Knowing More on Tracking Pixels
Understanding open tracking pixels: implementation, purposes, and detection
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Understanding open tracking pixels: implementation, purposes, and detection
Batch emails may include tracking pixels inserted at the request of Batch customers (see here). Pixels are generated dynamically by SparkPost, the downstream mail delivery partner acting as a sub-processor.
Data controllers use pixels for the following purposes within the Batch product:
Campaign performance: Open rate analysis to measure and optimize campaign performance: personalizing content, adjusting send frequency, or selecting the appropriate channel (email, SMS, push).
Profiles & cross-channel targeting: Building recipient profiles based on demonstrated preferences and interests, in order to target them in contexts other than email: websites, mobile applications, other communication channels.
Deliverability: Individual-level open rate measurement for deliverability purposes.
Two distinct pixels are inserted into every email: one near the top of the message body, one near the bottom. Pixels are generated dynamically by SparkPost, our downstream mail delivery partner.
Two distinct pixels are inserted into every email when consent is granted for a specific profile: one near the top of the message body, one near the bottom. The dual placement (top/bottom) is used to improve open detection reliability across email clients that block remote image loading selectively.
Each send produces URLs that are unique per recipient and per campaign.
All tracking pixels share the following properties:
Domain
go.eu.sparkpostmail1.com
Path prefix
/q/
Dimensions
1x1px
File Type
Transparent GIF
HTML tag
<img> with width="1" height="1" alt=""
Example pixel (raw HTML source):
Inspect the raw HTML source of the email. This is the exhaustive method. It identifies all tracking URLs present in the message.
Detection criteria:
<img> tag with width="1" and height="1"
src attribute containing the domain go.eu.sparkpostmail1.com and path starting with /q/
Email clients with "View source" or "Show original" functionality (e.g., Gmail > three-dot menu > "Show original")
Command-line: grep -i 'sparkpostmail1.com/q/' against the raw .eml file
Privacy/compliance auditing tools that parse MIME and extract <img> src attributes
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<img border="0" width="1" height="1" alt=""
src="https://go.eu.sparkpostmail1.com/q/npaHErrYdMNazxZjVY2rCQ~~/AABGZBA~/Qq3T4hXjIfR217Ugmbqp8iJsP09JfsicxnAsZ-b0XBrOc_vKxjfb9IzrDCFW5gtp51ROTLFYeaGyYwFXfyhCzg~~">