Adding customer tracking code to email URLs

[JenniferT07]

For our marketing emails, I need to be able to add tracking code to all the email links that will identify the customer who received (and clicked on) the email.  I'd like to be able to use the send-to email as that identifier.  Does anyone know how I can append some tracking code to the end of each URL in the email, i.e. what the field is ("to_email" or something else) and how it should be formatted?  I'm assuming something like "?=to_email", but don't know proper field names or formatting.

Thanks!

[Hayley_L]

Hello @JenniferT07,

I apologize that I don't know what code you need to track in your URL's, but our system does track who clicks what link and that can be found in our "Reporting" section of Constant Contact. As far as creating and adding your own tracking codes other than Google Analytics, and Constant Contacts reporting, that is not a service we offer. I've reached out to members of our upper level support team to take a look at your inquiry, and they mentioned something that might suit your needs. Take a look at this article on how to add Google Analytics to your Custom Coded email if you are looking to track additional information. Be sure that your website is properly configured for Google Analytics for the tracking to work. If you are looking to track more than we offer, and what Google Analytics offers, please let us know. 

[JenniferT07]

Hi Hayley,

Thank you for your reply!

I don't think that the information in Reporting will be usable, as this is for a third party vendor who needs to collect click-through information for their own use.

What they want from us is to place a piece of tracking code on each URL in an email, that would be unique to each customer.  My thought was to append some code which would attach the customer's email address to each link, something like this:

http://www.gaelsong.com/?r=to_email

Is there any way to do that with Constant Contact?    If not, we will look into Google Analytics.

Thank you,

Jennifer

[Caitlin_M]

Hi Jennifer. Google Analytics is defniitely a great tool to use for this purpose. I see that you create emails using our Custom Code editor. With that, you are able to put in what are called dynamic links. I believe this might be what you are looking for. You do need to keep in mind that with dynamic code URLs aren't trackable in Constant Contact and won't be included in your reporting.

[JenniferT07]

Hi Caitlin,

Thank you so much for the reply! 

It looks like doing this "Example: https://www.yourdomainhere.com/$Subscriber.Email$"  (as shown on that page you linked) is exactly what I need to do!  However, the instructions on that page aren't helping me to insert that variable into the URLs.  I'm using HTML in Advanced Editor, and there is no option to do any of the instructions under the "Dynamic Links" heading on that page. 

I.e. the icons and fields in the following instructions are not visible:

• Place your cursor over the block where you want to add the link.
• Click the Edit this block icon in the upper left-hand corner of the block.
• Place your cursor where you want the link to appear.
• Click the Insert button on the left-hand side of the page.
• Place your cursor over the Link icon and click the Plus button.
• In the Text to display as link field, add the text you want your contacts to see as the link.
• Uncheck the "Track" option. A dynamic link won't function properly if tracking is enabled for it.
• Enter your URL into the Link URL field.
• Add the variable to the end of the URL.
  Example: https://www.yourdomainhere.com/$Subscriber.Email$
• Click Insert to finish editing the block content.

I found the following instruction page, as well, but still can't figure out how to add the variable I need (subscriber email address) to the URLs in an email, and have it work when I send one to myself:  http://knowledgebase.constantcontact.com/articles/KnowledgeBase/13914-Personal-Contact-Details-for-a...

Do you have any more insight, please?

Thank you,

Jennifer

[Caitlin_M]

Hi @JenniferT07. I just spoke with an upper level of support who works with custom coded emails. He saw that your email was created with HTML and these contact details will only work in XHTML. What you can do is copy your code, create a new email and select XHTML. This should allow the links to work properly. If you are still having trouble with your email, we do have a dedicated team that works with custom code. You can reach them at 866-289-2101 and they are available from 9AM-7PM EST Monday through Friday.

Also, I see what you meant with the FAQ I sent you having some different instructions. Sorry about that! Here's a better FAQ that will explain more. 

[JenniferT07]

Hi Caitlin,

Thank you for the advice!  I'm wondering if you can help a bit more.  I've created an email in XHTML, and it displays properly in Dreamweaver and isn't giving me any errors when I put it into Constant Contact, but when I "preview and test" the email in Constant Contact, the email is completely blank (it's also blank when I actually send a test.)

The test email I've created is the one called "5/11/17: XHTML Test" in my account.  Could someone take a look and tell me why it's not displaying properly in Constant Contact?

Thanks,

Jennifer

[Gwendolyn_B]

Hi @JenniferT07!

I just checked out your XHTML test email, and encountered the same problem when I made a copy of it. Since this is a pretty complex issue, we are creating a case for our senior support specialists to work on. They will reach out to you and notify you when it is completed within 4 business days. If you have any more questions, do not hesitate to reply here, or call our support line for more information. Thank you very much again for reaching out!

[SteveF5]

I'm finding the same limitation. Adding the subscriber email to the dynamic link is NOT an option as it would mean there is personally identifiable information in the link which violates Google Analytics Terms of Service (see below for reference).

Why doesn't Constant Contact just make the contact_id field available for inclusion in Dynamic Links? 

--

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2795983?hl=en

Analytics customers are prohibited from sending personal information to Google.

The Analytics terms of service, which all Analytics customers must adhere to, prohibits sending personally identifiable information (PII) to Analytics (such as names, social security numbers, email addresses, or any similar data), or data that permanently identifies a particular device (such as a mobile phone’s unique device identifier if such an identifier cannot be reset). Learn more about how to avoid sending PII. Your Analytics account could be terminated and your data destroyed if you use any of this information.

[Brigitte_P]

Hello @SteveF5 thanks for coming to the community!

At this time we do not have the contact_id included in our dynamic links feature because this conflicts with our Terms of Service. Adding this feature would not allow us to track links, which is necessary for our compliance team to have access to.

