Using tracking pixels

A tracking pixel is a 1 by 1 image at an address only you know. Each time something shows it, SwfTap counts a load. Put it in an email template to count opens, in a digital signage playlist to count plays, or on a web page you can't add a script to. Open Tracking pixels in the sidebar and click "+ Create pixel": give it a name, pick a colour, and click Create.

Choosing a colour

Match the background the pixel sits on so it disappears: white for most emails, black or your brand colour for a dark screen layout. Transparent works in HTML email and on web pages, but some signage players draw transparent images with a visible box, so a matching colour is safer there. You can change the colour later without changing the address.

Putting it somewhere

• •Email: open the pixel, copy the HTML, and paste it into the source of your email template, usually just before the closing body tag. Most newsletter tools have a "source" or "HTML" view.
• •Digital signage: copy the image address (GIF, or PNG if your player needs it) and add it as a 1 pixel image in the playlist or layout, or paste the HTML into an HTML widget. Each play loads it once.
• •Web page: paste the HTML anywhere in the page. Every page view loads it.

Folders

Group pixels into folders, for example one per campaign or one for every screen in a store. Use "+ New folder" above the list, then pick the folder when you create or edit a pixel. Deleting a folder leaves its pixels in place, unfiled.

Reading the numbers

The Analytics tab shows loads (how many times the image was fetched) and unique devices (loads grouped by connection and browser) for every pixel, one folder or a single pixel: a table of pixels, devices and locations, a log of every load you can filter and download, trends by date, hour, weekday or day of the month, and a map of where loads came from. It updates live. Mail services that fetch images on the reader's behalf, such as Gmail and Apple Mail's privacy protection, can show one device for many readers, or an open the reader never made, so treat email opens as a trend rather than an exact count.

Ignoring your own address

Under Ignored addresses, add your office or home IP address (search the web for "what is my IP" to find it) or a whole range such as 203.0.113.0/24. Loads from those addresses are kept but never counted, for every pixel in the workspace. Loads from your own signed-in browser are ignored automatically. The Analytics tab says how many loads were ignored, so you can confirm your test worked.

Pausing and limits

Pausing a pixel keeps serving the image (so an email never shows a broken picture) but stops counting. Starter includes 1 tracking pixel, Pro 25, and Team and Enterprise have no limit. A paused pixel doesn't count towards the limit.