Prompt
How do I get delivery open and click events back from an email API?
Latest observation
To get delivery, open, and click events back from an email API, you usually need to enable event/webhook tracking in your email provider and then make sure your app can receive those callbacks.
1) Enable tracking in your email provider
Most email APIs have settings for:
- Delivered / bounced / deferred
- Opens
- Clicks
- Sometimes spam complaints, unsubscribe, etc.
Look for settings like:
- “Event Webhooks”
- “Tracking”
- “Message Events”
- “Webhook Notifications”
2) Register a webhook endpoint
Create an HTTPS endpoint in your app that the email provider can call when events happen.
Example:
POST https://yourdomain.com/webhooks/email
Your endpoint should:
- Accept JSON payloads
- Respond quickly with
200 OK - Verify signatures/tokens if the provider supports them
3) Make sure you send with the right options
When sending email, many APIs require tracking to be enabled per message or per domain/account.
Common options:
track_opens: truetrack_clicks: truedelivery_tracking: truetracking_settings: { open_tracking: true, click_tracking: true }
Also note:
- Open tracking usually works via a tracking pixel, so it can be blocked by privacy features.
- Click tracking rewrites links through a tracking domain.
- Delivery events are usually server-side and more reliable than opens.
4) Handle event payloads
Your provider will send events like:
deliveredopenedclickedbouncedcomplainedunsubscribed
Store them in your database and associate them with the message ID / recipient.
5) Confirm the basics
If you’re not seeing events:
- Webhook URL must be publicly reachable and use HTTPS
- Your endpoint must return
2xx - Event tracking must be enabled for the sender/domain
- SPF/DKIM/DMARC should be set up properly
- Opens may be suppressed by Apple Mail Privacy Protection or image blocking
- Click tracking may require branded/custom tracking domains in some providers
6) If you mean “delivery/open/click events from the provider API”
Some APIs let you pull events via an events endpoint instead of webhooks. In that case, check for:
GET /eventsGET /messages/{id}/eventsGET /activity
You typically filter by:
- message ID
- recipient
- event type
- date range
If you tell me which email API/provider you’re using (SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, SES, Mailchimp Transactional, etc.), I can give you the exact steps and example code.