If you found Part One on how to tell if a candidate has opened your email helpful, then get ready for a few more services that you can use right now to help you find out if candidates are opening your emails. We know how important it is for a recruiter to know if people are reading your messages.
In this second part, we’ll review three more of our favorite email tracking tools that are all free and easy to use.
Boomerang for Gmail – This tool has many various email features to use within Gmail, such as pausing your inbox, setting up reminders, and scheduling emails, but we’ll only review the tracking feature in this blog. You can install the free browser extension from the Chrome store here.
How It Works:
After you install the extension, compose an email as you normally would. You’ll now see the Request Read Receipt and Track Clicks icon in the bottom right of the email. Click it to track your email. “Boomerang will add a read receipt notification to the bottom of the message, and will also track clicks on any links you have included in the body of the message.”
After the person reads the email, Boomerang will send you an email notification that your email has been read. In this message, you can also track more details, like when they opened and what they clicked on.
Just click on the Boomerang icon at the top and go to Manage scheduled messages and it will take you to the dashboard.
You can also track responses by setting up a boomerang, which means the email will pop up again in your inbox after a specific amount of time that you set based on certain criteria, like if the person doesn’t respond or open the email. Then, you can follow-up and take next step actions.
The free version of Boomerang has many features, however, it is limited to only 10 messages per month. To get unlimited messages and even more features, choose from one of their paid plans, ranging from $5 per month to $50 per month. Learn more here.
Hubspot Sales – Hubspot is a very robust CRM (Customer Relations Management) platform and offers a lot more features and services, but for the purpose of this blog, we’re only going to review the email tracking tool.
You can install the free browser extension from the Chrome store here. You will need to sign up for a free Hubspot account and connect your email in order to use this extension.
How It Works:
After you create your Hubspot account, install the browser extension. When you open Gmail again, you’ll see the Hubspot icon in the top right corner. Click on it to turn it on.
Then, you’ll need to connect your email to your Hubspot account.
Once you’re connected, compose an email as you normally would, but now you’ll see a new bar of features you can use. Most importantly, you can decide which emails to track by turning it off and on.
After you send the email, go to the Hubspot icon at the top right in your browser. From there, you’ll see all emails you’ve sent that are being tracked and can view if they’ve been opened or not, how many times, and when.
This tool is completely free to use but it is limited. To use more features, you’ll have to choose one of their paid plans, starting at $50 per month. Learn more here.
Email Tracker – A very simple email tracking tool. It works with Gmail, Outlook / Hotmail, Google Inbox, and Yahoo Mail. You can download the browser extension for free on the Chrome store here.
How It Works:
Once you install the extension, just compose an email as you normally would. You’ll notice a second button at the bottom next to the Send button if you choose not to track the email.
After you send the email, go to your Sent folder and you’ll see a circle to the right, signifying that the email is being tracked. Once they read the email, the circle will turn into a checkmark.
Hover over the checkmark to view how many times they’ve opened the email and when.
This is a free tool to use with unlimited tracking, however, if you want to view more statistics, then you’ll need to upgrade to the paid pro plan. With the free version, you can only track if they opened the email, how many times, and when they opened it. To track link clicks, you will need to purchase the pro plan. Learn more here.
Learn more about your emailing efforts when you start tracking your messages with these tools. They truly are a recruiter’s dream come true!
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