While Sendinblue provides basic web analytics features, Google Analytics can offer a better understanding of your campaigns' performance. This blog post will guide you through the process of adding Google Analytics to your Sendinblue campaigns, step by step.
Let's dive in!
- Set Up Google Analytics
- Generate UTM Parameters for Your Email Links
- Add UTM-Tagged URLs to Your Sendinblue Emails
- Monitor Campaign Performance in Google Analytics
- Final Thoughts
Before we dig in I want to show you something. I promise it's worth it...
Google Analytics is great, but also complex and a bit clunky. If you just want a straightforward dashboard with the insights you need, GA is not a great place to start. Additionally, Google doesn't care about privacy and GA requires an annoying cookie banner.
That's why I built Simple Analytics, a privacy-friendly and simple analytics tool - no personal data, no cookies, just the insights you need in a straightforward dashboard.
Here is how it looks vs GA. Feel free to check our live analytics to get an idea for your project. (It is free btw)
All right, enough about us. Now let's get into answering your question!
Set Up Google Analytics
If you haven't already set up a Google Analytics account for your website, you'll need to do that first. Here’s how to get started:
- Create a Google Analytics Account: Visit the Google Analytics website and sign in with your Google account. If you don’t have an account, you’ll need to create one.
- Set Up a New Property: Follow the instructions to create a new GA4 property, selecting "Web" as your platform type.
- Obtain Your Measurement ID: Once your property is configured, Google will provide you with a Measurement ID (formatted as "G-XXXXXXXXXX"). Note this ID down, as it will come in handy later.
Generate UTM Parameters for Your Email Links
To track the performance of your Sendinblue campaigns in Google Analytics, you'll need to add UTM parameters to the links within your emails. UTM parameters are tags added to URLs that GA uses to track the source, medium, and campaign information. Here’s how to generate UTM parameters:
- Use a UTM Builder: Utilize an online UTM builder, like the Google Analytics Campaign URL Builder, to easily generate URLs with UTM parameters.
- Fill in the Required Fields: Input the website URL you're linking to and provide the following information:
- Campaign Source: Use "sendinblue" or similar to identify the source.
- Campaign Medium: Specify "email" as the medium.
- Campaign Name: Give your campaign a specific name for easy tracking in GA.
- Generate URL: The tool will generate a URL with your UTM parameters appended. Use this URL for links in your Sendinblue emails.
Add UTM-Tagged URLs to Your Sendinblue Emails
When creating or editing an email campaign in Sendinblue:
- Insert Links: Use the UTM-tagged URLs you’ve generated for any links within your email content. This includes text links, buttons, or images that link to your site.
- Ensure Consistency: To accurately track performance across campaigns, maintain consistent naming conventions for UTM parameters.
Monitor Campaign Performance in Google Analytics
With UTM-tagged links in your Sendinblue emails, you can now monitor your campaigns in Google Analytics:
- Access Google Analytics: Log into your GA account and navigate to the appropriate property for your website.
- View Campaign Reports: Go to "Acquisition" > "Campaigns" > "All Campaigns" to view detailed information about traffic coming from your Sendinblue campaigns.
Final Thoughts
Adding Google Analytics to your campaign can give you great insights. However, ask yourself: is Google Analytics the right tool for you?
GA is an overpowered solution for straightforward analytics. If you're looking for a simple and intuitive dashboard with the insights you need, there are better alternatives. Yes, I’m talking about my own product (Simple Analytics), but there are others out there as well.
I hated using Google Analytics for my projects. It's clunky, there are hundreds of dashboards and it doesn't look appealing. Also Google doesn't care about privacy or ethics. That's why I decided to build my own and more intuitive web analytics tool.
If this resonates with you, feel free to give Simple Analytics a spin. You just need to add the script and off you go. This takes about one minute- and there is a free version as well!
Enjoy!