Here is some background on how we retrieve email information when tracking:
When the recipient opens a tracked email, it sends a secure web request back to ContactMonkey's server, and the server records the IP address that the message was opened from and the date and time. Then it pushes back data to the sender, including:
- how many times the message was viewed
- the geographic location it was viewed at
- the type of client it was viewed from (based on what the mail client reports as its type when it makes the HTML request)
Some recipients may have their IP address blocked, or use a VPN which 'masks' their true IP address.
Moreover, some companies and even email clients set up a 'fake' IP address to help protect their user's privacy and mask their location.
e.g. Gmail has set up a proxy server when you open emails using their application, so that their location often displays as “Mountainview, CA”.