Should you track opens in cold outreach?

Whether to track opens in cold email involves tradeoffs between data and deliverability.

Arguments for tracking:

Provides visibility into subject line effectiveness

Indicates whether messages are seen at all

Can trigger follow-up timing in some workflows

Historical comparison across campaigns

Arguments against tracking:

Deliverability impact: Tracking pixels can trigger filtering

Reliability issues: Apple MPP makes data inaccurate

Privacy concerns: Tracking without disclosure raises ethical questions

Minimal actionability: Open data rarely changes strategy significantly

Practical considerations:

Open rates are directional at best

Reply rates are more meaningful for cold email

Maximum deliverability requires minimal tracking

Cold email already faces filtering challenges

Recommended approach:

Consider disabling open tracking for highest deliverability

If tracking, use custom tracking domain (not shared)

Don't make decisions based solely on open data

Focus measurement on replies and business outcomes