Tracking email opens in Google Analytics

Question

We have tracking in our emails to track clicks back to our site through Google Analytics. But is there a way to track opens? I would imagine I have to add a google trackin

Answer 1

I better post this to save everyone the trouble of trying to construct that monstrous UTM gif URL.

You can now use the new Measurement Protocol API to send a POST request and easily record events, page views, hits, or almost any other type of measurement. It's super easy!

POST /collect HTTP/1.1
Host: www.google-analytics.com

payload_data

For example, here's a code snippet to send an event in C# (using SSL endpoint):

public void SendEvent(string eventCategory = null, string eventAction = null, string eventLabel = null, int? eventValue = null)
{
    using(var httpClient = new HttpClient() {BaseAddress = new Uri("https://ssl.google-analytics.com/")}) {
        var payload = new Dictionary();

        // Required Data
        payload.Add("v", "1"); // Version
        payload.Add("tid", "UA-XXX"); // UA account
        payload.Add("aip", "1"); // Anonymize IP
        payload.Add("cid", Guid.NewGuid().ToString()); // ClientID
        payload.Add("t", "event"); // Hit Type

        // Optional Data
        payload.Add("ni", "1"); // Non-interactive hit

        // Event Data
        if (eventCategory != null)
        {
            payload.Add("ec", eventCategory);
        }
        if (eventAction != null)
        {
            payload.Add("ea", eventAction);
        }
        if (eventLabel != null)
        {
            payload.Add("el", eventLabel);
        }
        if (eventValue != null)
        {
            payload.Add("ev", eventValue.Value.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));
        }

        using (var postData = new FormUrlEncodedContent(payload))
        {
            var response = httpClient.PostAsync("collect?z=" + DateTime.Now.Ticks, postData).Result;

            if (!response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
            {
                throw new Exception("Could not send event data to GA");
            }
        }
    }
}

Way easier than the hack with the __utm gif.

Helpful Example

You can easily add this to emails by doing this:

In an email:

In your MVC site, for example, NewsletterController:

public ActionResult Track(string newsletterName) {
    using(var ga = new AnalyticsFacade()) {
       ga.TrackEmailOpen(newsletterName);
    }

    return Content("~/images/pixel.gif", "image/gif");
}

In your Global.asax or RouteConfig:

routes.MapRoute(
    "newsletteropen",
    "newsletter/track.gif",
    new
    {
        controller = "Newsletter",
        action = "Track"
    });

BOOM, done, son. You can now track email opens using a much nicer API that's supported and documented.