Email tracking guidance

The NSW Email Toolkit uses plain HTML—no hidden pixels, no link rewrites, no JavaScript. This keeps the code lightweight and ensures that decisions about analytics are in your hands. Use the guidance below to decide whether to include tracking and, if so, how to do it responsibly.

What hidden tracking is and does

A common method is the “open pixel”: a transparent 1 x 1 pixel image that loads from the sender's server when an email is opened. When triggered, it can reveal details such as a reader's IP address, approximate location, device type, and the time they opened the email—often without their knowledge. This technique is widely used in marketing emails.

About open rates

Open rates measure how many recipients are thought to have opened an email. Traditionally, they've been tracked through open pixels.

Why open rates are becoming less reliable

Privacy features are reducing the accuracy of open-rate metrics:

• Apple Mail Privacy Protection pre-loads images through Apple's servers, inflating open rates and removing location data.
• Gmail and corporate security tools use image proxies that pre-fetch images, making open data unreliable.
• Campaign Monitor now recommends prioritising clicks and conversions, acknowledging that open rates can no longer be trusted.

Responsible tracking: a checklist

Before adding analytics, ask yourself:

• Do you actually need this data, or are click metrics sufficient?
• Is your privacy policy and consent process up to date?
• Can you reduce personal data collection (for example, by hashing identifiers)?

Include these checks in your approval process. They align with OAIC privacy-by-design principles and international standards such as the GDPR.

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