What's the difference between Link_Clicked__c and Activity_URL__c on Email Activity records?
📋 Summary
You notice two similar-sounding fields on Email Activity records: Activity_URL__c and Link_Clicked__c. Both appear to track clicked links, and you want to understand why there are two fields and when each one is used.
💡 Solution
These two fields serve completely different purposes and come from different parts of the Mailchimp API. Understanding the distinction helps you analyze both engagement and churn behavior.
Activity_URL__c: Normal Engagement Tracking
This field captures the URL clicked during regular campaign engagement. When a subscriber clicks a link in your email campaign, Activity_URL__c stores that URL. This data comes from Mailchimp's campaign-level email activity tracking and represents standard click behavior. Most of your Email Activity records with clicks will have this field populated.
Link_Clicked__c: Pre-Churn Behavior Analysis
This field captures which link a subscriber clicked immediately before unsubscribing or bouncing. It comes from Mailchimp's member activity feed and only appears on unsubscribe and bounce events. This field helps you identify which content triggered someone to leave your list, making it valuable for understanding churn patterns.
For example, if someone clicked a pricing page link and then immediately unsubscribed, Link_Clicked__c would show that pricing page URL on the unsubscribe activity record. This tells you the pricing content may have contributed to the unsubscribe decision.
Key Differences:
Activity_URL__c appears on regular click events from campaign tracking, while Link_Clicked__c only appears on unsubscribe and bounce events. Activity_URL__c will be populated frequently for engaged subscribers, while Link_Clicked__c will be populated sparsely and only in specific churn scenarios.
Important Limitations:
Link_Clicked__c will often be blank even on unsubscribe events. Mailchimp doesn't always include this information in their API, especially for older events or when subscribers unsubscribe through methods other than clicking an email link. The field is designed for churn analysis when data is available, not as a comprehensive tracking field.
This field was historically disabled in older versions of Mailchimp for Salesforce and was re-enabled based on customer feedback about its analytical value for understanding subscriber behavior patterns.
