Stop tracking clicks and opens in cold email campaigns. Click-through rates are unreliable due to email security bots, links hurt your deliverability, and tracking makes it worse.

Instead: limit links to 1 max, don't track them, ask permission before sending links, and use website tracking tools (like Lemlist, Google Analytics, or other solutions) to track engagement after prospects visit your site. Focus on the only metric that matters in cold outreach: reply rate.

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💡 Key insight: If you're focused on optimizing open rates and click-through rates, you're likely optimizing the wrong metrics and hurting your deliverability in the process.

Based on real coaching insights from successful cold email practitioners, here are the three critical rules you need to know before tracking clicks in your campaigns.

The problem: Modern email providers (Gmail, Outlook, corporate email systems) use security bots that automatically scan incoming emails for malicious links.

What happens:

Real-world example: A campaign showing 40% click-through rate might have 0% actual human engagement—all bot clicks checking for spam, phishing, or malware.

⚠️ The reality: Click-through rates in cold email campaigns are not reliable metrics for measuring engagement or interest.

The core issue: Email providers treat emails with links more suspiciously—especially in cold outreach.

Why links trigger spam filters:

✅ Professional inbox protection: Gmail, Outlook, and corporate email systems are designed to protect users from phishing and scams

✅ Cold email = higher scrutiny: When you're sending to people who've never emailed you before, every "risky" element counts against you

✅ Link density matters: The more links you include, the more likely your email lands in spam or gets bounced

The impact:

❌ Higher spam folder rates: Emails with multiple links are significantly more likely to land in spam

❌ Lower inbox placement: Even if not marked as spam, emails with links may land in "Promotions" or "Updates" tabs instead of Primary inbox

❌ Increased bounce rates: Some corporate email systems automatically reject emails with tracked links

Recommendation: Limit links to 1 maximum per email—ideally 0 in your initial cold outreach.

What is link tracking?

When you enable click tracking in lemlist (or any email tool), the tool:

Why this hurts deliverability:

❌ Tracked links look suspicious: Redirect links are a classic phishing technique—spam filters know this

❌ Shared tracking domains: When you use default tracking domains, you share reputation with thousands of other users—including those with poor sending practices

❌ Extra DNS lookups: Tracking links require additional DNS checks, which can slow down delivery and trigger additional security scans

❌ Anti-phishing systems flag redirects: Corporate security tools often block or quarantine emails with redirect links

The data-backed insight: Emails with untracked links consistently show better deliverability than emails with tracked links.

What to do instead:

✅ Turn off click tracking in your lemlist campaign settings

✅ Use plain, direct links (if you must include links at all)

✅ Set up a Custom Tracking Domain (CTD) if you absolutely need to track clicks—this isolates your reputation from other senders

Just like click-through rates, open rate tracking is fundamentally broken in modern email.

Email tools track opens by embedding a 1x1 pixel invisible image in your email. When the recipient's email client loads images, it pings the tracking server—counted as an "open."

Problem 1: Email security bots

Many companies use anti-spam systems that:

As one commenter noted: "More and more companies use anti-spam systems that open the emails before it even lands. On your side you get an open but it was just a bot checking that you're not trying to scam their employees."

Problem 2: Image blocking

Problem 3: Apple Mail Privacy Protection

Since 2021, Apple Mail (used by 40%+ of email users) pre-loads all images automatically, whether the user reads the email or not. This means:

Open rates are not a reliable indicator of:

What you should track instead: Reply rate (the only metric that proves actual human engagement).

Instead of forcing links into your initial cold emails, use a permission-based approach that improves both deliverability AND engagement.

Step 1: Reference the resource without linking

Instead of:

Write:

Step 2: Wait for permission

When the prospect replies with "yes" or "sure, send it over," then you send the link in your response.

