How to Create/Request a Trackable Giving Link

What is a Trackable Link, and Why Use Them?

When using a "Give Now" button, or giving link in email solicitations, you can embed information from a Marketing Effort or Public Media Effort in DART. This information can be used to link gifts made online to the email you sent, and can be reported on using Business Objects or Tableau. By using a trackable link, you can measure the success of your solicitation in donors and dollars.

  

What Platforms Support Trackable Giving Links?

  • Rather watch a video than read this article?
  • Michigan Online Giving (giving.umich.edu)
  • Community Funded
    • *COMMUNITY FUNDED HAS BEEN SUNSET, AND REPLACED WITH GIVE CAMPUS. REACH OUT TO DIGITAL-FUNDRAISING@UMICH.EDU FOR MORE INFORMATION ON CROWDFUNDING WITH GIVE CAMPUS.
  • Generate Tracking Link

How Does it Work for the Michigan Online Giving Site?

  1. Embedding information from an ACTIVATED Marketing Effort or Public Media Effort within your giving link, namely the Source Code.
  2. When a donor clicks your link and makes a gift, the Source Code is attached to the gift behind the scenes.
  3. When Gifts & Records Administration (GRA) processes the gift, the attached Source Code will pull in the Marketing Effort/Public Media Effort name as well.
  4. The Marketing Effort/Public Media Effort information will also flow into Business Objects and Tableau reports.
  5. Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)Overview map of how tracking links work for the Michigan Online Giving site.

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How Do I Create a Trackable Link for the Michigan Online Giving Site?

  1. Create or Request a Marketing Effort or Public Media Effort in DART. Creating the ME/PME will provide the necessary information to generate a trackable link. When requesting a Marketing Effort / Public Media Effort, be sure to allow at least a few business days for turnaround time.
  2. MAKE SURE YOUR MARKETING EFFORT IS ACTIVATED! (Public Media Efforts by nature are automatically activated). 
  3. If you requested a Marketing Effort from the Integrated Data Services team in OUD, you will find a column named TrackingLinkInfo in the Excel data file that contains the necessary tracking info, embedded in a text string. You can simply add that value to the end of the Michigan Online Giving page you wish to direct your donors to. In the example below, line 2 is the MOG page where you want to direct your donor (can also be a gift basket link), and line 3 is the string from your data file. You combine them together to get your tracking link. * If you wish to track gifts to the segment level, you will need to create a link for each segment in your data file *. ** TEST YOUR LINKS IN INCOGNITO MODE **
    1. Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
    2. https://giving.umich.edu/um/
    3. ?s=eSp24QTLY4QTLY_E&utm_source=UAG&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=UAG_Solicitations_FY24_Sep_Quarterly_Lapsed_Email
  4. If you do not have an Excel file with the TrackingLinkInfo column, you'll need the Source Code and Marketing Effort Name from your Marketing Effort / Public Media Effort. This can be found in DART, or for Marketing Efforts, in the Excel data files.
    1. Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
  5. You will also need the URL or link to the Michigan Online Giving page you wish to direct your donors to. This can be your general landing page, or a specific fund, or a gift basket link. 
    1. Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
  6. Go to https://support.dev.umich.edu/um and click the Track Link tile.
    1.  Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
  7. Fill out the form with your information:
    1. Your full name.
    2. Umich email address (a copy of the information will be sent to this address).
    3. Select your unit from the drop down (if your unit is not listed, select your parent unit).
    4. Select "Webpage" (selected by default), then paste the link to your Michigan Online Giving page (or your Community Funded / MaiseRaise page).
    5. Click the Search button. This validates the URL, so if your landing page is not found double check the URL. This must completed before moving to step 6.
    6. Select your SCU abbreviation.
    7. Copy/paste your Marketing Effort name. *If your Marketing Effort name has ANY spaces in it, replace them with underscores and notify IDS via your ticket to update the Marketing Effort name in DART (or if you have access to do so you can do this).
      1. Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
      2. e.g. [your marketing effort name] to [your_marketing_effort_name]
    8. Copy/paste the Source Code of the corresponding Segment Name you wish the gifts to be tracked back to. 
    9. Click Review Request.
      1. Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
    10. Ensure everything looks correct Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
      then click Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
  8. CONGRATULATIONS! You have created your link and can now assign it to your giving button or share with the person who is creating your email/giving button. 
  9. Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
  10. * For segment level reporting, you will need to create a tracking link for EACH SEGMENT in your Marketing Effort * If you have multiple segments but wish to only use one link, select the Source Code of the segment with the largest count.
  11. ** TEST YOUR LINKS IN INCOGNITO MODE**

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