Email Tracking & Analytics

TrackPost provides comprehensive email tracking so you can monitor engagement, delivery, and performance in real-time.

What Can You Track?

Engagement Metrics

• Opens - When recipients open your emails
• Clicks - When recipients click links in your emails
• Open Rate - Percentage of delivered emails opened
• Click Rate - Percentage of opens that clicked
• Click-to-Open Rate - Clicks per unique open

Delivery Metrics

• Sent - Emails successfully queued
• Delivered - Emails successfully delivered to recipient server
• Bounced - Emails that couldn’t be delivered
• Complained - Emails marked as spam
• Delivery Rate - Percentage of sent emails delivered

Email Events

Enabling Tracking

Default Settings

By default, all emails have tracking enabled:

{
  "track_opens": true,
  "track_clicks": true
}

Disable Tracking

For privacy-sensitive emails, disable tracking:

curl -X POST https://api.trackpost.de/v1/emails \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer tp_live_your_key" \
  -d '{
    "to": "[email protected]",
    "from": "[email protected]",
    "subject": "Confidential",
    "html": "<p>Private message</p>",
    "track_opens": false,
    "track_clicks": false
  }'

Disable Click Tracking Only

Keep open tracking but disable link tracking:

{
  "track_opens": true,
  "track_clicks": false
}

How Tracking Works

Open Tracking

TrackPost adds an invisible 1x1 pixel image to HTML emails:

<img src="https://api.trackpost.de/v1/track/open/abc123" 
     width="1" height="1" alt="" />

When the email client loads this image, we record an open.

Click Tracking

TrackPost replaces links with tracking URLs:

Original:

<a href="https://yourapp.com/dashboard">Go to Dashboard</a>

With Tracking:

<a href="https://api.trackpost.de/v1/track/click/abc123?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyourapp.com%2Fdashboard">
  Go to Dashboard
</a>

When clicked, we redirect to your URL and record the click.

Disable tracking for specific links:

<a href="https://yourapp.com/unsubscribe" data-track="false">Unsubscribe</a>

Viewing Analytics

Dashboard

1. Log in to TrackPost Dashboard
2. Navigate to Analytics

Dashboard Sections:

• Overview - Key metrics at a glance
• Emails - List of all emails with status
• Templates - Performance by template
• Domains - Metrics by sending domain
• Exports - Download detailed reports

Metrics Available

Overview Cards:

• Total emails sent (this month)
• Delivery rate
• Open rate
• Click rate
• Bounce rate
• Complaint rate

Charts:

• Emails over time (daily/weekly/monthly)
• Open rates by template
• Click rates by link
• Geographic distribution
• Device/client breakdown

Email Details

Click any email to see:

{
  "id": "msg_abc123",
  "to": "[email protected]",
  "subject": "Welcome!",
  "status": "delivered",
  "sent_at": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "delivered_at": "2025-01-15T10:30:02Z",
  "opened_at": "2025-01-15T10:35:15Z",
  "opens_count": 3,
  "clicks": [
    {
      "url": "https://yourapp.com/activate",
      "clicked_at": "2025-01-15T10:36:20Z",
      "ip": "192.168.1.1",
      "user_agent": "Mozilla/5.0..."
    }
  ],
  "bounce_reason": null,
  "complaint_feedback": null
}

API Analytics

Get Email Stats

curl "https://api.trackpost.de/v1/analytics/emails?from_date=2025-01-01&to_date=2025-01-31" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer tp_live_your_key"

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "total": {
      "sent": 15000,
      "delivered": 14850,
      "bounced": 120,
      "complained": 30,
      "opened": 6500,
      "clicked": 2100
    },
    "rates": {
      "delivery_rate": 99.0,
      "open_rate": 43.8,
      "click_rate": 32.3,
      "bounce_rate": 0.8,
      "complaint_rate": 0.2
    },
    "by_date": [
      {
        "date": "2025-01-15",
        "sent": 500,
        "delivered": 495,
        "opened": 220,
        "clicked": 70
      }
    ],
    "by_template": [
      {
        "template_id": "welcome_email",
        "template_name": "Welcome Email",
        "sent": 5000,
        "open_rate": 65.2,
        "click_rate": 45.3
      }
    ]
  }
}

