Sending an email is easy. But making sure it gets opened, clicked, and drives action? That’s harder than it looks.
Yet every sales rep, email marketer, and business professional knows their success depends on email effectiveness.
That’s why, like championship teams studying game tape, modern professionals ruthlessly track email performance.
Imagine if football teams never reviewed film. They’d repeat the same mistakes and never improve. Businesses are no different. Comprehensive email tracking provides the game tape to up your game.
This guide will tour you through the “email tracking command center” so you too can master your metrics and score more wins.
We’ll explore:
- Must-have tracking features to seek out
- Leading tools, packed with capabilities
- Tips to analyze data like a tracking pro
- The exciting future of email tracking through AI
Strap in for a turbo-charged ride through the world of email tracking – the fuel powering modern business productivity.
What is Email Tracking and Why is it Important?
Email is the backbone of modern business communication. Over 319 billion emails are sent and received daily, with email continuing to be a primary channel for connecting with customers, nurturing leads, and driving sales.
With email playing such a critical role across industries, it’s essential to understand email tracking and how to use it effectively.
How Email Tracking Works
Email tracking allows senders to monitor recipient engagement and get notified when emails are opened, clicked, and forwarded. Most email tracking tools work by embedding a tiny, transparent image – typically 1×1 pixels in size – into the body of outgoing emails.
When the recipient opens the email, the tracking pixel image is loaded from the email tracking server, which registers the open event and logs details like time, location, device, and more. The sender then receives this information, providing visibility into who engaged with the email and how.
Some key events email tracking tools capture:
- Opens: When the email is opened by the recipient. Multiple opens are tracked indicating repeat engagement.
- Clicks: Which links inside the email body were clicked on. Useful for optimizing CTAs.
- Forwards: If the recipient forwarded the email to someone else.
- Attachment views: Insights into attachments/documents opened or downloaded.
- Unsubscribes: When the recipient opts out of future emails.
- Email client and device data: Platform, OS, browser, and geographic location details.
With comprehensive email tracking, senders can gain deep insights into recipient behavior from the moment the email is sent till future re-engagements.
Benefits of Using Email Tracking Tools
Here are some of the key benefits email tracking provides:
- Improves open and click-through rates: By A/B testing subject lines, sender names, content, and timing, tracking data enables senders to optimize emails for maximum engagement.
- Provides insights to nurture leads: Seeing which recipients engaged, clicked specific CTAs, etc., allows senders to segment and personalize follow-up communication.
- Informs sales outreach: Sales teams can use opens, clicks, and reply rates to gauge prospect interest and outreach accordingly to close more deals.
- Allows refinement of email lists: Tracking unsubscribes, bounces, and inactive contacts helps maintain list quality and improve deliverability.
- Enables data-driven email marketing: Robust email analytics informs strategies and allows for continuous optimization and improvement.
- Offers context for customer communication: Seeing past email engagement history with a customer allows for personalized, relevant communication.
Industries and Roles That Rely on Email Tracking
Due to the invaluable visibility and insights it provides, email tracking has become indispensable for:
- Email Marketers: Track and improve campaigns, subject lines, content formats, timing to boost open and engagement rates.
- Sales Professionals: Prioritize hot leads, gauge interest levels, adapt outreach for converting more prospects.
- Account Managers: Build targeted customer communication based on past interactions and engagement history.
- HR and Recruiters: Follow application progress, send relevant reminders and feedback to candidates.
- Customer Support: Understand conversation history and engage contextually for enhanced satisfaction.
- Agencies: Show email campaign ROI to clients by tracking detailed metrics and engagement data.
- Attorneys and Legal teams: Maintain records of critical client communication with forwarding tracking.
- Any Role Involving Outbound Email Communication: Improve email effectiveness through detailed data and analytics.
In summary, email tracking provides unparalleled visibility into recipient engagement, allowing professionals across industries to dramatically enhance email communication and drive better results. The data-driven insights it provides are invaluable.
Must-Have Features in Email Tracking Software
The email tracking landscape has expanded rapidly, with numerous tools offering an array of capabilities. While core functionalities like open and click tracking are standard, there are key advanced features that provide next-level visibility and actionability.
Here are the must-have features to look for in a robust email tracking solution:
Real-Time Open and Click Notifications
The ability to get instant alerts when a recipient engages with your email is table stakes and one of the most basic expectations from any email tracking tool.
But the sophisticated capabilities of today’s solutions take real-time notifications to the next level:
- Per recipient tracking: Beyond tracking anonymized group metrics, identify which individual recipients opened or clicked on your email and when.
- Partial/full open insights: Understand if your email was skimmed or read thoroughly based on partial vs full opens.
- Multi-open tracking: See each instance of an email being opened, indicating ongoing engagement.
- Unincorporated image blocking: Even if images are blocked, the open event is still tracked.
