Years back I met a sales person at a conference. He was saying he could close a deal much faster if he knew how his prospects were engaged with his emails. He was too frustrated about it. He was curious to know if the emails were really reaching their destinations. Did his prospect open his email? Did they click on the link? How often did they open? Or were the emails getting lost in the inbox crowd.

Yes. His concern was valid and so was his argument. This happens to all of us a number of times while we deal with clients.

Too often we send a business or personal email and then we wait to see if we get any reply. We don't know whether the recipient is going to take any action. Or whether he is even curious to know the content inside. If we know he is not opening our email, it may be that the subject line needs to change or is not interesting. If he opens but not does not click or does not reply, maybe that the email content or propositions needs to be modified.

This knowledge will not only help you modify your subject line and content, but also help you do smart and timely follow ups.

That is where mail tracking plays a key role.

In case of business emails, it becomes critical to know the status of the email sent.

Has it been opened?
How many times was it opened?
Did he click the links?
What is the count of it?
Did he download the attachments?
Has he come back after days to open your emails?

And many such questions arise. The answers help in taking many strategic decisions.

Email tracking is the answer for all such questions. It empowers the sender to tune up their timings. And the result is:

The sender can win more business.
He can engage with prospects better.
He gets more deals.
It improves his efficiency and productivity.

Why does one need email tracking?

There are multiple benefits of tracking an email.

Email tracking minimizes efforts: The sender doesn’t need to wait for a reply from the recipient.
Email tracking provides real-time notification on sent email actions: MailerPlex empowers the sender with real-time notice. It improves engagement between the sender and the receiver.
- The sender gets instant notifications immediately after the recipient opens the sent email. The sender gets popups and emails as notifications.
- Inline email ticks inside Gmail are another form of notice.
- MailerPlex also notifies the sender as soon as the recipient clicks any link inside the email. This information conveys the recipient’s interest over the proposal.
Email tracking influences business decisions: Email tracking gives more inputs towards business decision and strategic decision making. The real time information on their email activities influence it largely. Sender also gets some extra information to support his decision. Those extra information could be -
- The location from where the recipient opened the email
- From which type of device the recipient opened the email
- When exactly the recipient opened the email or clicked any link.

What does email tracking mean?

Email tracking is the method of tracking various activities and their details of an email. Email tracker notifies the sender as soon as the recipient opens the sent mail. It also notifies about any links inside the mail that got clicked. It even gives more information to the sender. Those could be when, where, how many times and in which device the activities have taken place. This information enables better strategic and business decisions.

How tracking works in MailerPlex?

The simple steps of MaierPlex have simplified the email tracking process. It has a structured set of steps for tracking.

Installing MailerPlex: MailerPlex is free to use for a certain extent. One can install it from here. The process of setting up tracking is very simple. After installation it will ask for google credentials. Once the credentials are provided Gmail will be refreshed and you are all set to track your first email.
Composing an email: Click the compose button to track your first email. In the compose window you can find the MailerPlex icon next to the Send button (as shown in the below image). You can set tracking for the composed email On or Off with this button.
Know if your mail is opened: Go inside the Sent folder. If the email is opened, you can see a blue double tick mark before the subject line. Placing mouse pointer on it gives a brief summary of the tracking.

Go inside the email to get more detailed tracking information. Onto the right of the email you will find complete information about when all the email has been opened.

Also you can find if any link inside the email has been clicked. The information contains:
- When the email open or link click activity was done.
- What was the location of the device.
- In which device the email was accessed.

Can I track email in Gmail?

The answer is Yes. MailerPlex is a Chrome extension. It enables users to track email activities from right inside Gmail. All the features can be accessed staying inside Gmail. Blue ticks signify email got opened. On opening a sent email, the sender can get the statistics of it besides the mail content.

Can I know if my email is opened while I am not in Gmail?

The answer is Yes. There are many ways to know it.

When a mail is opened first time, MailerPlex shows Chrome notifications. This notification comes ONLY for first time open and will not come for further opens.

MailerPlex Chrome Notification

In MailerPlex Dashboard, the sender can track the status of any sent email anytime. The sender can track it without going inside Gmail. This gives a complete idea over all the sent emails.

How email tracking helps in growing your business?

A stronger Sales and Marketing team assures more success and growth to the Business. While doing a brain storing we found out a few questions that every sales person seeks answers for.

After sending a business email:

What is the right time to follow up?
When to throw an offer?
How to know, if the lead has shown any interest in what I have offered?
When to send a reminder?
How many times to send reminders?
How to know if the lead showed any interest in my offer?
Should I ask for a call or demo?

We take many strategic decisions depending on these questions.

We can rank and focus on our hottest leads.
We can know exactly when to approach him. If a lead has opened our email, immediately we can respond. The lead can sense our efficiency and gathers more confidence in us.
We can know the level of interest the lead has shown. Like, if a lead has clicked any of our links then we can present ourselves with a more detailed email.
We can even give up on a few of the leads and save our time.

Bottomline

The bottomline for Email Tracking could be "Make hay while the sun shines."

We should make the most of an opportunity. That can be achieved by email tracking. After all, it is all about timing.