Among the various tools available to track emails, Google Chrome extensions are one of the most popular choices for Gmail inbox tracking.
Email tracking is useful for business professionals who need to know if their emails have been opened and read by a recipient. This information allows sales reps and marketing teams to schedule follow-up emails, determine effective outreach techniques, and much more.
But, particularly for sales teams, knowing when an email was opened and read may be more important.
In this article, we’ll cover a few apps that offer desktop- and browser-based notifications so that you can always stay on top of your Gmail sends.
Why Send Data Is Important
Data and metrics are always essential for sales reps working in a digital medium.
Whether you’re working with warm leads from a CRM or cold email leads from a list, understanding how a target interacts with an email can provide critical insight into their viability as a potential sales target.
How are leads handling your email? Once they open an email, do they return to look over it again? Email tracking software can tell you what people are doing so that you can adjust your sales and marketing strategy accordingly.
Fortunately, you don’t need to use expensive email marketing software to acquire this functionality. All you’ll need is a Gmail account, Google Chrome, and an email tracking extension.
Which Apps Send Open Notifications?
Let’s take a closer look at which apps send delivery notifications when emails are opened.
Please note that every app on our list relies on a tracking pixel to confirm email opens. Even if this functionality is part of the add-on or software, it may not function properly if a recipient has certain privacy settings enabled.
Free Email Tracker by PandaDoc
If you’re looking for one of the best email tracking solutions out there, look no further than the Free Email Tracker by PandaDoc.
Available from the Chrome web store, this email tracker integrates with Google Chrome and provides no-ad, unlimited email tracking on any correspondence sent from your Gmail inbox.
Unlike some of the other browser extensions on our list, this add-on has a minimal footprint. It won’t advertise in your email signature, and you don’t have to pay for it in order to email your subscribers.
With this extension, you can confirm that emails have been delivered, when they were opened, and how often they have been reviewed.
The tradeoff is that it’s a streamlined and minimalist app. There aren’t any paid plans, and you won’t find advanced features like link tracking, click tracking, or mail merge options.
It’s the perfect fit for teams that want to track sends and send personalized emails without worrying about the hassle of a more robust tracking tool.
Unlimited Email Tracker by Snov.io
Built by the Snov.io team, the Unlimited Email Tracker tracks email opens, link clicks, and more across multiple Gmail accounts. The extension also allows you to schedule email sends, but much of this functionality is natively integrated into Gmail.
While the app itself is built by Snov.io, you won’t have to sign up for a Snov.io account in order to track your email activity. However, if you’re looking for tools to generate leads and close deals, the platform is something you might want to consider.
As far as email tracking features are concerned, the extension offers desktop notifications, a full history of email opens, and some analytics tools to track your progress.
It’s a great fit if you’re building email campaigns and, if you need more, you have a path forward by signing up for a free account and/or moving into a paid plan with the full Snov.io product.
Mailtrack
For many, Mailtrack is the “default” email tracking tool.
It’s a popular Chrome extension that offers free and unlimited email tracking, as well as the ability to scale to bulk sending at higher levels.
At the entry level, the biggest drawback to Mailtrack is the mandatory signature ad. This ad is placed at the bottom of every email and notifies users that the mail was sent with Mailtrack attached.
If you’re looking to send emails without notifying the recipient that you’re tracking their activity, a mandatory signature ad is probably a dealbreaker. However, if you can look past that, Mailtrack comes with onboard CRM tools, reporting tools, tracking pixel detection, and much more.
Of course, many of the unfavorable caps and restrictions are removed when you transition from the free to paid plans.
At the top tier, you’ll even find several advanced tools to help you ramp up your marketing efforts. That includes reporting data that you can export to analyze sends in Google Sheets or Excel. You’ll also be able to integrate with Salesforce and Zapier to connect your outreach initiatives to the rest of your workflow.
Saleshandy
Looking for an email tracker that is integrated with a more robust selection of sales tools? If so, the Free Email Tracker by Saleshandy is a great starting point.
The free app offers smart email templates, email scheduling, and even some email sequencing features. It can also handle mail merges and generate automatic follow-ups for merged lists.
You’ll receive notifications from sent emails, and you’ll have access to analytics to help you better determine what worked and what didn’t.
Unlike many other apps and extensions on our list, Saleshandy works with Google Chrome and Outlook. You’ll need to install the Outlook plugin to track through that software, but it’s a relatively easy process.
If you want to automate your sending process and add new features (like email verification), Saleshandy helps you scale with its paid plans. These tools allow you to use Saleshandy across an unlimited number of email accounts and raise the account and send limits that you can use with the product.
For sales teams, this app is a great tool, and its pricing is negligible if you primarily use email to prospect and pursue leads.
Streak
If you’re all about pipelines and processes, Streak might be the platform for you. This tool helps you build pipelines for your entire workflow and run all of it out of your Gmail inbox.
As you’ve probably guessed, email tracking with Streak plays some role in this. The Streak extension allows you to get notified in your browser or via email when your email is opened. You can also schedule emails, get a list of tracked emails and their status, and use the extension across multiple accounts at no charge.
It’s worth pointing out that Streak is designed to be much more than a simple email tracking tool like what you’ll find in the Free Email Tracker by PandaDoc. This extension is part of a much larger system. You’ll need a Streak account to use it, and you’ll find that the account comes with a lot of add-ons to help you integrate into the Streak workflow.
Those additional features include Google Workspace integrations, a full CRM, customizable pipelines, mobile access (iOS and Android), and some automation tools. The platform also offers paid plans with even more flexibility.
Building a Response Strategy Around Data and Notification Tools
Unfortunately, tracking features and data collection aren’t enough for most sales reps.
However, many email tracking tools will offer some form of real-time notification, either via the browser or on the desktop. Some tools may also alert you when recipients return to an email after opening it the first time — although this is rare.
But what can you do with this information?
The short answer is that everything depends on your own response strategy. Alerts will help you stay on top of recipient interactions in real time, so you’ll know precisely what recipients are doing when they do it.
Since time is of the essence in many sales roles, it might make sense to send follow-ups at a faster interval for individuals who read emails but don’t respond. Proactive reps may use notifications to prepare responses and follow-up emails based on user interaction.
On the other hand, for teams that want to take a “wait and see” approach, the pop-up notification may require no more action than checking a recipient off a list to confirm that the outreach was delivered and reviewed.
In either case, knowing is half the battle. Reps need to be kept apprised of any potential leads when they action any sent outreach so that they can decide on a course of action and follow through.
Get started with Free Email Tracker from PandaDoc
Ready to get started with email tracking? There are a ton of great extensions to choose from.
If you’re not sure where to begin, we’d recommend the Free Email Tracker by PandaDoc. This app requires minimal setup to get up and running while giving you the tools you need to see results immediately.
Plus, it offers unlimited tracking, so you can get a feel for how you want to incorporate it into your email flow without the pressure of a free trial.
Give email tracking a try today and see how it can transform the way you handle email.
