Has my email been read?

[Frenchsalesadministrator]

Other than the 'read receipt' option in outlook, is there a way to find out if my email has been opened?

Thanks

 

[Fearghal]

Other than the 'read receipt' option in outlook, is there a way to find out if my email has been opened?

Thanks

No theres not, and the recipient can choose not to send you a read receipt so you really have no way of telling.

 

[Frenchsalesadministrator]

What about getnotify.com?

 

[Fearghal]

What about getnotify.com?

That's a pretty sneaky way to do it but its risky.

The email will come from another server which is not authorised to send emails on behalf of a domain. Eg. you send from an @outlook.com address but it comes from getnotify's servers then their email provider can perform a check to ensure the email originated from an authorised outlook server. If it didnt, it normally warns them.

Also, I assume they use some sort of resource in the email that will send a request to getnotify when the recipient opens the email... by default resources like this are blocked unless the recipient clicks to unblock them.

If you ever see something like "blocked for security click to unblock" its to prevent stuff like this.

 

[Xtm_Mike]

Plenty of email clients now notify you when an email you have sent has been read. CloudMagic and Canarymail off the top of my head. Lots of modern clients do it.

They essentially route your email through their servers and they store a token, when the email is opened the token is pinged and then sends notification to you.. just something to be aware of.

 

[Fearghal]

Plenty of email clients now notify you when an email you have sent has been read. CloudMagic and Canarymail off the top of my head. Lots of modern clients do it.

They essentially route your email through their servers and they store a token, when the email is opened the token is pinged and then sends notification to you.. just something to be aware of.

If you do this you would need to be careful there are no SPF records set on the origin domain or the recipients email server may flag it as fraudulent.

Combine that with a security warning about resources making requests to external servers and you better have a good explanation for when they ask what you're doing.

 

[Frenchsalesadministrator]

So what's the difference with email marketing systems that tell you who has open their emails after an email campaign?

 

[Xtm_Mike]

If you do this you would need to be careful there are no SPF records set on the origin domain or the recipients email server may flag it as fraudulent.

Combine that with a security warning about resources making requests to external servers and you better have a good explanation for when they ask what you're doing.

They must be doing something to get around it, or maybe still send email from your domain and just using their servers for tracking? I don't know what is going on technically but it works and these clients are widely used.

I do not do any read-tracking it is irrelevant to me but I use AirMail which does something similar to offer improved functionality... such as push notifications and snoozing... the credentials for your email addresses are stored on their servers to be able to offer this.

 

[Xtm_Mike]

So what's the difference with email marketing systems that tell you who has open their emails after an email campaign?

The links from an email marketing system are 'masked' with a tacking link from the system, which then forwards to correct URL, just like a regular url shortener.. Look at this example from Mailchimp:

^^^ I hovered over tiny.website .. but notice the URL in the status bar is actually us11.list-manage.com which is a MailChimp domain.

 

[Fearghal]

So what's the difference with email marketing systems that tell you who has open their emails after an email campaign?

They typically send those emails from their own domains, they don't impersonate yours.

It's also possible to add a new SPF entry for the server they would send from which would enable their emails to pass any validation done on the recipients side - assuming you have control over the DNS records.

 

[Fearghal]

The links from an email marketing system are 'masked' with a tacking link from the system, which then forwards to correct URL, just like a regular url shortener.. Look at this example from Mailchimp:
^^^ I hovered over tiny.website .. but notice the URL in the status bar is actually us11.list-manage.com which is a MailChimp domain.

Out of curiosity... did the email come with a mailchimp domain name?

 

[Xtm_Mike]

Out of curiosity... did the email come with a mailchimp domain name?

Yes it did. The full thing was sent from their system.

 

[Alan]

Most email tracking system, e.g hubspot, mailchimp etc work by embedding an invisible 1px image. When your email opens the image the tracking system knows.

The only way to stop this is by setting your email client not to open images.

 

[msp-nick]

Why not set up a program, you could use mailchimp for your mailing needs, you'd simply connect to your SMTP server with there settings, set your MX records and you have all the information you need to get your self going.

 

[stephen@wp]

Why not set up a program, you could use mailchimp for your mailing needs, you'd simply connect to your SMTP server with there settings, set your MX records and you have all the information you need to get your self going.

Can we use Mailchimp for cold Emails? I think we can only send mails to newsletter subscribers.