[kirillzubovsky]

Yeah, "direct" traffic is so elusive. It's just a big bucket of visitors. It's a pity because I would have loved to reach out to folks who send this traffic and thank them, or ask for their thoughts on the product...etc.

Mailchimp adds their own trackers on top of the links you insert into the newsletter, which they use for tracking open/click rates, but that's almost less interesting than the source.

Why does it matter that I have a 36% click rate on the last issue, is it good? What if instead I have 10% click rate, but 1 of those people shared it with 10k more?

I understand why in general people don't like tracking, especially here on Hacker News, but I think some of it could lead to much better outcomes for all parties involved. I wonder what other solutions there are to help piece together your audience, and their interests.