- Email forwarding detection: Get notified if the recipient forwards your email to someone else.
- Lead scoring: Recipient engagement can automatically increase or decrease lead score in real-time based on email activity.
With real-time open, click, and forwarding notifications, sales and marketing teams can engage recipients instantly when interest is signaled, converting more leads.
In-Depth Analytics and Reporting
While real-time tracking provides alerts at the micro level, analytics and reporting are essential for the big picture.
Powerful email tracking tools offer detailed analytics dashboards covering:
- Email metrics: Comprehensive data on opens, clicks, unsubscribes, bounces, forwards, replies, etc. for each email campaign.
- Engagement metrics: Stats on total and unique opens, clicks, click-to-open rates, conversion rates, and more.
- List growth analytics: Insights into list size changes, subscribes, unsubscribes, etc. over time.
- Email client and device data: Breakdown of opens across email clients, browsers, platforms, and locations.
- Historical performance: Comparison between email metrics across past campaigns side-by-side.
- Customizable reports: Ability to create reports focused on specific metrics, time periods, segments, and more.
- Data exports: Downloadable CSV/Excel reports for integrating email data with other systems.
With comprehensive analytics, marketers can fine-tune campaigns, maximize ROI, maintain list quality, and build data-driven email programs.
Link Click Tracking
Links inside an email often lead to key destinations – product pages, informational resources, events, etc.
Granular link tracking provides understanding into:
- Which links received the most clicks
- Click-through rates for each link
- Trends over email sends to optimize link content and placement
Link tracking at an individual recipient level also gives visibility into their interests and intent – crucial insights for sales and marketing.
Attachment and Document Tracking
For emails with document attachments and files, tracking who opened them and their engagement provides unique insights.
Sophisticated tools track:
- Which recipients viewed, downloaded, or shared attachments
- Repeated document access indicating special interest
- Document engagement analytics – pages visited, time spent, content consumed
These metrics allow senders to evaluate content effectiveness and inform future communication.
Email Forwarding Tracking
Recipients forwarding an email to others reveals increased engagement.
Forward tracking provides information on:
- Which recipients forwarded your email
- How many times it was forwarded further
- Partial forwarded data in some cases
This presents opportunities to expand reach and connect with new contacts through recipients acting as influencers.
Geolocation Tracking
Seeing the geographical open location of recipients can be highly useful:
- Segment and personalize communication by region
- Understand regional trends and performance anomalies
- Optimize send-times accounting for time zones
- Identify core target geographies based on engagement
With geographic engagement insights, emails can be tailored and targeted more effectively.
Device and Platform Detection
Viewing the various devices (desktop, mobile, web) and platforms (iOS, Android, Windows) used by recipients to open and engage with emails can inform optimization across:
- Device-specific open rates
- Platform-wise click and conversion rates
- Tailoring content display for smaller screens
- Ensuring CTAs work across different operating systems
- Localizing send times for quicker mobile engagement
Understanding your audience’s usage devices and platforms is key to boosting email effectiveness.
Scheduling and Reminder Features
Proactive tracking tools offer value-added capabilities that enhance workflows:
- Send time optimization: Schedule emails to be sent at high-engagement times for different recipients.
- Reminders: Ensure important emails are followed up on by setting custom reminder alerts.
- Sequences: Automate sending of tailored email series to prospects over time.
- Task assignment: Assign emails to team members and track ownership.
- Templates: Save and reuse high performing email templates.
With these features improving planning, collaboration, and automation around emails, productivity gets a notable uplift.
In summary, advanced email tracking tools offer a robust set of capabilities, from real-time tracking to structured analytics to value-added features – that provide complete visibility into email performance and engagement. To amplify results, marketers and sales teams should actively utilize these analytics and features in optimizing email campaigns, personalizing communication, and driving more conversions.
Comprehensive List of Email Tracking Tools and Software
With email tracking being indispensable today, there is no shortage of tools in this space. Here is an extensive list of leading email tracking solutions with their key capabilities:
Mystrika
Overview – Mystrika is an advanced cold email and deliverability platform. Beyond detailed tracking, it helps optimize cold email campaigns through features like inbox rotation, read receipts, and A/B testing.
Key Features
- Real-time open, click, and reply tracking
- Link click analytics with unique views and heatmaps
- Unsubscribe and complaint tracking
- Inbox rendering previews across email clients
- Scheduling emails for ideal send times
-Robust email metrics and campaign analytics
Ideal For – Cold email outreach, sales prospecting, targeted lead generation
Pricing – Starts at $15/month for 5,000 contacts
ActiveCampaign
Overview – ActiveCampaign combines email marketing, automation, and CRM in a single integrated platform.
Key Features
- Real-time notifications for email opens, clicks, etc.
