NTEN uses Avectra's netFORUM as our CRM, and while we're generally happy with its capabilities, it's annoyed me for awhile that I couldn't track click-throughs from our messaging very easily. Then it hit me: use query strings to track clicks in Google Analytics. For a brief moment, I knew how Jon Bon Jovi felt when he rhymed "halfway there" with "livin' on a prayer."

I know some of you are already doing this: it seems so obvious to me now (and maybe I should spend more time reading Analytics forums). But I'll bet some of you aren't too sure what a query string is -- and when I searched for this particular trick, the very few people who discussed it only made veiled references -- so I though I'd write up a detailed look at how to track your click-throughs with a high degree of accuracy:

Tag any URL you want to track with a unique query string. A query string is traditionally a way to pass information to a web application, but there's no reason you can't repurpose it.

Basically, a query string is information tacked onto a URL after a "?":

http://nten.org/events/webinar/ask-the-expert?source=netforum

(Note that the information after the "?" can be anything you want so long as it's in "x=y" form, like "URL?bonjovi=datedreference". You can add more parameters by separating them with "&"s, as in "URL?bonjovi=datedreference&Icare=notatall".)

Most dynamically built web pages will ignore the query string as a useless bit of information, but Google Analytics will pick it up as part of an unique URL!

Last Friday, I sent out a message to publicize our upcoming Ask the Expert session. It had 3 distinct URLs in it, and I tagged them all; it took about 30 seconds of extra work. Here's what I found today in Analytics (click the image to see it full sized):

Track your unique message URLs in Google Analytics. Go the the "Top Content" menu, and use the search box at the bottom of the list to "Find Content containing" your unique code. That's it!

If you look at the screenshot, you'll see that all 3 of the URLs from my message show up: I tagged them each with the same code.

The first URL goes to the sign-up page for the session. The bounce rate is high because our secure forms are on a different server and people technically leave NTEN.org when they click the "Register Now" link -- but we did get a 75% completion rate for these click-throughs.

The second listing is an offhanded reference made to our CRM report. By clicking the URL in Analytics you can go to the "Navigation Summary" for that URL and see what people did next. (And yes, quite a few downloaded the report, a nice-side benefit.)

Finally, I had linked Dave Greenberg's name in the message to a blog post talking a bit more about him, for those who were interested. This wasn't strictly necessary, but the "Navigation Summary" report shows that a few people read about Dave, then went straight to the sign-up page, as well they should.

If you have any Analytics tricks to share, post them in comments, below. Or read more from the master on Avinash Kaushik's blog: he just answered a host of questions from NTEN members.