Email tracking: challenges and opportunities with advanced technologies - 17. May 2024

In the dynamic world of email marketing, email tracking plays a crucial role in increasing the effectiveness of campaigns. The technologies for tracking and analysing user interactions through email tracking are constantly evolving, presenting both challenges and opportunities.

Challenges in using email tracking technologies
One of the biggest problems with email tracking is the unreliability of open rates due to image suppression techniques used by many email clients. These clients use image proxies or similar technologies to protect user privacy, making email open rate tracking difficult. In addition, the behaviour of email clients varies widely, leading to inconsistent data and making it difficult to analyse and optimise campaigns.

The role of image proxies and data protectionIt is not enough for companies to aggregate your users' data. They must also obtain permission to use this data at the same time. They must obtain an overview of whether and for what purpose they may actively use this personal data or use it for advertising...
The use of image proxies and other data protectionIt is not enough for companies to aggregate your users' data. They must also obtain permission to use this data at the same time. They must obtain an overview of whether and for what purpose they may actively use this personal data or use it for advertising... techniques by email clients such as Apple Mail and Gmail has a significant impact on email tracking. These technologies prevent marketing teams from obtaining accurate data on whether and how emails are opened. This is a challenge that is forcing the industry to find creative solutions to measure user interactions.

The limitations of measuring scroll depth in email marketing
Scroll depth measurement – how far down an email recipients scroll – is a widely used and effective technique on the web with CSS3 and JavaScript. Many email marketers want a similar measurement option for their campaigns to better gauge reader engagement and interest. While some email tracking vendors claim to offer this measurement, the technical implementation is challenging. As CSS3 and JavaScript are not supported by most email clients, it is not possible to reliably measure scroll depth in emails. Currently, the only reliable method of measuring engagement in deeper areas of the email is to analyse clicks on links at the bottom of the email. This limitation highlights the technical limitations of email tracking and the need to develop innovative solutions that go beyond traditional click measurement.

Visualisierung Scroll-Tiefe
Visualisation scroll depth

Click tracking: A reliable aspect of email tracking
Despite the challenges of measuring open rates, click tracking remains a reliable tool in email tracking. It provides concrete data on how recipients interact with the content, in particular which links are clicked. This method is largely standardised across email clients and is difficult to circumvent, making it a robust tool for performance evaluation.

Email tracking: challenges and opportunities with advanced technologies - Mayoris AG
Click tracking process – classic

New perspectives through advanced email tracking and mailix by Mayoris
Interaction tracking is a particularly promising development. It is an intermediate step between opening and clicking, and provides a deeper insight into user behaviour. With this approach, marketers can use email tracking to generate data that shows how users interact with different elements of an email. Through the integration of mailix by Mayoris, we help our clients implement interactive email widgets that take interactive tracking to the next level and enable even more detailed analysis of user interactions.

Email tracking: challenges and opportunities with advanced technologies - Mayoris AG
Click tracking process – interactive

First-party data and its importance to the email marketing of the future
The benefits of obtaining first-party data through advanced email tracking methods are enormous. At a time when data protectionIt is not enough for companies to aggregate your users' data. They must also obtain permission to use this data at the same time. They must obtain an overview of whether and for what purpose they may actively use this personal data or use it for advertising... is increasingly important, this data enables more accurate segmentation and personalisation of campaigns. This leads to more relevant emails for recipients and significantly improves the user experience.

Conclusion: email tracking is the key to success
Despite the technical challenges of email marketing, recent developments in email tracking offer tremendous opportunities to optimise campaigns and increase customer engagement. By focusing on reliable and advanced tracking methods and using the data collected intelligently, email marketing teams can refine their strategies and achieve their marketing goals more effectively. Continual adaptation to new technologies and privacy regulations will be critical to staying ahead of the competition in the future.

We are here to help
Savvy?!? At Mayoris, we have been working intensively with email marketing for years. Our experience makes us specialists in this dynamic field. We understand the nuances and ever-changing requirements of email marketing. Thanks to our in-depth expertise, we are able to offer customised and innovative solutions that are specifically tailored to the needs of our clients. An important part of our offering is mailix by Mayoris’ interactive email solutions, which you can find on our platform at http://www.mailix.com. With this innovative product, we not only help our clients to achieve more conversions, but also support them in implementing interactive tracking. This technology enables even more detailed analysis of user interactions and significantly increases the effectiveness of campaigns. In mailix by Mayoris you will not only find a service provider, but also a partner who will accompany you on your way to outstanding marketing success.

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