Beacon Images for Open Tracking
A "beacon" is an image that Sailthru uses to track users who are reading your email with images turned on, a term known in the email industry as "opens".1) If you want to track opens, you must include the beacon in your templates and campaigns.
Including the beacon also allows you to gather more data about your users who don't click on emails, including the times of day they read email and geolocale information, so including it is almost always recommended.
Uploading Your Beacon
Your beacon should ideally be a logo or other image that you would use in your emails anyway. You should not use a 1x1 transparent pixel image, as this will effect deliverability. If you don't upload an image, the beacon will be a generic "Sailthru Powered" logo.
Visit your Settings Page and upload a PNG, GIF, or JPG image under Beacon Image. After you've uploaded this image once, you do not need to do so again unless you change beacons.
Placing Your Beacon
Include the image in the HTML content of your email templates and campaigns by placing:
{beacon}
In preview and test emails you will see what the beacon will look like.
By default, the beacon, when clicked, will link to your homepage (if you use your own logo) or Sailthru (if you use ours). If you wish to make it not a link, you can place this instead:
<img src="{beacon_src}" alt="logo alt text here" />
HTTPS Beacons
If you are using HTTPS images in your email, you may get security warnings in Internet Explorer if you have any non-secure images in your email. In this scenario, you'll need to use an HTTPS beacon. Use {beacon_ssl} (or refer to {beacon_src_ssl}) to accomplish this.