- A/B testing capabilities for subject lines and content
- Email heatmaps and engagement metrics
- Automated segmentation based on recipient behavior
- CRM syncing contacts, companies, and deals
Ideal For – Email marketers, digital agencies, ecommerce businesses
Pricing – Starts at $9/month for up to 500 contacts
AtomPark Software
Overview – AtomPark is an affordable email analytics tool tracking campaign performance.
Key Features
- Open and click tracking to monitor engagement
- Unsubscribe tracking with reasons
- Email client, platform, and location analytics
- Dashboard showing email metrics and trends
Ideal For – Small business owners, startups, freelance designers
Pricing – Offers customized pricing tailored to needs
Autoklose
Overview – Autoklose seamlessly integrates with Gmail and Outlook for streamlined tracking.
Key Features
- Real-time open and click notifications
- Link click analytics with unique views
- Automated lead scoring based on email activity
- Bulk email scheduling, sequencing, and reminders
- CRM syncing and contact management
Ideal For – Marketing agencies, sales teams, recruiting firms
Pricing – Starts at $29.99/month for 1 user
Bananatag
Overview – Bananatag is a popular email tracking extension for Chrome supporting Gmail and Outlook.
Key Features
- Open and click tracking with instant notifications
- Link analysis with unique and total views
- Heatmaps for attachments and documents
- Automated email reminders for followups
- Email scheduling for timing delivery
Ideal For – Sales teams, digital marketers, freelance designers
Pricing – Starts at $9.99/month for 5 users
Boomerang
Overview – Boomerang is a leading email productivity system with robust tracking.
Key Features
- Open and click tracking with detailed analytics
- Activity timeliness analytics when recipients engage
- Read receipt alerts instantly on email opens
- Email scheduling and send later capabilities
- Automatic email reminders and followups
Ideal For – Professionals managing high email volumes
Pricing – Starts at $5/month for partial access to features
Bounceless.io
Overview – Bounceless helps maintain email hygiene by detecting bad addresses pre-send.
Key Features
- Real-time mailbox verification globally
- Identification of disposable emails, spam traps
- Simulated pre sending and rendering
- Automated list cleaning and updating
Ideal For – Email marketers focused on proven lists
Pricing – Custom quote-based pricing
Campaign Monitor
Overview – Campaign Monitor offers powerful email campaign creation with built-in tracking.
Key Features
- Real-time tracking for opens, clicks, bounces
- Link and location analytics for engagement
- Automated segmentation and lead scoring
- Suppression list management based on tracking
- Dashboard with email and list metrics
Ideal For – B2C marketers, agencies building client campaigns
Pricing – Starts at $10/month for 500 subscribers
Cirrus Insight
Overview – Cirrus Insight provides email tracking natively within Gmail and Outlook.
Key Features
- Real-time open notifications with contact details
- Click tracking for links within email content
- Summary email statistics and metrics
- Integration with popular CRM platforms
- Sales productivity features like reminders
Ideal For – Sales teams wanting tracking directly in email
Pricing – Starts at $7/month per user
ClearSlide
Overview – ClearSlide is a sales engagement platform purpose-built for sales teams with email tracking capabilities.
Key Features
- Open, click, and reply tracking in real-time
- Tracking email engagement across devices
- Analysis of how email outreach converts to revenue
- Lead scoring automation based on recipient behavior
- Native integrations with Salesforce and Outreach
Ideal For – Sales teams focused on tracking email productivity
Pricing – Starts at $50 per user per month
ContactMonkey
Overview – ContactMonkey enhances productivity in Outlook with its easy email tracking.
Key Features
- Open and link click tracking with instant alerts
- Insight into recipient location and device
- Email productivity tools like reminders and scheduling
- Built-in templates and signature management
- Integration with Salesforce and Pardot
Ideal For – Outlook users wanting simple tracking
Pricing – Starts at $8 per month per user
Customer.io
Overview – Customer.io offers pro-level email marketing automation with robust analytics.
Key Features
- Real-time tracking for opens, clicks, and spam complaints
- Location analytics showing engagement hot spots
- Customer segmentation based on campaign interactions
- A/B testing capabilities for continuous optimization
- Automated workflows sending timely follow-up emails
Ideal For – Ecommerce brands, subscription businesses, online retailers
Pricing – Starts at $50 per month for up to 2,500 contacts
DidTheyReadIt
Overview – DidTheyReadIt provides straightforward open and link click tracking.
Key Features
- Lightweight tracking without affecting email delivery
- Open and click notifications directly within Gmail
- Clean tracking analytics and metrics
- Easy-to-use without complex setup and configuration
Ideal For – Freelancers, consultants, and microbusinesses
Pricing – Free version. Paid plans start at $5 per month.
Docsify
Overview – Docsify tracks recipient engagement across email and shared documents.
Key Features
- Open and link click tracking for emails
- In-depth analytics on documents views and downloads
- Tracking engagement across email, Drive, and Dropbox
- Integration with Zapier to sync data across apps
Ideal For – Teams sharing documents and wanting comprehensive visibility
Pricing – Starts at $10 per month per user
EmailAnalytics
Overview – EmailAnalytics focuses on visualizing team email productivity.
