Code insert in email to check if opened

[squash@peoriadesignweb.com]

What html code would I need to insert in an email to track if the
recipient opened it? I was thinking something that could access a cgi
script which I could write. Or perhaps some trick with the <img src=?>
tag?

Thx!

[Sherm Pendley]

Re: Code insert in email to check if opened

squash@peoriade signweb.com wrote:
[color=blue]
> What html code would I need to insert in an email to track if the
> recipient opened it?[/color]

Why, are you afraid there might be some bogus addresses in that spam list
you bought?

What makes you think HTML has anything to do with email, anyway???

sherm--

--
Cocoa programming in Perl: http://camelbones.sourceforge.net
Hire me! My resume: http://www.dot-app.org

[squash@peoriadesignweb.com]

Re: Code insert in email to check if opened


Sherm Pendley wrote:[color=blue]
>
> What makes you think HTML has anything to do with email, anyway???
>
> sherm--
>
> --
> Cocoa programming in Perl: http://camelbones.sourceforge.net
> Hire me! My resume: http://www.dot-app.org[/color]

No, i want to track to see if my clients read my emails. If not, then
Ill give them a call. The code would have to be in html, as I don't
know of any way I could insert php/perl code in an email to execute
when someone reads an email?

[Mark Parnell]

Re: Code insert in email to check if opened

Previously in comp.infosystem s.www.authoring.html,
<squash@peoriad esignweb.com> said:
[color=blue]
> No, i want to track to see if my clients read my emails. If not, then
> Ill give them a call.[/color]

Set your email program to request a receipt when they read it. Some
people may refuse them, but it's likely the most reliable method of
achieving what you want.
[color=blue]
> The code would have to be in html, as I don't
> know of any way I could insert php/perl code in an email to execute
> when someone reads an email?[/color]

Luckily, no. But there's no way you can guarantee HTML will display when
they read the email either. What if they read their email in plain text?

Besides, HTML can't *do* anything. It is a markup language. It simply
describes the structure of the content.

--
Mark Parnell

http://www.clarkecomputers.com.au

[Jerry Sievers]

Re: Code insert in email to check if opened

Mark Parnell <webmaster@clar kecomputers.com .au> writes:
[color=blue]
> Set your email program to request a receipt when they read it. Some
> people may refuse them, but it's likely the most reliable method of
> achieving what you want.[/color]

Perhaps. Most privacy concious too.
[color=blue]
> Luckily, no. But there's no way you can guarantee HTML will display when
> they read the email either. What if they read their email in plain text?[/color]

True.
[color=blue]
> Besides, HTML can't *do* anything. It is a markup language. It simply
> describes the structure of the content.[/color]

Not quite true.

For each of the HTML emails one sends;

<img src="http://senders.webserv er.com/foo.php?recipie nt=some_name">

Where the script logs the recipient query parameter and goes on to
output the image which is then just another part of the visual content
the recipient sees.

Javascript can be used also to have the page tickle a remote server
when the file is loaded. And so, assuming each of the recipients got
a customized version of the email, just about any datum can be passed
to the webserver and logged on a per recipient basis.

I have never used this approach and question the privacy implication
of tracking recipient actions like this.

YMMV

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jerry Sievers 305 854-3001 (home) WWW ECommerce Consultant
305 321-1144 (mobile http://www.JerrySievers.com/

[Steve Pugh]

Re: Code insert in email to check if opened

Jerry Sievers <jerry@jerrysie vers.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
>For each of the HTML emails one sends;
>
><img src="http://senders.webserv er.com/foo.php?recipie nt=some_name">
>
>Where the script logs the recipient query parameter and goes on to
>output the image which is then just another part of the visual content
>the recipient sees.[/color]

Won't work for:
* anyone who doesn't read HTML e-mail
* anyone why does use HTML e-mail but who reads their messages offline
* anyone who does use HTML e-mail but who has images switched off
* anyone who does use HTML e-mail but who doesn't let it fetch items
from a remote server (an increasingly common option, designed to
prevent exactly this kind of privacy intrusion)

Steve

--
"My theories appal you, my heresies outrage you,
I never answer letters and you don't like my tie." - The Doctor

Steve Pugh <steve@pugh.net > <http://steve.pugh.net/>

[Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz]

Re: Code insert in email to check if opened

In <1109302067.400 522.125370@f14g 2000cwb.googleg roups.com>, on
02/24/2005
at 07:27 PM, squash@peoriade signweb.com said:
[color=blue]
>What html code would I need to insert in an email to track if the
>recipient opened it?[/color]

None: HTML doesn't belong in e-mail and with all of the HTML-related
virus attacks you can expect to see more and more users blocking
e-mail contaminated[1] with HTML. There's also the issue of people
reading their mail offline. Finally, what you want to do may violate
privacy laws.

[1] There's nothing wrong with HTML in its place, but that place
isn't mail or net news.

