Tracked links and safety checks

Every web link in a campaign banner is tracked, so you can see how many people clicked it, and checked, so your banner never sends people somewhere harmful. This article explains both.

How tracking works

When a signature is sent, each web link in the banner is swapped for a Footer365 tracking link, unless the campaign's clicks are not counted (see "Stop counting a campaign's clicks" below). A click on it is counted, then the reader is sent on to your address. Email and phone links are left alone and are not tracked.

The Tracked links card on the campaign page lists every address the banner has used:

The last column shows the link's state:

• Checked with a date: checked with Google Web Risk and not listed as unsafe.
• New: not saved yet.
• Removed on save or Removed: taken out of the banner. It goes on counting clicks from mail already sent.
• Blocked: clicks show a page saying the link is not available.

A banner link must be a full web address starting with http:// or https://, or an email or phone link. A campaign can use up to 20 different addresses over its life, including ones since removed. For a new address after that, create a new campaign.

Stop counting a campaign's clicks

The Tracked links card has a Count clicks switch in its heading, on by default. Turn it off and save, and the campaign's links go straight to their destination from the next message sent:

• The card is called Links, says "Sent straight to their destination, with the tags below", and its Sent as column shows each link as it is written into mail. Each row says Not counted in place of its clicks.
• A campaign that tags its links has its UTM tags written into the link itself, so your own website analytics still sees the visits.
• The campaign's report says Not counted for the time it was off. See Read the campaign report.
• Links already sent through click tracking keep working while the campaign runs, and their clicks are no longer recorded.
• A campaign that counts image loads sends its banner as designed instead, and no image load is counted, including from a message sent while the switch was on.

The switch is saved with the rest of the campaign, so it needs permission to manage signatures, and the change is recorded in your audit log with its value before and after. It stays on while the campaign runs an A/B test, which needs clicks to name its winner, and a test cannot be started while it is off. See A/B test two banners.

While your organisation has click tracking off on Account > Settings, every campaign's switch is shown off and cannot be changed, and the card says so. See Click data and privacy.

On your own domain

Your own link domain is used only for links that are tracked, so while clicks are not counted it carries nothing, and its daily test carries on. Tracking links use Footer365's own tracking address unless your organisation has set up its own link domain, such as links.contoso.com, in the Your own link domain card on Account > Settings. While it is in use, every tracked link in new mail, in banners, signatures and surveys, is written on your domain instead, with the same path and query. The Tracked as column still shows each link on Footer365's address: sent mail carries the same link on your domain. See Use your own domain for tracked links.

Footer365's tracking address asks search engines not to index it: it answers /robots.txt with a rule that keeps every crawler out, and marks every answer noindex, nofollow. This applies to every organisation and needs no setting.

When a click is sent straight through

A click on a link in an email sent in the last 30 days goes straight to your address. A link copied out of an email and posted elsewhere, or clicked from an older email, first shows a "You are leaving Footer365" page naming the site, and the reader chooses whether to continue.

While a campaign is paused or ended, its links show a "Link not available" page.

Safety checks with Google Web Risk

Footer365 checks every web address in a banner against Google Web Risk, a list of sites known for phishing, malware or unwanted software:

• When you save. A campaign whose link is listed is not saved, and the message names the site and what it is listed for. Choose a different destination.
• Before you activate. Using Activate re-checks any link not checked in the last day.
• Every day. Links in active, scheduled and paused campaigns, and in recently ended ones, are checked again daily, because a safe site can later be compromised.

If Google cannot be reached when you save, the campaign is saved anyway, you see a note saying the link will be checked in the next few minutes, and a background check follows.

When a live link is flagged

If a daily check finds a link listed as unsafe:

1. The link is blocked. Clicks on it show a "Link not available" page.
2. The campaign is paused and locked. On the Campaigns list it shows a red shield beside its status, which says Link flagged: and what the link is listed as when you hover over it, and a lock icon named Locked in place of Activate.
3. People in your organisation who manage signatures or portal access, and your technical contact, are emailed. If you work with a reseller, it is told too, and so is its distributor if it has one. None of these emails includes the address.

To fix it, open the campaign. A red notice names the address, when it was found and who added it. Replace or remove the link in the banner and select Save. The new link is checked before the campaign can run again. Once the lock is lifted the campaign is still paused, so select Resume on the Campaigns list to turn it back on.

On the Campaigns page, the with link issues figure in the line at the top links to a list of every campaign with link issues. Select Show all to return to the full list.

Repeated unsafe links

If your campaigns use five or more different unsafe addresses within 30 days, campaigns are suspended on your whole account and none of them can run. Contact your reseller or Footer365 support to have this reviewed.

Good to know

• Checks cover every web address a reader could be sent to, not only the tracked ones, including a campaign's links while its clicks are not counted.
• Separately from Google Web Risk, the campaign page warns, without stopping the save, about a banner with no link, a button with no address, a link still on https://example.com from a ready-made design, and a date in the wording after the campaign ends. See "Checks on the banner" in Create a banner campaign.
• While a campaign's clicks are not counted, its links do not pass through Footer365, so a link later found to be unsafe cannot be stopped in a message already sent. The daily check still locks the campaign, so it goes on no new message, and the people above are still emailed.
• If your organisation saves many links in a short time, a link may be held unchecked for a few minutes. The campaign is then saved paused and can be turned on once the background check passes.
• Footer365 can also block tracking for one link, for a campaign or for all your campaigns, for example when a link is reported as leading somewhere harmful. Clicks on a blocked link show a page saying the link is not available, and the Tracked links card says the links are blocked and gives the reason. Your account owner and technical contact are emailed the reason, and so are your reseller and its distributor if you work with one.
• A signature's own links can be tracked too, once a template turns on counting. They go through the same click service and the same Google Web Risk checks. A signature link whose address is listed goes out in new email as its text without the link, but it does not lock a campaign or count towards the limit above. See Count clicks on your signature's links.

Related

• Campaign link flagged
• UTM tagging
• Click counts look wrong