Act-On lets admins turn off the open-tracking pixel that's normally added to every outbound email. Once it's on, no email sent from your account carries that pixel, whether it goes out through a standard bulk send, the BEE editor, or a transactional/API send.
This setting exists because of recent regulatory activity in France (CNIL) and Italy (Garante) around consent for email open tracking. This article covers what the setting does and how to turn it on. It isn't legal guidance, and turning it on isn't a statement that your account is compliant with any regulation. If you have questions about what your business is required to do, talk to your own legal counsel.
What the setting actually does
Every email Act-On sends normally includes an invisible pixel. When a recipient opens the email, that pixel loads and Act-On records it as an "open." This is how opens get counted in reports, how open-based segments populate, and how some scoring models measure engagement.
Turning this setting on removes that pixel from every email your account sends, starting from the moment you enable it. It's an account-wide switch. You can't apply it to just one send, one segment, or one country's contacts. It's on for everyone or off for everyone.
Click tracking is separate and isn't touched by this setting. If a recipient clicks a link in your email, that click is still recorded either way.
Turn it on
- Go to Custom Account Settings.
- Open Security and Policy.
- Find Suppress Email Tracking Pixel and switch it on.
That's it. The change takes effect on your next send. Nothing about your past sends or existing reports changes.
Confirm it worked
Once it's on, send yourself a test email and check the Sent report for that message a little later. If the open count stays at zero even after you've opened the email, the pixel isn't being added anymore, and the setting is working as expected.
What to know before you turn it on
Because Act-On uses open data to power several other features, switching this on has effects beyond reporting. Before you enable it, understand what else will change.
Segments. Any segment built around "opened this email" or "did not open this email" will stop working the way you'd expect. Contacts will look like they never opened anything, because Act-On genuinely has no way to know if they did.
Automated Programs. If a program branches based on whether someone opened an email, every contact will follow the "did not open" path. There's no way to exempt a program from this.
Reporting. Open rates and open counts for sends after you enable the setting will show zero. This isn't a bug. There's no data to report.
Predictive Lead Score. Since open activity feeds into scoring, contacts' scores may trend lower after you turn this on. That doesn't mean they're less engaged. It means one of the signals scoring relies on is no longer available.
There's currently no way to keep open data for internal use, like list hygiene or scoring, while hiding it from reports. Turning this on affects every use of open data across the account at once.
Frequently asked questions
Does this affect click tracking too?
No. This setting only removes the open-tracking pixel. Link clicks are tracked separately and aren't affected.
Can I turn this on for just my contacts in France or Italy?
Not right now. The setting applies to your whole account. There's no way to scope it by recipient, segment, or country.
Will this delete or change my existing reports?
No. Historical open data you've already collected stays exactly as it is. The setting only affects sends that go out after you turn it on.
If I turn it off later, does tracking come back right away?
Yes. Turning the setting off restores the pixel on your next send. The setting works in both directions and always applies going forward, never retroactively.
Can recipients opt in or out of tracking individually?
Not at this time. This is an account-level control, not a per-recipient consent tool.