Suped

Summary

Unexpected characters appearing at the end of email click tracking URLs, such as curved brackets or extraneous text, can be a frustrating issue for email marketers. This phenomenon, which often seems random, points to underlying technical inconsistencies rather than email deliverability problems. The primary cause frequently lies in how email templates, particularly their plain text versions, are generated and interpreted by various email clients or webhooks.

What email marketers say

Email marketers grappling with inconsistent URL issues often find themselves checking their internal systems and vendor reports. The prevailing sentiment indicates that these seemingly random characters are not necessarily deliverability blockers but rather data anomalies stemming from how tracking events are captured or how email content is rendered. The focus shifts quickly from network or reputation issues to examining the email's raw code and the specific environment in which the click occurred.

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks observes inconsistent URL behavior, where click-tracked URLs sometimes end with a curved bracket or other text, even when clicking the same link in the same email.

04 Nov 2020 - Email Geeks

Marketer view

Marketer from Quora suggests that the seemingly random characters in long URLs are often encoding specific information about the email address or other tracking details for analytics.

22 Mar 2024 - Quora

What the experts say

Experts in email deliverability and technical email rendering consistently point away from general deliverability issues when confronted with unexpected characters in click tracking URLs. Instead, they highlight potential problems in email coding, client-side rendering, or specific ESP processes. The emphasis is on deep-diving into the email's raw structure and the exact conditions under which the anomalies appear, rather than broad network or reputation concerns. Identifying the precise point of corruption, whether it's hidden characters, mismatched quotes, or string sanitation, is key.

Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks suggests that an issue with inconsistent URL behavior is unlikely to be related to deliverability and is more probably a client-related problem, or an issue with the email template or code.

04 Nov 2020 - Email Geeks

Expert view

Expert from SpamResource explains that email service providers often rewrite URLs to include their own unique tracking parameters, which can sometimes appear as random characters to recipients but are essential for gathering analytics data.

22 Jun 2024 - SpamResource

What the documentation says

Technical documentation and web standards provide the foundational understanding for why URLs might behave unexpectedly in email click tracking. They emphasize proper URL construction, encoding, and the role of various systems in processing links. Documentation highlights that tracking mechanisms often involve rewriting URLs with additional data, and that email clients and privacy features can further modify these links. Adherence to established RFCs and best practices in email rendering is paramount to avoid unintended character additions.

Technical article

Documentation for Apple Privacy states that when sharing links in Messages, additional information added to URLs by some websites is removed to prevent tracking of users.

22 Jun 2024 - Apple

Technical article

RFC 3986 (URI Generic Syntax) specifies that a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is fundamentally a sequence of characters derived from a carefully restricted set, chosen for their general applicability and wide implementability across various systems.

January 2005 - RFC 3986

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