Click Tracking, Email by Email: When to Turn It On

An open tells you the email was seen. A click tells you what the reader went to look at, which is a different and usually stronger signal. It is also more intrusive, and on some emails it is simply none of your business. That is why it is now a switch on each email rather than one setting for all of them.

Table of contents

Why a click says more than an open

Opens are noisy. Image proxies load pixels on their own schedule, people reopen an email to find an address, and privacy features in some mail apps report opens that never happened; we went through all of it in how accurate open tracking really is.

A click is a decision. Someone who opened your proposal and then went to the pricing page three times on Thursday morning is not in the same place as someone who opened it once and moved on. Open tracking versus link tracking compares the two in more depth.

How the switch works

When you write a new message, a Clicks ON / OFF switch sits next to Tracking ON. Your dashboard setting decides its starting position, and you change it email by email. It only works on a tracked email, so it switches off when you turn tracking off.

When it is on, the links in your message are replaced at the moment you press Send. The words of each link stay the same; the address behind it points to our redirect, which counts the click and sends the reader straight on to the original page. Some links are never touched: links on images, such as the logo in your signature, email and phone links, and anything that is not a normal web address. Up to 25 links per message are tracked.

The switch arrives with version 0.1.5 of the extension. Until then, click tracking was a single account setting, introduced with the click tracking beta.

When to turn it on

Proposals and quotes with a pricing link. A visit to the pricing page is the clearest buying signal an email can give you. See also sending quotes by email.

Case studies and references. Someone reading a case study is usually building an argument for a colleague.

Booking links. A click on your calendar link without a booking tells you the intent is there and something stopped it.

Portfolios and documents you host. Which piece they opened is worth more than knowing they opened the email.

When to leave it off

Personal and sensitive messages. Knowing that someone clicked the link to a medical form or a legal document is information you do not need and should not want.

People who asked not to be tracked. If a client has said so, respect it for opens and clicks alike; we wrote about that conversation in when a client asks you to stop tracking.

Security-minded recipients. Someone who hovers over a link will see our redirect address instead of the site's. Most people never check. Some do, especially in IT and finance, and a rewritten link can make them hesitate.

Emails with no link worth counting. The website link in your signature tells you nothing.

Reading clicks honestly

Instant clicks are machines. Company email security often checks every link before a person sees the message, so clicks in the first ten seconds after sending are ignored. The full story is in why a link shows as clicked seconds after you send.

Your own clicks do not count. A click from the network you sent the email from is treated as you checking your own link, and left out.

A forward changes who is clicking. Clicks on a forwarded email come from new readers; see what happens when you forward a tracked email.

What each plan shows

On the free plan you see how many times the links in each email were clicked. Paid plans add which link, when, and how many times. Clicks are recorded either way, so if you upgrade later the detail is there for your whole history.

Conclusion

Click tracking is the right tool for emails where the next step lives behind a link: proposals, pricing, case studies, bookings. On everything else it adds little and costs a bit of trust. Deciding email by email is the point of the switch.

Frequently asked questions

Does the recipient see a different link?

The words of the link stay the same. The address behind it points to our redirect, which is visible if they hover over it, and sends them on to the original page instantly.

Can I turn click tracking on after sending?

No. Links are replaced when you press Send, so the choice happens in the compose window.

Does it work without open tracking?

No. Click tracking only runs on a tracked email, which is why the switch turns off when Tracking is off.

Are the links in my signature tracked?

Links on images, such as a logo, never are. Text links are, when Clicks is on, because the extension cannot tell your signature from the rest of the message.

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