Key Features
- Activity dashboard tracking emails sent and received
- Tracking engagement rates and response times
- Comparative reporting for individual team members
- Scheduling and reminders to improve response rate
Ideal For – Managers wanting insights into team email performance
Pricing – Starts at $5 per month per user
GetNotify
Overview – GetNotify is a straightforward email tracking extension for Gmail.
Key Features
- Lightweight tracking of opens and link clicks
- Easy plugin directly within the Gmail interface
- Clean tracking metrics showing basic engagement
- Helpful free plan available with paid upgrades
Ideal For – Individuals and very small businesses
Pricing – Free version. Paid plans from $4.99 per month.
Groove
Overview – Groove offers a shared inbox for teams with robust email tracking.
Key Features
- Shared inbox tracking all team communication
- Tracking email opens, clicks, replies, and forwards
- Link click analytics for content optimization
- Automated lead scoring and tagging based on activity
- Integration with popular CRM and helpdesk tools
Ideal For – Support teams, shared inboxes, sales teams
Pricing – Starts at $12 per month per user
HubSpot
Overview – HubSpot’s marketing platform has powerful built-in email tracking.
Key Features
- Real-time alerting for recipient email engagement
- Email heatmaps analyzing content consumption
- A/B testing capabilities for email optimization
- Automated workflows based on recipient behavior
- Integration with HubSpot CRM and sales tools
Ideal For – B2B companies focused on lead gen and nurturing
Pricing – Starts at $45 per month for up to 1,000 contacts
Kickbox
Overview – Kickbox helps ensure email quality through extensive verification.
Key Features
- Real-time mailbox verification API
- Dashboard tracking email engagements over time
- Bounce, complaint, and spam trap tracking
- Identification of toxic and risky email domains
- Integration with leading email systems
Ideal For – Email marketers prioritizing list hygiene
Pricing – Starts at $30 per month for up to 10,000 tests
Klenty
Overview – Klenty enables engaging A/B testing and optimization for email.
Key Features
- Real-time open and click tracking
- A/B testing for subject lines and email content
- Dynamic email content customization
- Automated behavioral workflows and journeys
- CRM integrations with tools like Salesforce
Ideal For – Email marketers focused on testing and personalization
Pricing – Starts at $29 per month per user
Leadboxer
Overview – Leadboxer combines email tracking with lead intelligence.
Key Features
- Real-time tracking for opens, clicks, and forwards
- Lead and contact identification from anonymous traffic
- Automated lead scoring based on email engagement
- Email metrics and campaign analytics
- Integration with marketing automation tools
Ideal For – B2B companies wanting to track and identify
Pricing – Starts at $395 per month for up to 150 leads
Mailbutler
Overview – Mailbutler boosts productivity in Gmail and Outlook with tracking.
Key Features
- Open and link click tracking with instant notifications
- Automated reminders for following up on emails
- Email scheduling and send later functionality
- Email templates to save and reuse content
- Team email task delegation and assignment
Ideal For – Teams wanting tracking with productivity features
Pricing – Starts at $8 per month per user
Mailchimp
Overview – Mailchimp offers comprehensive email marketing and automation with robust tracking.
Key Features
- Open and click tracking at individual and group levels
- Automated lead scoring based on recipient activity
- Location-based analytics identifying engaged regions
- A/B testing capabilities for continuous optimization
- Pre-send inbox rendering previews across email clients
Ideal For – Email marketers, ecommerce companies, agencies
Pricing – Free tier for up to 2,000 contacts. Paid tiers start at $11 per month.
MailerLite
Overview – MailerLite simplifies email marketing automation with real-time tracking.
Key Features
- Open and click tracking at granular individual levels
- Email performance analytics accessible in real-time
- Lead scoring and journey mapping based on activity
- Automated behavioral workflows with robust conditional logic
- Over 800 native integrations with marketing apps
Ideal For – Small businesses taking a self-serve approach
Pricing – Starts at $10 per month for up to 1,000 subscribers
Mailtag.io
Overview – Mailtag is an email productivity platform with tracking baked in for Gmail users.
Key Features
- Real-time open and click tracking
- Inbox rendering testing across different email clients
- Link analytics with unique click data
- Automated behaviors based on recipient activity
- Scheduling emails for better engagement
Ideal For – Individuals, solopreneurs, and small teams
Pricing – $20 per month for access to all features
Mailtrack.io
Overview – Mailtrack is a popular Chrome extension for simple Gmail tracking.
Key Features
- Lightweight email open and click tracking
- Clean real-time alerts when recipients engage
- Basic email analytics and metrics
- Free plan available with paid upgrades
Ideal For – Individuals and very small businesses
Pricing – Free version. Paid plans from $2.49 per month.