✅ Better deliverability: Your initial email has no links—maximum inbox placement

✅ Higher engagement: You've now started a conversation—the prospect is expecting and wanting your link

✅ Qualified interest: You only send resources to people who actually want them

✅ No tracking needed: Once they reply, you're in a conversation thread—you can track engagement via website analytics

✅ Warmer relationship: You've created a two-way dialogue instead of a one-way pitch

For case studies:

For resources:

For demos/calendars:

You can still measure campaign effectiveness without tracking clicks and opens in your emails.

1. Use website tracking tools

Instead of tracking clicks in lemlist, use:

How it works:

✅ Benefits: More accurate data, no deliverability impact, better user experience

2. Track the trigger, not the click

Set up automation based on website visits rather than email clicks:

Example workflow:

This approach:

3. Focus on conversation metrics

The most successful cold email practitioners track:

Primary metric:

Secondary metrics:

Ignore:

Based on insights from top-performing lemlist users and lemcoach participants:

1. Reply Rate (Positive)

Formula: (Positive Replies / Emails Delivered) × 100

What counts as a positive reply:

What doesn't count:

Benchmark: 5-15% positive reply rate is considered good for cold outreach

2. Meeting Booking Rate

Formula: (Meetings Booked / Positive Replies) × 100

This measures how effectively you convert interested prospects into actual conversations.

Benchmark: 40-60% of positive replies should result in booked meetings

3. Deliverability Rate

Formula: (Emails Delivered / Emails Sent) × 100

What to track:

This is your foundation metric—if your deliverability is poor, nothing else matters.

4. Email-to-Opportunity Conversion

Formula: (Qualified Opportunities / Emails Delivered) × 100

This measures the actual business impact of your campaigns.

Benchmark: 1-3% email-to-opportunity conversion rate is strong

5. Email-to-Revenue

Formula: Revenue Generated / Emails Delivered

The ultimate metric: how much revenue does each email in your campaign generate?

Example: If you send 1,000 emails and close $50,000 in deals, your email-to-revenue is $50 per email.

❌ Open rates

❌ Click-through rates

❌ Time spent reading emails

❌ Email client type

❌ Device type

Why: These metrics don't correlate with actual business outcomes and can distract from what matters.

For link usage:

For tracking:

For deliverability:

A: Focus on reply rate and meetings booked—the only metrics that prove actual human engagement and business outcomes.

If 100 people "open" your email but 0 reply, that's a failed campaign. If 20 people open your email but 10 reply and 5 book meetings, that's success.

Optimize for conversations, not clicks.

A: Two options:

Option 1 (Recommended): Ask permission first

Then send the calendar link in your reply after they say yes.

Option 2: Include 1 untracked calendar link in your signature

A: UTM parameters are fine after you have permission:

❌ Don't do this in cold emails:

✅ Do this after they reply:

The difference: one is unsolicited (hurts deliverability), one is requested (no deliverability impact).

A: Yes, for cold outreach campaigns.

Here's how:

Exception: If you're sending to warm lists (existing customers, newsletter subscribers, engaged leads), tracking may be appropriate—but even then, test the impact on deliverability.

A: A Custom Tracking Domain can help if you absolutely must track clicks, because:

✅ Isolates your reputation from other lemlist users ✅ Looks more professional than generic tracking domains ✅ Can improve deliverability compared to default tracking domains

However: Even with a CTD, untracked links still perform better for deliverability than tracked links.

Recommendation hierarchy:

A: Run a test:

Test setup:

Compare:

Expected result: Campaign B will outperform on every metric that actually matters for business outcomes.

Present the data, not opinions.

A: You can track interest after they engage:

Cold email approach:

After they reply "yes":

Now you can track:

All without hurting deliverability in your initial outreach.

A: Open rates are too unreliable for accurate A/B testing. Instead:

Test using reply rates:

Better indicators of subject line effectiveness:

If Subject Line A has a 60% open rate but 1% reply rate, and Subject Line B has a 30% open rate but 8% reply rate—Subject Line B wins.

Optimize for outcomes, not opens.