How to track the clicks of links contained in email signatures with Google Analytics & UTM parameters

Scenario

Understanding how recipients interact with links in your email signatures is crucial for optimizing your marketing strategy. This article provides step-by-step instructions on seamlessly integrating Google Analytics with Exclaimer, enabling you to measure the ROI of your email signatures, analyze user engagement, and refine your overall marketing approach based on data-driven insights.

Resolution

This article outlines a three-step resolution for tracking Exclaimer email signature clicks with Google Analytics and UTM parameters.

Learn to generate custom campaign URLs.
Insert them into your signature.
Review the resulting data.

Notably, the article demonstrates step 3 for both Universal Analytics and GA4, providing users with a streamlined guide to optimize their email marketing strategy.

Generating custom-campaign URLs

Generating Campaign Tracking URL

To begin our process we need to build our tracking URL for the campaign. Many analytics tools will use a Campaign URL Builder web page to handle this process. (e.g. Google Analytics Campaign URL Builder)
When using a campaign URL building tool, you will find a mix of required and optional fields to fill out in order to generate the campaign and associated link.
The website URL you need to specify should be one that directs to the landing page you want your image or text in the signature to link to. This URL must belong to a domain you have already set up within your analytics solution.

The remaining UTM Parameters will be added to the link generated and will be what enables the analytics software to provide accurate, reliable and meaningful information. Below is further information on each field, its corresponding UTM parameter and what it is used for.

Field Name	UTM Tag	Purpose	Example
Campaign Source	utm_source	Identify the source of the click in analytics	"salesteamsignature"
Campaign Medium	utm_medium	Identify a medium for the source of the click	"email"
Campaign Name	utm_campaign	Used for keyword analysis	"christmas_sale" "marketing_event"
Campaign Term	utm_term	Used for paid search	"corporate+email+signatures"
Campaign Content	utm_content	Used for A/B testing and content-targeted ads	"bannerlink" "logolink" "textlink"

If you are including a promotional banner that is part of a wider marketing campaign, we recommend using the same Campaign Name (utm_campaign) for this banner as the other campaign assets (e.g. email or display advert).

Once all your fields are filled in as required, the builder will generate a campaign URL for use with the analytic software. It is this URL that we will want to contain as the hyperlink for the content in our signature.

Adding Campaign Tracking URL Into The Signature

Now that we have the tracking URL for our landing page we need to add it to the relevant content in our signature. To do this we will open up our signature and click on the content we are adding the hyperlink to. Below we cover the 3 most likely locations for such a hyperlink to assist; Images & Banners, Social Media Icons and Text.

Images & Banners

Social Media Icons

Text

Reviewing custom-campaign data (GA4)

Step 1: Access your Google Analytics 4 Property To begin, ensure you have access to your Google Analytics 4 property. Visit the Google Analytics website (https://analytics.google.com) and log in to your account. Navigate to the Admin section, where you can find the properties associated with your account. Step 2: Select the Desired Property From the Admin section, locate and select the Google Analytics 4 property that corresponds to the website or app you want to analyze. If you haven't set up a GA4 property yet, follow the provided instructions to create one. Step 3: Navigate to the Reports Once you have selected the appropriate property, navigate to the Reports section by clicking on the "Reports" tab in the left-hand sidebar. This will open the GA4 reporting interface. Step 4: Access the Traffic acquisition Report In the left-hand sidebar of the reporting interface, This section provides valuable insights into the sources of your website traffic. Step 5: Explore Campaign Data Within the Acquisition report, you will find various subsections that provide data related to your campaigns. To view custom campaign data, click on the Dimension dropdown menu then select the campaign field you wish to view.

Step 7: Analyze Key Metrics Take advantage of the metrics available in the Acquisition report to assess the performance of your custom campaigns. Look for important metrics such as sessions, conversions, bounce rate, and average session duration. These metrics will help you gauge the effectiveness of your campaigns and identify areas for improvement. Step 8: Drill Down into Campaign Details To obtain more granular insights, click on a specific campaign within the report. This will reveal detailed information about that particular campaign, including traffic sources, user engagement, and conversion data. Explore these details to gain a comprehensive understanding of how each custom campaign contributes to your overall marketing objectives. Step 9: Create Custom Reports (Optional) For advanced analysis and ongoing monitoring of your custom campaigns, consider creating custom reports in GA4. Utilize the "Customization" tab in the left-hand sidebar to create tailored reports that focus specifically on the metrics and dimensions that matter most to your business goals.

Reviewing custom-campaign data (Universal Analytics)

Once the tracking URL has been added to the signature and the signature has been active for at least 24 hours, or the campaign is over, we can analyse it in the analytics software.

If you have used Google Analytics for this campaign, head to Acquisition > Campaigns > All Campaigns, there you can see the Campaign Name, click on that to then see the results for the email signature.

If you’re running a promotional banner A/B test for a campaign and have set the Campaign Content (e.g. utm_content=banner1 & utm_content=banner2), you can compare the results by going to Acquisition > Campaigns > All Campaigns and setting the Primary Dimension to Ad Content.

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