The "Page views by referrer" analytic lets you see which domains and platforms are sending traffic to your newsletter.
Referrers are slightly different than UTM parameters in how they are tracked and surfaced, not just within Buttondown but also in the wild:
- UTM parameters are explicitly added to URLs by you or your marketing team, whereas referrer URLs are automatically passed by browsers when users click links
- UTM parameters are highly reliable since they're manually configured, whereas referrer data can be blocked by privacy settings or stripped by intermediate services
- UTM parameters can track specific campaigns, mediums, and sources, whereas referrer URLs only show the previous page's domain
- UTM parameters stay with the URL as it's shared, whereas referrer data is only captured on the initial visit
- UTM parameters are ideal for tracking specific marketing campaigns, whereas referrer data is better for understanding organic traffic sources
All of that aside: referrers are still a useful analytic, largely because they better represent the "real" organic traffic your newsletter gets.