How to track email clicks and the sales they bring

Your email tool counts clicks. Your store counts sales. Neither knows about the other. To see which email sold something, the click has to carry its source to your site, and your analytics has to keep it until the sale.

This guide covers tagging, the settings in Klaviyo and Mailchimp, reading the sales, and the clicks that no person made.

Why email traffic goes missing

Most email is read in apps: Apple Mail, Gmail, Outlook. A link tapped in an app often opens the browser with no referrer, so an untagged email click usually shows up as direct traffic. Webmail in a browser may send a referrer such as mail.google.com, which then counts as a referral, not as your campaign.

The fix is the same in every case: tag the link. UTM parameters ride in the address, so they survive where the referrer does not.

Tag every link the same way

Use one pattern for all email, and keep it lowercase:

https://yourshop.com/fall?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fall-sale-2026

• utm_medium=email is what puts the visit in GA4's Email channel. GA4 matches source or medium against email, e-mail, e_mail or e mail (Google). "Newsletter" as a medium lands in Unassigned.
• utm_source names the list or the tool, such as newsletter, klaviyo or welcome-flow. Pick one and keep it.
• utm_campaign names the send. Use a date or an id, so two sends of the same email stay apart.
• utm_content is optional. Use it to tell links in one email apart, such as hero-button and footer-link.

Automated flows deserve their own campaign names. A welcome series that sells every day hides inside "newsletter" otherwise.

Klaviyo

Klaviyo adds UTM tags for you once tracking is on. In a campaign, open the Tracking section and turn on Include tracking parameters. Klaviyo only tags links that start with http:// or https:// (Klaviyo). Account defaults live in Klaviyo's UTM settings; set them once, so every campaign and flow uses the same names.

Check one sent email before trusting it: open a link and read the address bar.

Mailchimp

In the email builder's Settings & Tracking section, tick Google Analytics link tracking. Mailchimp then adds UTM tags to the links, with a campaign title built from the email's name and the date (Mailchimp). Automation flows have the same setting under Edit Settings, and you can change the tags per email with Modify UTM Parameters. Mailchimp notes one exception: the classic single welcome email does not accept the setting.

Despite the name, the tags work with any analytics tool that reads UTM parameters, not only Google Analytics.

Plain newsletters and one-off sends

Without a built-in setting, tag each link by hand, or use a short link per link. A short link is easier for links people might copy or forward, and for plain text emails where a long address looks broken.

Clicks no person made

Some email clicks are machines. Mail providers and security tools open links before the reader does, to check for phishing. Klaviyo calls these bot clicks: clicks "performed by a machine, often to verify the safety of a link or display a link preview", by inbox providers, some security software and mobile carriers (Klaviyo). Klaviyo flags them and can leave them out of reports.

Signs of scanner clicks in any tool:

• Every link in an email clicked, seconds after delivery.
• Clicks from business domains, where security gateways are common.
• A click with no visit after it.

Opens are weaker still. Apple's Mail Privacy Protection downloads remote content in the background whether or not the email is opened (Apple), so the tracking pixel loads for many Apple Mail users who never read the email. Treat open rates as a rough signal, and judge emails by visits and sales.

From click to sale

A tag gets the visit right. The sale needs two more things.

1. A purchase goal. Your analytics must record the order, with its value, on your site or from your store.
2. Memory of the click. Many email buyers click, leave, and buy later from a bookmark or a search. A tool that remembers the visitor across days can credit the email. A tool that starts fresh each day credits the later visit.

Then read sales by campaign, not by clicks. An email with fewer clicks and more orders is the better email.

A worked example

Example numbers, made up for illustration. Two emails go to the same list in one week:

Clicks are higher than visits in both rows. Some of the gap is scanner clicks and some is people who closed the page before it loaded. The useful number is revenue per send, and the sale email wins by far. The tips email still drives visits, so it may earn its place for other reasons.

Common mistakes

1. No tags on automated flows. Flows often sell more than campaigns, and they are the ones left untagged.
2. Mixed case. Email and email are two rows in most tools. Lowercase everywhere.
3. Medium set to the tool name. utm_medium=klaviyo is not an email channel to GA4. Put the tool in the source.
4. Judging by opens. Mail Privacy Protection inflates them.
5. Counting scanner clicks as interest. Use visits or sales as the measure.

Common questions

How do I track which email someone bought from?

Tag every link with utm_medium=email and a campaign name per send, record purchases as a goal with their value, and read revenue by campaign. To credit buyers who come back days later, your analytics needs to remember the first visit.

Why does email traffic show as direct?

Mail apps often open links with no referrer. Without UTM tags, the visit has no clue left, so it counts as direct.

Why are my email clicks higher than my website visits?

Security scanners and inbox providers click links to check them, and some people leave before the page loads. Compare visits and sales instead of clicks.

Are email open rates still accurate?

Less than they were. Apple's Mail Privacy Protection loads email content in the background, which registers opens that never happened.

Should I use a link shortener in email?

You do not need one when your email tool adds tags. A short link helps in plain text emails and for links people forward. Use one on your own domain, so the link shows your brand and not someone else's.

Sources

• Google Analytics Help: Default channel group. Checked October 2026.
• Klaviyo Help Center: How to add UTM tracking to campaigns and flows, Understanding bot clicks. Checked October 2026.
• Mailchimp: Integrate Google Analytics with Mailchimp. Checked October 2026.
• Apple: Mail Privacy Protection and privacy. Checked October 2026.