Back to overviewFor marketers, understanding email performance is key. Are your emails being opened? Are people clicking your links? With open tracking and click tracking you can now measure this in Lettermint.
Email tracking isn't as simple as it used to be. Privacy features like Apple Mail Privacy Protection and strict GDPR rules have made it more complex. In this changelog we'll explain how our opt-in email tracking works and what you need to know to stay GDPR compliant. As a European email provider we take privacy seriously.
What is email tracking?
Email tracking shows you what happens after you hit send. Beyond delivery status, you can see whether recipients actually open your emails and click on links. This helps you improve campaigns and understand what content resonates with your audience.
There are two types: open tracking and click tracking.
Open tracking
As the name suggests, open tracking records when someone opens your email. It works by loading a small invisible image (tracking pixel) when the email is opened.
Click tracking
Click tracking records when someone clicks a link in your email. Lettermint tracks which links get clicked, so you can see what content performs best.
Email tracking and GDPR
The GDPR is the strictest privacy law in the world. This European regulation protects people from misuse of their personal data and gives them control over how companies handle their information.
Email tracking and privacy might seem at odds, but they don't have to be. We've built this feature to collect only essential data. We don't store IP addresses or location data.
Do you need consent?
For marketing emails like newsletters, you always need opt-in consent. Recipients must actively subscribe. You can't add anyone to your mailing list without their permission. During signup, you can mention that you use tracking.
Transactional emails are different. You can send order confirmations or password resets without explicit consent since they're necessary for your service. However, tracking itself technically requires consent under the ePrivacy Directive, because a tracking pixel reads information from the recipient's device.
In practice, most companies mention email tracking in their privacy policy and offer an opt-out. The safest approach is to do both.
We don't use email tracking for emails we send from Lettermint. Not because we don't believe in our own feature, but because we take privacy seriously.
How to stay GDPR compliant
- Mention tracking in your privacy policy: Explain that you use open tracking and/or click tracking, and why.
- Offer an opt-out: Give recipients the option to disable tracking.
- Only track what's useful: For example, to measure which newsletter content works best.
At Lettermint, email tracking is off by default. You enable it in your Route settings. This gives you full control over your email privacy settings.
Limitations of email tracking
Email tracking isn't as reliable as it was years ago. With stricter privacy laws like GDPR, more companies are prioritising privacy. Apple introduced Mail Privacy Protection in 2021, sending a clear message: users deserve protection from tracking.
Proxies, caching and blocked images mean open rates aren't bulletproof. Keep this in mind when analysing your data.
These limitations exist for good reason. Email tracking was too often enabled by default without recipients knowing. Privacy features in email clients are a direct response to this.
How to enable email tracking
Privacy comes first at Lettermint. That's why email tracking is off by default. We can't verify whether you've included tracking in your privacy policy, or whether you're emailing EU recipients. By making tracking opt-in, you avoid accidentally collecting data without proper grounds.
When you enable tracking, we show a reminder about GDPR requirements. This helps ensure you're compliant before you start collecting open and click data.
You can enable open tracking and click tracking separately. Only want to know if emails are opened? Enable just open tracking. Only interested in link clicks? Click tracking alone will do. This way you only collect the data you actually need.
Tracking is configured per route. You might disable tracking for transactional emails like password resets, while enabling it for broadcast emails like newsletters. Each route has its own tracking settings.
You'll find these settings in your dashboard under Projects. Select your project, choose a route (for example Broadcast), and go to Settings.
Open and click events can also be received via webhooks. This lets you process the data directly in your own application.
Access to email tracking
Email tracking is currently in beta. Want early access? Submit a support ticket via your dashboard and we'll enable it for your account.