How to track users using Google Analytics?

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1

Hi,

I have 2 questions about Google Analytics:

  1. I’m wondering how to use the “add Google Analytics tracking code” in the last step: my PhpList is installed at an IP address (no domain) and a port different than 80. So it is not part of a website, but the GA tracking code should be used somehow…which I can’t identify.

  2. Also on clicking the “info” button there is “Do not use this if your campaign already contains Google Analytics links, because existing ones will be removed.” - So, how can I create Google Analytics links?

Thank you,
Catalin

2

I initially tried to use my analytics code back when I started sending campaigns. When proofing my emails using spam score websites, I noticed how my email tests were being flagged for dangerous scripts when they had the ga-tracking code.

It seemed rather odd to me that you’d check off a box before sending your campaign out and then it was supposed to magically work. I then I noticed that it did seem to magically work. Now I just accept that. I’d rather know why it works from a technical stand point, but i’m assuming that it does because of the .com being associated already.

I’m no pro in this area at all, but my assumption is that when your website has analytics and the campaign is coming from that website with analytics, the stats magically appear in analytics in the campaigns section (which I never really noticed before).

I’m kinda curious myself, how this all magically works and whatnot. For now, it’s nice to comfortably know that the campaigns are being tracked in analytics. If you have any doubt, I’d suggest trying it out yourself. Send out a campaign, give it some time to be read and propagate, then check your tracking in analytics.

3

@splaquet GA does not track users of phplist, it tracks people accessing your (or any other) web site.

4

Hi Duncan,
I am on 3.3.1, and I see that there is a checkbox “Add Google Analytics tracking code” at step 5 “Finish”,
and I see the “Always add Google tracking code to campaigns” option at “Settings > Campaign Settings”

But where do we tell PHPList about our website’s GA ID? Can PHPList really magically do this without knowing my GA ID?

5

@kaon Your GA ID is not included in the tracking code (some additional parameters on the URL of each link).

To repeat, GA is tracking people accessing your web site, so you just want to know from where they came (phplist, the campaign etc).

6

Thank you Duncan, I tried it, and I get it now, I see the URL has many parameters appended, like:

http://example.com/?utm_source=phplist984&utm_medium=email&utm_content=HTML&utm_campaign=Just%20a%20test

But I cannot find the corresponding hit in my Google Analytics. The PHPList help tool tip says to look in “Traffic sources -> Campaigns”, but there isn’t an item in GA that is named exactly like this anymore, might be due to updates of GA.

I see these 3:
Acquisition > All traffic > Source/Medium
Real time > Traffic Sources
Acquisition > Campaigns > All campaigns

But maybe my test hits are being swamped by hits from the public at the moment, I do not see any source like phplist. Do I need to do any set up at my GA?

Is there much database overhead to enabling GA tracking in PHPList?

Is there any downside? Does it worsen spam scoring?

Thank you.

7

@kaon I don’t use GA but this page might help https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033863?hl=en

There is no phplist database overhead as the parameters are added when emails are being sent out. I don’t know about whether it affects spam scoring.