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Dear Email Industry, We’ve Got a GDPR Problem

jacquescorbytuech.com

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Re: Dear Email Industry, We’ve Got a GDPR Problem

#101

Post by gnud »

seelmobile wrote: post #83
gnud wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think any email that uses tracking pixels could be classified as either spam or marketing, or possibly both. If you use tracking pixels in your receipts, I think you're doing it wrong.

What about mandatory service announcements where you want to know if you reached clients before breaking them?

Have them click a link to acknowledge receipt.

A tracking pixel hit only means that that the email was received and loaded in some email client, not that it was read (in detail, or at all), understood, or acted on.

Re: Dear Email Industry, We’ve Got a GDPR Problem

#102

Post by TeMPOraL »

seelmobile wrote: post #83
gnud wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think any email that uses tracking pixels could be classified as either spam or marketing, or possibly both. If you use tracking pixels in your receipts, I think you're doing it wrong.

What about mandatory service announcements where you want to know if you reached clients before breaking them?

Why would you want to rely on a thoroughly unreliable mechanism primarily used by marketers for a case where it's actually important for the user that you know you reached them? Maybe just ask them instead, record responses, and deal with people who don't respond (and with autoresponders).

Re: Dear Email Industry, We’ve Got a GDPR Problem

#103

Post by martin_a »

arielm wrote: post #41
tom_mellior wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So, I guess I won't know if 10% open my marketing emails or 50%. You didn't know before either since many mail programs block tracking pixels. This was always garbage data to a large extent.

Gmail doesn’t (kind of), and that’s a big enough slice of email users these days...

Only for the US market, outside of that there are lots of mail providers which are instead used. GMail addresses are a scarcity in Europe.

Re: Dear Email Industry, We’ve Got a GDPR Problem

#105

Post by TeMPOraL »

gnud wrote: post #101
seelmobile wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about mandatory service announcements where you want to know if you reached clients before breaking them?

Have them click a link to acknowledge receipt. A tracking pixel hit only means that that the email was received and loaded in some email client, not that it was read (in detail, or at all), understood, or acted on.

Moreover, a lack of tracking pixel hit doesn't mean the e-mail wasn't loaded, much less that it wasn't read, understood or acted on.

Re: Dear Email Industry, We’ve Got a GDPR Problem

#106

Post by jstummbillig »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #64
isostatic wrote: post #6

"This stressed out a lot of email marketers, who quite rightly realised that the new regulations would have a significant effect on their ability to acquire and market to customers via their email address" "The overwhelming majority of commercial email sent today contains tracking pixels and tracking links, these are used to uniquely identify individuals so that opens and clicks can be correctly attributed to them" G…

> While spammers may have a problem, people don't. Marketing spammers maybe, but now scammers and malware spammers have the floor instead. Laws only stop the law abiding citizens from doing their thing, it sure doesn't stop the criminals from.... being criminals.

Sure… but that is always true when it comes to law. I just don't see how that makes the situation worse for the people?

I don't want to be tracked by marketing emails without consent (or, more realistically, ever, because please). If you want to do it anyway, from here on out you have to violate the law.

If you had no trouble with doing that before (being a filthy spammer/scammer), you still won't. If you do, then you will stop tracking me. Hooray.

Re: Dear Email Industry, We’ve Got a GDPR Problem

#107

Post by iamacyborg »

martin_a wrote: post #90
srbby wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Font is too big.

Totally. Not sure though, why. 1.2em would have just been fine, but instead 24px (which is 1.5em) is too large.

Mostly just me being lazy and writing the stylesheet for my 1440p screen at home, I've done very little optimisation for other screens/devices.

Re: Dear Email Industry, We’ve Got a GDPR Problem

#108

Post by chopin »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #80
iamacyborg wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Article author here - Tracking pixels aren't blocked per se in most email clients but you're correct that they rely on images being loaded.

Thanks for answering, it's curious enough that I'm now looking into Thunderbird plugins to see if there's one to block (or try to) tracking pixels.

Thunderbird blocks images per default. I never bother to load them.

Re: Dear Email Industry, We’ve Got a GDPR Problem

#109

Post by jobigoud »

jmarbach wrote: post #10

Browsing the web in Europe is like experiencing the rebirth of the pop-up ads era. It has lead to compulsory acceptance. This too shall pass. There is a reasonable expectation that when you submit your email to a company in exchange for their service, they will email you communications relating to their products and services.

> It has lead to compulsory acceptance

I have a simple heuristic: if there is a big overlay preventing me from looking at the content, I just disable javascript altogether for the site. Most of the time this result in a clean experience with just the text I was interested in in the first place. If it breaks the article I close the tab.

Re: Dear Email Industry, We’ve Got a GDPR Problem

#110

Post by 9HZZRfNlpR »

seszett wrote: post #22
jmarbach wrote: post #10

Browsing the web in Europe is like experiencing the rebirth of the pop-up ads era. It has lead to compulsory acceptance. This too shall pass. There is a reasonable expectation that when you submit your email to a company in exchange for their service, they will email you communications relating to their products and services.

> There is a reasonable expectation that when you submit your email to a company in exchange for their service, they will email you communications relating to their products and services Certainly not. If I didn't check a box saying "I want to receive commercial emails related to your products and services" I expect not to receive those. I might unsubscribe from the whole thing if I don't have any other means of avoi…

This is how at least local businesses do here now, I don't have problem with marketing emails from them. You actually have to check the input, not accidentally forget.
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