You’re here because you want to start email tracking, and you need to know the best tool for the job. Right?
Well, you’ve come to the right place 😎
I’m going to show you everything you need to know. Let’s dive right in!
Table of Contents
- What is Email Tracking?
- 2. RightInbox (Gmail only)
- 3. MailTracker by Hunter (Gmail only)
- 5. Mailtrack (Gmail only)
- 6. Vocus.io (Gmail only)
- How does Email Tracking Work?
- 1. Open tracking
- 2. Click tracking
- 3. Activity tracking
- Tracking Email Opens Using Google Analytics
- Tracking Email Opens Using Gmail Read Receipts
- Email Tracking for Productivity: 7 Essential Metrics
- 1. Emails sent and received.
- 2. Email response time.
- 3. Emails by label.
- 4. Popular times and days.
- 5. Top senders and recipients.
- 6. Hourly traffic breakdown.
- 7. Team email tracking.
- Related posts:
What is Email Tracking?
Email tracking is the process of monitoring actions taken on sent emails. The most common metrics tracked are email opens and email clicks.
Most email tracking tools report on dates & times of events captured, and some report location as well.
Email tracking can serve several important functions. Depending on which tools you use and how you use them, you can use email tracking apps to:
- Determine your team’s workload (and rebalance it)
- Identify unproductive patterns in your own work
- Analyze your sales efforts to see which strategies are most effective
- Track email opens and clicks
7 Best Email Tracking Apps for Gmail & Outlook
Using a third-party app is the easiest way to get started with email tracking in Gmail or Outlook.
After testing each of these, here are my picks for the best email tracking apps.
1. EmailAnalytics (Gmail & Outlook)
Our own namesake (#shamelessplug) isn’t like the other email tracking apps on this list. Rather than tracking opens and clicks, EmailAnalytics is an email activity monitoring app for teams.
With it, you’ll get to view a full analysis of important email metrics like how many emails you’ve sent or received, average email response time, who your top senders and recipients are, and what your busiest email times are. Start a free trial and see your email stats within 60 seconds!
2. RightInbox (Gmail only)
RightInbox is a Gmail productivity plugin. Along with email open tracking and click tracking, it also gives you easy options to schedule emails to send later, reminders on un-answered emails, recurring emails, sequences, signatures, templates, and much more.
It’s reasonably priced at $7.95/month, and easy to learn and use.
3. MailTracker by Hunter (Gmail only)
MailTracker is a free email tracking tool by Hunter.io, a popular email finder & verifier (and one of the tools that consistently seems to find its way near the top of my rankings of various email-related tools).
It’s a Chrome extension that’s clean and simple. When you send an email, there’ll be a little check-mark next to the “send” button that’s enabled by default.
That means tracking is enabled. You can disable it for any email by toggling it off.
Whenever someone opens your email, you see a notification. Easy peasy.
4. SalesHandy (Gmail & Outlook)
SalesHandy is a free email tracking app that empowers you to track and schedule unlimited emails in Gmail. There is no branded email signature at the end of the email, which isn’t true for most other tools.
SalesHandy sends a real-time desktop notification for every email open and links click. Along with this, you can create and save up to 5 email templates that can be used to send similar emails quickly and easily.
5. Mailtrack (Gmail only)
Mailtrack is a simple app that functions as a plugin for Chrome. It’s free and easy to use, but it only has one core feature: tracking when your emails are opened and clicked.
It puts a checkmark next to any email you’ve sent, and an additional checkmark beside it when your email is opened.
There’s also a pro version that removes the Mailtrack signature and offers reminders and daily reporting.
6. Vocus.io (Gmail only)
Vocus.io is an email tracking tool that offers various features and some unique benefits. It tracks email opens and link clicks, so you know whether your message has been received or not.
It also allows you to create a sequence of soft reminders and follow up emails which you can schedule to be sent as the right time until you get a response.
It also helps find email addresses and is one of our top-rated email lookup tools.
7. Yesware (Gmail & Outlook)
Another tool designed to help salespeople, Yesware integrates with Gmail or Outlook 365 as an extension to help you track what happens to your emails after you send them.
