- 7 months ago
- Updated
General Questions
Does Certain use a 3rd party email service for sending email?
Yes. Certain uses www.sendgrid.com and sends email via SMTP. Certain uses SendGrid/Twilio for Email Marketing and transactional email solutions for businesses of all sizes.
Email Analytics Event Dashboard & Tabular View
How often is the Email Analytics dashboard refreshed?
The Email Analytics dashboard is refreshed every 10 minutes.
What time zone are the time stamps in the dashboard reflected in?
Pacific Time zone is used, 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. Dashboard totals include emails sent to both test and live registrations in the event. Dashboard totals also include any deleted emails. As a best practice, Certain recommends including ‘Test’ in the name of any mass action emails so dashboard filters can exclude the mass action emails.
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.
- Total Opens — total number of times the email was opened by recipients. One recipient may open the same email multiple times. % opened = total number of times emails were opened / number of emails delivered.
- Unique Opens — total number of recipients who opened the email.
- Total Clicks — total number of clicks including multiple clicks by the same recipient.
- Unique Clicks — count of recipients who clicked on at least one link.
- % Not Opened = total number of unread emails / number of emails delivered.
- Undeliverable — number of emails that were undeliverable. 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.
Registration Email Activity Summary Totals and Timeline
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.
Email Opens
What is the difference between Total Opened and Unique Opens?
A recipient can open an email one or more times, and the result 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?
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 if the email recipient selects to view images in the email, and if a request to SendGrid’s server for the invisible image is executed, then an open event is logged.
Opened emails sent as text (not HTML) are not recorded in the Opens totals.
Is there anything else I need to know about open tracking?
Internet routing, load balancing among servers, corporate firewalls, and spam filtering can cause some opens to be recorded multiple times within 0-30 seconds. When multiple opens of the SAME link in an email are recorded within 30 seconds of one another, Certain displays a single open in the registration timeline.
Click-Through Tracking
Are link click-throughs tracked?
Yes. Link click-throughs are an optional feature. This optional feature can be enabled at a portal // sub-account // event level.
How do I enable click-through tracking on my portal and sub-account(s)?
Click-through tracking is enabled by default on all portals and sub-accounts. Click-through tracking can only be enabled or disabled by Certain. Contact helpdesk@certain.com for assistance.
How do I enable click-through tracking on my event?
Click-through tracking is enabled the same as any other module within an event. An administrator must navigate to Plan>Configure>Options>Functional Areas Needed by This Event>Event Module. The administrator must select ‘Email Click-Through Tracking’.
If the option is not visible, the option is not enabled as a product on that sub-account or for the portal. Contact help@certain.com.
How does click-through tracking work?
Certain uses SendGrid to send emails. Click-through tracking on emails is an optional feature. When enabled, click-through tracking overwrites links with a SendGrid domain that is only visible when the recipient mouses over the link. When the recipient clicks the link, the user's browser opens the website. Other than the overwritten URL being displayed to the user, the experience is seamless.
Will recipients be concerned about the overwritten link and think it is a phishing email?
This is a valid concern. This technique of using overwritten URLs is typical of email providers that track email clicks. https://docs.sendgrid.com/ui/account-and-settings/tracking#click-tracking
Can the domain displayed in the overwritten links match that of my portal?
Yes. This is possible. This requires coordination between Certain and the team that manages the Domain Name Service (DNS) for the portal. Best practices must also be followed by users who configure emails. Documentation on these best practices is forthcoming. In the meantime, contact the CSM regarding interest in branding click-tracking URL’s.
Where can I see the link that a registrant clicked on?
Drill into a registration and navigate to the Email Activity timeline. The timeline displays the link that was clicked with a corresponding time stamp.
What if a recipient clicks on multiple links in the same email?
Each click is tracked and recorded in the timeline, including multiple clicks of the same link.
Is there anything else I need to know about click-through tracking?
Internet routing, load balancing among servers, corporate firewalls, and spam filtering can cause some single clicks to be recorded multiple times within seconds. When multiple clicks of the SAME link in an email are recorded within 30 seconds of one another, Certain displays a single click.
Should I have any privacy concerns regarding enabling click-through tracking in my emails?
As a best practice, Certain recommends that all registration forms include the organization’s (or the client’s organization) privacy policy that outlines how registrant data is managed. Certain suggests including verbiage that mentions leveraging 3rd party technologies such as cookies, beacons, tags, and scripts to analyze trends. The verbiage should also mention tracking user movements on websites and in emails to gather engagement data and provide a more personalized experience to end users.
Single Send Emails
What emails are considered Single Send?
- Confirmation emails triggered when a registrant completes registration and lands on the ‘Confirm’ page of a form. 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
- These are running totals for one-time, single-send emails.
Mass Action Emails
What emails are considered Mass Action Emails?
- Email sent via mass action from the Report Results window. This includes Event Confirmation emails, Form Confirmations, and Email Templates.
- Scheduled Emails
Miscellaneous
What is the retention policy for email analytics?
The retention policy for email analytics is consistent with the data retention policy for email history and credit card data. Email analytics data is 90 days following the event end date. The data is then archived for an additional 9 months before it is permanently purged from the database.
What emails are not tracked?
Emails sent to Speakers and Reviewers are not tracked. Messages sent as a CC or BCC are not tracked. Email Analytics does not record any data when sent to test registrations.
How many emails can I send in a single mass action?
5000 is the max number of records that can be sent in a single mass action. If more than 5000 records exist, the send must be broken 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 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.
Is email sent from Certain CAN-SPAM compliant?
No. However, that does not mean you cannot implement CAN-SPAM compliant requirements into emails. To about CAN-SPAM compliance [](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business).
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