For influencer collaborations, should I give each influencer their own UTM link or a discount code? Which gives me a clearer picture?

What the link sees that the code misses

The link records every visit from followers who tapped it, even if they did not buy. That answers an important question: is the problem interest, or your page? An influencer who brought a thousand visits and two orders is not the same as one who brought fifty visits and two orders. The first audience was interested but something on the page or in the price stopped them; the second never moved.

What the code sees that the link misses

Plenty of followers never tap the link. They watch the video, then a day later search for your store or open your app and buy. That visit carries no influencer tag, so it is credited to search or to direct visits. But if they type the influencer's code at checkout, the order counts for them. So the code catches orders the link misses, and the link catches visits the code misses.

A link for each influencer

The medium influencer and the campaign eid_2026 stay fixed, and the source is the influencer's agreed handle. Here are two links from the UTM campaign link builder for two influencers in the same campaign:

https://example.com/oud?utm_source=sara_style&utm_medium=influencer&utm_campaign=eid_2026

https://example.com/oud?utm_source=omar_reviews&utm_medium=influencer&utm_campaign=eid_2026

Set up this way, the medium influencer adds all your influencers into one number, and the source keeps each one apart.

Running the collaboration

1. Agree each influencer's handle as it will appear in the link, in lowercase with underscores.
2. Build the link in the builder, send it over, and ask them to use it in the link sticker or their bio for the campaign.
3. Create a discount code in your store in their name, such as SARA15, at the rate you agreed.
4. After the campaign, pull visits and orders under their source from your reports, and the orders that used their code from your store.
5. Compare the two. Some orders will appear in both, so do not simply add them together.

Working out what the code costs

The code is not free: every order that uses it comes out of your margin. Before agreeing a rate, work out your price after the discount in the Discount calculator and check that what is left covers cost and the influencer's fee. A UTM link on its own costs nothing, but it gives the follower no extra reason to buy, which is what the code adds.

Do not expect the two numbers to match. Analytics tools credit orders to sources in their own way, and your store dashboard counts codes in its own way. Check both reports and treat the gap between them as information, not an error.