You’ll get to measure and report on factors like email open and reply rates, attachment opens, and even pageviews of your presentations.
How does Email Tracking Work?
There are three types of email tracking:
1. Open tracking
Email tracking apps automatically place a 1-pixel, invisible image in your outbound emails. When the recipient opens your email, their email client calls the server where the tracking pixel is located in order to load the image.
The server logs the exact moment this call occurs, which is the moment the recipient opened the email.
2. Click tracking
Link click tracking works similarly. Links in emails are automatically changed to a tracking URL that redirects the user to the intended location.
When the redirect occurs, the server records the event as a click.
3. Activity tracking
Email activity tracking is an entirely different kind of email tracking. Instead of monitoring when recipients open your emails or click your links, you actually track the overall activity of your inbox (or that of your employees).
Improve your team's email response time by 42.5% With EmailAnalytics
- 35-50% of sales go to the first-responding vendor.
- Following up within an hour increases your chances of success by 7x.
- The average professional spends 50% of their workday on email.
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For example, you can track metrics like the following for each of your employees:
- Number of emails/sent received per day
- Average email response time
- Busiest days of the week
- Busiest times of day
- Top senders & top recipients
Email activity tracking is the newest type of email tracking and is what we do here at EmailAnalytics.
Tracking Email Opens Using Google Analytics
We’ve got a whole guide on how to use Google Analytics to track email opens. Though I wouldn’t recommend it when you could just use one of the third-party apps above and save yourself a bunch of time and frustration 😉
After setting up Google Analytics, you can create a trackable URL, which you can then embed into an image in your email. From there, you’ll be able to track when people open your email.
You can also set up custom URLs to track when people are visiting your site—and see where they’re coming from.
Tracking Email Opens Using Gmail Read Receipts
You can also request a Gmail read receipt, but only if you have a work or school account (ie, G Suite). The Gmail read receipt option is not available for users of the free version of Gmail.
See our guide to Gmail read receipts for an overview on how to set them up.
Tracking Email Opens & Clicks in Outlook
If you use Outlook, you can use one of the Outlook-enabled tools above.
Alternatively, you canenable read receipts. Here’s how to set them up:
- With a message open, click Options.
- Then, in the Tracking group, you can click Request a Delivery Receipt or Request a Read Receipt (or both).
A delivery receipt will tell you the message was delivered successfully. A read receipt will tell you that your recipient has opened your message.
However, this is in the control of the recipient, and they may choose not to send you a read receipt when they open the email.
There is no built-in functionality to track email clicks within Outlook. For that, you can use the Google Analytics trick I outlined in the previous section, or just use a third-party tool from the list above.
Email Tracking for Productivity: 7 Essential Metrics
Email tracking is evolving to include more metrics than just opens and clicks. Using EmailAnalytics, you can visualize and track many more email metrics, such as the ones below:
1. Emails sent and received.
Measuring the number of emails you send and receive tells you how your workload increases or decreases over time.
If you measure this stat for your employees and teammates, you can easily see who’s falling behind and who’s overloaded with work, then rebalance workloads appropriately.
2. Email response time.
Faster email response time is better for business.
35-50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first, and you’re 700% more likely to close a sale if you respond in under 60 minutes.
There’s no way to track email response time in Gmail, so you’ll need to use a separate email tracking tool like EmailAnalytics.
3. Emails by label.
You’ll also want to track how many emails you’re getting in each of several categories, and how many emails you have in each section of your inbox (such as inbox, trash, or various labels).
4. Popular times and days.
You’ll learn how your email traffic volume changes over time, both in terms of time of day and day of week.
You might find that Monday mornings open the floodgates for email, making it virtually impossible to do anything else, while Friday afternoons are a bit of a lull.
With this knowledge, you can optimize your workflow to take advantage of the least active times (and avoid scheduling things for your busiest times).
5. Top senders and recipients.
It’s also good to learn who your most common senders and recipients are. You may find that some people in your network of contacts require more interaction than others.
If you have a problematic client or teammate, you can talk to them about their ongoing email habits, and hopefully reduce your workload.