MailTracker by Hunter
Overview – MailTracker by Hunter offers straightforward email tracking for Gmail users.
Key Features
- Open and click tracking with instant notifications
- Clean email metrics on opens, clicks, and more
- Lightweight tracking without affecting email delivery
- Entirely free to use with no limits
Ideal For – Individuals, solopreneurs, small teams
Pricing – Free
Mixmax
Overview – Mixmax powers up your Gmail with advanced email tracking and automation.
Key Features
- Real-time tracking for opens and link clicks
- Tracking engagement across groups and individuals
- Meeting scheduling and email automation
- Email productivity features like send later
- Native integrations with popular sales tools
Ideal For – Sales teams wanting tracking inside Gmail
Pricing – Starts at $12 per month per user
Mysignature
Overview – Mysignature provides email tracking fully integrated into Gmail.
Key Features
- Open and link click tracking with instant alerts
- In-depth email metrics and campaign analytics
- Ability to A/B test email content for optimization
- Productivity tools like email scheduling
Ideal For – Individuals, solopreneurs, and small teams
Pricing – Starts at $6 per month for individuals
NeverBounce
Overview – NeverBounce focuses on verifying and cleaning email lists pre-send.
Key Features
- Real-time mailbox verification API
- Prediction of email engagement before sending
- Identification of risky and toxic email domains
- Tools to maintain and optimize subscriber lists
- Integrations with all major email service providers
Ideal For – Email marketers prioritizing list hygiene
Pricing – Custom quote-based packages
Newton
Overview – Newton provides simple and reliable email tracking across clients.
Key Features
- Lightweight tracking for opens and clicks
- Support for Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and more
- Clean metrics on email opens, clicks, and unsubscribes
- Easy-to-use browser extension for tracking
Ideal For – Individuals and very small businesses
Pricing – $4.99 per month for full access
OpenedOrNot
Overview – OpenedOrNot is a straightforward email tracking extension from 500apps.
Key Features
- Lightweight open and click tracking
- Instant notifications when emails are read
- Support for all Chromium-based browsers
- Simple engagement metrics and reporting
Ideal For – Individuals and very small businesses
Pricing – Free to use
Polymail
Overview – Polymail provides email tracking natively within Gmail.
Key Features
- Open and link click tracking in real-time
- Email scheduling to optimize send times
- Basic email and campaign metrics
- Productivity features like send later
Ideal For – Individuals and small teams using Gmail
Pricing – Starts at $10 per month
ReadNotify
Overview – ReadNotify focuses exclusively on tracking email opens across clients.
Key Features
- Lightweight open tracking without affecting delivery
- Open notifications directly within the Gmail interface
- Option for legally certifying email delivery
- Support for tracking across email clients
Ideal For – Individuals needing delivery receipts
Pricing – Starts at $5 per month
Rebump
Overview – Rebump helps you get responses by following up automatically.
Key Features
- Open and click tracking for recipient engagement
- Automated and customizable follow-up reminders
- Integration with Zapier to build workflows
- Simple email productivity features included
Ideal For – Individuals and very small businesses
Pricing – Starts at $7 per month
Respona
Overview – Respona streamlines personalized cold email outreach at scale.
Key Features
- Real-time inboxing tracking for opens and clicks
- Email verification to confirm valid recipients
- Automated follow-ups based on engagement
- Email productivity tools like send later
- Built-in search tools for lead research
Ideal For – Outbound sales teams doing cold email at scale
Pricing – Starts at $49 per month per user
Right Inbox
Overview – Right Inbox powers up Gmail with its leading email tracking.
Key Features
- Instant open, click, and reply tracking
- In-depth analytics for every email sent
- Link click analysis with unique views
- Productivity tools like scheduling and reminders
- Team collaboration features like shared templates
Ideal For – Small teams wanting easy-to-use tracking in Gmail
Pricing – Starts at $7.95 per month per user
RocketBolt
Overview – RocketBolt provides straightforward free tracking for Gmail.
Key Features
- Lightweight email open and click tracking
- Simple notifications when emails are read
- Free to use with no limits
- Chrome extension for easy installing
Ideal For – Individual Gmail users
Pricing – Free
SalesHandy
Overview – SalesHandy powers up productivity in Gmail and Outlook with robust tracking.
Key Features
- Real-time tracking for opens, clicks, and forwards
- Link and attachment analytics for engagement
- Productivity features like scheduling and templates
- Integration ready for popular email platforms
- Team features like shared email tracking
Ideal For – Small teams wanting tracking across email clients
Pricing – Starts at $8 per month per user
Snov.io
Overview – Snov.io offers email verification and list cleaning to maximize tracking accuracy.
