Update your tracking pixel location

Choose your email tracking pixel location

You can now control where the invisible tracking pixel is placed in your emails. This helps you balance open rate tracking with email design, ensuring you don't lose valuable data if your emails get clipped by email clients.

This feature is available to all Attentive Email users and can be configured in Settings > Email Settings.

What is a tracking pixel?

A tracking pixel is a small, invisible 1x1 image that records when a recipient opens your email. By default, these pixels are placed at the bottom of your email to avoid affecting your design. However, many email clients clip longer emails, which can cut off the bottom-placed pixel and prevent it from tracking opens.

The most common email clipping limits are:

• Desktop: 102 KB
• Mobile: 20-70 KB (varies by client)

The new pixel placement options offer different benefits:

• Bottom of email (default): Maintains your email design with no visual impact, but open data may be lost if the email is clipped.
• Top of email: Ensures open tracking is always recorded, even if the email is clipped. This option may add slight spacing at the top of your email in some email clients (1-2 pixels at the very top of the email, which is typically not noticeable).

Update your tracking pixel location

1. Go to Settings > Email Settings.
2. Find the Tracking pixel location section.
3. Select your preferred placement:
   • Bottom of email (default): Keeps the pixel at the bottom, with no changes to your email design.
   • Top of email: Places the pixel near the top of the email body to ensure open tracking.
4. Click Save changes.

Previewing your pixel placement

You can see how your chosen pixel placement affects your email design by using the Real Subscriber View in the email composer.

1. In the email composer, click Preview.
2. Select Real Subscriber View.

This preview will show a realistic representation of where the tracking pixel will be placed and any potential spacing impact. We recommend forwarding yourself a preview email and testing it in various email clients across mobile and desktop.

Note: The tracking pixel itself remains invisible to your recipients. Only any potential spacing impact is shown in the preview.

Best practices for choosing a placement

Use Top of email placement if:

• Open rate data is critical to your email program.
• Your emails regularly exceed 100 KB.
• You send image-heavy or product-rich emails.
• You are experiencing inconsistent open rate tracking for your longer emails.

Use Bottom of email placement if:

• Visual design and spacing are more critical than open rate data.
• Your emails are consistently under 100 KB.
• You have minimal issues with email clipping.

Frequently asked questions

• Will changing pixel placement affect my email deliverability? No, pixel placement only affects whether the tracking pixel is successfully loaded when an email is clipped. It does not impact deliverability.
• How do I know if my emails are being clipped? If you notice unusually low open rates for your longer emails or see a "Message clipped" notice when testing in Gmail, your emails are likely being clipped.
• Will top placement add visible content to my emails? The pixel itself is invisible. In some email clients, top placement may add a minimal amount of spacing (1-2 pixels) at the very top of the email, which is typically not noticeable.
• Can I set different pixel locations for different types of emails? Currently, pixel placement is a company-wide setting that applies to all email campaigns and journeys.
• Can I change the setting multiple times? Yes, you can switch between top and bottom placement at any time. Changes take effect immediately for all future sends.