All about email tracking

And reasons why an opened/unopened status might be incorrect

Updated over a week ago

Email statuses are a great tool to help inform when it's time to follow-up with a client. As an industry standard, HoneyBook uses email pixel tracking on all messages sent through the system: whenever we generate an email, we add a pixel (a small—as in, not visible to clients—image). When the email is opened, the pixel is triggered and after a few minutes, the status updates to "Opened" in the corresponding project’s activity feed.

📣 Note

Email statuses will appear for messages sent directly through HoneyBook and/or viewed in a project’s activity feed. They will not appear for replies sent through an external email inbox, as we cannot add our email pixel tracking to messages generated outside of HoneyBook.

While opened and unopened statuses are generally accurate, an email might be falsely tagged as opened (false positive) or unopened (false negative) for a few different reasons. As such, it’s always best to use these statuses as a general guide–and not a 100% guarantee.


Possible reasons for a false positive

Push notifications or preview

If a client receives a push notification for your message, or opens it in preview mode, this can trigger the pixel and tag the message as opened without the client actually reading it.

Marking as read

A client marking your message as read can call on the pixel and switch the message to opened in HoneyBook.

Proxy servers

Some email providers automatically open email content using their proxy server. Before forwarding the email to the recipient, the server loads the email content which triggers the pixel. As a result, the message can be tagged as opened without the client opening the email.

Email forwarding

If the original recipient forwards a message, the next recipient can open the message and trigger the pixel—in turn, tagging the message as opened without the original recipient ever opening the email.

Viewing from your Sent folder

If you have email integration set up and view a message from your Sent folder, this can tag the message as opened.


Possible reasons for a false negative

Client email settings

Some email providers have the option to add on apps that block email tracking. This means that a client could open and read a message with it still being considered unopened.

Image loading

Select email providers will not load images by default. A client could open and read a message, but since the images are not loaded, the pixel is not triggered and the message remains tagged "Sent."


Still have questions? Feel free to send us a message by clicking the Question Mark icon on any HoneyBook page. Our team is always happy to help!

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