Greg K — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 18:23:01 +0000

a better way of tracking that we use:

all e-mail addresses are in a database, each one has a unique ID #

then we call the image:

http://ourdomain.com/track/email.php?id=[ID #]

The email.php script goes into the database and sets a timestamp on a field to indicate it was read, then it feeds out an actual image.

This way we can know not only the # of people viewing it we can produce reports on certain markets only. Also with this way, if someone looks at the e-mail 20 times, it isn't recorded as 20 veiwings.

As with all tracking via e-mail (even the simple little RETURN RECEIPT), keep in mind that people can still view the e-mail without you knowing about it. (ie. I have Eudora set to not automatically download any images, or display it as a web page. If it is someone I turst and need it dispalyed as a webpage, I right click and choose OPEN IN BROWSER).

Good luck, let us know if you need more help!

-Greg

Mark Hensler — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 17:39:23 +0000

Make the img path to your php file...

your.com/fake_image.php

The php file can increment a number anywhere (flat file, DB, etc), then return the binary code for any image you want.