Tracking tells you what happened after a campaign was sent, but each event has limitations. Zilch Mail supports local or custom-domain tracking configuration. Paid plans add hosted open analytics and automatic unsubscribe handling; Max adds hosted click analytics through Redirect My Links. Bounce classification and suppression provide additional delivery signals.
Know what each event means
| Event | What it indicates | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Open | A tracking pixel was requested | Images may be blocked, proxied, or preloaded |
| Click | A tracked link was followed | Security scanners and automated tools can also follow links |
| Hard bounce | Delivery failed permanently or the address is invalid | Classifiers depend on the provider response and DSN details |
| Soft bounce | Delivery was deferred or temporarily failed | A retry may still succeed later |
| Complaint | A recipient or provider reported unwanted mail | Treat as a suppression signal, not an engagement metric |
Use link groups intentionally
Link groups can rotate or weight destinations across messages. Use them for legitimate experiments or routing, keep the destination set small, and label links clearly. The weighted distribution is useful for comparing destinations, but it does not replace a properly designed A/B test.
Understand hosted tracking by plan
| Capability | Availability | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Local or custom-domain tracking | Desktop configuration | Uses the tracking endpoint configured in the app |
| Hosted opens and unsubscribe | Paid plans | Records hosted open events and processes automatic unsubscribe requests |
| Redirect My Links | Max and Max Yearly | Rewrites selected destinations, records clicks, then forwards to the original URL |
Handle bounces by category
- Hard bounces should be suppressed quickly and removed from future sends.
- Soft bounces can be retried with backoff, but repeated failures should move into suppression or review.
- Complaints should be suppressed immediately and investigated at the campaign and sender level.
- Provider webhooks and optional IMAP polling can add bounce signals that were not visible during the send.
Do not optimize for opens alone
Open tracking is an imperfect proxy. A campaign with high opens but rising complaints, unsubscribes, or hard bounces is not healthy.
Build a useful review loop
- 1Review delivery, bounce, complaint, unsubscribe, open, and click trends together.
- 2Identify whether a problem comes from a sender account, domain, segment, template, or schedule.
- 3Apply suppression and adjust the affected audience before the next send.
- 4Compare campaign results over time rather than reacting to one isolated event.
- 5Export the sending log and results when you need an external review or backup.
Protect tracking data quality
Test the tracking pixel, unsubscribe URL, and any enabled redirects before launch. If you configure your own tracking endpoint, use a domain you control. Hosted plan features use Zilch Mail’s configured tracking service. Expect some events from privacy proxies or scanners, and combine tracking with replies, conversions, bounce data, and recipient preferences.