Ghost Release: 5.17.0

TL;DR

Ghost v5.17.0 introduces email click tracking as a core feature, allowing publishers to see which links in newsletters get clicked. This release also includes significant UI improvements to the analytics dashboard with better attribution data for member signups and paid conversions, refined post analytics, and various performance optimizations. The update enhances caching configurations for better performance and fixes several bugs related to the admin interface and member management.

This update matters because it gives publishers deeper insights into newsletter performance and member acquisition channels, helping them make more informed content and marketing decisions. Publishers who send newsletters should update to take advantage of these new analytics capabilities.

Highlight of the Release

• Email click tracking is now available as a core feature
• Improved analytics dashboard with better attribution data for member signups and conversions
• New member filtering capabilities based on email engagement (opened, clicked, received)
• Configurable caching for better performance optimization
• Refined UI for post analytics and member attribution data

Migration Guide

Email Click Tracking

Email click tracking is now enabled by default and matches your current email open tracking settings. If you want to adjust these settings:

1. Go to Settings > Email
2. Find the "Email tracking" section
3. Toggle "Track email opens" and "Track email clicks" as desired

Member Attribution

The member attribution feature is now available for all sites with members enabled. No additional configuration is needed to start collecting attribution data.

Caching Configuration

This release introduces configurable caching for various Ghost endpoints and assets. If you're running a self-hosted Ghost installation and want to customize caching behavior, you can do so through your Ghost configuration file.

No breaking changes were introduced that would require specific migration steps.

Upgrade Recommendations

Who should upgrade?

All Ghost users should upgrade to v5.17.0, especially those who:

• Send newsletters and want insights into link performance
• Want better attribution data for member signups and conversions
• Need to filter members based on email engagement
• Would benefit from improved caching and performance optimizations

How to upgrade:

For Ghost(Pro) users: Your site will be automatically updated.

For self-hosted Ghost installations:

1. Back up your Ghost installation
2. Run ghost update if using Ghost-CLI
3. If manually updating, follow the standard process of replacing files and running yarn setup

This is a feature release with no breaking changes, so the upgrade should be straightforward.

Bug Fixes

Admin Interface Fixes

• Fixed cleaned URLs in link table on analytics page
• Fixed invalid shortcuts imports that were breaking when transpiled via webpack
• Fixed Sentry/browser imports for better Embroider compatibility
• Fixed error preventing publish for non-Admin staff users
• Fixed missing times in activity feed click events
• Fixed link replacement when link click tracking is disabled
• Fixed broken source attribution table design in post analytics
• Fixed dropdown blink for subscription detail box
• Fixed analytics button not working in certain scenarios

Dark Mode Fixes

• Fixed subscription box dark mode issues
• Fixed dashboard dark mode issues

Other Fixes

• Removed full width for posts with the member attribution flag
• Fixed overly long robots.txt caching for private sites
• Fixed ref instead of rel when stripping querystring from tracked URL

New Features

Email Click Tracking

Ghost now tracks which links in your newsletters are being clicked by readers. This feature provides valuable insights into what content resonates with your audience and which calls-to-action are most effective.

Enhanced Member Attribution

The dashboard now shows detailed attribution data for member signups and paid conversions, helping you understand where your members are coming from. You can:

• View top 5 referral sources with detailed metrics
• Toggle between signup and paid conversion data
• Access a modal with all attribution sources
• See referrer source and medium information in member profiles

Member Filtering by Email Engagement

You can now filter members based on their email engagement:

• Members who have opened emails
• Members who have clicked links in emails
• Members who have received emails

Lexical Editor Design Sandbox

A new /#/lexicalsandbox route has been added that renders the <DesignSandbox /> component from the @tryghost/koenig-lexical library, useful for developers working with the editor.

Security Updates

No significant security fixes were included in this release.

Performance Improvements

Configurable Caching

This release introduces configurable caching for multiple Ghost endpoints and assets, allowing for better performance optimization:

• Made sitemap.xls caching configurable
• Made public built assets caching configurable
• Made members JWKS endpoint caching configurable
• Added backend JWKS endpoint caching
• Made robots.txt caching configurable
• Made Content API caching configurable
• Changed Content API caching to public to allow browser and shared caches to store responses
• Enabled shared caching of 404 error responses
• Increased Vary granularity for versioned requests

Other Performance Improvements

• Refactored error cache control logic to middleware
• Dropped ember-cli-moment-shim dependency for better compatibility with Embroider

Impact Summary

Ghost v5.17.0 significantly enhances the analytics capabilities of the platform, particularly for newsletter publishers. The addition of email click tracking provides valuable insights into reader engagement with newsletter content, while improved attribution data helps publishers understand where their members are coming from.

The refined analytics dashboard offers better visualization of member acquisition channels, with the ability to distinguish between sources driving free signups versus paid conversions. This data is crucial for publishers to optimize their acquisition strategies and focus on channels that deliver the best ROI.

Performance improvements through configurable caching will benefit all Ghost sites, particularly those with high traffic. The ability to customize caching behavior for various endpoints allows for better optimization based on specific site needs.

For developers, the improvements in compatibility with Ember's new build tooling (Embroider) and the addition of a Lexical editor design sandbox provide better tools for theme and plugin development.

Overall, this release strengthens Ghost's position as a professional publishing platform with robust analytics capabilities, helping publishers make more informed decisions about their content and growth strategies.

Full Release Notes