Read Receipt FAQs

How reliable are read receipts?

Boomerang read receipts are generally reliable, but we don't recommend that you rely on them as a guarantee. Read receipts are an indication that the email was likely read. Generally they work across different email clients and systems, but occasionally you may not receive a notification even if an email was read. And with our opt-out feature, the recipient may choose not to send the receipt.

What if I send an email to lots of people, can I tell who opened/read it or clicked the links?

Regrettably, no. There are some technical limitations to what data we can even retrieve and the email address of the person who opens the email is one of those elusive pieces of data that is not available. If you need to know which recipient opened your email or clicked the links, you'll need to send individual emails.

I know the recipient opened my email. Why didn't I get a read receipt?

If you're sure your recipient opened your email, but you didn't receive a notification that it was opened, there are a few likely scenarios:

There is a short delay between the time someone opens an email and that Boomerang sends the notification, to allow time for them to opt out if they choose.
The recipient has chosen to opt out of giving a read receipt.
The recipient's mail client has disabled the automatic loading of images, so Boomerang is unable to determine if the message was opened.

The number of opens seems too high. What could have caused this?

If the number of opens for a tracked message seems higher than possible, there are a couple reasons this could be happening:

Self Opens Are Being Tracked

Our read receipt feature is designed to not track your own opens. That said, there are situations where it can happen. The main things to avoid are:

Accessing the tracked message from Incognito or Private Browsing mode or web browser while not logged in to the manage page or the Outlook desktop client.
Opening your tracked message from another PC or mobile device.
Opening the tracked message from a different wireless network.

The best way to view tracking results without triggering a self open is to check the Tracked Messages page. If you need to view the body of the tracked message, consider disabling the automatic loading of images in emails beforehand. Since we track opens by monitoring whether the Read Receipt image (i.e. the text that says "The sender has requested a read receipt...") gets loaded, the self open won't get tracked if the image never gets loaded.

The email is being "opened" by security software

If the number is extremely high (e.g in the hundreds or thousands), it's most likely because the recipient's mailbox has software installed that scans emails, which can drive up the count. Boomerang is not able to distinguish between automated processes and human views.

What data is given to the sender if I opt-out of providing a read receipt?

None. It's really that simple! If you choose not to provide a receipt, we respect your privacy and no data is provided to the sender, to them it just looks like you never opened the message.

Why are my links now showing up as 'mailstat.us'?

This is to make sure we can accurately track all the clicks your links get.