HTML email with hidden image request for website statisticsgathering?

[Rob]

Hi,

So, some large company has a firewall and proxy server and IHS and
Websphere and a J2EE web app. This web app produces an HTML email
containing a hidden <img ...> tag that requests an image from the web
app (not the web server). This email is sent out to many people.

We want to record the number of people who opened the email (doesn't
mean they read it, but opened it, and the <img ...> request is
processed).

But won't the proxy server end up caching the image after the 1st or
2nd request and we won't have any website visitors?

Thanks!
Rob

 

[lord.zoltar]

Hi,

So, some large company has a firewall and proxy server and IHS and
Websphere and a J2EE web app. This web app produces an HTML email
containing a hidden <img ...> tag that requests an image from the web
app (not the web server). This email is sent out to many people.

We want to record the number of people who opened the email (doesn't
mean they read it, but opened it, and the <img ...> request is
processed).

But won't the proxy server end up caching the image after the 1st or
2nd request and we won't have any website visitors?

Thanks!
Rob

I've seen this method before, but it never seems to work well.
It only reports all the cases where the image is successfully loaded.
Caching can affect your results, if the image is not cached and the
same person opens it 50 times. Also, email clients that are not
displaying HTML mail will probably not record a hit, even though the
email was opened and read.
I know that with Exchange or Groupwise, it's possible to request a
response or see if someone else has opened an email, but that only
works if they are also using Exchange or Groupwise.

 

[Lew]

I've seen this method before, but it never seems to work well.
It only reports all the cases where the image is successfully loaded.
Caching can affect your results, if the image is not cached and the
same person opens it 50 times. Also, email clients that are not
displaying HTML mail will probably not record a hit, even though the
email was opened and read.
I know that with Exchange or Groupwise, it's possible to request a
response or see if someone else has opened an email, but that only
works if they are also using Exchange or Groupwise.

Also, people who are annoyed by web bugs have security in place to suppress
these little marketing spam pieces of crap.

 

[Andrew Thompson]

Lew wrote:
...

Also, people who are annoyed by ..

.. such juvenile and sureptitious use of their bandwidth,
would immediately hit the 'back button' when they notice
further requests are being made, then (without a monent's
further thought) mark the email as 'spam'.

* Of their web based email. Alter actions slightly, for
email clients.

 

[Rob Mitchell]

Lew wrote:
..

. such juvenile and sureptitious use of their bandwidth,
would immediately hit the 'back button' when they notice
further requests are being made, then (without a monent's
further thought) mark the email as 'spam'.

* Of their web based email. Alter actions slightly, for
email clients.

Hello,

This is an intranet web app for employees of a company. Yes, its very much
like annoying spam concept with a banner-like and domain cookie tracking
but the senior managers would like to know how many (and who?).

This will not be unleashed outside of the company.

Yes, text email clients would not records squat, that's viewed as a
"limitation" of this design.

HTML email content must go to a server to process elements inside of it but
every <img ...> tag would eventually get proxied and thus, it seems like I
need to run some AJAX in there or something.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
Rob

 

[Andrew Thompson]

Intrusive employers?
...

This is an intranet web app for employees of a company. ...

So why not 'cut the crap' and install keystroke monitors
on the machines connected to this intranet?

Or is that illegal (even with specific work contracts allowing
it, by employee signature) where you are?

<shudder>I feel dirty</shudder>

An entirely different and less intrusive approach might be..

...Yes, its very much
like annoying spam concept with a banner-like and domain cookie tracking
but the senior managers would like to know how many (and who?).

Ever tried..
1) A poll on the company's homesite?
I take it the browsers are 'locked in' to opening at a specific
page? Put a prominent "Did you care enough to read the
e-letter?" Yes/No form on that page - maybe even pop a
dialog using JS/'onload'.
2) A simple poll 'rating' at the end of the email itself.
Obviously you will not get replies from people who did
not read it, nor even everyone that *did,* but at least it
gives some idea of 'penetration'. And as a bonus, those
who do respond tell you how much they liked/hated or
found it informative/uninformative or ..
Knowing information like that, is vastly more useful than
discovering the resource usage of some (damnable) GIF!