Email open tracking in Europe: What marketers need to know 

For years, email open tracking has been a staple of email marketing. A tiny tracking pixel embedded in an email tells marketers whether a message was opened, helping teams measure campaign performance, trigger automations, and better understand customer engagement.

Today, that picture is changing.

Between privacy protections like Apple Mail Privacy Protection and evolving guidance from European privacy regulators, marketers can no longer assume that open tracking works the same way it always has. Recent recommendations from France's CNIL and a decision from Italy's Garante suggest that, in many cases, organizations should obtain consent before using email tracking pixels because they access information stored on a recipient's device.

For marketers, this isn't just another compliance checkbox. It's another reminder that customer expectations around privacy continue to evolve. Fortunately, it's also an opportunity to rethink how we measure engagement and build trust with customers.

Note: Privacy requirements vary across jurisdictions and continue to evolve. This article provides a general overview of recent regulatory guidance and should not be considered legal advice. Organizations should consult their legal or privacy teams when determining their compliance obligations.

Email tracking pixels have traditionally been viewed as a simple analytics tool. When an email is opened, the recipient's email client requests a tiny image hosted on a server, allowing marketers to record that the email was viewed and, depending on the implementation, collect additional information such as timestamps, IP addresses, or device characteristics.

European regulators are increasingly viewing interaction through a different lens.

In June 2025, France's data protection authority (CNIL) published a recommendation explaining that email tracking pixels generally fall within Article 82 of the French Data Protection Act, which implements the ePrivacy Directive. Because tracking pixels access information stored on a user's device, CNIL's position is that prior consent is generally required unless a narrow exemption applies.

Italy's Garante has reached a similar conclusion. In a recent enforcement decision, the authority found that an organization had used tracking pixels in email newsletters without providing sufficient transparency or establishing an appropriate legal basis. The decision reinforces a broader trend across Europe: regulators are paying closer attention to how organizations measure email engagement and whether recipients understand what's happening behind the scenes.

Although these developments come from national regulators rather than a single EU-wide law, they reflect a broader direction of travel. Organizations sending emails to European audiences should carefully evaluate how open tracking is used and whether consent is required for their specific implementation.

These developments are also part of a broader shift in how marketers think about measuring engagement, driven by both privacy expectations and changes in email technology.

It's easy to view these developments through a purely legal lens. But they're also part of a broader shift in how organizations think about customer trust.

Over the past several years, customers have become more aware of how their data is collected and used. They increasingly expect organizations to explain what information they're gathering, why they're collecting it, and what value customers receive in return.

That expectation extends beyond privacy law.

The EU AI Act, for example, introduces transparency obligations for certain AI systems, reinforcing a broader principle that organizations should clearly communicate when technology affects customer interactions. While Article 50 doesn't specifically regulate email tracking pixels, it reflects the same underlying trend toward greater transparency in digital experiences.

Together, these developments suggest that transparency is quickly becoming an important competitive advantage.

The practical impact extends beyond whether a tracking pixel loads successfully.

Many marketing teams have already begun shifting away from treating open rates as their primary success metric. Apple's Mail Privacy Protection introduced uncertainty into open tracking years ago, and evolving European guidance provides another reason to build a broader measurement strategy.

Instead of focusing primarily on opens, marketers should increasingly evaluate engagement through signals that demonstrate meaningful customer intent, including:

• Link clicks
• Website activity
• Product usage
• Purchases
• Replies
• Goal completion
• Customer retention

As open tracking becomes less reliable, successful email programs are increasingly built around a broader set of engagement signals. Our guide to improving email deliverability explores how metrics like clicks, conversions, and customer engagement provide a more complete picture of email performance than opens alone.

And open tracking is only one part of the customer communication picture. As marketers rely less on opens alone, choosing the right channel for every customer moment becomes even more important for creating meaningful engagement.

As privacy expectations evolve, marketers need flexibility.

Customer.io recently introduced support for consent-aware email open tracking, allowing organizations to enable or disable open tracking based on each customer's consent status. Rather than treating open tracking as an all-or-nothing decision, teams can configure their messaging strategy to align with their legal and privacy requirements while continuing to measure engagement where appropriate.

As email measurement evolves, many marketing teams are taking a broader look at how they engage customers across channels. Our Mobile Messaging Playbook shares research from marketing leaders on how they're balancing SMS, push notifications, in-app messaging, and email to create more resilient customer engagement strategies.

These regulatory developments don't necessarily require you to rebuild your email program from scratch. They do create a good opportunity to revisit how you're measuring engagement and whether your current practices align with evolving customer expectations.

A few practical steps can help you prepare:

1. Review where and how email open tracking is currently used.
2. Work with your legal and privacy teams to determine when consent may be required.
3. Shift reporting toward engagement metrics that better reflect customer value.
4. Clearly explain your measurement practices in your privacy notices and consent flows.
5. Design flexible workflows that can adapt as guidance evolves.

Privacy regulation is rarely static. Building adaptable systems today will make responding to future changes much easier.

No. Recent guidance from regulators like CNIL and Garante does not prohibit email tracking pixels outright. Instead, it emphasizes that organizations should evaluate whether prior consent is required under applicable privacy laws, depending on how the technology is implemented and the jurisdictions involved.

Not at all. Open rates can still provide helpful directional insight, but they should no longer be treated as the primary measure of campaign success. Looking at clicks, conversions, product usage, and other engagement signals often provides a more complete picture of customer behavior.

That depends on your organization's legal obligations, your audience, and your compliance strategy. Many organizations are moving toward consent-based implementations rather than disabling open tracking entirely.

Customer.io supports consent-aware email open tracking, allowing organizations to align their measurement practices with evolving privacy expectations while continuing to collect engagement data where appropriate.

The conversation around email tracking pixels isn't really about pixels. It's about trust.

As privacy expectations continue to evolve, the organizations that succeed won't necessarily be the ones collecting the most data. They'll be the ones collecting the right data, being transparent about how they use it, and focusing on the metrics that genuinely reflect customer value.

Open tracking still has a role to play, particularly when implemented transparently and in accordance with applicable privacy requirements. But increasingly, it's becoming one signal among many.

That's ultimately a positive shift. The strongest customer relationships have never been built on opens alone. They've always been built on relevance, respect, and delivering value at the right moment.