How to see if someone read your email (for free)

You targeted the right audience and personalized your cold email, but you still aren't getting replies?

There's a high chance that your prospects didn't even open and read your email.

If you don't know if someone read your email, you won't know whether to follow up and might miss new business opportunities.

In this article, you'll find out how to see if someone read your email so you can track your progress, follow up more effectively, and boost your reply chances!

3 ways to see if someone read your email

#1 Request a read receipt

A read receipt is a notification confirming that your prospect received and opened your email.

Here's how to activate it in different email providers:

→ How to add read receipt in Gmail

[  ] Login to your Gmail account → Compose a new email → More Options → "Request read receipt"

P.S. This option only works for a G-Suite account linked to a business or organization.

→ How to add read receipt in Outlook

[  ] Log into your Outlook account → Compose a new email → More Options "→ Request a Read Receipt"

#2 Use Chrome extensions

→ MailTrack

1. Install Mailtrack read receipts extension
2. Sends emails normally: Mailtrack will track all your emails automatically
3. Open your "Sent emails" folder to see the read receipt status

• One checkmark  means your email has been sent but not opened
• Two checkmarks mean that your email has been opened

4. Hover the mouse over the checkmarks to know exactly when and how many times your email has been opened

→ Free Email Tracker by cloudHQ

1. Install the cloudHQ Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store
2. Open your Gmail account and compose a new email
3. Click on the "Track" checkbox at the bottom of the email compose window
4. The Free Email Tracker will automatically track when your email is opened and provide real-time notifications
5. To view the tracking details, open your Sent folder and click the "cloudHQ" button next to the email you want to track

→ Email Tracker by Mailtag

1. Install the Email Tracker - Mailtag Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store
2. Open your Gmail account and compose a new email
3. Click on the MailTag icon in the compose window's bottom-right corner
4. Click on the "Track" checkbox to enable tracking for your email
5. The Email Tracker 2.0 will automatically track your email's opening and send real-time notifications
6. To view the tracking details, go to your Sent folder and click the MailTag icon next to the email you want to track

#3 Use email automation software

The best way to track your campaign performance is by using email automation software, such as lemlist. It allows you to send, manage, and track all your campaigns from the same spot, which saves you hours of manual work and boosts your outreach efficiency.

lemlist users can see in a single interface

 → how many leads received their emails, how many opened, clicked, replied, and how many are interested

 → data for LinkedIn steps: how many invites (or connection requests) were sent, how many LinkedIn profiles they visited, and how many messages were sent

 → if API steps are in a campaign, they will also appear in the results

You can also switch to the negative metrics of your campaigns to access the number of emails that bounced, the number of leads that are not interested, and how many of them unsubscribed.

These metrics can help you spot any deliverability issues and take steps to ensure your emails always land in your prospects' inboxes.

Tracking these metrics is important, as that's how you'll see if your campaigns are successful. Your metrics will give you insights into what you should change to improve your results.

You can test it out for free here and always know your campaign status to approach your prospects best and boost your replies.

The key takeaways

Tracking if someone reads your email helps you plan your follow-up approach to increase your chances of getting a reply. For example, you can test different subject lines if your prospects don't find the current one catchy enough to open your emails.

But remember that the open rates aren't the only thing that should define the overall success of your outreach. In this article, you can check out what other metrics to track if you want to boost your outreach results and open new business opportunities. 🚀