How to Set up Your Marketing Channels

When different systems measure performance differently, even the best reporting can only be as accurate as the data feeding it. The Ad Performance report solves this by unifying platform data, store reality, and the complete customer journey into one consistent view.

To make this unified analysis possible, RetentionX needs to understand how your traffic is structured — which clicks belong to which channel, campaign, ad group, and creative. That’s where the Channel Mapper comes in.

The Channel Mapper translates your first-party data into the same structure your ad platforms use, typically a channel → campaign → ad group → ad hierarchy. By defining your marketing channels and mapping your UTM parameters to this breakdown, you give RetentionX the context it needs to correctly attribute customers, revenue, and long-term value back to the right marketing activities.
 

Before any performance data can appear in your Ad Performance report, your advertising accounts need to be connected to RetentionX here. At the moment, Meta is supported, with additional integrations already on the roadmap. Even if a platform isn't connected yet, you can still define your channels and see RetentionX-attributed performance (on a channel level only) using our first-party conversion tracking.

Set up Your Marketing Channels

Once your platform is connected and UTMs are in place, you can set up your channels. In order to set up a marketing channel, navigate to your Company Settings → Data Mapping → Marketing Channels.

Select New Mapping to begin. In the first step, choose or create a channel name. You can either select an existing channel from the dropdown or type the desired name and click Create.

 

Channel Mapping (UTM Source)

Next, assign the correct utm_source values to this channel. RetentionX displays all tracked UTM sources. You can also apply filters to refine the mapping.

For example, excluding organic Meta traffic by filtering out combinations where:

• utm_source = facebook, but

• utm_medium = organic
  
   

Campaign Mapping (UTM Campaign)

If RetentionX imports data from the specified platform, the next step is mapping your campaign data. You will see 

• the imported campaign names on the left

• your available utm_campaign parameters on the right. 

RetentionX automatically completes the mapping when the naming matches exactly. If there are any differences, you can simply select the correct UTM parameter manually.

Ad Group Mapping (UTM Medium)

Next, map your ad sets / ad groups using utm_medium. Again, if naming conventions match exactly between your platform and UTM parameters, RetentionX will auto-map them for you. Otherwise, choose the correct UTM value from the dropdown.

Ad Mapping (UTM Content)

Finally, map your creatives using utm_content. Just like before, RetentionX auto-completes all mappings where UTM content values match the creative names.

 

After completing all mapping steps, save your setup. Your new channel will now appear in the channel overview. All mapping changes are processed overnight and reflected in your RetentionX reports the following day.

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