How to track when an HTML image is loaded

[lotuzwine]

Hi all,

I really didnt knew where to post my question, so I will just post here, in the HTML section. Here it goes:

Anyone know if a specific server log on any kind of information when a request for an image is made? If yes, what kind of info? Is there any way to track whenever a client view my image, without use scripting or breaking the user privacy?

Thanks in advance,

lotuzwine

[felgall]

Look at your server log file for references to the image being requested. That will tell you when and how often and by which IP addresses it is being requested.

[lotuzwine]

Where can I find my server log file?

[ray326]

You'll have to ask your server admin if you didn't install it yourself.

[lotuzwine]

Ok, I will check it out.

Once I reach that information, is it easy to make a routine that read the entries of that image being loaded?

What I want to do is to create a log syster that will count the open rates of the e-mails I will send, and I can do that (or try to, since its not 100% accurate) by checking if the image was referenced. Also, I want to be sure I will not break the user privacy nor use anything that will point me as a untrusted sender.

Another question: anyone know a good forum for e-mail marketers?

Thanks for the help.

lotuzwine

[lotuzwine]

Ok, I will check it out.

Once I reach that information, is it easy to make a routine that read the entries of that image being loaded?

What I want to do is to create a log syster that will count the open rates of the e-mails I will send, and I can do that (or try to, since its not 100% accurate) by checking if the image was referenced. Also, I want to be sure I will not break the user privacy nor use anything that will point me as a untrusted sender.

Another question: anyone know a good forum for e-mail marketers?

Thanks for the help.

lotuzwine

[ray326]

As far as it goes it will work fine for that. Most decent mail readers today will block images by default and use remote references as a parameter in the spam filtering formulas.

[lotuzwine]

Ray,

What do you mean by "Remote References"?

Yea, I know that most email servers nowdays will block images, but after a few email we can be flagged as a "trusted sender", so our images could be viewed and then counted. I know it is not 100% accurate btw..

lotuzwine

[ray326]

Images served from remote servers rather than embedded in the email using MIME.

[lotuzwine]

Ray, would you explain more please?

Thanks

[ray326]

An HTML email with an img tag with a src value of a web server will be considered spam.

[felgall]

Anyone with decent security will either have emails with linked images being discarded as spam or will have those emails discard the links when they are opened so as to not let spammers know that their email address is valid. The only images most people actually see in emails are those images that are base64 encoded into the email itself. As those images are supplied as part of the email there is no call to the server to let the spammer know that the email address is valid and no way for the legitimate email sender to know whether someone opened the email or not unless the person replies to the email. Any stats you can possibly get on open rates from including a linked image in the email will be a small percentage of the true open rate and you will get those stats in return for a large percentage of the emails being swallowed by spam filters so that only a small percentage of those that the email is sent to will have received it to consider opening it. You can probably expect that the vast majority of people who receive an email that they asked to receive will open it so if you send 100 emails with a linked image and the log records that 10 people opened it then most likely 33 people received it and 30 people opened it. If instead you leave out the linked image then you can expect that 95 people will receive it and 87 of them will open it but your log will have no record of anyone having opened it.

[lotuzwine]

Well, I understand you guys point, as I am researching e-mail deliverability for some time. But I can say that with the right HTML and respecting anti-spam issues (like SPF, Sender ID and Domain Keys), I can have a deliverability rate for my e-mail to nearly 100%, even if my e-mail contains linked images or etc... That means very few e-mails will fall in spam box (if I am right). ANY e-mail falling in the spam box would be terrible for the campaing. Most of my work was to make sure this will not happen. The problem is not only the user not reading my e-mail, it also lower my "Reputation". "Reputation" is a metric that helps legal e-mail marketing senders to shows how trustworthy they are. Its not needed to say that I have tested much before saying all this.

BUT...

Even if my e-mail is not flagged as a spam, MOST e-mail servers will just block my images, while I am not a trusted sender. Thanks to the "Respect" system that large e-mail servers have implemented, I can get to be a trusted sender and then my images will be able to be loaded. As I said, it is not 100% accurate, as some e-mail servers will ALWAYS block images. Maybe very few accurate, and I will not use this rate as a trusted metric, just something for statistics. But, I have to disagree with you when you say, "using a linked image to count open rates will flag my e-mail as spam". Flagging an e-mail as a spam is done by tons of tests and checks that will vary by e-mail server. The most importand test is to check my Server Identification (SPF, Sender ID, Domain Keys). This is to avoid phishing.

By the way, after all this talk, I am still not sure If I will use images to count open rates for my e-mail. I just ask myself this question: if a professional E-mail Marketing Agency can do, and yes, they DO, why I cant? Its just a matter of seeking the awnser in the right place.

Thanks for you time,