Email tracking is a method for monitoring email delivery to the intended recipients. Most tracking technologies use some form of time-stamped digital notes to reveal the exact time and date that the email has been received or opened, as well as the recipient's IP address.
Email tracking is useful when the sender wants to know whether the intended recipient actually received the email, or if they clicked the link. However, due to the nature of the technology, email tracking can not be considered as a truly accurate indicator that the message is opened or read by the recipient.
Most email marketing software provides tracking features, sometimes on an aggregate basis (e.g., clickthrough rate), and sometimes individually.
Video Email tracking
Read-acceptance
Some email applications, such as Microsoft Office Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird, use the read-receipt tracking mechanism. The sender selects an acceptance request option before sending a message, and then after sending, each recipient has the option to notify the sender that the message has been received or read by the recipient.
However, requesting a receipt does not guarantee that someone will get it, for several reasons. Not all email applications or services support read receipts, and users can usually disable the functionality if they want to. Those who support it are not necessarily compatible with or are able to recognize requests from different email or application services. Generally, read receipts are only useful in organizations where all employees/members use the same email service and applications.
Depending on the client and the recipient's email settings, they may be forced to click the notification button before they can continue their work. Although this is an opt-in process, the recipient may find it uncomfortable, disrespectful, or invasive.
A receipt has been sent back to the person's "Inbox" as an email message, but the location can be changed depending on the software used and its configuration. Additional technical information, such as from who it is, the email software they use, the sender's IP address, and their email server are generally available within the Internet header of read receipts.
The technical term for this is "MDN - Message Disposition Notice", and they are prompted by entering one or more of the following lines into the email header: "X-Confirm-Reading-To:"; "Disposition-Notification-To:"; or "Return-Receipt-To:"
Some email tracking services also show real-time notifications, generating pop-ups on the screen whenever a sender's email is opened.
Maps Email tracking
return receipt
Another type of acceptance can be requested, called DSN (delivery status notification), which is a request to the recipient's email server to send notifications about the delivery of the email you just sent. Notifications take the form of an email, and will indicate whether the submission is successful, unsuccessful, or delayed, and will alert you if any email server involved can not provide you with a receipt. DSN is requested upon delivery by the shipping app or server software (not in the email or the header itself), and you may request to "Never" get it, or to "Always" get it, or (most software does not default) just to get the DSN if the delivery fails (eg: not for success, delay, or DSN relay). This DSN failure is commonly referred to as "Bounce". Additionally, you can specify in your DSN request whether you want your receipt to contain a full backup of your original email, or just a summary of what happened. In the SMTP protocol, the DSN is prompted at the end of the RCPT TO command: eg RCPT TO: & lt; NOTIFY = SUCCESS DELAY) and MAIL FROM: ).
Email marketing and tracking
Some email marketing tools include tracking as a feature. Email tracking like this is usually done using a standard web tracking tool known as cookies and web beacons. When an email message is sent, if a graphical HTML message (not a plain text message), the email marketing system may embed a small, invisible tracking image (a single pixel gif, sometimes called a web beacon) within the message content. When the recipient opens the message, the tracking image is referenced. When they click on a link or open an attachment, another tracking code is enabled. In each case, separate tracking events are recorded by the system. These response events accumulate over time in the database, allowing email marketing software to report metrics like open rates and clickthrough rates. Email marketing users can view reports on aggregate response statistics and individual responses over time.
This kind of email tracking service is used by many companies, but is also available to individuals as a subscription service, either web-based or integrated into email clients such as Microsoft Outlook or Gmail
Email tracking services can also offer tracked data collection, allowing users to analyze their email performance statistics.
Privacy issues
Email tracking is used by individuals, email marketers, spam senders, and phishers, to verify that the email is actually read by the recipient, that the email address is valid, and that the email content has successfully passed the spam filter. It can also reveal if email is forwarded (but not usually to whom). When used maliciously, it can be used to gather confidential information about businesses and individuals and to create more effective phishing schemes.
The tracking mechanisms used are usually first-party cookies and web bugs.
HP email tracking scandal
In a US Congressional Inquiry investigating the scandal of HP's pretexts, it was revealed that HP's security uses an email tracking service called ReadNotify.com to investigate meeting room leaks. The California attorney general's office said that this practice is not part of the indictment. HP says they consider tracking legitimate emails and will continue to use them.
See also
- Automation of documents in supply chain management & amp; logistics
- Bounce message
References
External links
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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