This article describes the regulatory landscape in general terms and isn't legal advice. If you're unsure about your situation, consult a lawyer familiar with data protection rules in your recipients' countries.
What's new
Every workspace now has an Email tracking section in Sequences settings. It controls how recipient consent is handled when you track email opens and link clicks. There are three modes:
Opt-out (default): opens and clicks are tracked unless the recipient turns tracking off.
Opt-in: opens and clicks are tracked only for recipients who explicitly allow it.
No consent required: opens and clicks are tracked without asking, except for recipients who have already turned tracking off.
When open or link tracking is on, every sequence email includes a Manage your email tracking preferences link. Recipients use it to allow or refuse tracking. Hunter saves their choice and applies it to every later email they receive from your workspace.
Why consent matters
Tracking pixels are covered by the EU's ePrivacy rules and the UK's equivalent, PECR, which govern storing or accessing information on a recipient's device. Under these rules, non-essential trackers need the recipient's prior consent.
France (CNIL) has required prior consent for email tracking pixels since 14 July 2026, and says "legitimate interest" is not a valid substitute.
Italy (Garante) has taken the same position: invisible tracking in emails needs informed, prior consent.
Other EU regulators and the UK's ICO apply the same underlying rules.
Link tracking works through redirect links and falls under the same rules as open tracking.
đ As the sender, you're the data controller for your recipients. Choosing the right consent mode, and having a lawful basis for any tracking, is your responsibility, not Hunter's.
Choose your workspace's consent mode
Go to Sequences â Settings.
Open the Email tracking section.
Under Tracking consent, select No consent required, Opt-out or Opt-in.
Click Save settings.
The mode applies to your whole workspace: every member, every sequence and every sender account. Changes apply immediately. The next email sent follows the new mode, and opens or clicks on emails you already sent are only recorded if the new mode allows them.
How each mode treats your recipients
| Recipient hasn't chosen | Recipient allowed tracking | Recipient turned tracking off |
Opt-out (default) | Tracked | Tracked | Not tracked |
Opt-in | Not tracked | Tracked | Not tracked |
No consent required | Tracked | Tracked | Not tracked |
A recipient who turned tracking off is never tracked, whatever mode you choose. Opt-out and No consent required track recipients the same way, and both include the preferences link.
Pick the one that matches the lawful basis you rely on.
Which mode should I pick?
Recipients in a country that requires prior consent, like France: Opt-in is the mode that matches that rule.
Opt-out or No consent required: use these only if you have a lawful basis to track recipients without asking them first.
What to expect with Opt-in: only recipients who click the link and choose Allow tracking are tracked, so you'll see far fewer opens and clicks. Consent you collected outside Hunter, for example on a signup form or in your CRM, can't be imported. Those contacts also need to allow tracking from the link in your email.
Turn tracking on for a sequence
The consent mode doesn't turn tracking on. It decides who is tracked when tracking is on. Tracking is still set in each sequence, and new sequences start with open and link tracking off.
Open your sequence and go to the Settings step.
In the Tracking section, turn on Track email opens, Track link clicks, or both.
When Track email opens is on, a notice shows your workspace's current consent mode. Click Manage tracking consent in that notice to change it.
Link click tracking is available on paid plans. Tracking only works in HTML emails.
What your recipients see
When open tracking is on (or link tracking, on a paid plan), Hunter adds a small line at the bottom of each sequence email, below your signature and above your unsubscribe sentence: Manage your email tracking preferences.
The link opens a page that asks "Allow [your name] to track your emails?" with two buttons: Allow tracking and Turn off tracking. The page tells recipients that their choice doesn't affect whether they keep receiving your emails.
Hunter adds the link automatically, and you can't edit or remove it. To send a sequence without it, turn off open and link tracking for that sequence.
Recipients can change their mind at any time from the link in any of your emails.
Turning off tracking is not unsubscribing. To stop receiving your emails, recipients use the unsubscribe link or reply to you.
If you open the link while logged in to Hunter as the sender, the page shows that you're the sender and nothing is saved.
How Hunter applies a recipient's choice
The choice is saved per email address for your whole workspace. It applies to every sequence and every sender in it.
It stays in place if you delete the lead and import it again. Variations of the same address, like name+tag@ or Gmail addresses with dots, count as the same address.
When a recipient turns tracking off, their next emails go out without the tracking pixel and without tracked links. Opens and clicks on emails they already received stop being recorded. Links keep working normally.
A choice made in the middle of a sequence applies from the next email.
Single emails sent from Leads don't include the preferences link, but they still respect a recipient's saved choice and your Opt-in setting.
Effect on your statistics
Recipients who aren't tracked still count as contacted. Your open and click rates are calculated over all recipients, so they can look lower.
Replies are always recorded. Because a reply means the email was read, a reply also counts as an open.
Hunter doesn't show a list of recipients' tracking choices in the app.
Measuring performance without open tracking
Open rates are a limited metric anyway: Apple Mail Privacy Protection, for example, preloads tracking pixels and inflates opens for a large share of inboxes. These metrics work with tracking off and are closer to what matters:
Reply rate: the clearest sign your outreach is landing.
Positive replies and meetings booked: the reason the sequence exists.
Tracking only contacts who consented elsewhere
If your workspace uses Opt-out or No consent required and you only want to track contacts who already agreed to it, keep them in a separate sequence:
Go to Leads.
Add a tag such as "tracking-consented" to contacts who explicitly agreed to be tracked.
Filter your leads by that tag.
Add the filtered leads to a sequence with tracking on, and everyone else to a sequence with tracking off. You can duplicate a sequence's content so you don't write it twice.
With Opt-in you don't need this, because Hunter only tracks recipients who allow it. See more on how to tag your leads.
To sum things up
Choose a consent mode for your workspace in Sequences â Settings â Email tracking. Opt-out is the default.
Tracking is still turned on per sequence, and it's off by default for new sequences.
Every tracked email includes a link that lets recipients allow or refuse tracking, and Hunter applies their choice across your workspace.
With Opt-in, only recipients who explicitly allow tracking are tracked.