Understand the E-mail "Read Receipt" or "Return Receipts" requests

Understand the E-mail "Read Receipt" or "Return Receipts" requests

These are the basic rules of the "Read Receipt" or "Return Receipts" on E-mail messages.

  1. It's generated by the E-mail client on the receivers end (not the E-mail server)
  2. It is a optional request we make of the receiver who can usually choose to either send it, or not at the time they first interact with a specific message (and that choice depending on how they answer the popup on their individual mail client/install can either be one time, or always the same answer going forward)
  3. Most free webmail services will ignore it (Gmail, Yahoo, AOL etc).
  4. Only during re-configuration of the receiving E-mail client will you possibly be asked the question send Yes/No question a second time on any individual E-mail message.
  5. Most of the common/popular E-mail clients (Outlook/Thunderbird/iOS Mail/Android mail) will act the same way.

Geek Out: The internet uses standards called RFC's so everyone knows how to talk with one another. Here's the one governing these types of messages: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2298.txt