6. Hourly traffic breakdown.
What time of day does the bulk of your work happen? See your activity graph over the course of 24-hours. Here’s mine, below!
Looks like I am most productive around 9am, with a slow drop-off throughout the rest of the day.
7. Team email tracking.
If you’re managing a team, you’ll benefit from tracking the email habits of everyone on the team—not just yourself.
It provides the transparency necessary to balance your team’s workload, while providing insight into issues that could compromise your team’s performance.
Having access to these email tracking metrics will make you not just a better manager, but also a more productive professional.
You can get all these metrics, and more, by using EmailAnalytics. Sign up for a free trial today, and see your email stats in less than 60 seconds!
Jayson DeMers
Jayson is a long-time columnist for Forbes, Entrepreneur, BusinessInsider, Inc.com, and various other major media publications, where he has authored over 1,000 articles since 2012, covering technology, marketing, and entrepreneurship. He keynoted the 2013 MarketingProfs University, and won the “Entrepreneur Blogger of the Year” award in 2015 from the Oxford Center for Entrepreneurs. In 2010, he founded a marketing agency that appeared on the Inc. 5000 before selling it in January of 2019, and he is now the CEO of EmailAnalytics.
FAQs
Which email Tracker is the best? ›
| Tool Name | Email Service | Installation or Access |
|---|---|---|
| HubSpot | Gmail & Outlook, Other email clients | Subscription based. |
| MailTrack | Gmail | Browser extension. Chrome, Firefox, Opera, & Microsoft Edge. |
| Yesware | Gmail & Outlook | Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox extension |
| Boomerang | Gmail | Subscription based. |
In order to ensure that email tracking is enabled, visit the “Yesware” drop-down menu in the top left of Gmail. When you select “Preferences”, a pop-up window will appear with options to toggle on/off various features. From here, you can toggle on the “track opens” and/or “track links.”
Is unlimited email tracker free? ›Features: Unlimited Email Tracker has the basic feature set that will satisfy most users, with the team promising new, more advanced features in the future. You get unlimited access to the tracker's functionality absolutely for free. Right now this tracker offers: Unlimited email open and link click tracking.
What is the best way to track emails in Outlook? ›- Cirrus Insight – The Premier Outlook Solution. ...
- Yesware – Powerful Email Tracking Software. ...
- Contact Monkey – Email Tracking Bundled With Beautiful Email Templates. ...
- BananaTag – Drag-and-Drop Email Building. ...
- HubSpot – Full CRM With Email Tracking. ...
- SalesHandy – Unlimited (Free) Email Tracking.
Email tracking or link tracking is a great new feature that Google implemented to view when and where your sending emails are opened. Gmail offers an email tracking feature that allows you to know the whereabouts of any email you have sent.
What is one way that I can track an email? ›There are three ways to track an email: Read receipts (through email software such as Microsoft Outlook and Gmail) Image pixels (tracked images inserted into email content) Trackable Links (tracked links inserted into email content)
Is Yesware free? ›Add Yesware to Outlook or Gmail. No credit card required. Yesware is free to try forever.
Does Yesware work with Gmail? ›Yesware for Gmail is compatible with all G Suite accounts and Gmail.com accounts with the latest version of Google's Chrome browser. Yesware's intuitive features integrate into the Gmail workflow you already use.
How do I use Yesware in Outlook? ›Like any Microsoft add-in, you'll need to be clicked on an email message for the add-in to appear in your inbox. If you're clicked on an email, you should see a blue Y that appears on the right hand side of your Outlook ribbon. Clicking on that will open up the Yesware Sidebar, giving you access to Yesware's features.
Are email trackers legal? ›Well, organizations do not track your email account. Instead, they keep a tab on whether you open and read their sent emails or not. These emails may be marketing campaigns or some latest update and offer. Thus, it can be said that email tracking is not something illegal.
How do I install tracking email? ›
How to install Mailtrack's free email tracker for Gmail - YouTube
How can I track my email on Gmail for free? ›How To Track Emails in Gmail (Free & Unlimited) - YouTube
Does Outlook have an email tracker? ›Outlook keeps track of your delivery and read receipts. To view that information, open your sent items, and double-click a message. Then, click Tracking. And you can see when the receipts arrived in your inbox, and the recipient names.
