its Steamworks platform by introducing an open-beta test for UTM traffic analytics.
UTM, short for Urchin Tracking Module, is a portion of text added to the end of a URL that allows the source of a visit to be accurately identified. This is particularly useful when running multifaceted digital marketing campaigns across paid, earned and owned media, driving visitors towards a specific page.
Historically, developers and publishers have been in the dark about how visitors landed on their Steam store page. With UTM support now available, developers are able to measure how traffic is being directed to their store pages, and how many of those users either purchased the game or added it to their wishlist.
The introduction of UTM support has been a long time coming for PC gaming marketers, and will allow a complete rewrite of their channel mix against conversion for the first time. We may see greater marketing focus on PC for multi-platform publishers, as marketers will have more visibility on Steam performance than they currently have across console storefronts. It may also lead to Steam softening their stance on affiliate marketing, given that they are now providing the infrastructure to track conversion.
Gathering insights is an integral part of what we do at Dialect, and being in the games and tech space, the addition of UTM analytics across Steamworks is music to our ears! It means we can further cement our ‘eyeball-to-wallet’ approach by providing an even clearer ROI for the campaigns we run for clients.
We’ll be watching this space closely to see how Steam further develops their analytics.
If you would like to discover more about our integrated approach and work together on a project, get in touch.
If you would like to discover more about our integrated approach and work together on a project, get in touch.
