Email Tracking - Cakemail

Track opens, clicks, and engagement metrics for transactional emails and campaigns.

Overview

Email tracking provides insights into recipient behavior:

Open tracking - When recipients open emails
Click tracking - Which links recipients click
Engagement metrics - Overall performance data

How Tracking Works

Open Tracking

Mechanism:

Invisible 1x1 pixel image embedded in email
When email is opened, pixel loads from server
Server logs the open event with timestamp

Limitations:

Requires HTML email (doesn't work with plain text)
Some email clients block images by default
Privacy-focused clients may prevent tracking

Click Tracking

Mechanism:

Original links replaced with tracking URLs
When recipient clicks, they're redirected through tracking server
Server logs click event, then redirects to original URL
Happens seamlessly (recipient doesn't notice)

Example:

Original:    https://example.com/product
Tracked:     https://track.cakemail.com/c/abc123/xyz789
             → Logs click → Redirects to original URL

Enabling Tracking

For Transactional Emails

Add --tracking flag:

cakemail emails send \
  -t recipient@example.com \
  -s "Newsletter" \
  --html-file newsletter.html \
  --tracking

For Campaigns

Tracking is typically enabled by default for campaigns. Check campaign settings or enable during creation.

Viewing Tracking Data

Get Email Details

cakemail emails get <email-id>

Output with tracking data:

{
  "id": "email_abc123",
  "to": "recipient@example.com",
  "subject": "Newsletter",
  "status": "delivered",
  "tracking": {
    "opened": true,
    "opened_at": "2024-06-15T10:30:00Z",
    "opens_count": 3,
    "clicked": true,
    "clicks_count": 2,
    "last_click_at": "2024-06-15T10:35:00Z"
  },
  "delivered_at": "2024-06-15T10:00:00Z"
}

Filter Email Logs

# Emails that were opened
cakemail emails logs --status delivered | jq '.data[] | select(.tracking.opened==true)'

# Emails with clicks
cakemail emails logs --status delivered | jq '.data[] | select(.tracking.clicked==true)'

Campaign Analytics

For campaign-level tracking:

cakemail reports campaign <campaign-id>

Output:

{
  "campaign_id": 12345,
  "delivered": 1000,
  "opened": 350,
  "clicked": 120,
  "bounced": 10,
  "open_rate": 0.35,
  "click_rate": 0.12,
  "click_to_open_rate": 0.34
}

Link-Level Tracking

See which specific links were clicked:

cakemail reports campaign-links <campaign-id>

Output:

{
  "links": [
    {
      "url": "https://example.com/product-1",
      "clicks": 45,
      "unique_clicks": 38
    },
    {
      "url": "https://example.com/product-2",
      "clicks": 30,
      "unique_clicks": 28
    }
  ]
}

Tracking Metrics Explained

Opens

Unique Opens:

Number of recipients who opened at least once
Multiple opens from same recipient counted once

Total Opens:

Total number of times email was opened
Includes multiple opens from same recipient

Open Rate:

Open Rate = (Unique Opens / Delivered) × 100

Clicks

Unique Clicks:

Number of recipients who clicked at least once
Multiple clicks from same recipient counted once

Total Clicks:

Total number of clicks across all links
Includes multiple clicks from same recipient

Click Rate:

Click Rate = (Unique Clicks / Delivered) × 100

Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR):

CTOR = (Unique Clicks / Unique Opens) × 100

Best Practices

1. Always Enable Tracking

# ✅ Track everything
cakemail emails send ... --tracking

# ❌ Missing insights
cakemail emails send ...

2. Provide Plain Text Alternative

# ✅ HTML + text (tracking works on HTML)
cakemail emails send \
  --html-file email.html \
  --text-file email.txt \
  --tracking

3. Use Descriptive Link Text

<!-- ✅ Clear call-to-action -->
<a href="https://example.com/signup">Sign Up Now</a>

<!-- ❌ Generic -->
<a href="https://example.com/signup">Click here</a>

4. Test Email Rendering

# Render email to verify tracking pixel
cakemail emails render <email-id> --tracking > test.html

5. Monitor Engagement

#!/bin/bash
# Check engagement daily

YESTERDAY=$(date -d "yesterday" +%Y-%m-%d)
TODAY=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)

STATS=$(cakemail -f json emails logs --from $YESTERDAY --to $TODAY)
SENT=$(echo "$STATS" | jq '.total')
OPENED=$(echo "$STATS" | jq '[.data[] | select(.tracking.opened==true)] | length')
CLICKED=$(echo "$STATS" | jq '[.data[] | select(.tracking.clicked==true)] | length')

echo "Daily Email Stats:"
echo "  Sent: $SENT"
echo "  Opened: $OPENED"
echo "  Clicked: $CLICKED"

