The Everest tracking pixel allows you to track subscriber-level or anonymized engagement data for your campaigns. The information tracked by the pixel can be found in the Monitoring section of Everest, under Engagement.
Setting up a tracking pixel for the first time requires that you:
- Decide your level of tracking and confirm your ESP's tracking options
- Add a tracking pixel domain
- Create a new pixel
- Optionally customize your pixel
After the first pixel, any new pixels can be added and customized without revisiting the first two bullets. You can add as many tracking pixels as you wish, but use only one per email campaign.
Decide your level of tracking and confirm your ESP's tracking options
The Everest tracking pixel has the ability to record recipients or values associated with those recipients, individual email campaigns, and additional custom properties via what are commonly referred to as merge tags or personalization tokens. These tags are fields configured at the email service provider (ESP) level and inject dynamic content into your campaigns based on the data you have available in your CRM, such as demographic data. Learn more about merge tags.
Recording recipients, campaigns, and custom properties allows you to collect engagement data on your email campaigns and filter it by a wide range of parameters. You can also choose not to track some or all of this data.
Because of the variety of options available to senders, the Everest Engagement tracking pixel setup screen provides options for multiple ESPs. While most ESPs have a limited number of options available to users, some, such as Salesforce, offer users a high degree of customization.
As a first step to using Everest Engagement, determine what recipient data will be collected. Values associated with recipients are collected via the e= tags within the tracking pixel. There are three options:
- Collect recipient address: You can collect a recipient’s email address with a merge tag provided by your email service provider.
- Examples include %%emailaddr%% and {{email}}.
- Because email address is considered personally identifiable information (PII), this option is not GDPR compliant.
- Everest tracks this value at the subscriber level and uses it to populate all Everest Engagement data, including domain information.
- Collect a different recipient value: You can collect a value other than a recipient’s email address can do so if your ESP provides a merge tag / personalization for this option.
- For example, Salesforce offers subscriber ID, or the %%SubscriberID%% tag, as a unique identifier that does not reveal email address.
- A subscriber ID or other hashed recipient value is recommended as a best practice for GDPR compliance because it obscures PII.
- Everest tracks this value at the subscriber level but cannot use it to determine domain information. In Audience Explorer, data in the Provider tab is impacted. Domain filtering is also unavailable.
- This option is not available at all ESPs.
- Do not collect recipient address or value: If you choose not to or cannot collect recipient address or associated value, you do not need to consult with your ESP. You can enter a generic value for the tracking pixel email merge tag when customizing your pixel.
- This option is GDPR compliant.
- If using a generic value, Everest treats all incoming data as belonging to a single recipient. Therefore, all information reflected in Engagement is aggregate only. No subscriber-level filtering is possible, data in the Top Recipients tab is impacted, and recipient count will always be inaccurate.
More information on configuring these values is provided under the Customize your tracking pixel section below.
To ensure data integrity, it is recommended users confirm these settings before continuing. If you are unsure which merge tags or personalization tokens are available to you, contact your email service provider.
Add a tracking domain
Before setting up a tracking pixel for the first time, you will need to configure a tracking domain.
- Sign in to Everest.
- Use the navigation menu at left to go to Monitoring, then Engagement.
- Navigate to Manage Domains.
- If you are in the Account Setup screen, select the arrow to the right of Create a pixel tracking domain.
- Otherwise, select Analytics Settings in the top right corner of the screen, then select the Manage Domains tab.
- Select New Tracking Domain.
- Add your tracking domain name. There are two options available.
Option 1: Add a secure (HTTPS) tracking subdomain (Recommended)
This option uses the default Everest domain name (everestengagement.com) for your pixel. You do not need to configure a CNAME or SSL certificate for this option.
- Enter an alphanumeric subdomain name for your tracking pixel.
- Use a name unique to your business that describes what the pixel is for, such as a brand name, product line, or mail stream.
- For example: brandabc, mobilewidget, brandxwelcome
- Enter another option if an error appears indicating the subdomain name is already in use by another company.
- This option uses the default Everest domain name (everestengagement.com) for your pixel.
- Select Save. You are now ready to create your first tracking pixel!
Option 2: I'd like to request a custom domain (Optional)
Select this option if you want to use your domain name for the pixel instead of the default Everest domain name everestengagement.com. This is a more technically advanced option.
-
- Create a CNAME DNS entry using your pixel subdomain and domain name and point it to everestengagement.com. Use a pixel subdomain that makes sense for your business.
- For example: brandxwelcome.mydomain.com
- For a list of common DNS providers with links to instructions on creating a CNAME, please read How do I create a custom domain for my Everest tracking pixel?
- In the What CNAME would you like to use? field, enter your pixel subdomain and domain name.
- Select whether or not you need an SSL certificate installed.
- Select Save.
