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How to set up Custom Tracking Domains

Emails sent through Woodpecker from your mailbox will use your own domain for tracking unsubscribes, email opens and/or link clicks.

You can easily set up your own tracking domains in Woodpecker, which will handle three functionalities for you:

  • Unsubscribe link for users who wish to opt-out

  • Open tracking for your emails

  • Click tracking for the links in your emails

You can have one subdomain for all three trackers or separate subdomains for any of these – this is up to you.

The benefits: your emails will point to your own domain, rather than to a generic tracking domain that the App uses by default; this also increases your emails’ deliverability, because the domain in the links will match the domain in the sending email address.

You can read more about the pros on our blog: Custom Domain for Tracking Email Opens, Clicks and Unsubscribes in Woodpecker »

TL;DR

  1. Add a new CNAME record carrot.wcheck.org  for your tracking subdomain(s) in your domain settings panel. If using separate subdomains for each tracker, add this CNAME record for each of these.

  2. Next, navigate to Settings → Email Accounts in Woodpecker; click your mailbox, go to Sending → “Custom Tracking Domains”. Add your subdomain(s) here, and click “Save Changes”.

Here is how you can configure your own tracking domain in Woodpecker in two steps:

Step #1

Open your domain’s settings panel, and add new CNAME record grape.wcheck.org   (which is Woodpecker’s tracking that you need to plug into) for the subdomain that you are going to use for tracking purposes.

If you are going to be using separate domains for each tracker, you will need to add a CNAME record for each (three total).

E.g. CNAME o.customer-success.com, carrot.wcheck.org

Note: It may take some time for the DNS (Domain Name System) to update the settings for your domain – that’s just how it works. It may be a good idea give it some hour, then go to step two and give it a try.

Step #2

Head over to Woodpecker and go to Settings → Accounts, then click your email account in the list, then Sending and scroll down a bit to find the section “Custom Tracking Domains”.

Next, input your tracking subdomain’s address into each field (respectively, if you are using separate subdomains for each tracker).

E.g. o.customer-success.us

Custom tracking domains setup in Woodpecker settings

Note: If the address hasn’t been recognized by the App, it means the DNS didn’t yet update to include your domain’s new settings. Please give it an hour more and then try again.

What’s left to do after you get the green tick marks is to click “Save Changes”, and Woodpecker will take care of the rest.

From that point on, all emails sent through Woodpecker from this particular mailbox will use your own domain for tracking unsubscribes, email opens, and/or link clicks.

Still not sure if you need Custom Tracking Domain?

In the video below, Ania, our Technical Assurance Specialist will talk about all the advantages of setting it up and the process itself. If you’ll have any additional questions regarding this topic, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] »