Hidden UTM and Soft lock: label your traffic

A UTM source is a label for where a visitor came from, such as instagram or telegram. Hidden UTM saves that label on a Snackle link, so the URL you share stays clean.

When to use this

Use Hidden UTM for a known placement whose visits often lose referrer information, such as a messaging app. You can share a clean URL and still fill missing source labels.

Keep Soft lock on when you want recognized sources to remain accurate after people share your link elsewhere. Turn it off only when your report should group every visit under the original placement label.

Leave Hidden UTM off when incoming campaign tags and detected sources already give you the attribution you need.

Where to find it

Links → create or edit a link → Options → Traffic source (Hidden UTM).

How it works

Hidden UTM off: Snackle uses incoming utm_source, advertising click identifiers, and detected app or referrer information. Visits without a recognized source appear as Direct.

Hidden UTM on + Soft lock on: the saved source fills only visits that would otherwise be Direct. Recognized sources are preserved.

Hidden UTM on + Soft lock off: the saved source overrides utm_source for every visit to this link, including visits with another incoming source.

Only utm_source changes. Campaign, medium, other UTM parameters, and advertising click IDs are preserved. This is attribution labeling, not a pixel or a conversion-provider connection.

Example: Soft lock on

You choose Instagram. A visit with no recognized source becomes instagram. A visit with utm_source=newsletter stays newsletter.

Example: Soft lock off

You choose Instagram. Both visits become instagram, even if the link was forwarded through a newsletter. You are labeling the placement, not necessarily where the visitor actually arrived from.

How to use it

  1. Create a separate link for each placement you want to compare, such as Instagram bio and Telegram channel.
  2. Enable Hidden UTM and select the traffic source for that placement. Choose Custom for your own label, such as creator-newsletter.
  3. Leave Soft lock on to fill missing attribution while preserving recognized traffic sources.
  4. Turn Soft lock off only when every visit should be reported under the saved placement source, even if the link is forwarded elsewhere.
  5. Save the link, make a test visit, then check Dashboard → Traffic sources with the link filter selected. Compare an untagged visit with one containing a different utm_source.

Good to know: Hidden means the source is not added to the public URL you copy. It is still used in tracking and can be passed to the destination; it is not a secret. Changing this setting affects new visits, not previously recorded traffic.