- Create a CNAME DNS entry using your pixel subdomain and domain name and point it to everestengagement.com. Use a pixel subdomain that makes sense for your business.
If you need assistance creating a CNAME or SSL certificate, contact your email administrator, ESP, or domain hosting provider.
Create a tracking pixel
If you are adding a pixel immediately after setting up your tracking domain, select the Tracking Pixels tab and go to step 4.
To create a tracking pixel:
- Sign in to Everest.
- Use the navigation menu at left to go to Monitoring, then Engagement.
- Navigate to Tracking Pixels.
- If you are in the Account Setup screen, select the arrow to the right of After your custom domain is verified, create your first tracking pixel.
- Otherwise, select Analytics Settings in the top right corner of the screen, then select the Tracking Pixels tab.
- Select New Pixel.
- Enter a name for your tracking pixel.
- Select your email service provider (ESP) from the dropdown menu. This will provide you with a set of pre-configured merge tags responsible for pulling recipient and campaign identifier data into Everest Engagement.
- If your ESP is listed more than once, select the option that you want to use for your Email Merge Tag. This is where your level of tracking comes in. If you are using a subscriber ID or other hashed value in place of email address, this is where you can select that value.
- For example, if your ESP is Salesforce and you want to use subscriber ID as your unique identifier, select "Salesforce - %%SubscriberID%%" from the dropdown menu.
- If your ESP is not listed or you send your own mail, select the option labeled My provider isn't listed, or I send my own mail.
- If your ESP is listed more than once, select the option that you want to use for your Email Merge Tag. This is where your level of tracking comes in. If you are using a subscriber ID or other hashed value in place of email address, this is where you can select that value.
- Select your tracking domain. If you have configured only one tracking domain, it will be pre-selected for you.
- Select Save.
Your tracking code will appear. From here, you can copy the code or further customize the tracking pixel for your campaign.
To copy the code and add it to your email campaign templates:
- Select Copy Tracking Code to copy the code to your clipboard.
- Paste the tracking pixel code into the HTML of your email before the closing body tag (</body>).
- Note: If the pixel is in the signature, clients such as Gmail do not automatically show the signature, and the pixel will not register.
Customize your tracking pixel
Customization options include:
- Pixel Description: Rename your pixel.
- Tracking Domain: Select a new tracking domain.
- Email Service Provider: Update your ESP. This changes your pre-configured merge tags.
- Pixel Quote Format: Switch your default format between single and double quotes. This can help resolve compatibility issues with your email editor.
- Include Custom Properties: Choose whether to include or exclude custom properties, which are additional parameters you specify to track. Learn more about custom properties.
- Custom properties are based on information about your subscriber base, such as demographic data, you have already collected. They allow you to filter your results based on that information.
- To set up custom properties, go to the Custom Properties tab, then select New Property and follow the instructions before returning to these steps.
- Custom properties are optional, but recommended.
- Email Merge Tag: Review or change your email merge tag. Learn more about merge tags.
- Again, this tag reflects your level of tracking. If you are using a subscriber ID or other hashed value in place of an email address, the merge tag will reflect that.
- If you do not wish to track subscriber-level data, enter 1 in the text box. This will set your email parameter to e=1, and all engagement data collected will be aggregate only.
- Your e= parameter cannot be left blank. A value is required for the pixel to work.
- Campaign Merge Tag: Check the box to include a custom campaign parameter (c=). This tag lets you reuse your pixel across multiple email campaigns. You can use the tag to dynamically merge a unique campaign ID with each send, letting you filter your engagement data by individual email campaign.
- If the box is unchecked, Everest will use your pixel description. You will still collect engagement data, but you will not be able to filter it by individual email campaign.
- If your ESP does not support campaign merge tags, you can still check the box and manually update each instance of the parameter in your code.
- You can set your email merge tag to e=1 and still use a unique c= for each email campaign to filter your aggregate results by campaign.
- A campaign merge tag is optional, but highly recommended.
When you have finished customizing your pixel, copy the code as you would normally and paste into the HTML of your email. When previewing your campaign in the preview window of your email campaign builder, make sure the pixel is hidden as expected.
Update your pixel
To get the most current version of your pixel or make an update:
- Sign in to Everest.
- Use the navigation menu at left to go to Monitoring, then Engagement.
- Select Analytics Settings in the top right corner of the screen.
- Select the Tracking Pixels tab.
- Find the pixel you want to update and select Tracking Code at right.
- Make any updates you need to make using the customization instructions above.
- Select Copy Tracking Code to copy the code to your clipboard.
- Paste the tracking pixel code into the HTML of your email before the closing body tag (</body>).
- Note: If the pixel is in the signature, clients such as Gmail do not automatically show the signature, and the pixel will not register.
Troubleshoot your pixel
If you experience issues with implementation, see Troubleshooting the Everest tracking pixel.
