Re: e-mail tracking service

On Thu, 2004-05-20 at 20:03, Richard Steffens wrote:
> Has anyone heard about DidTheyReadIt? It was written up in USA Today, 
> today (Thu., May 20, 2004). It's supposed to be a service that will tell 
> you "whether someone opens your e-mail, how long the recipient keeps it 
> open -- even where geographically the recipient is reading it." The 
> service is supposed to launch on Monday.
> 
> I don't understand how it could work without some willingness on the 
> part of the recipient to play along. They claim that the recipient won't 
> know about it.

The only way that I could see it working is to use HTML mail and put a
1x1 pixel graphic where the name is coded (or a graphical add).  That way, 
a web server pointed to, could count the fact that they are reading it.  
If you put a reload tag (I can't remember what it is called), you might 
be able to measure how long they are viewing it.

I haven't actually tried any of this, but I could see it working.

Scott