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Clindell

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Email tracking is not registering with Google Analytics?

I need to track emails we are going to send to a specific group of customers. I want to use our Google Analytics account and create a campaign that will use a tracking pixel inserted into an email that will register the open or view by the customer. I' hope to collect the email address of the customer so we can determine who is reading the email, is this possible?

I've created the link, the analytics campaign, inserted it into a Pixel and then into the body of an email and sent it.

It doesn't register in GA, what am I doing wrong?
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Dave Baldwin
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Most email clients will block links to external images.  Sometimes they ask if you want to allow it.
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Clindell

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@ Dave Baldwin,

I don't want to use an external image and I may not know exactly how to do this. I want to use a transparent pixel with the link at the bottom of the message. The pixel has an imbedded link that I created in GA. This is where I may be missing something. Can a transparent pixel be used or does that pixel need to display an image from the source website? I have not found clear information on how to set this up from beginning to end.

Just about everyone get emails these days from businesses they purchase from and will add them as a trusted sender or allow the email to download something, most people will allow the download from a trusted sourced email right?

The point is I'm missing something and need clear directions to get this working, can you help? Maybe the problem is the email creation and the pixel?
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Dave Baldwin
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@ Dave Baldwin,

Maybe not exactly like I want, however we can use our email and our website is ok to go to an external image, just no 3rd party apps, services or websites. Most of tech people are not like most other people. You and I might ignore the prompt to download things but we are the exception, why else are all these other tracking systems available?

Who knows how it would work unless we try? You can guess and I can guess and we both might be wrong. The only thing we know is we won't get results if we don't do it and then we can measure the effectiveness based on how many were sent verses actual opens or reads.

People are using Google analytics for this and I came here for help so I can try this.

Can you help me in setting this up without using 3rd party systems or not is the bottom line or I need someone else who knows how to do it will hopefully assist me.
Side note:  Two issues that will result in less than 100% reliability ...

1.  Text-only and improved security email readers.

2.  Companies are blocking access to Google analytics sites both on a privacy basis and on a wasted bandwidth basis.
@ Dr. Klahn,

We are very aware we can't achieve 100% reliability and know about restrictions, however the majority of our customers use personal email and we are not communicating with companies and not many corporate addresses.
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@ Serena Hsi,

Thanks I will look at this and hope to see if it will work when I return next week
why else are all these other tracking systems available?
Because they can sell them.
@ Dave Baldwin,

They sell them because they provide some tracking stats that marketing departments need to quantify their efforts and for other marketing campaigns.

The facts are that tracking does work to some degree which is what I came here to try to get working by using Google analytics. As soon as I can read the suggestions I'll try to get this working .
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What Lucas and Serena mentioned are correct. The better way for you to go about tracking emails is to use an email service provider (ESP) which will have these tracking mechanisms built in by default.

MailChimp is one I've used with success with clients in the past, is free, and gets you up and running with a sense of professionalism.

Here's a link to others: http://blog.capterra.com/top-10-mailchimp-alternatives-small-business-email-marketing/
@ Elizabeth "Smalls" Eckels,

I'd have to disagree with your statement "The better way for you to go about tracking emails is to use an email service provider (ESP) ". We aren't using a 3rd party ESP, just because many use an ESP doesn't mean it's right for everyone. There are lost of reasons to not use a 3rd party and retain full control of the systems rather than going to a provider with a crappy name where your highly valued customers would see they are being tracked by someone else.
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While some individuals have time to concentrate their efforts on a specific need this is one of many that I am dealing with. there have been suggestions how this may work I've yet to try it and have reviewed the information and have not abandoned the question. I feel the duration for abandoning a ticket is to short and does not take into consideration other events that may have the question in a pending state.
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@ Scott Fell, EE MVE,

Due to 2 very high profile projects I'm working on I'm having difficulty getting time for this one.

Yes Google is a 3rd party, however using their analytics is not like sending email out from mail chimp or constant contact, that would be using a 3rd party system. While you and others have had great success using 3rd party systems I'm also doubtful you had to consider protection of your branding that would be irreparably harmed if customers found emails sent on behalf of your business but sent by one of the aforementioned 3rd parties. I know these systems work, but using them is not aligned with our marketing principals.

For almost 40 years we've been in direct contact with our customers, never wavering and this is what they expect.
You should look at the emails you get from established companies to see how many are coming from 3rd party services.  Almost all of the legitimate 'business' email I receive comes from 3rd parties.  Any kind of bulk email is a difficult business.
@ Dave Baldwin,

Perhaps your work with established companies is restricted to traditional brands, not luxury branded goods. Most people we have worked with don't understand luxury brand marketing because there are so few companies that occupy this space that when we do explain some of our methods and customer care they can't imagine how it could work. First you need to have the right product then you need the right customers, we have both.

Traditional branding like you and everyone else are suggesting works for traditional brands, not us and I have stated this multiple times. You stated "Almost all of the legitimate 'business' email I receive comes from 3rd parties." Chances are you wouldn't do business with us either. To take this one step further, I wouldn't purchase goods from the company I work for, or from many other competitors though I like them they are not priced for my consumption.
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@ Scott Fell, EE MVE


Redirection to your site.  This is probably what you are actually trying to avoid. Absolutely trying to avoid! you got it!

If you are already happy with how you send email and do not want to use an smtp service, that is fine.  Good, you get this part! thanks

If you want to track click throughs and keep everything on your own site, this means you need to either do some programming on your pages. It does take more work but shows 100% from  your site. Again, yes you get it and thank you! This is absolutely what we will do and you seem to have fully understood the need and maybe how to execute.
To build on what Lucas has already provided, there is another method where you can build a url for tracking https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/  You will end up with something like http://mydomain.com/?utm_source=newsletter-1&utm_campaign=winter%202016&utm_medium=email for a campaign you give source  =newsletter-1, campaign  name =  winter 2016 and campaign medium = email.   This method does not put individual information in the url of course and if needed you can build these url's on the fly and add additional information.

The end result is using GA to analyze click throughs using only your own urls and report using a custom filter by the data you captured.  But this method will not capture opens.  

There are a lot of good options by all here.
@ Serena Hsi,

Step 1.

Am I missing something, does my landing page need any additional code in it for my custom url? Do we need a custom landing page?

http://www.ourwebsite.com/?utm_source=offer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fall2016

http://www.example.com/landing_page.htm?utm_campaign=Enews&utm_medium=email&utm_source=SubscriberList&utm_term=test-link&utm_content=header
@Clindell - you'll need Google Analytics tracking code on your website (or on the pages you're sending people to from the email) in order to collect the values you've set in the utm parameters. It will be collected in Google Analytics Source, Medium, and Campaign reports. Ideally you'll be able to put the GA tracking code across the site so you don't have to do it page by page, and can see customer experience/interactions with your website. GA is still a third party, so this may not be a suitable option for you.
Dave Baldwin and Serena Hsi have contributed significantly with useful material and both should be allocated points.