Have you ever wondered if your marketing is actually reaching donors? Do you want to know more about the impact of different channels in your community or test channels against one another? Are you in need of metrics to inform adjustments or new approaches to your marketing strategy? Here’s your chance to do all this—and take your marketing to the next level!
What are Unique Tracking Links?
Unique Tracking Links are a feature in each form and campaign's setting that allow you to track on the number of clicks, donors, and dollars that came from a specific channel. You can attach the tracking link title or description (e.g. an appeal code) to the gift reports if you add the appropriate columns to your report setup.
This data will empower you to adjust your strategy in real time and make more informed decisions about where to invest your valuable time and resources
How can I use Unique Tracking Link data?
Your team can gain a number of key insights from Unique Tracking Links, such as:
- Return on investment of a print mailer such as a postcard
- The time of day that is most effective for sending an email or posting on social media
- Which email content generates the most traffic/click-throughs or largest gifts
- Which social media site (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc.) drives the most activity
- Which buttons and links on your website are being used most often
Creating Unique Tracking Links
To create a Unique Tracking Link, head to Form / Campaign Settings > Unique Tracking Links. Enter a descriptive name in the Title field and click Create Link
Pro tip: make sure the title is something distinct and easy-to-remember! Including the channel and the time of use, the constituency you are targeting, or other applicable information, will help keep the data clean-- and your memory sharp-- when you revisit the giving form/campaign later on. You can create a link for each different channel or vehicle you’d like to track, so naming them in an intentional way keeps things tidy.
A new row with the details of the Unique Tracking Link will appear. You can click into the fields highlighted in yellow to update information about the link, including a description, tag, and details about whether or not the marketing outreach in which the link is featured is paid (such as a promoted post on Facebook or a Twitter or Instagram ad).
Copy your new Unique Tracking Link’s URL from the ‘Link’ column and start sharing it-- online, in print, and anywhere you include a link! Remember that you can create multiple links for different constituencies, platforms, and vehicles—there’s no limit.
QR Codes for Unique Tracking Links
With the QR Code Generator for Unique Tracking Links, you can create scannable QR codes to help your marketing strategy. The QR codes function the same way that unique tracking links do, redirecting donors to a giving page while allowing school admins to track where these donors are coming from.
To generate custom QR codes, simply head to the settings page of your giving form or campaign, and click the tab labeled “Unique Tracking Links.” From there, click on the button labeled “QR Code” on the rightmost column to generate a QR code for a specific tracking link.
This will open a pop-up window that contains an image of your QR code, which you can then use on printed flyers, social media graphics, and similar marketing materials. To save the QR code for later use, simply right click on the image, and hit “Save Image As…”
Analyzing the results of Unique Tracking Links
An overview of the details of your Unique Tracking Links is provided in Giving Form / Campaign Settings > Unique Tracking Links. This table shows the number of clicks a link generated, the number of donors a link generated, and the number of dollars those donors gave to the giving form / campaign.
Even more detail about Unique Tracking Links is available by navigating to Giving Form / Campaign Settings > Statistics > scrolling to the ‘Unique Tracking Links’ section. In this area, you’ll find a table that offers an overview of the clicks, number of donors and dollars generated by each link, as well as the names of donors who gave through each link.
You’ll also find an interactive graph that shows the usage of each link over time. Toggle data related to each link on and off by clicking on the colored dot next to the link’s ID number. To learn the times at which links were clicked, hover over different points on each line on the graph. To easily share results with other team members, you can even export the graph via the ‘export’ menu in the upper right-hand corner of this section.
FAQs
How do I add which Unique Tracking Link brought in a gift in my reports
Can we use autofill links in combination with Unique Tracking Links on our everyday Giving Forms or Social Fundraising Campaigns?
YES! To combine autofill links with one of your unique tracking links, follow these steps:
- First, build an autofill parameter link (here we added an autofill designation)
- Next, take any unique tracking link
- Paste it in a browser and hit enter to get the fully extended link
- Add the "a=1234678" portion of the extended unique link URL to the end of the autofill parameter link
- Share that autofilled tracking link
*For Social Fundraising Campaigns, the link will be a direct path to the donation form!
Can we use unique links in combination with Personalization?
YES!
- Generate your unique tracking link (like https://givecampus.com/yvxlrj)
- Build your Personalization URL, or export in bulk the Personalization URLs
- Ensure your Personalization token is part of the URL using ?adid=
- Add “&a=" following the Personalization token (&a=yvxlrj)
Best Practices
- Don't only use Unique Tracking Links for digital marketing. Use them every time you share a giving form / campaign link, whether in print, on your website, on social media, or in emails. There’s no limit to the number of Unique Tracking Links you can create—so if there’s a link, track it!
- If you’re not sure where to start, it’s a good idea to focus on a few platforms and vehicles you’re most interested in studying—or new ideas you’re trying out—to see what’s working for you. Alternatively, have you recently made a change or are thinking about changing something in your marketing and outreach? Track it! This is a great way to easily gather really robust data to help you make the case for (or against!) different marketing strategies, and can give you a lot of insight into where your donors are engaging. This makes your time spent reaching out more effective and efficient, while raising more money. Win-win!
- Need an easy-to-remember and print-friendly URL? Ask your web team to create a ‘vanity URL’ through a 302 redirect that automatically redirects to your GiveCampus campaign or Giving Form (ex. www.holycross.edu/givepurple).
- When drafting digital communications, use Unique Tracking Links to hyperlink words and phrases, especially in your Call to Action. For example: “Have an impact at your alma mater by making a gift today.”