How To Set Up and Use Email Tracking in Google Analytics 4

Why use Google Analytics with your emails

Google Analytics is a tool developed and maintained by Google that helps you understand how users interact with your website or app. 

Google Analytics collects and analyzes information such as website traffic and user behavior, among other data. When it comes to email marketing, integrating Google Analytics can help you measure the effectiveness of your campaigns and make data-driven changes to make them even better. In this article, we’ll list everything you can track with Google Analytics as an email marketer.

How to set up Google Analytics email tracking

Google Analytics email tracking works by using UTM tags to track how recipients interact with the links in your email campaigns. UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) parameters are short tags you add to a link to track where visitors to your website are coming from, like an email, an ad, or a social media post. Once a recipient of your email clicks on a link that has a UTM tag, Google Analytics is notified of this and will categorize this information according to the parameters that you’ve set. Later, you can analyze this data to see where your website traffic comes from, which campaigns are performing well, and how recipients behave on your site.

Don’t know how to get started with setting up Google Analytics 4? We’ve got you covered with a step-by-step guide.

1. Create a Google Analytics 4 account

First of all, you need to set up a Google Analytics account. To do that, go to the Google Analytics home page and click the Get started today button.

After this, add your account name.

The next step is to create a property which you’ll analyze data for.

After that, describe your business.

The next step is choosing your business objectives.

Next, you’ll be prompted to accept the terms and conditions of using Google Analytics.

The last step of setting up your account is choosing the source of data, such as a website or an app.

Your account is now ready to use!

2. Create tracking code for your emails

The next step is creating a tracking code that you’ll use to record data.

First, in the Property settings menu, select Data streams and click on the little arrow symbol.

Scroll to the very bottom of the page and click on View tag instructions.

Follow the instructions to install the Google tag on your site or app.

3. Connect your email marketing software to Google Analytics 4

Many email marketing platforms can be used together with Google Analytics, and Selzy is no exception. Here’s how to do this.

Create a new email campaign or choose an existing one and fill out each section. On the Review and finish page, scroll to the bottom where you’ll see the Get analytics dropdown menu.

Next, tick the UTM tags box. 

Here you’ll be able to set custom parameters to your tags, which will then automatically be added to all the links in your email campaign. For example, if you’re running a Labor Day campaign, you can personalize your Campaign field by adding the labor_day_2025 parameter to the tag. Here’s a more detailed guide on how to set up Google Analytics for email campaigns.

Since you’ve already installed Google Analytics on your website, the tracking code will recognize the UTM tags after a recipient clicks on the link, and pull them into the Google Analytics database. Voila!

Optional: build your own links

Maybe you’re not using an email service provider (we highly recommend it, though!), or your ESP doesn’t support adding UTM tags automatically the way we described in step 3. This doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of Google Analytics for tracking emails – you can create your own UTM-tagged links manually. 

Start by using a URL builder, such as a URL builder by Google and fill out all the necessary fields. As you can see in the image below, we’re calling this campaign “test_campiagn.” You’ll also find a detailed description of each field underneath.

Once your link has been generated, add it to your email the way you normally would. 

Analyzing your results

Once you’ve sent your email campaign infused with UTM-tagged links, it’s time to track and analyze your data. Click on the Traffic acquisition tab in the Acquisition section on the left-hand side of your GA4 dashboard. For example, this is how it looks after I used Selzy to create the tracking URL. Since this was for testing, I didn’t assign a specific campaign name, and the number 305027378 represents the campaign ID set by Selzy.

If you want a more detailed view of each newsletter’s performance, select the Session medium section. This allows you to have a closer look into individual campaign metrics, such as user visits, engagement levels, conversions, and revenue generated. This analysis provides valuable insights into how effectively each newsletter drives traffic, engagement, and business growth. 

Email metrics that you can track in Google Analytics 4

There are several crucial email metrics you can track via Google Analytics 4 to really gain new insights about your email marketing campaign.

1. Open rate

Email open rate is one of the main metrics in email marketing. As the name suggests, it measures the percentage of recipients who open your email after receiving it. 

Google Analytics doesn’t track open rates natively, but you can still achieve this by installing a tracking pixel into your email — a tiny image that’s embedded into the email body. When an email is loaded, the pixel gets triggered, notifying Google Analytics. 

