Skip to main content

GA4 Server Events

GA4 server events are the optional, advanced part of the Google Analytics integration. Mumara ONE sends email engagement directly to your GA4 property as custom events, using Google's Measurement Protocol. This is in addition to UTM tagging, not instead of it.

When to use it​

Use server events if you want email engagement as custom events inside GA4, for funnels, explorations or conversion modelling. If you only want to know which emails brought website traffic and sales, UTM tagging alone is enough.

1. Get your GA4 credentials​

In your Google Analytics 4 property:

  1. Go to Admin → Data Streams and open your web data stream.
  2. Copy the Measurement ID. It looks like G-XXXXXXXXXX.
  3. Under Measurement Protocol API secrets, create a secret and copy its value.

2. Set it up in Mumara ONE​

Open Transactional → Google Analytics and go to the Advanced — GA4 Server Events section. Enable Google Analytics at the top of the page must be on as well.

SettingWhat to do
Send server-side events to GA4Switch it on. The settings below appear.
Measurement IDPaste your G-XXXXXXXXXX. If it isn't in that format, saving shows Enter a valid GA4 Measurement ID (it looks like G-XXXXXXXXXX).
API SecretPaste the secret. It's stored encrypted. Once saved, the field shows •••••••••• (unchanged). Leave it blank when you save other changes to keep the current secret.
Forward eventsTick the events to send: Sent, Click, Unsubscribe and Bounce. All four are ticked to start with.
OpenA separate switch, off by default (see the warning below). When you switch it on, Skip opens flagged as bots appears, ticked.
DeliveryQueue (the default, recommended) hands events to a background queue, so sending is never slowed down. Real-time sends each event the moment it happens.
Debug modeOff by default. Switch it on while you test, to watch events arrive in GA4's DebugView. See Debug mode.
Keep event log forHow many days Mumara ONE keeps the event log, from 1 to 3650. The default is 7. Above 7 days, a warning reminds you that a longer log takes more space.

Click Save.

Nothing is sent until Send server-side events to GA4 is on and both a Measurement ID and an API secret are saved.

Opens and Apple Mail Privacy Protection

Apple Mail loads images in advance, so open counts are heavily inflated and unreliable. That's why Open is off by default. If you switch it on, keep Skip opens flagged as bots ticked and treat the numbers with caution.

Test connection​

Click Test connection to send a sample event to GA4's validation endpoint. It uses the Measurement ID and API secret in the form, even before you save, or your saved secret if the field is blank. Nothing is recorded in your reports.

ResultWhat it means
Test event accepted by GA4. Note: GA4 does not validate the API secret at this step — confirm the event appears in GA4 → Realtime or DebugView.The Measurement ID and the event format are fine. GA4 accepts the request even with a wrong secret, so confirm real delivery with Debug mode.
GA4 rejected the test event. Check the Measurement ID and API secret.GA4 refused the request. Check both values.
Enter a Measurement ID and API secret first.One of the two is missing.

Debug mode: watch events arrive live​

When you first set this up, you'll want to see your email events actually reaching GA4. That's what Debug mode is for. While it's on, every event Mumara ONE sends carries GA4's debug flag, so it appears in real time in GA4 under Admin → DebugView.

Check your setup end to end​

  1. Enter your Measurement ID and API Secret, then click Test connection. This checks the Measurement ID and the event format without recording anything.
  2. Switch on Debug mode and click Save.
  3. In GA4, open Admin → DebugView.
  4. Send a small test campaign to yourself from Mumara ONE, and click a link in it.
  5. Within a few seconds, events such as email_sent and email_click appear on the DebugView timeline, with their parameters.
  6. Back in Mumara ONE, click View event log and check that the events' status is sent.

Test connection or Debug mode?​

They check different things. Use both:

Test connectionDebug mode
What it checksIs my Measurement ID valid, and is the event well formed?Are my real email events reaching GA4?
How it worksSends one sample event to GA4's validation endpointMarks your live events so they appear in DebugView
Records anything?NoYes, marked as debug
When to use itRight after entering your credentialsWhile sending real test traffic
Turn it off when you're done

Leave Debug mode off normally. GA4 keeps debug traffic apart and leaves it out of your standard reports, so you don't want your real events going through it. Switch it on only while you're testing, then switch it off.

What's sent, and what isn't​

  • Events arrive in GA4 as the custom events email_sent, email_click, email_unsubscribe, email_bounce and email_open.
  • email_sent is sent for email from broadcasts, triggers and drips. Clicks are recorded only on tracked links, so keep Track Clicks on for email_click.
  • Each event carries the schedule ID and the broadcast ID, and clicks also carry the link.
  • Mumara ONE gives each contact a stable, anonymous ID, so that one contact's events are grouped together in GA4.
  • No email addresses or other personal data are sent to Google.
  • Events are sent only for your contacts' marketing email, not for transactional email sent through Bridges.

See your events in GA4​

Custom events appear in GA4's Realtime and Events reports within a few minutes. They don't fill GA4's standard reports on their own: build an Exploration over them, or mark one as a key event. See Build an engagement funnel.

Event log and retries​

Click View event log on the settings page to see the events sent from your account, newest first, 50 to a page:

ColumnWhat it shows
IDThe log entry
EventFor example email_click
Statussent, pending or failed
HTTPThe response code from GA4
AttemptsHow many times delivery was tried
SubscriberThe contact's ID
ScheduleThe schedule ID
CreatedWhen the event happened
SentWhen GA4 accepted it
ErrorWhy delivery failed, if it did

The log shows what Mumara ONE sent, not what GA4 did with it. Failed events are retried automatically every 15 minutes, up to five attempts in all, so short network problems sort themselves out. Entries older than your Keep event log for setting are removed daily. Click ← Google Analytics to return to the settings.

UTM tagging or server events?​

The two complement each other:

  • UTM tagging credits real website sessions, conversions and revenue to your campaigns. It's the most reliable way to measure results, using GA's own reports.
  • Server events add email activity, such as sends and bounces, as custom events. They sit apart from your website sessions, because email has no browser cookie to link them.

For most accounts, UTM tagging is the priority and server events are a bonus.