Key Features
- Real-time API for bulk email validation
- Identification of invalid and risky email domains
- Email address scoring to predict engagement
- Automated list cleaning and updating
- Easy integration into your email workflows
Ideal For – Email marketers prioritizing list hygiene
Pricing – Starts at $50 per month for up to 5,000 credits
Streak for Gmail
Overview – Streak provides CRM features natively within Gmail with built-in tracking.
Key Features
- Open, click, and reply tracking in real-time
- Link click analytics for content optimization
- CRM features like lead management and workflows
- Email scheduling and reminders
- Integration with popular marketing tools
Ideal For – Sales teams wanting tracking inside Gmail
Pricing – Starts at $12 per month per user
ToutApp
Overview – ToutApp helps sales teams track emails and facilitate follow-up.
Key Features
- Open and link click tracking with instant alerts
- Email analytics to optimize outreach
- Integration with calendars for easy scheduling
- Canned templates to save time composing
- Built-in search for finding contacts’ data
Ideal For – Sales reps and account executives
Pricing – Starts at $40 per month per user
Veloxy
Overview – Veloxy provides advanced relationship intelligence tracking.
Key Features
- Real-time open, click, and reply tracking
- Account identification and engagement tracking
- Relationship mapping based on shared contacts
- Integration with Salesforce and Gmail
- Email productivity features included
Ideal For – Sales teams wanting robust relationship visibility
Pricing – Starts at $25 per month per user
Vocus.io
Overview – Vocus.io helps teams collaborate and track emails productively.
Key Features
- Open, click, and reply tracking in real-time
- Email scheduling and reminders
- Shared team inbox with delegation
- Email templates and productivity tools
- Integration with popular marketing software
Ideal For – Teams wanting shared tracking and collaboration
Pricing – Starts at $5 per month per user
Yesware
Overview – Yesware provides advanced tracking and optimization for sales teams.
Key Features
- Real-time open, click, and reply tracking
- CRM integration and synchronization
- Email templates and productivity tools
- Meeting scheduling and tracking
- Sales pipeline visibility and reporting
Ideal For – Sales teams focused on tracking productivity
Pricing – Starts at $12 per month per user
ZeroBounce
Overview – ZeroBounce focuses on verifying email deliverability pre-send.
Key Features
- Real-time API for email validation
- Identification of risky and invalid email domains
- Email address scoring to predict engagement
- Automated list auditing and cleaning
- Easy integration into email workflows
Ideal For – Email marketers prioritizing deliverability
Pricing – Starts at $10 per month for up to 10,000 emails
Zoho Campaigns
Overview – Zoho Campaigns provides email marketing automation with tracking.
Key Features
- Real-time tracking for opens, clicks, bouncebacks
- Link analytics with unique and total views
- Behavioral segmentation based on engagement
- A/B testing for continuous optimization
- Automated workflows with robust conditional logic
Ideal For – B2C businesses, online retailers, ecommerce sites
Pricing – Starts at $10 per month for up to 2,500 contacts
This covers a comprehensive list of over 40 advanced email tracking and analytics solutions suitable for organizations and teams of all sizes and needs. With robust visibility into email performance through detailed tracking, sales and marketing productivity can be taken to the next level.
How to Choose the Right Email Tracking Solution
With the wide range of email tracking tools available today, it can get overwhelming to determine the right solution for your needs. Here is a structured approach to evaluate and select the best email tracking software for your business:
Identify Your Email Tracking Needs
First, get clarity on your specific use cases and must-have capabilities:
- Team size – Will a few people or your whole organization be using tracking?
- Email volume – What’s the monthly volume of emails you’ll be tracking?
- Use cases – Email marketing? Sales outreach? Customer support?
- Key metrics – Opens, clicks, device data, geolocation?
- Advanced needs – A/B testing? Lead scoring? CRM integration?
Document your core needs, nice-to-haves, and pricing constraints before starting your search. This ensures you narrow down on solutions that are the right fit.
Compare Tool Features and Capabilities
Shortlist tools that seem to match your needs on paper. Then dive into their features to assess which provide the tracking capabilities you require:
- Tracking breadth – Do they track opens, clicks, forwards, replies?
- Tracking depth – Is per-user tracking available? Partial open insights?
- Analytics – Do they offer campaign, list, and engagement analytics? Historical comparisons? Custom reporting?
- Integrations – What other tools can they integrate with? Is your email platform supported?
- Productivity features – Do they have email scheduling, reminders, templates, workflows?
Check if each shortlisted tool has the must-have features to address your defined tracking requirements.
Evaluate Pricing and Plans
Pricing can vary significantly depending on the solution:
- Compare pricing models – per user, per contact, per email, etc.
- Assess free plans – limits on tracking, contacts, features?
- Review paid plans – which plan meets your needs at the right price?
- Analyze scalability – reasonable costs as usage grows over time?
- Account for one-time vs recurring fees in cost calculations
Choose an affordable plan aligned to your current and projected usage and budget. Many tools offer free trials to test drive.
