An open response is recorded when a subscriber views your email after it is sent. Learn more about open tracking below.
How do opens work
Opens are recorded when a hidden tracking image pixel is loaded in the email. The tracking image is placed toward the end of the email HTML. This image loads when images are downloaded in the HTML email. This is why non-HTML emails (Text format) do not register opens because there are no images to download.
Most webmail email clients will download images automatically. Corporate email clients often ask the recipient to download images manually, this is typically the case with Outlook. In both cases, the subscriber can set their email client preferences to one or the other. Either way, an open is only recorded when images are downloaded.
Oftentimes open events are thought to be connected to click events but the two are distinctly different metrics. Click events are when a subscriber clicks on a tracked link in the email. It is possible for a subscriber to review the content of the email and click on a tracked link without registering an open (downloading images).
Email Clipping
Some email clients like Gmail will clip large emails which in turn doesn't load the hidden tracking pixel. Subscribers can download the full email which will load the tracking image. Test your emails across email clients to ensure your email is not being clipped. Learn more about email size
Gmail and Yahoo considerations
Both Gmail and Yahoo have moved to caching images in email when the email is received. The image is downloaded from the original server that hosted the image and cached (stored) on a proxy server hosted by Gmail and Yahoo. This change was implemented in part to make emails more secure, leaving fewer opportunities for malicious code or links to be hidden by an image. But for email marketers, this means that the open is only recorded once and attributes the event to the proxy server.
Move the open tracking pixel in the email design
WordFly offers the option to move the tracking pixel anywhere in the email body container through the use of a data field. This can help in those situations where the email is clipped for size and the main tracking pixel doesn't load due location in the email.
Tracking pixel data field: ##WordFlyTrackingImage##
What to expect with the tracking pixel data field:
- The tracking pixel data field should be placed somewhere in the email body container HTML, preferably at the top.
- The data field text will appear inside the editor when you are finishing your email.
- The data field text will not appear in the email that gets sent (either a test or live email).
- When the email is deployed, WordFly will place the tracking pixel wherever the tracking pixel data field has been placed in the email.
To add the tracking pixel data field to your HTML:
1. Open your email design
2. Click on the HTML tab in the lower-left corner
3. Search for the div tag containing: div id="email-container" data-wfeviltwin
4. Copy the tracking pixel data field below this div tag.
Example
