Open & Click Tracking

Overview

Tracking lets you measure how recipients engage with your emails:

Open tracking - Know when emails are opened
Click tracking - See which links are clicked

How Tracking Works

Open Tracking

A tiny invisible image (tracking pixel) is inserted into your email:

<img src="https://track.usetransactional.com/o/abc123" width="1" height="1" />

When the recipient's email client loads images, we record an open event.

Limitations:

Requires images to be enabled
Some email clients block images by default
Privacy features may prevent tracking

Click Tracking

Links in your email are rewritten to pass through our tracking server:

Original:

<a href="https://yoursite.com/pricing">View Pricing</a>

Tracked:

<a href="https://track.usetransactional.com/c/abc123">View Pricing</a>

When clicked, we record the event and redirect to the original URL.

Enabling Tracking

Per Stream

Configure default tracking for all emails in a stream:

Go to Email > Servers > [Server] > Streams
Select your stream
Toggle Track Opens and Track Links

Per Email

Override stream settings for individual emails:

await client.emails.send({
  from: 'hello@yourapp.com',
  to: 'user@example.com',
  subject: 'Your weekly summary',
  html: emailContent,
  tracking: {
    opens: true,
    clicks: true,
  },
});

Disable for Specific Links

Exclude specific links from click tracking:

<a href="https://yoursite.com/sensitive" data-track="false">
  Untracked Link
</a>

Custom Tracking Domain

Use your own domain for tracking URLs to improve deliverability and maintain brand consistency.

Why Use a Custom Domain?

Better deliverability - Emails aren't flagged for third-party tracking domains
Brand consistency - Links show your domain, not ours
Trust - Recipients see familiar domain on hover

Setup

Go to Email > Servers > [Server] > Settings > Tracking
Enter your tracking subdomain (e.g., track.yourdomain.com)
Add the DNS records:

Type: CNAME
Host: track
Value: track.usetransactional.com

Click Verify once DNS propagates

Using Custom Domain

Once verified, all tracking URLs use your domain:

<a href="https://track.yourdomain.com/c/abc123">Click Here</a>

Viewing Tracking Data

Activity Log

See individual email opens and clicks in the activity log:

Go to Email > Servers > [Server] > Activity
Click on any email to see:
- Open timestamps
- Click timestamps and links
- IP addresses and user agents

Analytics Dashboard

View aggregate metrics:

Open rate over time
Click rate over time
Most clicked links
Device and email client breakdown

Via API

// Get email events
const events = await client.emails.getEvents(messageId);
 
// Filter by event type
const opens = events.filter(e => e.type === 'opened');
const clicks = events.filter(e => e.type === 'clicked');

Webhooks

Receive real-time tracking events via webhooks:

// Webhook payload for open event
{
  "event": "opened",
  "messageId": "msg_abc123",
  "timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "recipient": "user@example.com",
  "ipAddress": "192.168.1.1",
  "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0..."
}
 
// Webhook payload for click event
{
  "event": "clicked",
  "messageId": "msg_abc123",
  "timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:35:00Z",
  "recipient": "user@example.com",
  "link": "https://yoursite.com/pricing",
  "ipAddress": "192.168.1.1",
  "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0..."
}