What will happen if I use a snippet variable in my URL?
Using personalization is a great way for you to connect with your subscribers by referencing their specific information. You can also add a global text snippet or personalization variable to the end of your hyperlinks. This can help to pass information to your website, but will cause the AWeber built in click tracking to stop functioning.
How does click tracking work?
AWeber tracks clicks by passing information through a redirect and sending it back to your list when the subscriber reaches your destination URL. Your subscribers will not see anything on the tracking URL, and be sent to the link in your message directly.
Why can't I use personalization variables with click tracking?
As AWeber utilizes a "tracking URL" to collect information from your subscriber, variables in the URL can be problematic. As click tracking passes a subscriber through the redirect to reach your link URL, adding a variable will functionally change the redirect destination each time. For example:
You have a link that goes to:
- http://www.yourwebsite.com/testing/email={{ subscriber.email }}
When your subscriber clicks the link in a message, they are directed to a URL which has their email at the end. That would look something like this:
- http://www.yourwebsite.com/testing/email=subscriber1@domain.com
- http://www.yourwebsite.com/testing/email=subscriber2@domain.com
- http://www.yourwebsite.com/testing/email=subscriber3@domain.com
Those URLs may look similar, but each subscriber is essentially going to their own specific version of the website. As a redirect tracking functions based on the subscriber's destination after they pass through the tracking URL, the addition of a variable changes the destination each time.
Because the destination changes for each subscriber, the information being passed through our tracking URL will drop off before your subscriber hits the destination URL.
How do I track these URLs?
In order to track clicks for these types of URLs, you will need to install Web Analytics on your website. Web Analytics helps track what pages subscribers visit in your site.