How Flodesk email tracking works
Overview
On April 14, 2026, France's data protection authority (the CNIL) published a binding recommendation on email tracking pixels. Starting July 14, 2026, businesses generally need prior, explicit, and separate consent from recipients before tracking email opens and clicks, unless an exemption applies.
This recommendation applies to marketing emails sent to contacts based in France, even if your business is located somewhere else.
The table below lists the trackers Flodesk uses (or offers to you for you to use) in your emails, what it does, what data it collects, and whether you have a consent control for it today. We want you to have enough detail to decide for yourself whether each tracker needs consent under this recommendation, so please read the table closely rather than just the summary.
We're not able to provide legal advice, and this article isn't a substitute for consulting your own legal counsel about how this recommendation applies to your business.
What tracking technology Flodesk uses in your emails
# | Tracker | What is it? | Data captured | Purpose | Consent control today |
A1 | Email open pixel | Two implementations:
| Email opened (by recipient), timestamp, approximate location, and device ID | Deliverability analytics | None |
A2 | Email click tracking | Link redirect/wrapping. Same two implementations as A1 | Link clicked (by recipient), timestamp, IP address, user-agent string | Deliverability analytics | None |
A3 | Opt-in per-link affiliate / ad-network tag (data-mediavine-tracking-enabled) | Affiliate click attribution for that link, plus the subscriber's email address disclosed to Mediavine in plaintext in the URL path: https://urls.grow.me/{base64 original url}/e/{subscriber email} | Affiliate attribution linked via Mediavine’s Grow network | Opt-in per link; default is OFF |
How this recommendation affects you
Because the open pixel and click tracking are used only for deliverability analytics, we believe, that per the French recommendation, this use is exempt from the new consent requirement for:
transactional emails, and
emails your subscribers already consented to receive.
We understand this recommendation has raised real concerns for members who send to subscribers in France, and we hear you. We also want to be transparent: the responsibility for compliance ultimately sits with you as the sender, not with Flodesk, and we can't tell you how the recommendation applies to your specific business.
What you can do today
If you've turned on Mediavine Grow Email Connect for any links, you can turn it off per link right now. Since it's opt-in and off by default, you'll only need to do this if you've previously enabled it.
To manage the open pixel or click tracking, you'll need to wait for the account-level control described below (this is coming, but it isn't available yet).
What's coming
Account-level tracking toggle
You'll be able to turn off all tracking technology for your emails at the account level. Turning this off will also affect the analytics you receive and may prevent workflows triggered by opens or clicks from working as intended.
Target: end of Q3 2026.
Subscriber-level consent (exploring)
We're exploring a way for you to upload a CSV with a new column reflecting each subscriber's cookie consent value.
Subscriber location field (exploring)
We're exploring adding a location field for each subscriber, populated by Flodesk, so you have visibility into where your subscribers are located. We want to flag a limitation upfront: Flodesk doesn't routinely collect location data, and the location data we do get from the open pixel isn't reliable, so we may not be able to populate this field consistently.
FAQs
Does this recommendation apply to all of my subscribers?
It applies to marketing emails sent to contacts based in France, regardless of where your business is located.
Do I need to do anything right now?
If you've enabled Mediavine Grow Email Connect on any links, you can turn it off today. Otherwise, the main control you're waiting on (the account-level tracking toggle) is targeted for the end of Q3 2026.
Will turning off tracking affect my workflows?
Yes. If you use workflows triggered by opens or clicks, turning off tracking may prevent those workflows from performing as intended.
What about Italy's recommendation on tracking pixels?
This article addresses the French recommendation only. We'll address the Italian recommendation at a later date.