Check Integrations and Compatibility
The right tracking tool needs to play well with your other systems:
- Email platform – Does it support integration with your email service – Gmail, Outlook, etc?
- Marketing stack – What other marketing tools can it integrate with? CRM, automations, etc.
- API access – Can tracking data be exported? Is custom integration possible?
- Single sign-on – Does it enable simple login via Google/Office 365 accounts?
Favor tools that offer deep integration, reducing switching between systems while tracking.
Read User Reviews and Ratings
Validate tool capabilities and reliability through experiences of real users:
- Product reviews – Check G2, Capterra, and other software review sites.
- Feature requests – What do current users want added or improved?
- Support ratings – How do users rate customer support responsiveness?
- Case studies – Are there compelling stories of tools driving client results?
- Online forums – What do users like and complain about in community forums?
User reviews reveal limitations, use cases, and true experience more accurately than marketing propaganda.
Sign Up for Free Trials to Test Drive
Don’t decide purely on specs – take tools for a hands-on spin:
- Set up test accounts – Experience the onboarding process.
- Send test emails – Track engagement on test emails you send yourself.
- Send dummy reports – Check if analytics reporting meets your needs.
- Use productivity features – Test workflows, templates, integrations.
- Assess UX – Gauge how easy and intuitive the tool is to use daily.
- Compare trials – Run trials in parallel to judge tools under same criteria.
Nothing substitutes your own hands-on experience in picking the best solution. Take advantage of free trials.
In summary, choosing the right email tracking software requires clearly defining your needs, thoroughly evaluating solution capabilities, price, and reliability through research and trials. Avoid getting swayed by claims or going by brand names alone. The ideal tool is the one which best fits your specific tracking requirements within your budget and ecosystem. So take a systematic approach, and don’t compromise on your core needs.
With a bit of diligence during evaluation, you’ll find the email tracking tool that gives you the visibility you need to boost marketing and sales results. The time invested upfront in picking the right solution saves much frustration down the road.
Tips for Getting the Most from Email Tracking
Email tracking provides a wealth of data. But metrics are only useful if acted upon.
Here are tips to extract maximum value from your tracking insights:
Use Tracking Data to Refine Outreach
Email tracking reveals what works and what doesn’t in your outreach:
- Review subject line performance – For the same content, compare open rates across subject line variations to identify highest performing subjects.
- Analyze engagement by content type – Assess open and click rates for emails with different content formats – text, video, gated content etc. Double down on what resonates.
- Identify poorly performing messages – Look at emails with low open rates and minimal engagement. Consider tweaking these or switching up content.
- Review performance by contact persona – Track open rates by title, seniority level, industry etc to create tailored outreach for each persona.
- Optimize send timing – Check if open rates vary by day and time sent. Send emails when your audience is most responsive.
Refine your outreach strategy continuously based on messaging performance insights from tracking data.
Set Up Workflows Based on Notifications
Build automated workflows to capitalize on real-time tracking alerts:
- Trigger follow-ups on opens – Send timely follow-up when an email is opened to schedule meetings when interest is signaled.
- Qualify leads based on clicks – Increase lead score when specific CTAs are clicked to feed warmer leads into sales.
- Create workflows for unsubscribes – Trigger winback or re-engagement flows for unsubscribes to possibly regain subscribers.
- Customize by contact attributes – Vary follow-up timing, content etc based on known contact attributes for relevance.
- Integrate workflows with your CRM – Sync tracking insights with your CRM to update contact records and trigger appropriate plays.
Workflows amplify the value of real-time tracking data for rapid personalized outreach.
Track Engagement Over Time
Assess engagement velocity – are prospect interactions increasing or decreasing over time?
- Compare contact-level metrics weekly – Are open rates and click activity trending up or down week-over-week?
- Gauge changes after content upgrades – Did refreshed content and messaging boost lagging engagement for contacts?
- Review metrics by prospect source – Are engagement velocity trends consistent across traffic sources? If not, optimize poor sources.
- Analyze activity before and after events – Did webinars, conferences, or campaigns create an engagement spike or drop?
Ongoing tracking provides visibility into momentum – both positive and negative – informing content and outreach adjustments.
A/B Test Subject Lines and Content
Subject lines make or break open rates. Content determines clicks and conversions.
- Test urgency cues – Compare open rates for ” Limited time offer inside!” vs “New pricing – check it out”.
- Test curiosity triggers – Measure open rates for mystery subjects like “I thought you’d find this interesting” vs direct subjects.
- Test emotion triggers – Evaluate subjects that provoke anticipation, excitement or even controversy.
- Compare long vs short subjects – Assess open rates for concise vs more descriptive subjects.
- Test content format and offers – Compare click and reply rates for text vs visual content, discounts vs giveaways etc.
Use A/B testing data from tracking to refine email subject lines and content for maximum impact.
