Ok, so analytics can be a scary old thing to set up – but the rewards are fantastic.

Here is a easy, visual guide to setting up tracking of your email campaigns with Google Analytics.

1. Don’t have a google analytics account?
   Head here and set one up in a couple of minutes.
2. So now you have an account and are tracking your site. Next, you want to track how many visitors are coming to your site via your email blasts. Simply use this tool to create a custom tracking link you can use in your campaigns. When someone clicks a link that you have added tracking code to, Google can understand this and report it back to you later:
   

   

   You should come away with a tracking link that looks a little bit like this:

   http://www.MYDOMAIN.com/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=HeaderLink&utm_campaign=MarchNewsletter

   All you need to do is use this link in your email in place of your normal links. You will need to do this for each individual link you wish to track:

   http://www.MYDOMAIN.com/services becomes http://www.MYDOMAIN.com/services?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=ServicesLink&utm_campaign=MarchNewsletter

   NOTE: These long links are ugly. If you are creating HTML email you can use an anchor link to hide the long URL. Please beware of using URL shortening services such as bitly, as some can increase the likelihood of email being marked as spam!

   Here is a breakdown of what each of the parameters means in real terms:

   • Campaign Source adds utm_source to your link and should be the link referrer (e.g. Newsletter, Twitter etc.)
   • Campaign Medium adds utm_medium to your link and should be the marketing medium/channel (e.g. Email, Social Media, Banner Ad etc.)
   • Campaign Content adds utm_content to your link and should be used to differentiate links or adds (e.g. Header Link, Footer Link, Banner 2 etc.)
   • Campaign Name adds utm_campaign to your link and should be used to name the campaign (e.g. 50% autumn deal, Christmas Follow Up etc.)
3. So now you can simply place those links and send your campaign as usual. (P.S some sending platforms can add their own Google tracking links so check yours can’t do this automatically for you) Once you have sent your campaign, log into your Google Analytics dashboard. The reports you will be able to see will look something like this:
   

   

This is a fantastic way to track sales, leads and pretty much anything else that could result from an email campaign.

Tracking Open Rate in Google Analytics:

Easy! All you need to do is use this tool, which will guide you through the process of creating a ‘Tracking Pixel/Image’ that you can insert into your newsletter. This is a tiny transparent gif image that, once opened, can be tracked and displays a page view in Google Analytics. (again, many of you will be using the tracking built into your ESP – but it can be useful to see tracking right inside Google Analytics also)

Here is how your dashboard will look once you have included a tracking pixel in your email:

And there you have it -an easy way to track your campaign ROI and more, Enjoy!