How does email tracking work?

Who's this for? Reps and admins

By tracking email opens and link clicks, you can improve your follow-up timing, tailor your communications with prospects, and make data-driven decisions about improving your outreach efforts. Gong provides email tracking data within Engage, and also in your mailbox via the Gong Extension for Google Chrome.

Tracking email opens

We track whenever an email is opened using an invisible tracking pixel. Each time the pixel is loaded to the recipient’s mail server, we count this as an email open.

If there are multiple opens for the same email within the same hour, only one open is counted. If there are multiple opens within the same thread, only one open is counted. We cannot determine who opened an email.

False positives

It’s important to note that other triggers might cause the pixel to load apart from the intended recipient opening and reading the email. These alternative triggers can cause you to see false positives.

Some possible triggers that can cause inaccurate numbers of email opens include:

• Opening your own sent email or an email sent by someone within the same company where you’re CC’d or BCC’d:

  • When will an email open be triggered?

    • If you (or someone in your company with you in CC or BCC) send an email from Gmail while connected to the Gong Chrome Extension and then open the email while not connected to the Gong Chrome Extension, an email open will be triggered

    • If you open an email sent by you (or someone in your company with you in CC or BCC) from mobile, whether you have the Gong Chrome Extension or not, an email open will be triggered

      Note

      If you want to review an email you sent and you’re not using the Gong Chrome Extension, we suggest opening it from the activity timeline in Gong so that it won't be counted toward email opens.

  • When is an email open NOT triggered?

    • If you send an email via Gong and then open your sent email from Gmail while connected to the Gong Chrome Extension, an email open is not triggered

    • If you send an email from Gmail while connected to the Gong Chrome Extension and the email is opened by someone else in your company who’s connected to the Gong Chrome Extension, an email open is not triggered
      

• Your email was forwarded: If the recipient of your email forwards your email to other people, the forwarded email will still contain the tracking pixel. This means each time another person opens the email, an email open is triggered.

• Recipient's mailbox spam filters: If you send an email to a recipient who uses email scanning in their mailbox, the spam filter will likely simulate the opening of the email and render the tracking pixel. This triggers an email open.

• Outgoing mail server filters: If your mailbox is set up to scan outgoing mail, the scanning of outgoing emails can trigger email opens.

• Browser extensions: Like mail server filters, if you're using browser extensions that are enabled to open and scan your outgoing emails, the scanning of the outgoing emails can trigger email opens.

• CC/BCC’d recipients: Any email recipient of your email, internal or external, can trigger an email open, not only recipients listed in the "To" field.

Tracking link clicks

To track link clicks, Gong replaces link URLs with a custom tracking URL, then redirects the person clicking the link to the intended URL. We cannot determine who clicked on a link in an email.

False positives

While click tracking is a very reliable tracking method, it’s still possible to get false positives due to anti-spam systems, anti-virus tools, bots that click on links, or other security systems in your recipient’s inbox.

Some possible triggers that can cause inaccurate numbers of link clicks include:

• Clicking on links in your own sent email:

  • When will a link click be triggered?

    • If you send an email from Gmail and then click on a link in your sent email (whether you’re connected to the Gong Chrome Extension or not), a click will be triggered

    • If you click on a link in a sent email from mobile, whether you have the Gong Chrome Extension or not, a click will be triggered

      Note

      If you want to review an email you sent and you’re not using the Gong Chrome Extension, we suggest opening it and testing links from the activity timeline in Gong so that it won't be counted toward link clicks.

  • When is a link click NOT triggered?

    • If you send an email via Gong and then open your sent email from Gmail while connected to the Gong Chrome Extension, a link click is not triggered

    • If you send an email from Gmail while connected to the Gong Chrome Extension and a link is clicked by someone else in your company who’s connected to the Gong Chrome Extension, a link click is not triggered

• Your email was forwarded: If the recipient of your email forwards your email to other people, they might also click on the link. This means each time another person clicks on they link, a link click is triggered.

• CC/BCC’d recipients: Any email recipient of your email, internal or external, can trigger a link click, not only recipients listed in the "To" field.