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KeithGluck
Community Manager
KeithGluckCommunity Manager
Community Manager
July 8, 2026
Pinned

Understanding Guidance on Email Tracking Pixels

  • July 8, 2026
  • 11 replies
  • 2099 views

This post is for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice and does not warrant your compliance. The Adobe Marketo Engage product capabilities described in this help article, configured and operated appropriately, support a compliant implementation. Each user is responsible for determining and complying with its obligations under applicable law.


Overview

On April 14, 2026, France’s data protection authority (CNIL) published a recommendation on the use of open tracking pixels in emails. Three days later, Italy’s independent data protection authority (“Garante”) published Provision No. 284 (the “Garante Provision”). Both guidances, while non-legally binding, clarify when consent is required and highlight the importance of proper consent practices for email pixel tracking. These policies could impact sending processes for any entity delivering emails to subscribers who fall under applicable EU privacy law. 


As regulators continue to clarify guidance on tracking pixels and related issues, Adobe will continue to monitor updates and inform you of changing technical capabilities. Adobe’s documentation on email tracking pixels reflects current regulatory guidance. Adobe will continue to update documentation as needed to reflect relevant changes that may impact use of Marketo Engage as regulatory requirements evolve. Delays in updating materials do not constitute a failure on behalf of Adobe.


Marketo Engage offers controls that help you manage open tracking at the email level. Users are responsible for determining their own compliance obligations under applicable CNIL guidance and other laws. 


What is an email tracking pixel

An email tracking pixel is a small transparent image (just 1x1 pixel in size) embedded in the HTML of an email. When a recipient’s email client loads the email images, the pixel pings a server that records data such as a timestamp, device type, email client, and sometimes an IP address for approximate location. That log is tied to the recipient’s record, allowing marketers to see whether an email is opened.


Guidance on consent tracking

Detailed steps are outlined for Marketo Engage users in this help article on Experience League.


Updates and support

For the latest updates, bookmark this post. If you have any questions, please post a comment below.

      11 replies

      ofallskfoos
      Level 1
      July 8, 2026

      Thank you, this was very helpful and easy to understand. I was anle to relaye it to a similar concern I have.

      Katie Foos
        adesrala1
        Adobe Champion
        adesrala1Adobe Champion
        Adobe Champion
        July 17, 2026

        Thanks for sharing this update and the Adobe guidance.

        From a technical implementation perspective, I'm interested in understanding how other Marketo Engage customers are operationalizing this for promotional emails.

        Given that open tracking is enabled at the email asset level, what scalable approaches are organizations using to honor recipient-level consent without introducing significant operational overhead? For example, are teams maintaining separate email assets, leveraging segmentation or Smart Campaigns, or using another pattern?

        I'd be interested to hear how others have implemented this at scale.

        Found this helpful? Mark the thread as solved so other community members can quickly locate the answer.
          NicoDobrev
          NicoDobrev
          Level 2
          August 13, 2026

          This is something that we are also thinking about internally. Since the “Track opens” option is connected to the email itself, rather than the campaign, we don’t see any other option than creating 2 emails - one with tracking, one without. 

          But if it was a trigger than you can add to your flow, for example if Email A is for your French audience, then add a “Open tracking” pixel, and then send Email A. Or something like that. 

          Looking forward to see other ideas without overloading our Marketos with emails.  

          sandy_logitech
          User Group Leader
          sandy_logitechUser Group Leader
          User Group Leader
          August 13, 2026

          This is something that we are also thinking about internally. Since the “Track opens” option is connected to the email itself, rather than the campaign, we don’t see any other option than creating 2 emails - one with tracking, one without. 

          No need to have different 2 emails for conditional open tracking if you use the tiny Velocity token shown here:

           

            SanfordWhiteman
            SanfordWhiteman
            Level 10
            July 20, 2026

            We use this simple Velocity token for conditional open tracking based on a Boolean field Can Be Tracked (it’s just a newer version of code I blogged about back in 2018):

            #set( $canBeTracked = $lead.TrackingEnabled.equals("1") )
            #if( $canBeTracked )
            <img src="https://click.example.com/trk?t=1&mid=${mktmail.QpMarketoId}" )
            #end

             

            However, doing the same for click tracking is much, much more difficult. Not quite impossible but you need to drastically revamp your templates and have an expert Velocity dev.  

              adesrala1
              Adobe Champion
              adesrala1Adobe Champion
              Adobe Champion
              July 27, 2026

              ​@SanfordWhiteman 
               

              Thanks for sharing this—it's a good approach, especially since it avoids maintaining separate email assets by making the tracking decision at the recipient level.

              In our case, though, the challenge is that our email framework is heavily customized from Knak through to Marketo, so introducing Velocity into the template structure would require broader template changes and regression testing. We're trying to understand whether others have found implementation patterns that preserve existing template architecture while still honoring recipient-level consent at scale.

              I appreciate you sharing your implementation and the insight around click tracking as well—that's helpful context.

              Found this helpful? Mark the thread as solved so other community members can quickly locate the answer.
              C_Blakeley
              C_Blakeley
              Level 2
              July 30, 2026

              The real missing capability is native person-level suppression of both open and click tracking at send time, without requiring duplicate assets, Velocity scripting, or custom link-tracking infrastructure. 

               

              CBlakeley
                EK_Charlie
                Level 2
                August 5, 2026

                Completely agree, the suggested work around is not ideal.. adding time and complexity at a central and local level. Hopefully a better solution comes

                  sandy_logitech
                  User Group Leader
                  sandy_logitechUser Group Leader
                  User Group Leader
                  August 7, 2026

                  Certainly the open tracking example doesn’t add any time or substantive complexity. You drop it in one time into your templates.

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