When it comes to tracking email engagement, Twilio SendGrid and Node.js are used together to send SMS alerts for open and click events. A free Twilio SendGrid account is required to follow this tutorial, along with a Twilio account and a phone number. The process involves verifying the sender identity, generating an API key, building a Node.js application that listens for incoming events from SendGrid, handling engagement events such as opens and clicks, sending SMS alerts, and configuring the webhook to route events to the application. The tutorial also covers testing the application with an email invitation and exploring future possibilities such as tracking other event types and sending bulk emails.