Email Analytics Frequently Asked Questions 

 

Does Certain use a 3rd party email service for sending emails? 

Yes. We use www.sendgrid.com and send emails via SMTP. SendGrid/Twilio is an industry leader in sending in providing Email Marketing and transactional email solutions to businesses of all sizes. 

Will emails that I sent before Email Analytics was introduced as a feature be tracked? 

No. Only emails sent following the 8.0 release will be tracked. 

How often is the Email Analytics dashboard refreshed? 

The dashboard is refreshed every 10 minutes. 

How often is the Email Activity list and timeline updated within a registration? 

Unlike the dashboard, the list and timeline within a registration are updated in near real-time. 

What time zone are the time stamps in the dashboard reflected in? 

Pacific Time zone which is consistent with other timestamps in the Certain platform. 

When I move my event from ‘Testing’ to ‘Live’ status, will the dashboard totals be cleared out?  

No. Totals reflected include emails sent to both test and live registrations in the event as well as any deleted emails. As a best practice, we recommend including ‘Test’ in the name of any mass action emails so they can be excluded via filters on the dashboard.

What do each of the email statuses mean? 

Sent – the message has been prepared and processed for delivery. 

Delivered – the recipient's email server has accepted the message; % delivered = number of emails delivered/ number of emails sent. 

Totals Opened – total number of times recipients opened the email. One recipient may open the same email multiple times; % opened = the total number of times that emails were opened / number of emails delivered. 

Unique Opens – the count of recipients who opened the email 

Not Opened – % Not opened = the total number of unread emails / number of emails delivered. 

Undeliverable – number of undeliverable emails. The reason could be bounces (where the recipient's email server rejected the message), dropped emails (which are no longer processed as they had previously bounced), spam, etc. % Other = total number of undeliverable emails / number of emails sent. 

What is the difference between Total Opened and Unique Opens? 

A recipient can open an email one or more times which is reflected in Total Opened. For Unique Opens, only one open is counted for a recipient that opened the email more than once. 

How are opens tracked? 

To track opens, an invisible, one-pixel image is added at the end of each email. If the email recipient has images enabled on their email client (or they select to view images in the email) and a request to SendGrid’s server for the invisible image is executed, then an open event is logged. 

Note that opened emails sent as text (not HTML) will not be recorded in the Opens totals because of this. 

What emails are considered Single Send? 

• Confirmation emails are triggered when a registrant completes their registration and lands on a form's ‘Confirm’ page. This includes single sends of event confirmations, form confirmations, and email templates. 
• Any single email sent from the Registration>Email or Profile Email pages. 
• Forgot Password Emails 

• Digital Emails that include a Join URL 
• Think of these as running totals for one-time, single-send emails. 

What emails are considered a Mass Action Email? 

• Email sent via mass action from the Report Results window. This includes Event Confirmation emails, Form Confirmation, and Email Templates. 
• Scheduled Emails 

What emails are not tracked? 

Emails sent to Speakers and Reviewers, as well as messages sent as a CC or BCC. 

How many emails can I send in a single mass action? 

5000 is the maximum number of records that can be sent in a single mass action. If you have more than 5000 records, you will need to break that up into smaller sends. Setting a custom registration property or putting a registration on the ‘To-Do List’ can be used to track who an email has already been sent to. 

How are emails that include a CC or BCC handled? 

Emails sent to CC and BCC as well as additional and assistant emails are not tracked. 

Are link click-throughs tracked? 

Not currently. 

Is email sent from Certain CAN-SPAM compliant? 

No. However, that does not mean you cannot implement CAN-SPAM compliant requirements into your emails. To learn more about CAN-SPAM compliance, click here.