Review email tracking consent guidelines

Last updated: September 19, 2026

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When you send a tracked email through HubSpot, you can monitor engagement by tracking when the recipient opens the email or clicks a link. In HubSpot, email opens are tracked using a tracking pixel and email clicks are tracked using rewritten tracking URLs. Depending on the recipient’s location, you may need to collect their consent before tracking email opens and clicks.

In this article, learn how email tracking works in HubSpot and how to turn off email tracking for contacts who haven't provided consent to be tracked.

Recent guidelines from data protection authorities in France and Italy generally require prior consent to use tracking pixels in emails, with certain exemptions. The following is not an exhaustive list of regions with email tracking requirements. Requirements may vary or change as additional data protection authorities introduce guidance.

France’s Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL): prior consent is required for most uses of tracking pixels in emails sent to recipients in France, with limited exemptions. Review the full guidelines or the English translation.
Italy’s Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali: the Garante adopted guidelines requiring consent for most uses of tracking pixels in emails, with limited exemptions. Review the full guidelines.

What this means for you: these recent consent guidelines apply to tracked emails sent to recipients located in France or Italy, regardless of where the sender is based.

Please note: this article provides general guidance about HubSpot’s email tracking and is not intended as legal or compliance advice. Review the official guidelines and consult your legal team to determine the requirements and exemptions that apply to your specific situation.

How email tracking works in HubSpot

When you send a tracked email through HubSpot, HubSpot uses the following methods to track opens and clicks:

Email opens: an invisible one-pixel image is embedded in the email. When the recipient opens the email, the tracking pixel loads, and the open event is recorded in HubSpot.
Email clicks: HubSpot rewrites links in the email using tracking URLs. When a recipient clicks a tracked link, the click event is recorded in HubSpot.

Based on your email settings, open and click tracking can be applied to the following email types. If you use tracking for these emails, review any applicable email tracking guidelines for obtaining prior consent:

Marketing emails, including regular marketing emails, automated emails sent through workflows, and blog/RSS emails.
One-to-one emails sent from the CRM or through the HubSpot Sales extension or add-in.
Sequence emails.
Transactional emails.

Please note: certain uses of email tracking may be exempt from these guidelines, including tracking for specific purposes in transactional emails. Review any applicable email tracking guidelines for obtaining prior consent and consult your legal team to determine whether an exemption applies to your situation.

Turn off email tracking

If your contacts haven't provided consent to be tracked, you can turn off email open and click tracking for your account or for individual emails. The options for turning off tracking depend on the email type.

Marketing emails

The following tracking settings apply to regular marketing emails, automated emails sent through workflows, blog/RSS emails, and transactional emails.

Turn off marketing email tracking account-wide

In your HubSpot account, click the settings icon in the top navigation bar.
In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Marketing > Email.
Click the Tracking tab.
Toggle the Track email opens switch off. By default, this will also turn off the following switches:
- Track clicks in HTML emails
- Track clicks in plain text emails
Click Save.

Learn more about managing marketing email open and click tracking.

Turn off marketing email tracking for an individual email

You can turn off open and click tracking for an individual marketing email while keeping account-level tracking turned on.

For example, you can turn off tracking for an email sent to recipients who haven't provided tracking consent while keeping account-level tracking turned on. Learn more about turning off tracking for an individual email.

One-to-one emails

Tracking for one-to-one emails is managed account-wide. If you’re using the HubSpot Sales extension or add-in, you can turn off tracking for individual emails.

Turn off one-to-one email tracking account-wide

The following tracking settings apply to emails sent through the CRM, the HubSpot Sales extension or add-in, sequences, and the help desk or conversations inbox.

To turn off tracking for all one-to-one emails sent from your account:

In your HubSpot account, click the settings icon in the top navigation bar.
In the left sidebar menu, under Data Management, navigate to Objects.
At the top of the Objects page, click the Select an object dropdown menu and select Activities.
In the Email Log and Track Settings section, clear the Allow all users to track emails and see recipients open and click on their emails checkbox.
At the bottom, click Save.

Learn more about managing one-to-one email tracking.

Turn off one-to-one email tracking for an individual email

The following steps apply to emails sent through the HubSpot Sales extension or add-in. The steps vary based on your email client.

To turn off tracking for an individual email:

In your Gmail or Outlook inbox, navigate to an email thread or compose a new email.
Depending on your email client, clear the Track checkbox:

Gmail: in the upper right of the email composer.
Outlook: at the top of the task pane.

Learn more about managing tracking for the HubSpot Sales Chrome extension and the Office 365 add-in.

Impact of turning off email tracking

When email tracking is turned off, HubSpot doesn't collect new open or click events for affected emails. Existing open and click data remains available.

Features that rely on email open or click events may have incomplete data or limited functionality when tracking is turned off. The following is a non-exhaustive list of features and tools that may be affected.

Feature or tool	Impact when tracking is turned off
Marketing email analytics	Metrics such as open rate, click-through rate, unique opens, and unique clicks may be missing or incomplete.
Marketing email health	Email health metrics or recommendations that depend on open or click engagement may be incomplete.
Send time optimization	Send time optimization may be less effective when new open or click engagement data isn’t available. Contacts without enough engagement data will receive the email at the beginning of the sending range.
Local time zone sending	A contact’s IP timezone may be missing or incomplete when new open or click engagement data isn’t available. This can affect marketing email time zone sending when the IP timezone is used as a fallback.
Graymail suppression	Suppression may be less accurate because new open and click engagement won’t be available to determine whether contacts are engaged.
A/B tests for marketing emails	A/B tests that determine a winner based on opens or clicks may default to the fallback version as the winning email.
Marketing email engagement optimization	Recommendations that depend on open or click engagement may be unavailable, incomplete, or less effective.
Sequences	Sequence steps or branches that rely on opens or clicks won't be triggered by new tracking events.
Sequence email analytics	Metrics such as opens, clicks, and open/click rates may be missing or incomplete.
Workflows and automation	Workflow enrollment criteria, branches, or actions that rely on email opens or clicks won’t be triggered by new tracking events.
Workflow email trends	Workflow email performance statistics that rely on opens or clicks may be incomplete.
Active segments	Contacts won't enter or leave active segments based on new open or click activity.
CRM engagement properties	CRM properties that rely on email open or click events won’t update with new tracking data.
Contact timeline	New email open or click activities won't appear on the contact's timeline. Logged emails will still appear separately.
Deal scores	Deal score inputs based on buyer engagement may be incomplete when they include email opens or clicks.
Lead scoring	Lead scores that use email open or click criteria won’t receive new tracking events for those criteria.
Attribution reporting	Marketing email click events from HubSpot click tracking won’t be available for attribution reports that rely on those interactions. Source and UTM-based attribution may still apply where configured.

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to common questions about email tracking consent and regional guidelines.

Will turning off email tracking impact email deliverability?

Turning off tracking does not prevent emails from sending or being delivered. It only impacts the ability to collect and use open and click engagement data for affected emails.

Does HubSpot automatically stop tracking contacts in France or Italy?

No. HubSpot doesn't automatically turn off email tracking based on a contact's location. Use your email tracking settings to turn off tracking as needed.

Tracking consent and consent to receive communications are separate. If a contact is subscribed to receive email from your company, you can continue sending email based on their subscription status.

No. The Legal basis for processing contact’s data property does not record consent to track email opens and clicks. Legal basis and email tracking consent are separate.

Will turning off email tracking impact my double opt-in settings?

No. Email tracking settings don’t affect your double opt-in for emails.

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