How do I create a tracker in Outlook? ›Email Tracking - Outlook - YouTube
Does Outlook track Mail work? ›Outlook's best email tracking software. Observation: Although Mailtrack is compatible with Gmail only, it is possible to have email tracking in Outlook with Mailtrack if you synchronize your Outlook account with the Gmail app.
How accurate is Mailtrack? ›Mailtrack is one of the most reliable and accurate email tracking solutions in the market, our reliability is much higher than our competitors and we keep improving it, however, the tracking technology has some limitations. There are two main causes of inaccuracy: 1) Emails to yourself don't work well.
Is Mailtrack for Gmail safe? ›Fortunately, we are happy to say that Mailtrack is totally safe for users.
How do you tell if your email is being tracked? ›If you want to check whether your email is being tracked go to email service and look for Show Original message option. To see the addresses in the original message, Press Ctrl + F and type.com in it. This will reveal all the email or website addresses mentioned there.
What is email tracking and explain its methods? ›Email tracking is the process of tracking sent emails and using that data to inform business decisions. Most email tracking tools capture data on open rates, times, and locations, as well as click-throughs on links and attachments.
How do I find someones IP address from an email? ›- Open the email and click on the three dots icon.
- Select “Show original”
- Search the plain text for “Received” to find the IP address.
How long is Yesware trial? ›
How long does the free trial version of Yesware last? The free trial version of Yesware lasts for 28 days.
Is Yesware legitimate? ›Yesware has been awarded the Skyhigh CloudTrust™ rating of Enterprise-Ready. Skyhigh Enterprise-Ready cloud services fully satisfy the most stringent requirements for data protection, identity verification, service security, business practices, and legal protection.
How do I install Yesware? ›You can install Yesware directly from our website. We offer a trial to all new users that can be accessed here. Once you visit that link, click on your inbox type and then you'll need to sign into your email and grant Yesware access. It's as easy as that!
Is Yesware a CRM? ›Yesware will optimize email and CRM functionality, and add some special sauce, so salespeople can do more deals faster.
Does Yesware have a CRM? ›We also offer a variety of CRM solutions for our Pro and Team users using our BCC email feature to automatically send a copy of your emails into your CRM.
How do I use Yesware? ›Yesware for Gmail Overview - YouTube
Is Yesware compatible with Outlook? ›Yesware works with Outlook on the Web and in Outlook Desktop 2016 or above. For Outlook on the Web, this add-in requires the latest version of Chrome, Edge, or Internet Explorer. Our install only takes 60 seconds to complete. You will be prompted to authenticate your email and refresh your inbox.
Can you use Mixmax with Outlook? ›Mixmax is not available for Microsoft Office Outlook but there are some alternatives with similar functionality. The best Microsoft Office Outlook alternative is SalesHandy, which is free.
How do I pin Yesware to Outlook? ›INBOX SIDEBAR
When the sidebar opens, click the push pin icon on the top right to pin the sidebar to your Outlook so you don't have to go digging for it every time.
Business professionals, and big tech companies like Amazon and Facebook, often use email tracking as a way to determine interest from their potential customers via their customer relationship management (CRM) software in an effort to generate company sales.
Can Mailtrack Track old emails? ›
Unfortunately, it is not possible to track mail opens retrospectively. This is because e-mails sent before Mailtrack was installed on your browser will not have a tracking pixel added to them, meaning that we would have no way of identifying if the emails have been read or not.
What does a tracking pixel look like? ›A tracking pixel, also known as a marketing pixel, is a 1×1 pixel graphic used to track user behavior, site conversions, web traffic, and other metrics similar to a cookie. The tiny pixel-sided image is usually hidden and embedded in everything from banner ads to emails.
How can I track an email for free? ›- Mailtrack is a basic, free plugin for Gmail and Chrome. ...
- Right Inbox is an extension that brings your emailing efforts to the next level. ...
- Snov.io is a platform for cold emails. ...
- Hubspot is a giant player in the sales and marketing markets.