We certainly hear your concerns, and I will track your feedback on end however at this time this limitation of dynamic features is functioning as designed.

[thebigword]

Hi team, 

I have read previous articles about adding a custom field in the subject line. I understand that this may be risky for spamming but I would still like to know how to do this? Can somebody provide a step by step process of how to do this?

Much Appreciated, 

[Nick_S]

Hello @thebigword,

Thank you for your interest in this feature. We are still collecting feedback on implementing it in our system so I would be happy to track your request in your account for our developers to see. As you mentioned it is something we have seen increases the likelihood of an email being marked as spam because spammers like to use personal data in subject lines. Of course, your feedback is valuable to us so I will absolutely make sure it gets in front of the right people. 

[SteveP245]

I'm rather curious how your data indicates that adding names to subject lines increases spam report since your customers cannot do it so you should have no original data on the topic.  On the contrary, studies by 3rd parties clearly indicate that adding names to subject names increases open rates.  Please cite your study.  Or just let your customers do it - like we can w/ competing services.

Steve

[Caitlin_M]

Hello @SteveP245. Thanks for coming into the Community. I am not finding any current sources about including personal information in the subject line. However I am going to reach out to the appropriate department and try to get an answer for you.

[SteveP245]

Thanks Caitlin.  I hope you add it.  it's not rocket science (yes, I run a software company) and all the studies I've seen say it helps open rates.  As I asked, precisely what studies do you have to the contrary?

On a related note .. your new Editor is useless for complex tasks and we need to revert to the old one.  One super common thing we do in our emails is to embed the recipient's email address in the purchase links so our system can pre-fill his or her info for returning customers.  This works great by clicking the HTML button on the v2 editor and hand-editing the link.  v3 doesn't have that crucial feature so it's worthless to us.  We cannot use v3 for anything significant.  Also, in v3, it's impossible (or we couldn't figure out how) to get blocks with 1/2 text, 1/2 picture to reverse left  and right. In v2, there are distinct blocks to drag in for each an they work great.  V3, no such luck.

The ONLY reason we even asked to use v3 was simply to get emojis into the subject line.  But w/o the HTML editor, it's worthless to us and we had to quickly re-code our emails using v2.  I hope you consider the v3 editor a beta as it's nowhere near ready for real world use.  Can you please revert our settings to using the old editor until and unless you bring v3 up to feature parity w/ v2?

Thanks, Steve

[Caitlin_M]

Hi @SteveP245. I wanted to reach out to you about the feedback you provided about our third-generation editor. At this time, we are not able to use dynamic links in the third-generation editor like you were able to do in the second-generation but it is certainly something that is on our radar! I have submitted your feedback about this over to our Product teams.

Also, I'm sorry that you were having difficulty moving around your images and text. There is a layout area of the editor that has a few preset block layouts, including a block with a right-aligned image that you can drag into your campaign. If you wanted to have a left-aligned image, all you need to do is drag the image over to the left of the text once you insert the block into your campaign..

If you did want to use our second-generation editor for your emails, you can copy a template that was created using that editor. However, we are always making updates to our newest editor and making it the best that it can be for our customers. We really appreciate your feedback!

[Caitlin_M]

Hello again @SteveP245. I spoke directly with a member of our Product team and I'm happy to let you know that they are working on allowing for more personalized emails, including inserting personal information into the subject line! They do not have a date for when this will happen but he wanted to let you know that this is absolutely something that should be in accounts in the near future. 

[SteveP245]

Thanks Caitlin.  Appreciate you checking and looking forward to the new feature!

Thanks, Steve

[CeceliaB78]

Good day, ConstantContact!

I just started an account and have a question.

Question: How can I add Contact Details into link to make it dynamic? For example, email field  {Email Address} works in text of email, but do not work in link.

$Subscriber.Email$ doesn't work too (taken from guide https://knowledgebase.constantcontact.com/articles/KnowledgeBase/33241-Add-Personalization-to-a-Cust...

Can you please advise on this?

Thank you!

[Hayley_L]

Hello @CeceliaB78,

Thank you for coming to the Community with your questions. Take a look at this great article about adding contact details into your email. This way, your email campaign can be personalized to each individual contact who is receiving it. You can preview the contact details by sending yourself a test of the email, or going to the preview screen. I hope this helps!

[CeceliaB78]

Good day @Hayley_L ,

Thank you for the fast follow-up!

Dynamic email field  {Email Address} was working in text of email, but it does not work in link.

What else can I try (article did not help)?

Regards,

[Caitlin_M]

Hi @CeceliaB78. I looked into your account and I see that you have a few drafts using our third-generation editor and our custom code editor. Which draft were you trying to insert the dynamic link into? If you wished to continue this conversation privately, you can email us at social_support(at)constantcontact(dot)com with a reference to this post and the information about the draft you were working on. 

[RobertaC477]

Going to private conversation really defeats the purpose of a public forum to help others with the same issue.  I am having the exact same issue right now.....

[Caitlin_M]

Hi @RobertaC477. We offer to do a private conversation because some customers do not like discussing their accounts publically but I'd be happy to assist you here. Were you trying to insert a dynamic link into one of your drafts as well? I see that your drafts were created using our third-generation editor. At this time, dynamic links are not able to be inserted using this editor. I apologize for this inconvenience but I will submit your feedback to our product team.

[RobertaC477]

Yes Caitlin, that is exactly what I am trying to do.  I have a group that will be traveling together, and each contact has their own link to the program.  And I am trying to use CC to send the email with the link.  I have created a custom field for the link, but when I tested, it failed to input it into the email.  So then I tried dynamic.  Do you have any suggestions as to how I can get this done?