Tracking · Explainer
Email signature tracking: how it actually works
Email signature tracking means measuring what happens to the signature in the emails you send: how often it is seen, counted with a tiny tracking image, and which of its links get clicked, counted with redirect links. It tells you which links and banners work. It does not read your emails.
By the Regardly team Updated 7 min read
In short,
- Opens are counted with a 1×1 image (a pixel) in your signature. When a mail app loads it, that counts as an open.
- Clicks are counted with redirect links: the link goes to the tracking server first, which logs the click and forwards the reader in milliseconds.
- Opens are estimates. Apple Mail Privacy Protection can count opens that never happened, and blocked images hide real ones. Clicks are far more reliable.
- A signature pixel gives totals per signature. For a read receipt on each email you need a unique pixel per message, which is what a Gmail extension does.
- In the EU, tracking pixels fall under ePrivacy rules. Tell people in your privacy notice, and switch open tracking off where it isn't appropriate.
On this page
What signature tracking measures
Your signature goes out with every email: new messages, replies, forwards. That makes it one of the most-seen pieces of content you have. Tracking turns that into numbers you can act on:
- Opens: how often emails carrying your signature were displayed with images on.
- Clicks: which links in your signature people use: your website, booking link, LinkedIn, a banner.
- Banner views and click-through rate: if you run a banner, how often it was shown and how often it was clicked.
- Context: the country and the type of mail app (Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, phone apps). Not who the reader is.
In Regardly Pro this shows up in a dashboard per signature. The free generator does not track anything.
How open tracking works: the pixel
An open pixel is a transparent image of 1×1 pixel with a web address that is unique to your signature, for example go.regardly.app/o/abc123.gif. It sits at the bottom of the signature HTML, invisible to the reader.
- Your recipient opens the email and their mail app loads the images in it.
- Loading the pixel sends a request to the tracking server.
- The server logs one open for that signature: the time, the country and the type of mail app. Then it returns the empty image.
Because the pixel address belongs to the signature, not to one email, you get totals and trends per signature: “this signature was opened 340 times this month”, not “Anna opened your proposal at 10:14”. That second kind of answer needs a unique pixel per email; see the comparison below.
One quirk: your signature also travels along in quoted replies and forwards. When someone reopens a long thread, the old pixel can load again. Good tools merge repeat loads that happen within a short window; Regardly merges loads of the same signature in the same mail app within 60 seconds.
How click tracking works: redirect links
For clicks, each link in your signature is swapped for a short tracking link, such as go.regardly.app/c/x7Kp2Q. When someone clicks it, the server records the click and immediately sends the reader on to the real destination with a standard redirect. The reader lands on the page they expected; the delay is too short to notice.
Redirect links have a handy side effect: the destination lives on the server, not in the signature you pasted. So you can change where a link or banner points later, without asking anyone to paste a new signature. That is how Regardly lets you update links and banners in a signature that's already installed.
Why open counts are estimates
Every open-tracking tool depends on the mail app loading images. Several things get in the way, in both directions:
| What happens | Effect on opens | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Mail Privacy Protection (iPhone, iPad, Mac) | Too high | Since iOS 15, Apple Mail can download images through Apple's proxy before the email is read, so the pixel fires even if nobody looks. |
| Images blocked or “ask before loading” | Too low | Some mail apps and company setups don't load remote images until the reader allows it. The email is read, the pixel isn't loaded. |
| Plain-text view or text-only apps | Too low | No HTML, so no image. |
| Gmail image caching | Roughly right, less detail | Gmail fetches images through its own proxy and may cache them, so repeat opens and locations are less precise. |
| Quoted replies and forwards | Higher | The pixel travels along in the thread and can load again later. |
The practical rule: read opens as a trend, and trust clicks for decisions. If opens double after you change something, that's meaningful. A single open from one recipient is not proof that they read it.
Signature tracking vs per-email read receipts
People often mean three different things by “tracking”. They answer different questions:
| Signature tracking | Per-email tracking (extension) | Built-in read receipt | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answers | Which links and banners work, how often the signature is seen | Was this email opened, and when | Did the recipient confirm they opened it |
| How | One pixel and redirect links per signature | A unique pixel added to each email when you send it | A request the recipient's app may or may not answer |
| Works in | Any mail app you paste the signature into | Gmail in Chrome on a computer | Gmail work or school accounts (if the admin allows it), Outlook with Exchange |
| Recipient sees | Nothing | Nothing | A prompt to send a receipt |
| Reliability | Clicks: high. Opens: estimate. | Estimate, same image limits | Only when the recipient agrees |
Regardly does the first two: signature tracking in Pro, and per-email read receipts through Regardly for Gmail, our Chrome extension (in beta). For the full picture in Gmail, read how to track email opens in Gmail.
Privacy and the rules (not legal advice)
Tracking pixels and personalised links are covered by the EU's ePrivacy rules (Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive), the same rules behind cookie banners. Regulators are paying attention: in June 2025 the French regulator CNIL published a draft recommendation that treats email tracking pixels much like cookies, requiring consent unless the pixel is strictly necessary for technical reasons. Where the data can be tied to a person, the GDPR applies too.
What that means in practice for one-to-one business email is still debated, and it differs per country. Sensible steps:
- Be transparent. Mention in your privacy notice that your emails may contain links and images that measure opens and clicks.
- Collect little. Regardly stores the time, country and type of mail app. No IP addresses, no recipient email addresses, no email text. Details in our privacy policy.
- Switch it off where it doesn't belong. In Regardly you can turn open tracking off per signature and keep only click tracking, or not track a signature at all.
- Ask your adviser if you send to consumers at scale or in a sensitive sector (healthcare, legal).
Getting started
- Make your signature for free, or start from a template. A clear call-to-action, like the CTA-Focused template, gives you a click worth measuring.
- Upgrade to Pro, save the signature in your account and copy the tracked version.
- Paste it into your mail app with the install guides. Send a test email to a colleague and click a link: it shows up in your dashboard.
- Give it two to four weeks before drawing conclusions. Then change one thing at a time: a link, a call-to-action, a banner.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Can the recipient see that my signature is tracked?
Not in the email itself: the pixel is invisible and tracked links look like normal links until you hover over them, when the tracking address shows. Some privacy tools and mail apps block or flag tracking pixels.
Does signature tracking tell me who opened my email?
No. A signature pixel gives totals per signature, with the country and type of mail app. For a per-email read receipt you need a unique pixel per message, which our Gmail extension adds.
Why do I see opens from emails nobody read?
Usually Apple Mail Privacy Protection, which loads images in advance through Apple's servers. Forwarded threads can also load the pixel again. Treat opens as a trend and use clicks for decisions.
Does tracking hurt deliverability?
A single small image and a few redirect links are normal in business email. Keep the signature light, avoid image-only signatures, and use a tracking domain that is set up properly. Regardly uses its own domain, go.regardly.app.
Is email signature tracking legal?
It is widely used, but in the EU tracking pixels fall under ePrivacy rules and regulators are tightening their view. Be transparent, collect little and switch off open tracking where it isn't appropriate. This is not legal advice.