5 ms·
Since the headline misled me, this is about the email marketing industry and their use of tracking pixels, as opposed to issues with generic emails.
by addicted 7y ago
Since the headline misled me, this is about the email marketing industry and their use of tracking pixels, as opposed to issues with generic emails.
- yxhuvud 7y agoIt is more than just tracking pixels - there is also things like personalized links that proxy the underlying link that are generated by the email provider to track clicks.
- srbby 7y agoI don't think anybody would call generic emails "the email industry"
- addicted 7y agoIt’s only people who are in the email marketing industry who think that they are the email industry. The email industry would comprise a lot more than just marketing. You have email providers. You have email clients. You have non commercial newsletters. You have evites. You have e-cards. You have emails related to ticketing and reservations. The email industry is far larger than email marketing, despite what the email marketeers would like us to believe.
- iamacyborg 7y agoI don't think email marketers think they encompass the entirety of the email industry, I was writing that article from the perspective of being an email marketer proposing something to my peers, ie others in the industry.
- ti_ranger 7y agoThe article title, "Dear Email Industry, We’ve Got a GDPR Problem", implies that. Either you do think email marketing comprises the entire industry, or the article title (and HN submission) are (or give the impression of) clickbait. At least it doesn't seem you are doing any direct tracking on the post though ... (I used to work for an ISP with a pretty large email service, so it touches nerves that were exposed when our enemies, those companies who try and find ways to irritate our customers, think they are the only important parts of the actual email industry)
- iamacyborg 7y agoI think you might have a bit of a bias in this instance though, given your confessed work history. This is something I wish ISP's took more care of, they could easily protect users by blocking image loading by default and warning users when links in emails are tracked, for example.
- libertine 7y agoThis isn't bound to email marketing, unless you put all commercial communication dealt via email as email marketing.
- gnud 7y agoI think any email that uses tracking pixels could be classified as either spam or marketing, or possibly both. If you use tracking pixels in your receipts, I think you're doing it wrong.
- seelmobile 7y agoWhat about mandatory service announcements where you want to know if you reached clients before breaking them?
- gnud 7y agoHave them click a link to acknowledge receipt. A tracking pixel hit only means that that the email was received and loaded in some email client, not that it was read (in detail, or at all), understood, or acted on.
- TeMPOraL 7y agoMoreover, a lack of tracking pixel hit doesn't mean the e-mail wasn't loaded, much less that it wasn't read, understood or acted on.
- TeMPOraL 7y agoWhy would you want to rely on a thoroughly unreliable mechanism primarily used by marketers for a case where it's actually important for the user that you know you reached them? Maybe just ask them instead, record responses, and deal with people who don't respond (and with autoresponders).
- criddell 7y agoFor important stuff like that, you want an active and affirmative response. You can't rely on an incidental reply.