You see, this is tricky. You may think that Google Analytics will do it, but that’s not entirely true. First of all GA, records users’ sessions by client id. Thus if you send one email today as part of CAMPAIGN 1, and you tag the links inside that email, GA will record the data for the visitors that click the tagged link. Then you decide to send a follow-up email campaign tomorrow, let’s call it FOLLOW-UP 1. You also will tag the links accordingly, but here the problem arises. If a visitor that priory entered the website coming from CAMPAIGN 1, uses a new browser / new device to open the follow-up email and clicks the links, GA counts him as a new unique visitor. The cookie saved in the old browser won’t pass between the sessions. You will be able to track only the returning visitors that use the same browser. That’s a shame!
Email campaigns tracking – solutions
For the moment Google Analytics is not able to keep tracking of the returning visitors who use different browsers / devices. Nevertheless, Google is developing a new technology as part of the new Universal Analytics tracking script which will be able to assign visitors user IDs instead of client IDs. The process is explained here.
Well, well, but how can I track all the returning visitors for the email marketing campaign? Guys, it’s possible. Perhaps you have heard about ClickTale, the well-known tool for usability and conversion rate optimization.
ClickTale has developed a tool called – ClickTale Email Tracking – as part of their suite. Besides all the tracking and conversions information that Google Analytics offers, ClickTale can identify the customers by email. However there is a catch. You need to use a Mail Merge tool or an email marketing service. A super powerful email marketing tool that integrates with ClickTale is the notorious MailChimp.
In order to track returning visitors across multiple email marketing campaigns you have to tag the links inside the emails as follows:
http://example.com/landing_page?ct=enable,t(MyTag),t(customer_email)
An extra feature of ClickTale is the ability to view the recorded sessions of your customers. You can actually see them clicking on the landing page and navigating through the funnel.
Another powerful solution out there is KissMetrics. Basically KissMetrics does the same thing as ClickTale.
Read more about email campaigns tracking by opening this infografic.
image credits jonny2love
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