--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT <http://patriot.net/~shmuel>

Unsolicited bulk E-mail subject to legal action. I reserve the
right to publicly post or ridicule any abusive E-mail. Reply to
domain Patriot dot net user shmuel+news to contact me. Do not
reply to spamtrap@librar y.lspace.org

[Dan]

Re: Code insert in email to check if opened


Jerry Sievers wrote:[color=blue]
> Javascript can be used also to have the page tickle a remote server
> when the file is loaded. And so, assuming each of the recipients got
> a customized version of the email, just about any datum can be passed
> to the webserver and logged on a per recipient basis.[/color]

Which would have no effect if the user has disabled Javascript (which
the Mozilla suite, for instance, lets you do separately for e-mail even
if you enable it for the Web).

--
Dan

[Andy Dingley]

Re: Code insert in email to check if opened

It was somewhere outside Barstow when "Dan" <dan@tobias.nam e> wrote:
[color=blue]
>Which would have no effect if the user has disabled Javascript[/color]

No, simply loading an image from an <img> link in a HTML email can be
enough to trigger all the user tracking you might need - no
client-side JavaScript needed. Embed a user ID or a message hash in
the src attribute if you wish.

[Brian]

Re: Code insert in email to check if opened

Jerry Sievers wrote:
[color=blue]
> For each of the HTML emails one sends;
>
> <img src="http://senders.webserv er.com/foo.php?recipie nt=some_name">
>
> Where the script logs the recipient query parameter and goes on to
> output the image which is then just another part of the visual
> content the recipient sees.[/color]

Fortunately, my email client (Thunderbird) as configured "out of the
box" explicitly ignores remote images to protect my privacy. And it
includes a nice big message to tell me when it does so. :-)

--
Brian

[Noel]

Re: Code insert in email to check if opened

On 24 Feb 2005 21:17:27 -0800, squash@peoriade signweb.com wrote:
[color=blue]
>No, i want to track to see if my clients read my emails. If not, then
>Ill give them a call.[/color]

Don't you have a read receipt option on your email client?
[color=blue]
>The code would have to be in html, as I don't
>know of any way I could insert php/perl code in an email to execute
>when someone reads an email?[/color]

Bwwaahhhh!!!!!! !!!!

[Bruce Lewis]

Re: Code insert in email to check if opened

squash@peoriade signweb.com writes:
[color=blue]
> No, i want to track to see if my clients read my emails. If not, then
> Ill give them a call. The code would have to be in html, as I don't
> know of any way I could insert php/perl code in an email to execute
> when someone reads an email?[/color]

Ah, good. Those details help. I sent some HTML email just last night
and know a lot about it. Here is the code you want:

<p>Hi! Please reply to this email to let me know you got it. If I
don't hear from you I'll give you a call. <strong>Thanks! </strong></p>

<p>Squash</p>


--

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[Bruce Lewis]

Re: Code insert in email to check if opened

"Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz" <spamtrap@libra ry.lspace.org.i nvalid> writes:
[color=blue]
> [1] There's nothing wrong with HTML in its place, but that place
> isn't mail or net news.[/color]

I really think you should qulify this. Multipart/alternative with an
HTML part is a good thing in certain instances. For example, a "Here
are my latest photos" email could have thumbnails. Similarly, you could
have a multipart/alternative posting to rec.photo.digit al.


--

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Sign up today for a 7-day free trial.

[David Dorward]

Re: Code insert in email to check if opened

squash@peoriade signweb.com wrote:
[color=blue]
> What html code would I need to insert in an email to track if the
> recipient opened it? I was thinking something that could access a cgi
> script which I could write. Or perhaps some trick with the <img src=?>
> tag?[/color]

http://perlmonks.org/?node_id=432283

--
David Dorward <http://blog.dorward.me .uk/> <http://dorward.me.uk/>
Home is where the ~/.bashrc is

[Lachlan Hunt]

Re: Code insert in email to check if opened

squash@peoriade signweb.com wrote:[color=blue]
> No, i want to track to see if my clients read my emails.[/color]

If they didn't want to read your e-mails, they wouldn't subscribe. (I
assume you provide the option to unsubscribe too, and you haven't just
bought a list spam addresses?) Besides, a user's subscription to your
e-mail does not give you the right to investigate their e-mail usage.
[color=blue]
> If not, then Ill give them a call.[/color]

Oh, great! If they don't read your mail, you'll harass them 'till they do?
[color=blue]
> The code would have to be in html,[/color]

Don't include HTML in e-mail anyway, all e-mails should be plain text.
[color=blue]
> as I don't know of any way I could insert php/perl code in an email to
> execute when someone reads an email?[/color]

Luckily, most e-mail clients (perhaps with the exception of Outlook)
don't allow the excecution of program code.

--
Lachlan Hunt

http://lachy.id.au/

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