Stape.io. UTM Fixer power-up. Keep paid campaign attribution through checkout.

What this means for your store

Why does Google Ads show conversions but GA4 Acquisition says (direct)? Paid clicks often arrive with UTMs and click IDs, then lose them after SPA navigation, subdomain hops to checkout.brand.com, or seven-day cookie expiry. UTM Fixer re-attaches those parameters on your first-party collect. domain so sGTM purchase tags still credit the prospecting or Shopping campaign that started the journey - not a phantom direct session.

Scenario on a real storefront

A Los Angeles apparel DTC brand spends $80k/month on Google Shopping and Meta prospecting. Shoppers land on /collections/linen-drop?utm_source=google&gclid=…, add two items, then check out on a Shopify subdomain - UTM Fixer keeps params alive until the sGTM purchase tag fires:

Stape → Container → Power-ups → UTM Fixer → Enable
  Persist: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, gclid, fbclid

// Web GTM - GA4 Configuration (DTC storefront)
transport_url: https://collect.yourbrand.com

// Server GTM - GA4 Event tag (purchase at checkout)
campaign_source = {{utm_source}}   // still populated - not (direct)
campaign_medium = {{utm_medium}}
gclid           = {{gclid}}

// Performance team: compare Stape logs vs GA4 Acquisition after deploy

What to do next

• Your performance marketing lead should mandate UTM Fixer when checkout lives on a different subdomain - without it, blended ROAS reports over-credit direct and under-fund paid social.
• Legal and consent owners must confirm parameters persist only after marketing analytics consent (UK GDPR, US state privacy laws) - UTM Fixer is not a consent bypass.
• If gclid is still missing at purchase, your agency or analytics ops should pair UTM Fixer with Click ID Restorer instead of duplicating logic in web GTM.

Bottom line

Turn on UTM Fixer when paid landing URLs and thank-you pages no longer share the same query string - server-side conversions stay tied to the campaigns that actually drove the sale.