Click tracking
What is click tracking?
Click tracking gives information on how many times links in an email are clicked. It provides insight into recipient engagement and helps track their activity. While commonly associated with marketing emails, click tracking is equally useful for transactional emails—such as checking whether a recipient clicked on a password reset or verification link.
How does click tracking work?
When you enable click tracking, the Email Service Provider (ESP) modifies the URL in the email by adding a tracking parameter to it. When a recipient clicks the URL, they're briefly redirected to the ESP's tracking domain where the click is registered. The user is then redirected to the intended destination. The recorded click count is later available in the ESP's analytical section.
Tracking domain
When an ESP tracks clicks and opens, it uses a tracking URL tied to a domain. By default, ESPs provide a shared tracking domain. If one sender uses a malicious link in their email, this could affect the reputation of the tracking link used in the email. This, in turn, harms the deliverability of everyone using it.
To avoid this, you can configure a custom tracking domain—a domain or subdomain you own—in place of the shared one. Mailbox providers see that your tracking domain aligns with the main domain, which builds trust and strengthens your sender reputation. Because domain alignment is a key metric in how mailbox providers evaluate reputation, consistency directly improves the chances of your email reaching the inbox.
One best practice is to use a subdomain of your main domain. This isolates tracking activity while protecting your main domain’s reputation. For example, if your main domain is zylker.com, you can set up track.zylker.com. To configure this, add the CNAME records provided by your ESP to your domain’s DNS settings, which maps your subdomain to the ESP’s tracking domain.
Benefits of click tracking
- It helps design better emails: Provides insights into devices, OS, clients, and browsers used. This helps position the links for better visibility.
- It ensures link functionality: Checks if the link is working and is accessible.
- It helps diagnose any delivery issues: If no clicks are registered, it may indicate that the email wasn't received, was ignored, or landed in the spam folder.