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flahem1
USA
19 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 15 2010 : 07:36:54
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MLK -
I realize that MLK is unable at this time to track clicks from links embedded in mails, my questions is with regards to tracking or reporting on opens.
What is the MLK's definition of a open (as reported to sender of email) and does MLK have anyway of knowing what emails are going to junk folder?
Mike |
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xequte
7042 Posts |
Posted - Nov 15 2010 : 14:24:09
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Hi Mike
MLK’s Open is based on requesting and processing read receipts. However I really can't recommend that. These days read receipts are not supported very well. Many programs (such as Outlook and Outlook Express) prompt users to confirm delivery of read receipts, and others (such as Gmail and Hotmail) do not process them at all.
These days, there is no reliable way to see if an email has been opened (by any means, not just with MailList King). In the good old days there were two ways:
- Read Receipts: You could request that the recipients email software returns a read receipt when the message is opened. MLK has an option to do this, but is limited to the reasons indicated above. So essentially using Read Receipts gives a very unreliable result
- Embedded images (or files): You can put an image in your message that is located on your web site. You can then track who opens the message (by seeing who requested the linked image. HOWEVER all major email software (Outlook, Outlook Express, Gmail, etc) now warns the user if a message contains linked images and disables them by default. Also, using linked images is likely to increase the risk of your messages being blocked as Spam. So this method is both unreliably and risky
That said, I do know that a large number of customers use this method because their client requires it as a metric.
A much more meaningful and reliable metric is tracking click-thrus.
You can do this by analyzing web logs or settings up a web form that records (or sends notification) whenever someone clicks through (and then it would redirect them to their desired page).
In MLK you can use personalization fields to embed the member ID or email address in the link to determine the user.
MLK will also work with the various web tracking services, plus I have heard from a number of customers who do it with Google Analytics.
Nigel
Xequte Software
www.xequte.com
nigel@xequte.com
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Measuring Results
