# Link tracking, and why we do not track opens

**Category:** [Email Sending](https://help.totalctrl.app/hc/totalctrl/totalctrl-help-center/en-US/categories/email-sending)
**Updated:** 2026-10-04

## Why we do not track opens

Most email tools report an "open rate". We deliberately do not, because the
number is not true any more.

Open tracking works by embedding an invisible image and counting when it
loads. That stopped being a reliable signal:

  
- **Apple Mail Privacy Protection** downloads that image for
      every message as soon as it arrives, whether or not the recipient ever
      looks at it. Apple Mail is a large share of most audiences.
  
- **Gmail** and others fetch images through their own proxies,
      which detaches the load from the person.
  
- **Security scanners** at many companies open every message
      before it reaches the inbox.

The result is an open rate inflated by an unknown amount that varies by
audience. You cannot compare it between campaigns or act on it. We would rather
show you nothing than a number you might make a decision on.

Where you see an open rate on older data, it is historical and clearly
marked. New sends show a dash rather than a zero, because "we do not measure
this" and "nobody opened it" are not the same thing.

## What we track instead

Clicks. Someone clicking a link is a deliberate act, and it survives all of
the above. You get, per campaign, journey step or newsletter edition:

  
- total clicks, and how many distinct people clicked
  
- which links were clicked, and when
  
- per-contact history, so you can see what an individual engaged with

Automated clicks from security scanners and mail-client prefetchers are
recorded but flagged, and excluded from the headline numbers.

## Turning it on

Link tracking is off by default — rewriting a recipient's links is a decision
that belongs to you, not to us. Turn it on at
**Connections → Email Sending → Link tracking**. It
applies to email sent from that point on; messages already sent are unaffected.

## Your data stays in your workspace

Clicks are recorded in your TotalCtrl workspace, not in a mail provider's
account. That means the history is yours, it is not subject to a provider's
retention limits, and it survives us changing mail infrastructure.

## Unsubscribe links are never tracked

Unsubscribe and preference links are deliberately left alone. Routing someone's
opt-out through a redirect puts a legally significant action behind an extra step
that could fail, so we do not do it — even when link tracking is on.

## Serving tracked links from your own domain

With tracking on, links are rewritten to point at a shared TotalCtrl domain.
You can point one of your own at it instead, so recipients see your domain and
mail providers judge the link on your reputation rather than a shared one.

Under **Link tracking**, enter a subdomain you control — for
example `links.acme.com` — and add the two DNS records shown, using
the same provider guides as above. This domain only ever serves tracked links; it
does not host your workspace or a login page.

You can remove it at any time. Links already sent keep working.

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## Related Articles

- [Add your DNS records in GoDaddy](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/dns-records-godaddy)
- [Set up email sending from your own domain](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/set-up-email-sending)
- [Add your DNS records in Cloudflare](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/dns-records-cloudflare)
- [Add your DNS records in Namecheap](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/dns-records-namecheap)

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