2. CTR

Email click-through rate is another key metric. It measures the percentage of people who clicked on a link in an email, ad, or webpage compared to the number of people who received it. 

To analyze your campaign’s CTR with Google Analytics, add UTM tags to all links as we discussed earlier in the article. Once your recipients click on the links, their actions will be recorded in your Google Analytics account. Google Analytics doesn’t record how many emails were delivered, so you’ll need to get this info from your ESP.

3. Conversion rate

Email conversion rate is the percentage of people who take the desired action after receiving your email — buying your product, downloading a file, or signing up for your newsletter. 

This is where Google Analytics really shines. Let’s imagine you’re in charge of email marketing for a clothing store, and you’re running a promotion on a particular item. With Google Analytics, you won’t just be able to tell whether your recipients click on the UTM-tagged link to this item, but you’ll also be able to track their behavior on the website, including whether they bought it. Google Analytics will also track other actions such as browsing pages or adding items to a cart. 

Check out Google’s video on conversion modeling.

4. User behavior

Even if the recipients don’t end up buying something from your website after clicking on a link, you can still collect valuable insights about the way they think. 

Google Analytics 4 can show you which pages they visit, how much time they spend on those pages, and how they interact with different elements like buttons or videos. You can also track if users scroll through your content, click on links, or take specific actions.

5. Device used to open your email

While Google Analytics can’t track the device used to open your email natively, you can get plenty of insight about devices from email links that direct users to your website. Once a user clicks on a link in your email with a UTM code, they’re redirected to your website. From there, Google Analytics can collect data about what device they’re using, operating system, and browser.

6. Location of recipients

Google Analytics tracks the location of the recipients of your email similarly to the way it tracks the device used to open their email. Once a recipient clicks on a link with a UTM tag, Google Analytics uses their IP address to approximate their location. 

7. Event tracking

If you’re using more than one call to action in your email, you may be curious which one is performing better. With event tracking on Google Analytics 4, you can set up custom events linked to different CTA buttons.

Best practices for GA4 email tracking

Here are a few tips to help you track your emails:

• Always use consistent naming for UTM parameters. Otherwise, your data will quickly get messy and hard to interpret. 
• Test your links. Always send a test email and use Realtime and DebugView features in Google Analytics 4 to check that they work correctly before sending your campaign. 
• Combine GA4 data with ESP metrics. While Google Analytics shows behavior after the click, ESP shows deliverability, opens, and unsubscribes. 

And, of course, it is important to choose the right ESP. Selzy can help you automate your UTMs and get detailed reports — about both clicks and opens, for a single campaign and for your flows. Want to know more? Check out how to track your clicks in automation and how email tracking works with Selzy. 

Limits of Google Analytics email campaign tracking

As you can see, Google Analytics is a pretty powerful tool with many useful applications! However, it does have a few limitations and it’s not a one-stop solution for tracking email campaigns.

• We’ve kind of covered this one already – Google Analytics doesn’t allow for easy tracking of open rates. You can get around this by installing tracking pixels, but that comes with limitations of its own.
• While Google Analytics is a great tool for tracking users’ behavior, it’s no replacement for an email service provider. It can’t track metrics like deliverability or unsubscribe rates, which are crucial for email marketers. 
• Google Analytics doesn’t provide its insights instantly. Sometimes you’ll have to wait for hours (or even longer, depending on how much traffic there is) because it processes data in batches.
• Google Analytics takes privacy pretty seriously – this means that it focuses on overall trends instead of tracking individual email activity. It won’t give you detailed insights into what each person does with your emails, but rather aggregated data.

FAQ

Can Google Analytics track email opens?

Not natively. You need a pixel workaround, but it’s unreliable. Use your ESP for accurate open rates.

Can GA4 replace ESP reports?

GA4 shows after-click behavior, while ESP shows deliverability, opens, and unsubscribes. To get the full picture, you need to use them together. 

Which GA4 reports are best for email campaigns?

Use Traffic acquisition, User acquisition, Conversions, and Explorations for a deeper understanding of your campaign performance. Don’t forget to add your ESP reports to them to get a full picture. 

Do you need UTMs for every email?

Yes, to properly attribute email traffic — your ESP should be able to automate it (Selzy does!).

Final thoughts

GA4 might sound complicated, but it will become easier once you get familiar with it. In the end, you’ll get a better understanding of your marketing campaign’s performance and will be able to make data-driven decisions.