Email tracking lets CamBuildr see whether people open your emails and which links they click. You decide in Settings → Privacy → Email tracking whose opens and clicks are tracked. This article explains who is tracked in each mode, what changes for the people who are not tracked, and how to move an existing list to consent-based tracking step by step.
What email tracking is used for
An open is measured with a small invisible image in the email, a click with a redirect link. Tracking powers:
open and click statistics of campaign and triggered mails,
A/B tests that pick the winner by opens or clicks,
audiences, triggers and workflows that react to opens or clicks.
Links in your emails always work, whether a person is tracked or not.
The four modes: who is tracked
Mode | Who is tracked | Who is not tracked |
Track everyone | Everyone | Nobody. Choices people make are saved, but only applied once you switch to opt-out or opt-in. |
Track everyone who did not object (opt-out) | Everyone who has not refused, including people who never made a choice | People who refused tracking |
Track only people who consented (opt-in) | Only people who allowed tracking | Everyone else: people who refused and people who never made a choice |
Track nobody | Nobody | Everyone. A/B tests cannot be used. |
Which mode do you need? In France (Art. 82 Loi Informatique et Libertés), Italy (Art. 122 Codice Privacy) and Germany (§ 25 TDDDG), tracking opens and clicks needs the person's prior consent, so opt-out is not enough there: use opt-in. Please check the rules that apply to you with your data protection officer; this article is no legal advice.
Double opt-in mails, reminders, test mails and system mails are never tracked, in every mode.
What a person who is not tracked receives
The email has no tracking image, and its links lead straight to their target.
Links to your own pages lose personal parameters such as the identifier, so the visit cannot be traced back to the email. Prefilled forms still work.
Their opens and clicks are not recorded and do not start triggers or workflows.
In opt-out and opt-in mode, every email contains a link "Manage email tracking", where the person can allow or stop tracking at any time.
How people make their choice
In any email: the "Manage email tracking" link opens a page where the person allows or stops tracking. To place the link yourself, use the special link "Email tracking preferences" in the email editor.
On your forms: switch on Ask for email tracking consent in a form, donation, survey, purchase, voting or login block, or in the settings of an Events, Voting, Public Supporters, User Posts or User Campaigns app. People tick an optional checkbox, and their consent applies once they confirm it in the double opt-in email. The checkbox only shows in opt-out and opt-in mode.
In a workflow: attaching the tag "Email tracking" sends the person a double opt-in email asking for consent. People who refused within the last six months are not asked again.
By an admin: on the person's page or in a CSV import, with a note that explains where the decision comes from (for example a phone call).
The sentence people agree to is shown under Settings → Privacy → Email tracking → Consent text on forms, and every decision is stored with proof on the person's page under Email tracking.
Switching an existing list to opt-in
When you switch an existing account straight to opt-in, nobody has consented yet, so almost no one is tracked from the next email on. To keep your statistics and automations meaningful, move in three steps.
Before you start
Choose a sender for the double opt-in email in Settings → Privacy → Double opt-in. Opt-out and opt-in cannot be switched on without it, because a consent only counts once the person confirmed it.
Switching the mode sends no email to anyone and deletes no data. It applies to emails sent from then on.
Step 1: switch to opt-out
Nothing changes for people who never made a choice: they stay tracked. People who refused are no longer tracked. Every email now carries the "Manage email tracking" link, so people can allow or refuse tracking.
Step 2: collect consent
Switch on Ask for email tracking consent on your forms and pages, so new and returning supporters can agree.
Ask your existing contacts, for example with a workflow that attaches the tag "Email tracking" to an audience, or with a campaign email that explains why you measure opens and links to the preference page.
Follow how many people agreed with an audience with the condition allows email tracking.
Step 3: switch to opt-in when you need to
Switch to opt-in once the law requires it for you or enough people have agreed. From then on only people who consented are tracked. Before you switch:
Check audiences, triggers and workflows that react to opens or clicks: they will only match people who consented. The editor shows a hint on these conditions.
Expect statistics to show "x % of N tracked": open rates are calculated over the tracked recipients only, and a breakdown shows how many people opted out or made no choice.
A/B tests pick the winner from tracked recipients only. With few tracked people the result is not reliable.
You can switch back at any time. Choices people made are kept and apply again whenever you use opt-out or opt-in.
Statistics
Open and click rates are calculated over the recipients whose email was tracked. When some recipients were not tracked, the rate is shown as "x % of N tracked" with a breakdown (opted out, no choice, not tracked for other reasons). When nobody was tracked, the email shows "not tracked". Statistics collected before a change stay as they are.