Hello Pardot Cracks,
We are currently having problems with the tracking of Custom Redirects.
Someone signs up on our website -> Form Handler Completion
He receives an E-Mail to confirm his e-mail address (double opt in) -> E-Mail got sent automatically after someone filled out Form Handler
He clicks on the button and gets redirected to a landing page
On the button we linked a Custom Redirect, This Custom Redirect tells the program to put him on the recipient list
This worked perfectly until the +/- 20th of October 2020. The process works until the last line. Pardot does not fire on the CR anymore and does not do completion actions.
So, what we have found out is, that Pardot distinguishes between E-Mail Tracking and Custom Redirect Tracking. What does this mean?
E-Mail Tracking: Every Link in an E-Mail can be reportet, it shows which link got clicked in an E-Mail
Custom Redirect Tracking: Pardot understands, that the link is a CR and fulfills completion actions (such as “Put him in this list”)
E-Mail Tracking still works, but not Custom Redirect Tracking! What could be the reason?
The problem with Custom Redirects is that they rely on the person to be already cookied (on that specific device!) at the moment they click the link.
So, scenario 1 - you have someone who signs up on their laptop, then opens the email on their mobile and clicks through ... well the mobile is not cookied. So the completion actions (add to list and whatever) that are on the custom redirect don't work on that person.
But, the person in Scenario 1 gets cookied on their mobile *after* landing on the page ... so in reality they're registered as having clicked the link, but none of the completion actions (like add to list) fired.
Now, scenario 2 - if the person fills out the form, gets the email, clicks it, and it all happens on the laptop, it works great. Completion actions fire just fine.
This is always how Custom Redirects have worked, so I suspect that your October 2020 date is just a red herring, and it has always been that way but you just didn't "see" it.
What I recommend is to use the custom redirect in the email, just as you are, but set yourself up an Automation Rule.
The Automation Rule can be just "Custom Redirect [ redirect name ] was accessed"
But I recommend:
Custom Redirect [ redirect name ] was accessed
AND
Prospect List [ is not a member of list ] [ subscription list name ]
The fun part about Automation Rules ... they will find the people who clicked but got cookied after they clicked.
So if you go with the first example automation rule, you will see EVERYONE who clicked.
But if you go with the second example automation rule, it will catch your delta of "missing" prospects who clicked to double opt in, but didn't have the actions applied to them.
