Method for email acknowledgement

[phppup]

I want to send an email via php (no problem)

Now I want to get a confirmation when the email is opened.

I've seen a few bits of code but nothing that seems very well defined.

Any guidance or direction to valuable explanations or links would be great.

Thanks.

[ginerjm]

I think that the 'receipt' option is a matter of what mailer you use, not php.

[phppup]

I think there are methods available.

[ginerjm]

You found them in the PHP manual?

[phppup]

I want to be able to distinguish between emails that the recipient ignored and emails that were opened.

I've looked at code with a header item Disposition-Notification-To but indications are that this is easily turned off and therefore an unreliable choice.

Other alternatives state that placing a .gif image in the email's body is effective. But some indicate that it, too, is often blocked by major email providers.

Either way,I have not found a working example to test for myself.

Additionally, I plan to use this primarily when sending an email to an address that is NOT maintained by Google or Yahoo etc.  More likely to momandpop.com type domains (that may have a GoDaddy-ish hosting plan).

Any helpful information would be great.

Edited May 16, 2023 by phppup
Typos

[kicken]

There is no sure-fire way to accomplish what you want to do.  Whatever methods that do exist to try and automatically determine this are typically blocked or otherwise made useless for user privacy reasons.  Many email clients for example will not load remote images by default, so your tracking pixel would not work.  I think gmail takes the opposite approach and always loads the images, whether the email is read or not so it similarly provides no insight as to whether the user opened the email.

You can add a tracking pixel to try and catch the few people using a client that will still load it.  Otherwise the next best option is to add tracking data to all the links inside the email so if they click any of the links you will know about it.  Even that type of tracking can sometimes be bypassed by clients.

 

[maxxd]

Your best bet here is to use an email service. SugarCRM, Constant Contact, MailChimp, etc. all provide the tracking you're looking for - how reliable it is is always kind of a debate, but they are the standards.

[phppup]

@maxxd but how do THEY do it?

If they are using a method that I can use in PHP, then I would assume they have all the same obstacles.

Edited May 18, 2023 by phppup
Typos

[maxxd]

Not gonna lie, I have no idea how they do it.

In my experience though, even large corporate entities that are respected in the field like MC or CC the results are just kind of assumed to be legit. An agency I recently worked with was adamant about pointing out to clients that it couldn't guarantee specific numbers on email opens, reads, or deletions because the numbers were at best kinda reliable... I assume the big players have some sort of sway with major email providers, but I have no proof of that.

Obviously tracking results of clicks from the email to the website are more reliable as you simply append the tracking parameters to the end site from the email to the URL in the email itself. Doesn't help with opens, though - sorry. I have to assume someone here is more knowledgeable than I on the subject.

[phppup]

@maxxd I've found allot of ambiguity in the vague endorsements for being able to achieve a reliable count in this manner. But the "unreliable" crowd seems more consistent.

That's why I created the post here for an honest dialogue.

I, like you, considered the possibility that certain email providers might receive special treatment. However, that reality would strongly lean towards the topic of collusion and violations of Federal anti-trust statutes that would probably temper that behavior.

Then again, I'm not gonna say it can't be happening. [But do you REALLY think a company would act unlawfully on the pristine roads of the internet highway?? *scratching my head*]

Edited May 18, 2023 by phppup
Clean up post