Introduction
Anonymized Email Tracking allows you to measure email campaign performance while reducing the amount of personal data collected from recipients. It provides aggregated engagement metrics for email opens and clicks without linking this activity to individual contact profiles.
This feature supports privacy-focused tracking strategies and helps align email analytics with user consent preferences.
Key Capabilities
Aggregated tracking of email opens and clicks
No storage of individual-level email engagement data for anonymized recipients
Continued availability of campaign performance metrics
Support for consent-based tracking preferences at profile level
How It Works
Email tracking uses pixels and tracked links to capture opens and clicks. Each event is initially detected using a unique identifier. The system then assigns the event to an anonymized group and immediately discards the individual identifier.
For click tracking, Mapp-specific tracking links capture the event before redirecting the recipient to the original destination. As a result, engagement data is retained only at group level and cannot be traced back to a specific contact.
Impact on Analysis and Segmentation
For recipients whose email activity is anonymized:
Email opens and clicks are included in aggregated campaign reports
No engagement data is written to the contact profile
The recipient cannot be selected or evaluated in segments based on email activity
Recipients without anonymization enabled continue to generate identifiable tracking data as usual.
Managing Anonymization Preferences
Anonymized Email Tracking is controlled at profile level through user consent. Preferences are stored using the DoNotTrack profile attribute and determine whether email engagement data is anonymized.
User preferences can be collected and maintained through different channels, such as registration forms, preference centers, or profile updates.
Preference Centers and Profile Updates
Organizations can allow recipients to explicitly choose whether their email activity should be anonymized. This preference can be collected, for example, through a preference center and stored on the contact profile.
Once a preference is available, profiles can be updated in Mapp using supported update mechanisms such as uploads or automation workflows. The anonymization behavior is determined by the value of the DoNotTrack attribute:
DoNotTrack = False
Email activity is tracked and attributed to the individual contact.
DoNotTrack = True
Email activity is anonymized and recorded only in aggregated form.
If the DoNotTrack attribute is included during a profile import but the value is empty, the system interprets this value as False, not as unset.
Global Handling of Unset Preferences
The DoNotTrack attribute supports a third state: unset. This state indicates that no explicit preference has been provided by the recipient.
A global setting can be enabled by Mapp to define how profiles with an unset preference are handled. When this setting is active and configured accordingly, email activity for all recipients with an unset DoNotTrack value is anonymized until consent is explicitly provided.