Gauge Interest Level of Contacts
High open frequency indicates interest – low requires ignition:
- Spot repeat opens – Multiple opens signal engaged prospects to prioritize.
- Identify non-openers – Zero opens may indicate unfit prospects to deprioritize or remove.
- Review contact level metrics – Combine opens, clicks, time on site etc. to categorize lead temperature.
- Track across channels – Integrate email with website and ad tracking for comprehensive lead scoring.
- Act quickly when interests spike – Strike when the iron is hot before prospects turn cold again.
Use holistic tracking insights to categorize prospects for tailored nurturing.
Personalize Follow-Ups with Context
Armed with activity history, make your outreach hyper-relevant:
- Reference previous interactions – “I saw you opened my pricing email last week, let’s discuss suitable options.”
- Provide requested content – “Thanks for letting me know our reporting features interest you, here’s an overview.”
- Remind prospects of intent – “Last we spoke, you were evaluating options for a newLMS. Any thoughts on our platform?”
- Re-engage inactive contacts – “Haven’t heard from you in a while, how’s your project going? We have new tools that may help.”
- Recommend next steps – “Check out our customer stories since you engaged with analyst reviews earlier.”
Leverage what you’ve tracked about prospect activities to craft personalized, context-aware communication.
In summary, don’t stop at simply looking at email metrics. Utilize tracking insights proactively to refine your outreach, boost productivity through workflows, inform lead scoring, continuously optimize messaging, and engage contacts contextually. With purposeful usage of tracking data, your results can scale to the next level.
So squeeze every bit of value from your tracking tool. The return on smarter leveraging of data will make the investment incredibly worthwhile.
The Future of Email Tracking and Analytics
Email tracking has evolved rapidly from basic open and click tracking to providing actionable insights through analytics.
Here are three ways we expect capabilities to advance further:
Integration with More Data Sources
Email tracking will integrate deeper with other data systems:
- CRM data enrichment – Tracking insights combined with CRM data will allow hyper-personalization.
- Account identification – Identifying companies behind tracked emails will inform better segmentation and targeting.
- Marketing platform integration – Unified insights from email, web, social, ads etc. will enable omni-channel engagement.
- Customer journey mapping – Tying email tracking to purchases, service tickets etc. will showcase journeys.
- Automated cross-channel workflows – Workflows will use insights across channels to trigger actions via other mediums.
With data connectivity across systems, tracking will catalyze coordinated cross-channel engagement.
Focus on Privacy and Compliance
Stricter data privacy regulations will impact tracking:
- Consent and permissions will be increasingly scrutinized before tracking individual recipients.
- Data minimization will lead to collecting only essential tracking insights required for specific uses.
- Data access and deletion rights for recipients will be bolstered as privacy rights expand.
- Usage of tracking data may face more regulatory oversight to prevent unethical use.
- Tracking practices and data security will be audited more closely for compliance assurance.
Tracking wil align more tightly with evolving privacy laws, with consent and ethical usage becoming critical.
Expanded AI Capabilities
AI will unlock more sophisticated tracking applications:
- Machine learning will enable predictive modeling – forecasting engagement, unsubscribes etc. based on tracked behaviors.
- Natural language processing will categorize free text responses for sentiment, intent analysis.
- AI will dynamically personalize messaging for each recipient based on individually tracked activity.
- Chatbots will provide real-time support by accessing recipient tracking history and context.
- Intelligent analytics will surface hidden insights and recommend data-driven actions.
AI-powered capabilities will propel tracking from retrospective reporting to predictive analysis and prescriptive actions.
In summary, through increased connectivity, improved privacy, and artificial intelligence, email tracking is poised for the next phase of evolution – where data-driven personalized engagement happens in real-time across channels.
Key Takeaway
Key takeaways for the article:
- Email tracking provides invaluable visibility into recipient engagement, allowing professionals across industries to dramatically enhance email effectiveness.
- Core tracking capabilities like open, click, and device tracking are now just the tip of the iceberg. Advanced tools offer robust analytics, lead scoring, and workflow automation based on tracking insights.
- Solutions are available for needs ranging from free lightweight tracking to enterprise-grade analytics and automation, with options tailored for marketing, sales, and support teams.
- Identify your specific tracking requirements and thoroughly evaluate solutions against those needs before choosing one. Take advantage of free trials to test drive shortlisted tools.
- Look beyond basic tracking metrics. Utilize the data proactively to refine outreach, inform lead scoring, optimize messaging, trigger workflows, and engage contacts contextually for maximum value.
- With the exponential growth in data sources and AI capabilities, the future promises even more powerful applications of email tracking through omnichannel connectivity, predictive analytics, and hyper-personalization.
- When used ethically and holistically, email tracking provides the actionable visibility every professional needs to boost marketing and sales results. It pays dividends to invest in the right tracking solution for your needs and use it strategically.