Use Campaign Manager 360 to track impressions and clicks on HTML emails

Traffickers can use Campaign Manager 360 to track impressions and clicks on an email if the email uses HTML. This is only supported for emails that allow images and referrer calls.

Track clicks and impressions on HTML emails

(Keep in mind that tracking ads are an easier alternative to this process.)

1. Set up impression tracking.

   Create a 1x1 placement and assign a 1x1 ad with a 1x1 creative. Export tags for the placement and implement them in the email with your ad.

   Some websites may not be able to cache-bust (by adding a random number to the ad tag each time it is called). In such cases, resulting impression numbers may not reflect every ad view, but will more closely track the number of times the email is opened. Also, email clients such as Outlook or Lotus might not read JavaScript; therefore, client-side JavaScript is not a reliable option.
2. Set up click tracking.

   There are three methods by which clicks can be tracked in a non-banner HTML email:

   • Vanity URL, also known as a 302 redirect or virtual directory. This method is fairly common. To employ it, the advertiser must set up a virtual directory on their site. Campaign Manager 360 cannot perform 302 redirects for clients. The redirect URL of the 302 virtual directory requires a click tracker ad.

   • HTTP meta-refresh. Campaign Manager 360 cannot set up a meta-refresh page. The advertiser must set up the page and must use a click tracker ad as the redirect URL.

   • Click tracker ads. Dynamic click trackers are generally preferred because they can be deactivated from within Campaign Manager 360.

3. Deliver the 1x1 impression tracker.

   Deliver the placement tags, to be implemented within the email content, or else deliver the pre-packaged tracking ad (complete with impression and click tracker). If a 302-redirect or meta-refresh is being used to track clicks, supply the website with the necessary 302 or meta-URL, such as http://advertiser.com/promotion1/

Email clients

Tracking behavior may be unpredictable across email clients. For instance, HTML and JavaScript might be treated differently by Outlook, Eudora, and Lotus. An advertiser may not be able to predict whether one of those email clients will credit an impression if, for example, the Outlook preview pane is used. Generally, tracking behavior for web email clients (Gmail, Yahoo!, etc.) is more dependable and observes basic HTML rules.

Nosend attribute

Some impression tags will contain an additional parameter called nosend. Setting this attribute to 1, as in nosend="1", will keep Outlook from embedding the image file in the email message. This will ensure that the image file is forwarded if the mail client forwards the message.