Strange tracking results: Multiple "Open" actions

[KuP]

I used click-through tracking for the first time with an email newsletter, and in general the tracking worked well. However, there were 2 strange phenomena, and I could only find an explanation for one.

1. problem: Some recipients were registered for clicking a link, though there is no entry for opening the mail.
Explanation: Those people use a blocking function in their email clients which prevents images from loading. That seems to also block the MLM tracking mechanism.
Solution: Any idea how to solve this problem?

2. problem: A few recipients are registered up to 47 times for opening the mail. I tried to verify that, but none of those recipients had forwarded the mail and none of them had opened the mail more than three times in general and twice on different devices. About half of the recipients have more than 1 entry for opening, many of them 3-5x. That doesn't seem realistic to me. By the way, the 47x recipient is using Microsoft Outlook, another 20x recipient is using Apple Mail for Mac and iPhone. Many other recipients are using similar software without having multiple entries.
Explanation: No idea.
Solution: No idea, obviously.

Did anybody encounter a similar effect? Does anybody have an idea what went wrong?

Thanks,
Ray

 

[stanbusk]

1. problem: Some recipients were registered for clicking a link, though there is no entry for opening the mail.
Explanation: Those people use a blocking function in their email clients which prevents images from loading. That seems to also block the MLM tracking mechanism.
Solution: Any idea how to solve this problem?

Yes indeed, you found the reason why that happens. In some mail readers it also happens when you open a message from the spam/junk folder. There is nothing you/we can do against that. The mail reader is blocking any communication back to the internet from the message. No pictures and no tracking.

2. problem: A few recipients are registered up to 47 times for opening the mail. I tried to verify that, but none of those recipients had forwarded the mail and none of them had opened the mail more than three times in general and twice on different devices. About half of the recipients have more than 1 entry for opening, many of them 3-5x. That doesn't seem realistic to me. By the way, the 47x recipient is using Microsoft Outlook, another 20x recipient is using Apple Mail for Mac and iPhone. Many other recipients are using similar software without having multiple entries.
Explanation: No idea.
Solution: No idea, obviously.

An opening entry is added to your MLM database when the message is open and nothing is preventing the MLM tracking URL to be called. To get 47 entries added you have to call that function 47 times. The URL is simple it is something like http://www.domain.com/lm/lm.php?tk=tracking_code_here

Did anybody encounter a similar effect? Does anybody have an idea what went wrong?

Personally I never did... :-/ A problem on your web site? The HTTP request logs should display those requests and where they come from.