So you sent an email message to your friend, colleague or spouse, hoping to get an answer from them. But when you do not get any answer soon, you get impatient and start thinking – if the email message even reached them or not; if they have read the email message or not etc. This is where SpyPig can be useful. SpyPig is a free online service to track down your send email messages. SpyPig is a simple email tracking system that sends you a notification by email when the recipient opens your message.
The SpyPig service works only with HTML email messages. It does not work with plain text messages. So be careful to select HTML email messages when creating a new message to be sent. By default, major web based email services like Yahoo!, AOL, Gmail, Hotmail etc. use HTML format when composing a new email message. Here is how you can use the SpyPig :
- Use your email client or web based email service to compose a new message like you usually do. It should be HTML message and not the plain text message.
- Visit http://www.spypig.com/ web site in Microsoft Internet Explorer. For other web browsers, the method is a little different.
- You would find a form on the right-side. Enter your email address (sender’s email address) in this form – this is required because the notification that your message has been read would be sent to you at this email address. Enter the title of your email message (to identifiy which email message is read). Choose a SpyPig image to be pasted in your new email message and click on the button labeled Click to Create My SpyPig.
- You would see another image appear in the same form. This is actually an image hyperlink. If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, then just right-click on this image and choose Copy as shown.
- Go back into the email message you were composing in the step 1. At the end of your email message, right-click and choose Paste. This would place the SpyPig hyperlink at the very end of your email message. In the following picture, I pasted this SpyPig hyperlink when using Yahoo! web email :
- Now just send your email message like usual. When the recipient opens your email, the SpyPig image would be displayed and the SpyPig web site would know that the email has been opened. Then, in turn, the SpyPig web site would send you a notification that the email message has been read.
Now you have to worry no more if your email messages have been read. You can send the email messages and relax, when the recipient reads your email, SpyPig would tell you.