To improve email deliverability and avoid spam filters, Nimble now defaults to link-only tracking. This ensures your messages reach your contact’s inbox without being flagged by providers like Gmail, which often block open tracking pixels. In this article, we’ll explain how link tracking works, why it’s recommended, and when it’s appropriate to use open tracking.
What has changed?
Gmail has updated its filtering policies, now flagging tracking pixels as suspicious. As a result, emails containing open tracking pixels are more likely to land in the spam folder.
In some cases, Gmail also displays a warning at the top of such emails, alerting recipients that the message is suspicious or SPAM. These changes impact email deliverability, making it harder to reach your contacts' inboxes when using open tracking.
What Nimble is doing about this:
Nimble tracks email opens using tracking pixels, but with recent changes to email filtering, messages tracked for opens are more likely to end up in spam folders. To address this, we’ve implemented link-only tracking as the default:
Link tracking lets you see when a recipient clicks on a link within your message. If a link is clicked, you can reasonably assume the email has been opened. This approach ensures better deliverability, helping your messages reach your contact’s inbox and avoid being flagged as spam.
When to Use Open Tracking
Open tracking is best used when sending messages to trusted contacts with whom you have an established relationship, such as existing clients or team members. In these cases, the risk of emails being marked as spam is generally lower.
However, it’s not always guaranteed that even established recipients will receive your message due to email providers like Gmail blocking open tracking pixels. For this reason, we recommend sticking with link-only tracking to ensure your messages reach the inbox without being flagged.
Avoid using open tracking for cold outreach or unfamiliar recipients, as email providers like Gmail are more likely to flag such messages.
Other ways to Avoid the SPAM folder
In addition to this recent change, there are several factors that can cause your emails to land in a recipient's spam folder. To help ensure your emails reach their intended inbox and minimize the risk of being bounced, we recommend reviewing our support article: Best Practices For Email Bounces
We would love to hear your feedback or questions about our latest feature, please write us at care@nimble.com, initiate a chat from this FAQ, or join one of our Nimble Onboarding and Best Practices sessions, held every weekday at 9 AM PT.