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Alva Digital Downloads

Email Logs & Tracking

Monitor email delivery, opens, clicks, and troubleshoot email issues using comprehensive email logs.

Accessing Email Logs

Section titled “Accessing Email Logs”

Navigate to logs:

  1. Open Alva Digital Downloads app
  2. Go to Settings → Email Logs OR
  3. Go to Analytics → Email Logs

Email Log Overview

Section titled “Email Log Overview”

What logs show:

• All emails sent by app
• Delivery status
• Open tracking (if enabled)
• Click tracking
• Error messages
• Timestamps

Types of emails logged:

  • Download notification emails
  • Order confirmation (if custom)
  • Fraud review pending emails
  • Approval notification emails
  • Manual resend emails
  • Test emails

Log Columns Explained

Section titled “Log Columns Explained”

Email Subject

Section titled “Email Subject”
Example: "Your Files Are Ready - Order #1045"


Shows: Subject line sent to customer

Click to see: Full email details

Recipient

Section titled “Recipient”
Customer email: john@example.com
Customer name: John Smith (if available)

Searchable: Find all emails to specific customer

Send Date & Time

Section titled “Send Date & Time”
Example: Jan 15, 2024, 3:43 PM
Timezone: Your shop timezone

Sort: Most recent first (default) or oldest

Status

Section titled “Status”

Email statuses:

✅ Delivered

Successfully delivered to recipient's mail server
Highest success level

📧 Sent

Handed off to email provider
Awaiting delivery confirmation

⏳ Pending

Queued for sending
Will process shortly

❌ Failed

Delivery failed
Reason shown in details

↩️ Bounced

Rejected by recipient server
Hard bounce (bad email) or soft bounce (temporary issue)

🚫 Spam

Marked as spam by recipient
OR rejected by spam filter

Opens

Section titled “Opens”
Opened: Yes (2 times)
Last opened: Jan 15, 3:45 PM


or


Opened: No

How tracking works:

  • Invisible pixel in email
  • Loads when email opened
  • Only tracks HTML email views
  • Doesn’t work if images blocked

Note: Open rate may undercount (privacy features, image blocking)

Clicks

Section titled “Clicks”
Clicked: Yes (1 click)
Link clicked: Download button
Time: Jan 15, 3:45 PM


or


Clicked: No

Tracks: Which links clicked in email

Use for:

  • Download button effectiveness
  • Customer engagement
  • Email design success

Provider

Section titled “Provider”
Postmark (primary)
or
MailerToGo (SMTP fallback)

Shows: Which email service sent this

Message ID

Section titled “Message ID”
Example: abc123-def456-ghi789
Unique identifier for this email

Use for:

  • Support tickets
  • Provider troubleshooting
  • Duplicate prevention

Filtering Email Logs

Section titled “Filtering Email Logs”

Filter Options

Section titled “Filter Options”

By Status:

☐ All
☐ Delivered
☐ Failed
☐ Bounced
☐ Pending

By Date Range:

○ Last 24 hours
○ Last 7 days
● Last 30 days
○ Last 90 days
○ Custom range: [From] [To]

By Recipient:

Search: john@example.com
Shows: All emails to this customer

By Email Type:

☐ Download emails
☐ Fraud notification emails
☐ Test emails
☐ Manual resends
Section titled “Search”

Search by:

  • Email address
  • Order number
  • Subject line
  • Message ID

Example searches:

"john@example.com" - All emails to John
"#1045" - Emails for order 1045
"failed" - All failed emails
"test" - All test emails

Detailed Email View

Section titled “Detailed Email View”

Opening Email Details

Section titled “Opening Email Details”

Click any email in log:

  • Full details panel opens
  • Email content preview
  • Delivery timeline
  • Tracking information
  • Error details (if failed)

Email Details Panel

Section titled “Email Details Panel”

Information shown:

Header:

To: john@example.com (John Smith)
From: shop@yourstore.com (Your Shop)
Subject: Your Files Are Ready - Order #1045
Sent: Jan 15, 2024, 3:43:21 PM
Provider: Postmark
Message ID: abc123-def456

Delivery Status:

Status: Delivered ✅
Delivered at: 3:43:24 PM (3 seconds)
Opens: 2 times
  - First: Jan 15, 3:45 PM
  - Last: Jan 16, 9:30 AM
Clicks: 1 click
  - Link: Download Files button
  - Time: Jan 15, 3:45 PM

Email Content:

[Preview of email HTML]
Shows exactly what customer received

Raw Data (Advanced):

SMTP logs
Headers
Full message source
Provider response

Use for: Technical troubleshooting

Understanding Email Status

Section titled “Understanding Email Status”

Delivered vs. Opened

Section titled “Delivered vs. Opened”

Delivered:

  • Email reached recipient’s mail server
  • Inbox or spam folder
  • Doesn’t mean customer saw it

Opened:

  • Customer actually opened/viewed email
  • More reliable engagement indicator

Scenario:

Delivered: Yes ✓
Opened: No ✗


Possible reasons:
• Email in spam folder
• Customer deleted without reading
• Preview pane disabled (no pixel load)
• Images blocked

Bounce Types

Section titled “Bounce Types”

Hard Bounce:

Permanent delivery failure
Reasons:
• Email address doesn't exist
• Domain doesn't exist
• Blocked by recipient server

Action: Remove from email list

Soft Bounce:

Temporary delivery failure
Reasons:
• Mailbox full
• Server temporarily down
• Message too large
• Temporary block

Action: Retry later (automatic)

Spam Complaints

Section titled “Spam Complaints”

Customer marked as spam:

Status: Spam complaint 🚫
Impact:
• Hurts sender reputation
• Future emails more likely to go to spam
• May affect all customers

Why customers mark as spam:

  • Didn’t recognize sender
  • Too many emails
  • Unsubscribe didn’t work
  • Irrelevant content

Prevention:

  • Clear from address
  • Easy unsubscribe
  • Don’t over-email
  • Relevant content only

Troubleshooting Email Issues

Section titled “Troubleshooting Email Issues”

Issue: Email Shows “Failed”

Section titled “Issue: Email Shows “Failed””

Check error message:

Common errors:

Invalid Recipient:

Error: "550 User unknown"
Meaning: Email address doesn't exist
Fix: Verify customer email in order

Mailbox Full:

Error: "552 Mailbox full"
Meaning: Customer's inbox full
Fix: Ask customer to clear space, resend

Blocked:

Error: "554 Rejected for policy reasons"
Meaning: Recipient server blocking
Fix: Contact customer via alternate method

Issue: Email Delivered but Customer Says Not Received

Section titled “Issue: Email Delivered but Customer Says Not Received”

Troubleshooting steps:

1. Verify delivery:

Email log shows: Delivered ✓
Means: Email reached their mail server

2. Check spam folder:

Most common: Email in spam/junk
Ask customer to check:
• Spam folder
• Junk folder
• Promotions tab (Gmail)
• Clutter folder (Outlook)

3. Check email address:

Verify: john@example.com (correct)
not: john@exmaple.com (typo)

4. Resend email:

Click [Resend] in log
Sends fresh copy
May arrive in inbox this time

Issue: Low Open Rate

Section titled “Issue: Low Open Rate”

If overall open rate <40%:

Possible causes:

Subject line:

Bad: "Download"
Better: "Your Files Are Ready - Order #1045"
Best: "John, Your Course Bundle is Ready!"

Sender name:

Bad: noreply@shopify.com
Better: Your Shop <support@yourshop.com>

Send time:

Test different times:
• Morning (9-11 AM)
• Afternoon (2-4 PM)
• Evening (7-9 PM)

Spam filters:

• Check spam score (mail-tester.com)
• Verify SPF/DKIM records
• Avoid spam trigger words

Issue: High Bounce Rate

Section titled “Issue: High Bounce Rate”

If >5% bouncing:

Actions:

1. Clean email list:

Remove: Hard bounces immediately
Monitor: Soft bounces, retry 3x then remove

2. Verify collection:

• Ensure email field required
• Add validation at checkout
• Confirm email (double opt-in)

3. Check reputation:

Tool: mail-tester.com
Score: Aim for 8+/10
Fix: SPF, DKIM, DMARC records

Email Performance Analytics

Section titled “Email Performance Analytics”

Aggregate Statistics

Section titled “Aggregate Statistics”

Dashboard shows:

Overall metrics:

Last 30 days:
Emails sent: 287
Delivered: 281 (98%)
Opened: 197 (70% of delivered)
Clicked: 189 (96% of opens)
Bounced: 4 (1.4%)
Failed: 2 (0.7%)

Email Type Performance

Section titled “Email Type Performance”

Compare email types:

Download emails:
Sent: 143
Open rate: 75%
Click rate: 98%


Fraud notification emails:
Sent: 8
Open rate: 45%
Click rate: 60%


Test emails:
Sent: 12
Open rate: 100%
Click rate: 100%

Use for:

  • Identify which emails work best
  • Improve underperforming types
  • Set benchmarks

Time-Based Analytics

Section titled “Time-Based Analytics”

Email performance by time:

Best send times:

Highest open rates:
• 9-10 AM (73% open rate)
• 2-3 PM (68%)
• 7-8 PM (65%)


Lowest open rates:
• 12-1 AM (35%)
• 5-6 AM (42%)

Best days:

Tuesday: 72% open rate
Wednesday: 70%
Thursday: 68%
Saturday: 48%
Sunday: 45%

Optimize: Send during peak engagement times

Email Provider Comparison

Section titled “Email Provider Comparison”

Postmark vs. MailerToGo Performance

Section titled “Postmark vs. MailerToGo Performance”

Compare providers:

Postmark (Primary):
Delivered: 98.5%
Avg. delivery time: 2 seconds
Open rate: 71%
Cost: $0.01/email


MailerToGo (Fallback):
Delivered: 96.2%
Avg. delivery time: 8 seconds
Open rate: 68%
Cost: $0.005/email

Decision: Continue with Postmark as primary (better performance)

Exporting Email Logs

Section titled “Exporting Email Logs”

Export Options

Section titled “Export Options”

Export logs for analysis:

  1. Click Export button
  2. Choose format:
    • CSV (Excel)
    • JSON (technical)
    • PDF (report)

Export contains:

• Email address
• Send date/time
• Subject
• Status
• Opened (Yes/No + count)
• Clicked (Yes/No)
• Provider
• Message ID
• Error message (if failed)

Use cases:

  • Accounting/auditing
  • Custom analysis
  • Reporting to stakeholders
  • Compliance documentation

Retention & Cleanup

Section titled “Retention & Cleanup”

Log Retention

Section titled “Log Retention”

Logs kept:

Email logs: 90 days (default)
Extended: 365 days (if enabled)

After retention:

  • Logs automatically deleted
  • Aggregate stats retained
  • Reduces storage costs

Manual Cleanup

Section titled “Manual Cleanup”

Delete logs early:

Bulk delete:

1. Filter: Failed emails
2. Select all
3. Delete selected

Why delete:

  • Free up space
  • Remove sensitive data
  • Clean up test emails
  • GDPR compliance

Best Practices

Section titled “Best Practices”

1. Monitor Regularly

Section titled “1. Monitor Regularly”

Daily:

☐ Check for failed emails
☐ Resend if needed
☐ Monitor delivery rate

Weekly:

☐ Review open/click rates
☐ Check for bounces
☐ Clean hard bounces

2. Act on Failures

Section titled “2. Act on Failures”

Don’t ignore failed emails:

Failed → Check error → Fix issue → Resend


Examples:
• Bad email → Contact customer for correct email
• Server block → Contact customer via phone/chat
• Policy block → Explain situation, find workaround

3. Track Improvements

Section titled “3. Track Improvements”

Test and measure:

Test: New subject line
Before: 65% open rate
After: 72% open rate
Result: Keep new approach ✓

Document wins:

  • What worked
  • What didn’t
  • Future tests

4. Respect Customer Preferences

Section titled “4. Respect Customer Preferences”

If customer requests no emails:

1. Mark in notes
2. Don't send marketing
3. Essential order emails only
4. Provide alternative (direct download link)

5. Maintain Good Reputation

Section titled “5. Maintain Good Reputation”

Email sender reputation matters:

✓ Low bounce rate (<5%)
✓ Low spam complaints (<0.1%)
✓ High engagement (opens/clicks)
✓ Proper authentication (SPF, DKIM)
✓ Clean list

Poor reputation:

  • Emails go to spam
  • Harder to reach customers
  • Provider may suspend account

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”