Best practices for setting up email tracking in Leadboxer

If you send emails for sales or marketing (or both), you want to know what happens after you hit “send.” Does your prospect open your message? Do they click your link? That’s where email tracking comes in. If you’re using Leadboxer, you get a toolkit for tracking this stuff — but setting it up right is the difference between useful insights and a pile of noise.

This guide is for marketers, sales teams, and anyone who wants to actually use email tracking, not just check a box. I’ll walk you through getting Leadboxer set up properly, flag what to skip, and call out the gotchas that waste your time.

1. Get Clear on What You Actually Need to Track

Before you mess with any settings, stop and think: What are you hoping to learn from email tracking?

  • Do you want to see who opens your emails? (Just be aware, open tracking is unreliable — more on that in a bit.)
  • Are you tracking link clicks? (This is usually more reliable.)
  • Do you want to tie email actions to website visits? (That’s the real power move, but it takes more setup.)

Write down your “must haves” and “nice to haves.” If you try to track everything, you’ll drown in noise. Focus on the signals that actually move your process forward.

Pro tip: If your sales team only cares about big accounts, don’t fret about tracking every newsletter subscriber. Less is more.

2. Make Sure the Basics Are in Place

You can’t track much if your foundation is shaky. Here’s what you need before you even touch Leadboxer’s email features:

  • Your website must have the Leadboxer tracking script installed. If this isn’t done, stop now and do it — nothing else will work.
  • Your email tool must allow custom links or HTML. Most marketing platforms do; some old-school CRMs don’t.
  • Your contacts should have identifiable email addresses. Leadboxer links activity to email addresses, not just anonymous clicks.

If any of these are missing, sort them out first. Otherwise, you’ll be troubleshooting phantom issues later.

3. Set Up Email Tracking in Leadboxer

Now for the meat and potatoes. Leadboxer tracks emails by embedding a special “tracking pixel” (for opens) and unique URLs (for clicks). Here’s how to get this working without pulling your hair out.

Step 1: Generate Tracking Links

In Leadboxer, you can generate tracked URLs for your emails. These URLs tie clicks to contacts and sessions on your website. Here’s how:

  • Go to the Email Tracking section in Leadboxer.
  • Enter the URL you want people to visit after clicking your email.
  • Add merge tags for email addresses (e.g., {{email}}) — Leadboxer needs this to match the click to a person.
    • Example: https://yourdomain.com/landing-page?lb_email={{email}}
  • Copy the generated URL and use it in your email campaign.

What works: Using merge tags correctly. This is how Leadboxer knows “Jane@example.com clicked this link.”

What doesn’t: Sending the same generic link to everyone. If you skip merge tags, you lose the ability to tie clicks to actual people.

Watch out for: Some email tools use different merge tag syntax (like %EMAIL% or {Email}). Double-check your tool’s docs.

Step 2: Add the Tracking Pixel (Optional, and Sometimes Useless)

Leadboxer can track email opens by embedding a tiny, invisible image (the “tracking pixel”) in your email. Here’s how:

  • Leadboxer gives you a pixel URL (something like https://track.leadboxer.com/open?email={{email}}).
  • Add it as an image in your email template, using the right merge tag.

Honest take: Open tracking is less reliable than ever. Apple Mail and Gmail often block these by default. Use open rates as a “maybe,” not gospel.

What works: Using open tracking as a rough indicator, especially for B2B emails (corporate firewalls block fewer pixels than consumer email clients do).

What doesn’t: Basing your whole strategy on open rates. Clicks and site visits are what matter.

4. Test Everything with Real Data

Don’t just assume it works. Send a few test emails to yourself and your colleagues. Here’s what to look for:

  • Do clicks on your email links show up in Leadboxer, tied to your email address?
  • If you open the email, does Leadboxer register an open event?
  • Is the visitor session on your website matched to your email identity?

If you don’t see what you expect, check:

  • Are the merge tags resolving correctly? (No literal {{email}} in the link?)
  • Is your ad blocker or privacy extension blocking tracking? (Try a clean browser.)
  • Are you testing with a real email address, not an alias or a group inbox?

Pro tip: Don’t just use your own address. Ask a couple of teammates to test with their email clients too. Coverage matters.

5. Avoid the Most Common Pitfalls

Everyone makes these mistakes at least once. Save yourself some frustration:

  • Forgetting to use merge tags: Leads to anonymous traffic — you can’t tie activity to real people.
  • Testing only in Gmail: Other clients (Outlook, Apple Mail) behave differently, especially with images and links.
  • Relying on open rates: As mentioned, opens are flaky. Treat them as a “nice to know.”
  • Ignoring privacy rules: If you’re in the EU, make sure your email tracking practices are GDPR-compliant. Get consent and be transparent.
  • Overcomplicating with too many links: Stick to tracking the links that matter for your goals. Every tracked link is another thing to debug.

6. Interpret the Results (Without Fooling Yourself)

It’s easy to get excited about all the data, but not all of it is useful. Here’s how to keep your sanity:

  • Clicks are king: Clicks are much more reliable than opens. If someone actually clicks, they’re engaged.
  • Look for website sessions that match email addresses: This is where Leadboxer shines — showing you the full journey from email to site.
  • Ignore the noise: Folks who open but never click aren’t worth chasing. Focus on the people who act.

Pro tip: Set up simple alerts for key actions (like “clicked demo link”) instead of drowning in every open and click event.

7. Keep Things Simple and Iterate

Too many teams try to track everything at once, get overwhelmed, and end up ignoring the data. Don’t be that team. Here’s how to keep your setup effective:

  • Start with one or two key links you care about.
  • Test and make sure tracking works end to end.
  • Add more complexity only if you genuinely need it.
  • Review results monthly and trim what isn’t useful.

Remember: The goal isn’t to track everything — it’s to get clear signals about what’s working and what’s not.

Wrapping Up

Email tracking with Leadboxer can be powerful, if you keep it focused and don’t let the tech run the show. Start with the basics, test thoroughly, and don’t waste energy chasing vanity metrics. The simpler your setup, the more likely you are to use the insights and actually improve your outreach. Keep it practical, iterate as you go, and you’ll get real value — not just another dashboard to ignore.