A Tracking Link is a URL with special information, known as parameters, that are added to it to collect user data. You can use tracking links like a normal URL within your email, social media, or another marketing campaign to gather metrics.
When someone uses a tracking link to visit a page, it records the provided parameters for you to review. Tracking links provide invaluable information to help measure the success of your marketing efforts and provide a better picture of your user demographics. They help determine the impact and success of your event outreach.
Brazen Administrators have the ability to create tracking links for events and series and define the parameters Brazen collects. You can use these tracking links with legacy, new, or custom Landing Pages. When a prospective candidate/attendee clicks your tracking links, Brazen recognizes the parameters and stores them in your Event Participants report as well as on the Tracking Links page. The parameters are used to identify which tracking link brought the prospective candidate/attendee to the site so you know what marketing campaigns best reach different user groups.
In This Article
Create a Tracking Link
- From your Event Home, click Reports, then Tracking Links.
- Click New to create a new tracking link. A popup window appears to enter your tracking link parameters.
- Enter the information (parameters) in the following fields, then click OK.
Do not include commas or special characters in the fields. Commas and special characters prevent tracking links from working.
- Medium — The method for distributing your link (i.e., email, website, social media).
- Source — The referral site, platform, or publication (i.e., newsletter, career portal, Twitter, LinkedIn).
- Content (optional) — The specific content that is linked (i.e., text, image, button). This field is optional but provides valuable information when you include multiple links in your source.
- Campaign (optional) — The overarching audience for your outreach. This field is optional but provides valuable information when measuring responses to similar outreach across user types.
These parameters give you a complete picture of which user types click which links. For example, if you are sending an email newsletter to potential new hires and embed the tracking link in the banner image as well as in linked text you may see that this audience is more likely to view the landing page and register for the event if you link the banner. Another user group may be more engaged by clicking a text link in your blog article.
Use a Tracking Link
From the Tracking Links page, locate the desired tracking link and click Copy to copy the link to your clipboard. Paste the URL into your outreach as you would a normal URL.
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Don't forget to test your tracking links before distributing your outreach. |
Clicking the linked text or image directs visitors to your event landing page. As users click your tracking links and register for the event, the tracked information is stored in two different areas:
- The Tracking Links page provides a snapshot of each link's views and registrants.
- Views — The total number of times the link has been clicked and viewed.
- Registrants — The total number of unique users that completed registration with this link. Only users who complete the registration process are counted. Users that do not submit a registration form will not show up as Registrants.
- The Event Participants report adds columns for tracking link information and records the parameters if a user follows a tracking link. Read more about the Event Participants report.
Create tracking links to use for each marketing endeavor promoting your event. Customized tracking links help build a picture of where your campaign is reaching people. The links with the highest number of views and registrants were the most effective. Consider focusing on these areas, especially for future events.
Tracking Links Limitations
Tracking links are powerful tools that can collect invaluable marketing data; however, they are limited by individual user privacy settings. Encrypted web browsers, privacy extensions, and firewalls can block Urchin Tracking Modules (UTMs) from tracking user paths. Depending on the user's browser add-ons and encryption settings, tracking links may not be able to capture all user data. A small percentage of missing user data should be expected.
There are a couple of ways to potentially combat missing data from individual privacy settings:
- Add a field to the registration form to allow candidates/attendees to identify how they heard about the event.
- Send all candidates/attendees an outreach email after the event has ended to re-engage them. Use this opportunity to ask for feedback, collect missing data to track how they learned about the event, and provide a great user experience.
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If you need help to understand your Event Participants report, contact your Brazen Account Manager or Customer Success Manager. |
Additional Resources
If you're using Brazen's integration with Google Analytics, your tracking link parameters are also collected by Google and available in your Google Analytics account for further analysis. This is an excellent way to link your traffic with the rest of your account and include Brazen engagement in a broader analysis of your organization's marketing campaigns.
For further data gathering, consider adding tracking pixels to your third-party marketing tools such as Facebook, Google Tag Manager, or DoubleClick.