Personalization token containing a URL is not tracked in an email as a clicked link

[llegault]

When sending a marketing email with tracking enabled in settings, let's say you include a personalization token in the email. The token stems from a contact property where the value in the property contains a URL. The goal is to display this URL which is a unique value for each contact, in the email. The goal is to also be able to track clicks on this URL whe nthe contact clicks on it when they receive the email. The problem is that the URL is being treated like a single property value and not a link. The URL in the email the contact receives can be clicked on, because it technically is linked, but it is not tracked in the traditional  sense of tracking email clicks. I suggest making it possible for any URL in an email to be tracked when clicked, even if it is a personalization token containing a URL as the value. Thanks!

[BastiSchuhl]

Thanks @llegault, I absolutely agree. We're running huge automation campaigns using various contact proeprties / personalization tokens to store campaign-specific URLs and were quite surprised when we noticed recently that clicks are not being tracked for these "links".

[mediagarcia]

I was also running into this issue where a client is sharing a report via a link and this is a personalization token on the contact record.

It is not being tracked because of this. 

I have solved it. 

You need to also use the personalization token in the source code to create the link. I have an example in this screenshot attachment. 

When you use the token in the a href="" it will rewrite the URL once sent as a HubSpot tracking link. 

[LRuffin]

Just tested a workaround on this that should hopefully help satisfy your needs till a formal solution is built in. 

If you can break down your personalized email link into a URL and a unique identifier within that URL, you can setup your links in the email with the unique identifier embedded within that hyperlink. 

Let me try to explain with an example. Say your personalized link is "www.website.com/calendar/unique-identifier/a/". In this case, you'll want to create a custom contact property to store that unique-identifier value. 

Then, in your email, create a hyperlink and embed this unique identifier within your target url: "www.website.com/calendar/{{contact.unique-identifier}}/a/". 

HubSpot will now track clicks of this URL, and you can track the results of tests using these personalized token links. 

To scale this approach, you do need a way to systematically parse your personalzied links for unique identifiers and store that data in your custom property, but otherwise it's a stop gap for the time being! 

Let me know if you think of any ways to improve this workaround. Hope you're merrily tracking the results of your tests again soon!