Which utm_medium to use for WhatsApp, QR codes and print

Updated October 8, 2026 by the UTM Builder team at Limner.

No utm_medium value makes GA4 show a channel called WhatsApp or Print. The Default channel group doesn’t have those categories and can’t be edited. The choice is between fitting into a channel that already exists or creating your own.

What GA4 recognizes

The Default channel group rules look at source and medium and aren’t case sensitive. Source matters as much as medium: Google publishes a list of sources by category, and a source in the social category, such as whatsapp, instagram or facebook, sends the visit to Organic Social even with a medium outside the rules, as long as the medium isn’t paid. Some medium values that already have a channel:

• email goes to Email; social goes to Organic Social; sms goes to SMS.
• referral, app or link go to Referral; affiliate goes to Affiliates.
• display, banner or cpm go to Display.
• A medium that contains cp, such as cpc, or that starts with paid goes into a paid channel.

Medium values such as messaging, qr, offline or print don’t match any rule. With a source that also isn’t on Google’s list, such as flyer or downtown-store, the visit shows up as Unassigned.

WhatsApp

The UTM goes on the link to your site that you send inside WhatsApp, not on the wa.me link that opens the chat. Two ways to go:

• Fit in: utm_medium=social for links posted in groups, communities or Status. It lands in Organic Social, along with organic Instagram and Facebook.
• Separate: utm_source=whatsapp and utm_medium=messaging. Since whatsapp is on Google’s list of social sources, the visit already lands in Organic Social with no setup. To see WhatsApp as its own channel, create a WhatsApp channel in a custom channel group.

QR codes and print

Same logic. The convention the platform’s builder uses is utm_medium=offline, with utm_source naming the piece or the place (flyer, downtown-store, trade-show) and utm_content with the artwork version. With an Offline channel in the custom group, each flyer, menu or package shows up separately.

You can use utm_medium=referral and land in Referral without creating anything, but then print gets mixed in with the sites that link to you. And avoid utm_medium=qr: it lands in Unassigned like any value outside the rules.

How to create the custom channel

1. In the property’s Admin, open Channel groups and create a new group. A standard property allows 2 groups in addition to the default one.
2. Add a channel, for example Offline, with the condition medium exactly matches offline. Do the same for WhatsApp with messaging.
3. Check the order. Google’s help recommends moving the new channel above the more generic ones, such as Referral, so it’s evaluated first.
4. Use the group as a dimension in the acquisition reports. According to Google, custom channel groups work retroactively.

Whatever you choose, write everything in lowercase and always use the same value. To the report, Offline and offline are different rows.