Measurement
How to interpret replies versus opens
A reply is a person. An open is a pixel that may never fire. MAILTIG reports both, and treats opens and clicks as noisy indicators.
By MAILTIG editorial. Reviewed by Product (Analyst / product) on 5 November 2026. Next review due 4 February 2027. 5 minute read.
Opens feel like progress. They are a weak signal. Replies are the event MAILTIG is built around.
What an open is
An open is recorded when a tracking image (or similar) is requested. Many clients never load remote images. Some load them in bulk. Some privacy proxies fetch them without a human looking. Treat the count as a noisy indicator, not proof that a person read the message.
What a click is
A click is a request for a tracked link. In a demonstration workspace with no links, clicks stay at zero. In production, bots and previewers click too. Useful as a supporting clue; not a conversation.
What a reply is
A reply is a message that arrived, was matched to a contact and a campaign, and sits in the inbox. That is a person (or an auto-responder, which you can see in the thread). Sequence conditions can branch on reply. LinkedIn, SMS and call steps cannot, because MAILTIG does not send those for you.
How to decide
For go / no-go on a sequence, use replies, bounces and unsubscribes. Use opens and clicks to ask questions, not to declare a winner. A/B in MAILTIG waits until each variant has at least 30 sends before it treats the comparison as meaningful.