How to Know If Someone Opened Your Email in 2025

Curiosity is natural—especially when you send an important email and wonder if it has been opened. Whether you’re reaching out to potential clients, following up with leads, or running an email campaign, knowing if someone opened your email can help you optimize your outreach strategy.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through different ways to track email opens in 2025 and explore alternative metrics that truly matter for your email marketing success.

How to Track Email Opens in 2025

Tracking whether your email has been opened is still possible, though evolving privacy regulations and email client restrictions make it trickier. Here are the best ways to track email opens:

1. Use Email Automation Software

The most efficient way to track email opens is by using email automation tools. These tools embed a small tracking pixel in your emails, which registers an open when the recipient loads the images.

How it works:

• The tool embeds an invisible tracking pixel in your email.
• When the recipient opens the email, the pixel loads, signaling an open.
• You receive a notification or report with open rates and additional insights.

Popular email automation tools also provide valuable data beyond open rates, such as reply rates and bounce rates, helping you optimize your campaigns.

2. Use a Chrome Extension for Email Tracking

If you don’t want a full email automation platform, a Chrome extension can help. These extensions track email opens by inserting a tracking pixel similar to automation software.

Steps to use a Chrome extension for tracking:

• Install an email tracking extension from the Chrome Web Store.
• Sign in and integrate it with your email provider.
• Compose and send emails as usual.
• Check reports in the extension dashboard to see if your email has been opened.

3. Add an Image Tag for Manual Tracking

For those with HTML knowledge, you can manually add a tracking image to your email.

Example of a tracking code:

<img style=”display: none;” src=”Tracking-Link”>

However, many email clients block images by default, which may limit the accuracy of this method.

4. Request a Read Receipt

Most email clients allow you to request a read receipt, though this method depends on the recipient agreeing to send a confirmation.

How to request read receipts:

• Gmail (Google Workspace users only): Click the three dots in the compose window and select “Request read receipt.”
• Outlook: In the compose screen, go to the “Options” tab and select “Request a Read Receipt.”

Read receipts are not foolproof, as the recipient can decline to send confirmation.

Is Tracking Email Opens Still Relevant?

While tracking open rates used to be a key metric, it has become less reliable due to privacy policies from companies like Google and Apple. These platforms now block tracking pixels or alert users when emails contain tracking elements.

Instead of relying on open rates, marketers should focus on more actionable metrics.

Better Metrics to Track Email Performance

If open rates are unreliable, what should you track instead? Here are key performance indicators (KPIs) that provide better insights:

1. Click-Through Rate (CTR)

CTR measures how many recipients clicked on a link in your email. A high CTR means your email content and call-to-action (CTA) are engaging.

2. Conversion Rate

This tracks the percentage of recipients who completed a desired action, such as signing up, making a purchase, or booking a call.

3. Bounce Rate

A high bounce rate indicates that many of your emails were undeliverable. This could be due to incorrect email addresses or spam filters blocking your emails.

4. Response Rate

Measuring how many recipients replied to your email is a strong indicator of engagement and interest in your message.

5. Email Forwarding & Sharing

If recipients forward or share your email, it signals high engagement and potential referrals.

Final Thoughts

Tracking email opens can still provide useful insights, but privacy policies have made it less reliable. Instead of focusing solely on open rates, businesses should shift their focus to more meaningful metrics like CTR, conversion rates, and response rates.

By using advanced email tracking tools and refining your email marketing strategy, you can improve engagement, optimize outreach, and achieve better results.

For professional email marketing solutions, Leadful offers expert cold email marketing strategies to boost your business growth. Get in touch today to maximize your outreach success!