Email Management - Githubissues

As an email system administrator, tracking unsubscriptions, bounces, and email open rates are critical tasks to ensure a healthy email campaign and improve delivery rates. Let’s break down your system and its improvements for managing these components.

Email Unsubscription Tracking

Unsubscribe Management Flow:

Unsubscribe Link: The emails include a unique unsubscribe link (send_email_with_unsubscribe). This link allows recipients to unsubscribe from future emails, which is essential for compliance with CAN-SPAM laws and other email regulations.
Unsubscribe Handling Server Code: When a user clicks the unsubscribe link, the server-side code (/unsubscribe) handles the request, logs the action, and optionally updates the database to ensure the user is no longer sent future emails.
- Improvement: Make sure that the unsubscribe link is unique per email, so you can track exactly which user unsubscribed.
- Optional Features: You may want to store the unsubscribe event in a database for future analytics, compliance, or re-engagement campaigns.

Email Open Tracking (Pixel Tracking)

Pixel Tracking Flow:

Sending Email with Pixel Tracking: The code adds an HTML <img> tag with a small 1x1 tracking pixel that triggers a request to the server when the email is opened (send_email_with_tracking).
- Key Consideration: Pixel tracking is a common way to measure open rates, but it's important to note that some email clients block these tracking pixels by default.
Server-side Tracking: The Flask server logs the email address when the pixel is loaded (/tracking_pixel), which helps track which recipients opened the email. This event can be logged or stored in a database for deeper analytics on campaign engagement.
- Improvement: Consider adding more detailed logging, such as the timestamp and user-agent, to track trends and potential spam filter issues.

Bounce Management

Although bounce management isn’t explicitly mentioned in your code, it's essential for an email system admin. Here’s how it typically works:

Soft Bounce: Temporary issues like the recipient's mailbox being full. You can retry sending the email.
Hard Bounce: Permanent issues like an invalid email address. These emails should be removed from the list immediately to maintain high deliverability rates.

For bounce tracking, you would typically monitor the responses from the SMTP server (e.g., using Return-Path headers or specific webhook services from email APIs like Gmail API, SES, or SendGrid).

Integration with Email Tracking Code

3.2 Email Open Tracking (Pixel Tracking)

Python Code for Sending Emails with a Tracking Pixel:

import smtplib
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.text import MIMEText

def send_email_with_tracking(to_email):
    from_email = "you@example.com"
    subject = "Your Subject Here"

    msg = MIMEMultipart("alternative")
    msg["From"] = from_email
    msg["To"] = to_email
    msg["Subject"] = subject

    html_body = """
    <html>
    <body>
        <p>Hello,</p>
        <p>This email includes an embedded tracking pixel.</p>
        <img src="https://yourserver.com/tracking_pixel?email={}" width="1" height="1" />
    </body>
    </html>
    """.format(to_email)

    part = MIMEText(html_body, "html")
    msg.attach(part)

    with smtplib.SMTP("smtp.example.com", 587) as server:
        server.starttls()
        server.login("you@example.com", "yourpassword")
        server.sendmail(from_email, to_email, msg.as_string())

Server-Side Code for Tracking Pixel Handling:

from flask import Flask, request

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route("/tracking_pixel", methods=["GET"])
def track_open():
    email = request.args.get("email")
    # Log email open
    print(f"Email opened by: {email}")
    return "", 200, {'Content-Type': 'image/gif'}

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run(debug=True)

3.3 Unsubscribe Management

Python Code for Unsubscribe Link:

def send_email_with_unsubscribe(to_email, unsubscribe_link):
    from_email = "you@example.com"
    subject = "Unsubscribe Option"

    msg = MIMEMultipart("alternative")
    msg["From"] = from_email
    msg["To"] = to_email
    msg["Subject"] = subject

    html_body = """
    <html>
    <body>
        <p>If you wish to unsubscribe, click <a href="{}">here</a>.</p>
    </body>
    </html>
    """.format(unsubscribe_link)

    part = MIMEText(html_body, "html")
    msg.attach(part)

    with smtplib.SMTP("smtp.example.com", 587) as server:
        server.starttls()
        server.login("you@example.com", "yourpassword")
        server.sendmail(from_email, to_email, msg.as_string())

unsubscribe_link = "https://yourserver.com/unsubscribe?email=recipient@example.com"
send_email_with_unsubscribe("recipient@example.com", unsubscribe_link)

Server-Side Code for Unsubscribe Handling:

@app.route("/unsubscribe", methods=["GET"])
def unsubscribe():
    email = request.args.get("email")
    # Remove the email from the mailing list or mark it as unsubscribed in the database
    print(f"Unsubscribed email: {email}")
    # Optionally, store this information in your database
    # db.unsubscribes.insert_one({"email": email, "status": "unsubscribed"})
    return "You have been unsubscribed successfully.", 200

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run(debug=True)

Additional Enhancements:

Bounce Management: Integrate bounce handling using the SMTP server's response codes. You can set up a process to mark hard bounces in your database and remove them from future campaigns.
Database Integration: Track email opens, unsubscriptions, and bounces using a database like MongoDB or Firestore. This data can be used to build engagement reports and improve future campaigns.
Retry Mechanism for Errors: Implement retry logic in case of failed email delivery (as shown in your flowchart with the retry process in Handle Error and Retry).
Security and Privacy: Consider securing the pixel tracking and unsubscribe mechanisms by using HTTPS for secure communication and adding authentication checks to prevent misuse.

This structure should allow for efficient management and tracking of email campaigns.

DevCEDTeam / CED

Email Management #140