hey.com is onto something with its tracking-pixel blocker

When I first saw the tracking pixel blocking feature of hey.com I didn’t think too much of it. In fact, I thought it was making it into something more than it really was.

I typically block all images on my emails, and that’s good enough. I also have an ad-blocker (both via DNS and in the browser), so I can eliminate the issue right there without too much fanfare.

But I was wrong. It’s not just about blocking them.

The first email I received that had a tracking pixel happened to be from Backblaze (a backup company, which I respect and like). It was one of their auto-notifications. Nothing too important. But I didn’t expect them to track those emails. In fact, I’m willing to bet that they didn’t even want to track those emails. It just came as a default from their email provider (sendgrid).

But when I saw the info from hey about it, it actually compelled me to email Backblaze and complain about it.

And that’s when it hit me. Surfacing those tracking pixels in this way is a brilliant move by hey.com. They’re not just blocking these trackers, but they also bring this to the surface. Hopefully compelling people to take action.

So if you’re using hey.com (or even if you’re not, and you can figure out whether the email you receive has tracking on it), you should let the companies who emailed you know that you’re not happy about it.