Digital Analytics cm_mmc parameter

The Marketing Management Center (MMC) looks at the first page view of each session on your site. If the URL for that page view contains a cm_mmc parameter, that session activity will be tracked in the Marketing Programs report.

The cm_mmc parameter contains the following four elements:

Vendor
Category
Placement
Item

Each element within the cm_mmc parameter is required. If you do not need to use all four MMC elements, you can pass null or na but do not leave any MMC parameter values blank. The cm_mmc parameter allows you to specify the vendor, category, placement, and item information that is displayed in the Marketing Programs report. Each one of these values is placed within the parameter, separated by the string -_-.

For example, activity directed to the following URL would show up in the Marketing Programs report with a vendor of Google, a category of Home and Garden, a placement of keywords, and an item of sprinkler.

http://www.site.com/product.asp?product_id=1234&cm_mmc=Google-_-Home%20and%20
Garden-_-keywords-_-sprinkler

Each element is separated by -_-. The spaces in the "Home and Garden" category have been encoded to be %20 to match standard URL encoding rules.

You should generate MMC URLs by using the Tracking Code Generator to process bulk sheets and automatically append tracking codes to the destination URLS with MMC parameters. To select the Tracking Code Generator click Manage > Marketing > from the left navigation pane. Then select Guide Me to review information about the Tracking Code Generator.

Note: The cm_mmc parameter represents the new format for MMC tracking links. The old format used separate parameters for the vendor, category, placement, and item: cm_ven, cm_cat, cm_pla, and cm_ite respectively. This format will still be detected and tracked within the MMC, but users are encouraged to use the new cm_mmc parameter.

It is important to follow the web standard regarding the use of the hash character. It is used in a URL to indicate a fragment. Therefore, the number (#) character should not be used in MMC parameters.

Vendor / Category / Placement / Item: These four MMC parameters are used to link information to a manageable four level hierarchy. Although Digital Analytics recommends using each level for specific information it can be completely customized by the client.

Vendor: Automatically group marketing links by external vendor for comparison and audit.
Category: Group links by internal categories such as campaign name or business unit for individual analysis.
Placement: Group links by creative for comparison across versions.
Marketing Item: Name the marketing link so that it is easily recognizable.

Table 1. Example: Email campaign
Column Header	Description	Evaluation
Vendor	Digital Impact	Affiliate
Category	Campaign 1	Specific campaign
Placement	General	Audience
Item	Sale	Title of email
`http://www.client.com/product.asp?cm_mmc=digitalimpact-_-campaign1-_-general-_-sale`

Table 2. Example: Paid Search campaign
Column Header	Description	Evaluation
Vendor	Yahoo	Search engine
Category	Branded	Branded vs. non-branded
Placement	AdWord	AdWord vs. Sponsored link
Item	Sweatshirts	Word purchased
`http://www.client.com/product.asp?cm_mmc=yahoo-_-branded-_-adword-_-sweatshirts`