Can I use the WunderCounter to Track Email?

The short answer is Yes (and No). If you want to track who and how many people read your emails, you can certainly do this with the WunderCounter. In order to prevent the tracking code from being stripped out of the email, you should use the Myspace style tracker. There are a few things to keep in mind:

1. You need to be sending HTML email in order to embed the counter image
2. Not everyone reads HTML email -- some people have their mail readers display text only
3. Some people read HTML email, but have images disabled by default

So, you can use the WunderCounter, but you won't get 100% tracking. You'll get a good chunk of it, but there will always be some folks who read the email without you knowing it. It works that way with any email tracking product.

Tracking email reads on a commercial email blast is fine and probably even expected. Beyond that, use your judgment when deciding whether or not to track email reads. There's an expectation of privacy that comes with email which doesn't apply to web surfing. People expect to be tracked online, but they don't necessarily expect to be tracked when viewing non-commercial email, but how you set up your tracking is entirely your decision.