- Click the Email Tracking button in the compose panel.
- The Email Tracking button will turn green to indicate that tracking is enabled. ...
- Click Send.
- You will receive a real-time notification* when the email has been opened by the recipient.
Snov.io Email Tracker is an unlimited and beautifully designed email tracking extension for Gmail that will show you which emails have been opened by your recipients, including the number of opens and link clicks, right in your Gmail.
What is Gmail tracker? ›MailTracker lets you track the emails you send with Gmail to know when they are opened.
Is intelliverse free? ›Intelliverse Email Tracker is a free real time notification tool that informs when emails are opened. Intelliverse Email Tracker is a free real time notification tool that informs when emails are opened.
How do I monitor my emails in Outlook? ›- Navigate to the Reports tab.
- Go to the Exchange Online list in the left pane.
- Select Mail Traffic Reports > Email Activity by User or any other report as per your requirement.
- Enter the Tenant,Domain,and Period of search.
- Click Generate Now.
You can track an email anonymously in Outlook without requesting a read receipt from your email recipients. This process is very simple, all you need to do is simply tick the Track Email and Track Hyperlinks at the top left side of your Outlook page.
Where is the tracking tab in Outlook? ›The Tracking button is located at the top of the window on the Meeting tab next to Appointment and Scheduling Assistant. Note that the Tracking button will not be visible unless you are the meeting organizer.
How can you tell if someone has read your Gmail on an Iphone? ›
How to Tell If Your Email Has Been Read in Gmail [2 Methods] - YouTube
How can I track an email for free? ›- Mailtrack is a basic, free plugin for Gmail and Chrome. ...
- Right Inbox is an extension that brings your emailing efforts to the next level. ...
- Snov.io is a platform for cold emails. ...
- Hubspot is a giant player in the sales and marketing markets.
Outlook keeps track of your delivery and read receipts. To view that information, open your sent items, and double-click a message. Then, click Tracking. And you can see when the receipts arrived in your inbox, and the recipient names.
How can you tell if someone opened your email? ›- In Gmail, compose your message.
- At the bottom of the Compose window, click More. Request read receipt. If you don't see this setting, it means you either don't have a work or school account. ...
- Click Send. You'll get a notification email when your message is opened.
Fortunately, we are happy to say that Mailtrack is totally safe for users.
Can email be traced to cell phone? ›To sum up, emails from your computer, it is possible and easy to discern a general location, as well as if you are using a wi-fi connection with your cell phone. With your cell phone, it is more difficult to determine location and it is much less location-specific.
How do I find someones IP address from an email? ›- Open the email and click on the three dots icon.
- Select “Show original”
- Search the plain text for “Received” to find the IP address.
How To Track Emails in Gmail (Free & Unlimited) - YouTube
How do I create a tracker in Outlook? ›Email Tracking - Outlook - YouTube
How do I turn on email tracking in Outlook? ›Enable Tracking by Default
Click the gear wheel to open your Settings menu. Toggle Enable Tracking to On. This ensures that all emails sent from your Outlook application are tracked, even if the Track Email button is not visible when composing them.
Is intelliverse free? ›
Intelliverse Email Tracker is a free real time notification tool that informs when emails are opened. Intelliverse Email Tracker is a free real time notification tool that informs when emails are opened.
Can someone read my emails without me knowing? ›Can someone read my emails without me knowing? Anyone with access to your device with your mailing account logged in can read your emails without you knowing. An intruder may open and read your email and mark them unread. They can also delete your emails after reading them.
Are email trackers legal? ›Well, organizations do not track your email account. Instead, they keep a tab on whether you open and read their sent emails or not. These emails may be marketing campaigns or some latest update and offer. Thus, it can be said that email tracking is not something illegal.
Do blocked emails bounce back? ›Blocked email address
If an email account is in the blocked list, then the emails from the particular sender will not be delivered into the receiver's inbox, so that a bounce back will be generated.
Frequently Asked Questions. Where is MailTrack 's headquarters? MailTrack is located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain .
How do I enable MailTrack in Gmail? ›How to install Mailtrack's free email tracker for Gmail - YouTube