For most Gmail recipients, an email tracker cannot tell you where the email was read. Gmail loads the tracking image through Google's servers, so the only location a tracker could report for that open is Google's. A click on a tracked link can sometimes place the reader's network, and even then the answer is a region more often than an address. Here is what each signal can tell you, and what to use instead when location matters.
Gmail fetches the image on the reader's behalf
On December 12, 2013, Google announced on the Gmail blog that instead of serving images from their original host servers, Gmail would serve all images through Google's own secure proxy servers. The change started on desktop and reached the mobile apps in early 2014. Google's help page on images in Gmail states the effect directly: senders cannot use image loading to get information about the reader's computer or location. The same page says senders may still know whether an email was opened.
Trackers noticed within days. In December 2013, Yesware told its users that opens were coming back with a location of Mountain View, California, because the tracking images were now downloaded from Google's IP addresses and the location data reflected Google rather than the recipient. Yesware's fix was to label those events as Gmail instead of showing a place. Vocus.io's help page gives the same answer for Gmail on the web and on mobile: the proxy hides the recipient's IP address, so neither their location nor their device can be known from the open.
A click can show the reader's network
A click works differently. The reader's own browser follows the tracked link, so the tracker sees the IP address of the network the reader is on, which is why Vocus.io notes that link tracking should capture the real address. Two caveats apply. Many company mail systems run security tools that follow links before a person does, and those clicks come from a datacenter, as our piece on click reliability explains. And an IP address belongs to a network, which can be an office VPN or a mobile carrier rather than the place the person is.
How precise an IP location is when you have one
MaxMind, which sells IP geolocation data, publishes accuracy figures by country for its paid GeoIP City database, measured by checking known pairs of web user IP addresses and locations. In the United States, 60 percent of addresses are placed within 50 kilometres of the right spot, 32 percent are given a city more than 50 kilometres away, and 8 percent get no city at all. The United Kingdom scores 68 percent within 50 kilometres, Germany 71, India 63 and France 51. MaxMind adds that it cannot guarantee any specific future accuracy level.
Those are the figures from a company whose business is getting this right. Even on a good day, an IP location for a click is a rough hint about the reader's region and a weak basis for saying where they were that afternoon.
An open tells you when your email was read. If you need to know where, ask.
Better ways to learn where a prospect is
- Ask. A line such as "Which time zone suits you for a call?" gets an exact answer and reads as a courtesy.
- Read what they publish. An email signature, a company contact page or a profile states the location the person chose to share, and it is usually more current than an IP lookup.
- Use the time of the open. A Gmail open still records when it happened. If one person's first opens keep landing on weekday mornings, that is a better guide to when to follow up than a city name would be.
- Keep location out of your copy. Telling a prospect you saw they were in Chicago tells them you track them, and given the figures above, there is a fair chance you would be wrong.
What Fast Mail Tracker shows instead
Fast Mail Tracker does not show a location for any open or click, and it never shows you a recipient's IP address. Opens fetched through Google's proxy are labelled Gmail. When the reader's own device fetches the image, the label is the operating system and browser, for example iOS and Safari. The IP address does two jobs behind the scenes. It helps spot scanners: when one address touches more than one recipient's copy of the same email within five seconds, those hits are marked as a scanner rather than counted as separate readers. It also helps tell recipients apart on a group email, where a matching network is evidence for one reader over another. Gmail proxy opens are left out of both checks, because they share Google's addresses by design.
Fast Mail Tracker is in early access while Google's security review completes, so places are limited; to see who opened your email and when, use the install button below.
Frequently asked questions
Can email tracking show where the recipient opened the email?
Not for Gmail recipients. Since December 2013 on desktop and early 2014 on mobile, Gmail has loaded images, including tracking pixels, through Google's own proxy servers, and Google's help page says senders cannot use image loading to learn the reader's location. A tracker can still record that the email was opened and when.
Why does my email tracker say the recipient is in Mountain View, California?
Because the open came through Google's image proxy. In December 2013, Yesware explained that Gmail tracking images were being downloaded from Google's IP addresses, so the location data reflected Google rather than the recipient. The open is usually real; the location is not the reader's.
Can a link click reveal the recipient's location?
Sometimes, roughly. The reader's browser follows a tracked link itself, so the tracker sees the IP address of their network. That network may be a VPN, a mobile carrier or a company security tool that clicked first, and MaxMind's published figures place only 60 percent of US IP addresses within 50 kilometres of the right spot.
Does Fast Mail Tracker show a recipient's location or IP address?
No. Fast Mail Tracker shows when each recipient opened, clicked and replied, labels Gmail proxy opens as Gmail and other opens by operating system and browser, and uses IP addresses only behind the scenes to flag scanners and to tell recipients apart on group emails.