Get Template Performance

curl "https://api.trackpost.de/v1/analytics/templates/welcome_email" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer tp_live_your_key"

Export Data

# CSV export
curl "https://api.trackpost.de/v1/analytics/export?format=csv&from_date=2025-01-01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer tp_live_your_key" \
  --output analytics.csv

Understanding Metrics

Benchmarks

Industry Averages for Transactional Emails:

By Email Type:

Interpreting Your Data

High Open Rate, Low Click Rate:

• Subject line is good (opens)
• Content or CTA needs improvement (clicks)

Low Open Rate:

• Subject lines need work
• Sender name not recognizable
• Emails going to spam/promotions

High Bounce Rate:

• List quality issues
• Need email verification
• Check for typos in addresses

High Complaint Rate:

• Unwanted emails
• Poor unsubscribe process
• Mismatch with expectations

Advanced Analytics

Link Click Analysis

TrackPost shows which links get clicked:

{
  "links": [
    {
      "url": "https://yourapp.com/dashboard",
      "clicks": 150,
      "unique_clicks": 120
    },
    {
      "url": "https://yourapp.com/settings",
      "clicks": 45,
      "unique_clicks": 40
    }
  ]
}

Use cases:

• A/B test different CTAs
• Optimize link placement
• Remove underperforming links

Geographic Data

See where opens and clicks come from:

{
  "geography": {
    "US": { "opens": 3500, "clicks": 1200 },
    "UK": { "opens": 800, "clicks": 250 },
    "DE": { "opens": 600, "clicks": 180 }
  }
}

Device/Client Breakdown

Understand how recipients view emails:

{
  "clients": {
    "Gmail": 45,
    "Apple Mail": 25,
    "Outlook": 15,
    "Yahoo": 8,
    "Other": 7
  },
  "devices": {
    "Mobile": 60,
    "Desktop": 35,
    "Web": 5
  }
}

Best Practices

1. Monitor Regularly - Check analytics weekly
2. Set Baselines - Establish your normal rates
3. Investigate Anomalies - Sudden drops need attention
4. A/B Test - Test subject lines, content, CTAs
5. Segment Analysis - Compare different user groups
6. Act on Bounces - Clean your lists regularly
7. Review Complaints - Understand why users mark spam

Troubleshooting

Tracking Not Working

Open tracking:

• Check track_opens is set to true
• Email must be HTML (not plain text)
• Some clients block tracking pixels by default

Click tracking:

• Check track_clicks is set to true
• Links must be valid URLs
• Some security tools may strip tracking

Discrepancies

Opens higher than deliveries:

• Multiple opens by same user
• Forwards to other people
• Preview pane opens

Clicks higher than opens:

• Some clients don’t load images (no open tracked)
• But links still work

Dashboard different from webhooks:

• Timing differences (webhooks are real-time)
• Webhook processing delays on your end

Exporting Data

Scheduled Reports

Set up automated report delivery:

1. Dashboard → Analytics → Reports
2. Click New Report
3. Configure:
   • Frequency (daily, weekly, monthly)
   • Metrics to include
   • Recipients
   • Format (CSV, PDF, JSON)
4. Click Create Report

API Integration

Pull analytics into your own systems:

// Fetch daily stats
const stats = await fetch(
  'https://api.trackpost.de/v1/analytics/emails?' + 
  'from_date=' + yesterday + 
  '&to_date=' + today,
  {
    headers: { 'Authorization': 'Bearer ' + apiKey }
  }
);

// Store in your database
await db.analytics.insert(stats);

Next Steps

• Webhooks - Get real-time event notifications
• Templates - Optimize template performance
• API Reference - Full analytics API
• Deliverability - Improve your metrics