How to Track Email Clicks in Google Analytics

Your email campaigns are live, links are getting clicked, but when you check Google Analytics 4, that traffic is nowhere to be found - or it's all mysteriously lumped under "Direct." If you can't connect your email marketing efforts to actual website behavior, you're missing a huge piece of the puzzle. This article will show you exactly how to track your email clicks and see the real performance of your campaigns inside Google Analytics 4 using UTM parameters.

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What’s the Problem? Unattributed Email Traffic in GA4

You might assume that any traffic coming from an email would be automatically credited to that email. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. When a user clicks a link in their desktop email client (like Outlook or Apple Mail) or a web-based client (like Gmail), Google Analytics often can't identify the origin of that click. It doesn’t see that the user came from an email newsletter.

When Google Analytics can't identify the source of traffic, it labels it as (direct) / (none). This is the same category used for users who type your website URL directly into their browser or use a bookmark. Your valuable email traffic gets mixed in with this direct traffic, making it impossible to answer critical questions like:

• Which newsletter drove the most sales last month?
• Did the promo code in Tuesday's email actually generate conversions?
• How does traffic from my welcome series behave compared to traffic from my weekly newsletter?

Without proper tracking, you're essentially flying blind. You know you're getting clicks, but you don't know who they are, what they do, or how valuable they are to your business. The solution to this problem is surprisingly simple: UTM codes.

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UTM Parameters: The Key to Tracking Your Campaigns

UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) parameters are simple tags that you add to the end of a URL. These tags don't change the destination of the link, but they give Google Analytics precise information about where the click came from.

When someone clicks a URL with UTM parameters, those tags are passed to Google Analytics, which then categorizes the user's session with that information. Instead of "Direct," your traffic is now correctly attributed to your email marketing efforts.

A URL with UTM parameters might look a little long, but it’s just made up of your regular link followed by a question mark and the tags:

https://www.yourwebsite.com/sale?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=winter_sale_2024

Breaking this down, let’s look at the core components you’ll use for tracking email clicks.

The Five Core UTM Parameters Explained

There are five main UTM parameters, but for email tracking, you primarily need to focus on the first three: source, medium, and campaign.

1. utm_source (Required): This identifies the source of your traffic. Think of it as answering the question, "Where is the user coming from?" For email campaigns, this could be your email service provider (like klaviyo, mailchimp) or a general value like newsletter. Example: utm_source=mailchimp
2. utm_medium (Required): This specifies the marketing medium or channel. Since we're tracking emails, the value for this should always be email. This consistency is crucial for helping Google Analytics correctly group all your email activities together. Example: utm_medium=email
3. utm_campaign (Required): This is arguably the most important tag. It tells you the specific name of your campaign, promotion, or newsletter. This is what allows you to differentiate performance between your "welcome_series," "january_promo," or "weekly_roundup." Example: utm_campaign=black_friday_preview
4. utm_content (Optional): This helps you differentiate between links within the same email that point to the same URL. For example, if you have a button and a text link both going to your sale page, you can tag one utm_content=cta_button and the other utm_content=text_link. This helps with A/B testing which elements get more clicks.
5. utm_term (Optional): Originally designed to track paid keywords, this parameter is less relevant for email tracking. Most marketers leave this one blank.

How to Build Your Tracking URLs: A Step-by-Step Guide

Manually typing out these long URLs can be tedious and is prone to error. A single typo can break your tracking. Luckily, Google provides a free and simple tool to build them for you: the GA4 Campaign URL Builder.

Let's walk through building a link for a hypothetical email campaign.

Scenario: You're sending a newsletter to promote a 20% off spring sale. You want to track clicks on the main "Shop Now" button.

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Step 1: Open Google’s Campaign URL Builder

You can find this tool by searching for "GA4 Campaign URL Builder" or navigating to it directly. It’s a simple form with fields for your destination URL and the UTM parameters.

Step 2: Enter Your Website URL

In the first field, "Website URL," paste the full URL of the page you want to send people to. For our example, let's use a fake sale page:

https://www.yourstore.com/spring-collection

Step 3: Fill in Your UTM Parameters

Next, fill out the required campaign source, medium, and name. This is where you define how the traffic will be labeled in Google Analytics.

• Campaign Source (utm_source): Let's use newsletter, as we'll send it to our main list.
• Campaign Medium (utm_medium): Since this is an email, the medium is locked in as email. Always use lowercase "email" for consistency.
• Campaign Name (utm_campaign): Be descriptive and consistent. We'll call this one spring_sale_20_percent.
• Campaign Content (utm_content): To track the button specifically, we'll label this main_cta_button.

Step 4: Generate and Copy Your URL

As you fill in the fields, the tool automatically generates the final tracking URL at the bottom of the page. It will look something like this:

https://www.yourstore.com/spring-collection?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spring_sale_20_percent&utm_content=main_cta_button

You can now copy this fully tagged URL and use it as the destination for the "Shop Now" button in your email campaign within Mailchimp, Klaviyo, HubSpot, or any other email tool.

Best Practices for UTM Naming Conventions

To avoid messy data, follow these simple rules:

• Use lowercase always. Google Analytics is case-sensitive. Email and email will be reported as two separate mediums. Stick to lowercase for everything to keep your reports clean.
• Use underscores or dashes instead of spaces. Spaces in URLs can cause strange formatting issues. Use black_friday instead of black friday.
• Be consistent. Decide on a naming structure and stick to it. If you use utm_campaign=product_launch this month, don't use utm_campaign=NewProductLaunch next time.
• Keep a spreadsheet. For teams, it's a good practice to use a shared spreadsheet to log every campaign URL created. This ensures consistency and prevents duplicating campaign names.

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Where to Find Your Email Data in Google Analytics 4

Once you’ve sent your email with the new UTM-tagged links and people have started clicking on them, where can you actually see the data? In GA4, your campaign information is located in the traffic acquisition reports.

Here’s how to find it:

1. Navigate to the Traffic acquisition report: On the left-hand navigation menu in GA4, go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. This report shows you which channels are bringing users to your site.
2. Change the Primary Dimension: The default primary dimension in this report is usually "Session default channel grouping." To see your campaign names, click the dropdown menu and change it to Session campaign.

You will now see a list of all your campaign names that have sent traffic during the selected date range. You can find your spring_sale_20_percent campaign in this list and see key metrics associated with it, like:

• Users
• Sessions
• Engaged sessions
• Conversions (including purchase if you have e-commerce tracking set up)

This view definitively proves the ROI of your email. You can directly tie a campaign name to revenue and user engagement on your site.

To see your source and medium tags, simply change the primary dimension to Session source / medium. Here, you'll see your traffic correctly attributed as newsletter / email, separate from (direct) / (none) or google / organic.

Final Thoughts

Properly tracking your email marketing campaigns isn't tricky - it just requires a one-time setup using UTM parameters for every link. By tagging your URLs consistently, you can unlock clear and actionable data in Google Analytics, turning messy "Direct" traffic into a clear picture of what drives website visits, engagement, and most importantly, sales.

Of course, this is just scratching the surface of connecting your marketing activities to actual business outcomes. With multiple platforms like Google Analytics, Shopify, Klaviyo, and various ad managers, pulling everything together is where the real power lies. This is exactly what we built Graphed to solve. We help you connect all your data sources in a single place and let you use simple natural language - not complex reporting tools - to get answers. Instead of manually filtering reports in GA4, you can just ask, "What was the ROI of my spring sale email campaign?" and get an instant, clear answer.