Privacy Considerations

Respecting Privacy

Best practices:

Inform recipients - Include tracking disclosure in privacy policy
Provide opt-out - Allow users to disable tracking
Secure data - Tracking data is encrypted and secure
Comply with regulations - Follow GDPR, CAN-SPAM, CASL

GDPR Compliance

If sending to EU recipients:

Disclose tracking in privacy policy
Obtain consent where required
Provide easy opt-out mechanism
Honor data deletion requests

Troubleshooting

Opens Not Being Tracked

Possible causes:

Images blocked - Email client blocks images
Plain text only - Recipient viewing plain text version
Preview pane - Some clients don't count preview as open
Privacy protection - Client using privacy features

Not always a problem:

Some opens won't be tracked (that's normal)
Focus on trends, not individual opens

Clicks Not Being Tracked

Check:

Tracking enabled - Verify --tracking flag used
HTML email - Tracking requires HTML
Valid links - Ensure links in email are correct

Debug:

# Render email with tracking
cakemail emails render <email-id> --tracking > debug.html

# Inspect links (should be tracking URLs)
grep -o 'href="[^"]*"' debug.html

Tracking Data Missing

Verify tracking was enabled:

# Check email details
cakemail emails get <email-id>

# Look for tracking object in response

If missing:

Email was sent without --tracking flag
Resend with tracking enabled

Analytics Best Practices

1. Segment Analysis

# Compare performance by tag
cakemail emails logs --tag "welcome" --from 2024-06-01
cakemail emails logs --tag "newsletter" --from 2024-06-01

2. Time-Based Analysis

# Weekly comparison
cakemail emails logs --from 2024-06-01 --to 2024-06-07
cakemail emails logs --from 2024-06-08 --to 2024-06-14

3. A/B Testing

# Send variant A
cakemail emails send ... --tags "test-a,subject-variant-1" --tracking

# Send variant B
cakemail emails send ... --tags "test-b,subject-variant-2" --tracking

# Compare results
cakemail emails logs --tag "test-a"
cakemail emails logs --tag "test-b"

4. Track Campaign Performance

# Campaign overview
cakemail reports campaign <campaign-id>

# Link performance
cakemail reports campaign-links <campaign-id>

# Export for analysis
cakemail reports campaign <campaign-id> > campaign-stats.json

Practical Examples

Example 1: Daily Engagement Report

#!/bin/bash
# daily-report.sh

DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
REPORT="report-$DATE.txt"

echo "Email Engagement Report - $DATE" > $REPORT
echo "=================================" >> $REPORT
echo "" >> $REPORT

# Get stats
STATS=$(cakemail -f json emails logs --from $DATE --to $DATE)

# Parse data
TOTAL=$(echo "$STATS" | jq '.total')
DELIVERED=$(echo "$STATS" | jq '[.data[] | select(.status=="delivered")] | length')
OPENED=$(echo "$STATS" | jq '[.data[] | select(.tracking.opened==true)] | length')
CLICKED=$(echo "$STATS" | jq '[.data[] | select(.tracking.clicked==true)] | length')

# Calculate rates
OPEN_RATE=$(echo "scale=2; $OPENED * 100 / $DELIVERED" | bc)
CLICK_RATE=$(echo "scale=2; $CLICKED * 100 / $DELIVERED" | bc)

# Write report
echo "Total Sent: $TOTAL" >> $REPORT
echo "Delivered: $DELIVERED" >> $REPORT
echo "Opened: $OPENED ($OPEN_RATE%)" >> $REPORT
echo "Clicked: $CLICKED ($CLICK_RATE%)" >> $REPORT

cat $REPORT

Example 2: Link Performance Analysis

#!/bin/bash
# analyze-links.sh

CAMPAIGN_ID=$1

if [ -z "$CAMPAIGN_ID" ]; then
  echo "Usage: ./analyze-links.sh <campaign-id>"
  exit 1
fi

echo "Analyzing campaign $CAMPAIGN_ID..."
echo ""

# Get link data
LINKS=$(cakemail -f json reports campaign-links $CAMPAIGN_ID)

# Display top links
echo "Top 5 Links by Clicks:"
echo "$LINKS" | jq -r '.links | sort_by(-.clicks) | .[:5][] | "\(.clicks) clicks - \(.url)"'