5 proven ways to know if someone opened your email

Email open rate tracking is going through a tough time. 😢

First there was Apple Mail’s Privacy Protection preloading all emails, thereby inflating email open rate.

Now, Gmail has started to block images, and thus the tracking pixel, from unknown or untrusted senders, deflating open rates.

The brutal truth?

Email open rates are no longer a reliable metric.

Still, keeping an eye on your opens is worthwhile as low numbers may indicate deliverability problems. 👀

Here are 5 ways to do so:

1. Request a read receipt

A read receipt confirms that the recipients have opened (but not necessarily read) your email.

When opening your email, a little pop-up window appears, asking recipients to confirm they've read it.

While read receipts provide transparency (recipients can clearly see you’re tracking opens), some find them intrusive or rude.

You can request a read receipt when sending emails in popular email clients like Gmail and Outlook. For Gmail, you need a paid account to send read-receipt requests.

Here’s how to request a read receipt in Gmail:

1. ➡️ Compose a new email
2. ➡️ Click the three dots in the bottom right to open "More options”
3. ➡️ Check the "Request read receipt" option

And here’s how to request a read receipt in Outlook:

1. ➡️ Compose a new email
2. ➡️ Click the "Options" tab in the ribbon
3. ➡️ Check the "Request read receipt" option

For more detailed instructions, read: How to request an email read receipt in Gmail and Outlook.

Sending a read receipt with some time-sensitive emails may work. However, a more scalable solution is probably a better fit if you're doing email outreach.

2. Use an email tracking Chrome extension

Another simple way of tracking opens is by installing a Chrome extension.

These extensions often work with Gmail and will add a tracking pixel to all your outgoing emails. They will notify you when someone opens your email.

Here are some Chrome extensions that track email opens:

1. Mailsuite: Tracks your emails in Gmail. You can see your email's read status in your Gmail sent folder. You can also send email campaigns with the Advanced Mailsuite plan ($5.99/month).
2. Free Email Tracker by cloudHQ: Also works with Gmail. This extension ensures you won't miss any open as it can notify you via SMS, Desktop, and email notifications.
3. Mailtag’s Email Tracker: Tracks opens and clicks and can send automated follow-ups to your recipients. Includes analytics dashboard.

Chrome extensions may seem a convenient way of tracking opens as they integrate with Gmail and are lower-priced than email automation tools.

However, their limited scalability (not ideal to send many emails with) and potential privacy concerns (some non-reputable companies may get access to all your emails) may lead you to look elsewhere.

3. Add an HTML image tag to your emails 📧

HTML image tags can function as tracking pixels.

If you know a bit of code, adding an HTML tag to your emails should be easy.

If a recipient opens an email, a notification will be sent to you. The notification includes data on when the recipient opened the email.

The good thing is that, although you're including an image tag in your emails, it doesn't have to be visible:

If you opt for this tracking method, you must respect your recipient’s privacy and protect your own information by using end-to-end encryption, being upfront about tracking opens, and only tracking relevant data like when the email was opened. Tracking the recipient's location, IP address, or device details is off-limits.

4. Use email clients that track opens

Some email clients can automatically add a tracking pixel to every email you send.

Tools like Mailbird offer a built-in email open-tracking feature.

No need for Chrome extensions or frustrating afternoons battling to add code to your emails.

With Mailbird, you can enable open tracking for individual emails, or use it on all outgoing emails.

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Open tracking is not available on Mailbird’s free plan.

5. Let email automation tools track your open rate

The most scalable and straightforward way to track opens is using an email automation or marketing tool.

These can be traditional email marketing tools like Mailchimp, or email automation tools used for sales outreach like lemlist.

All you have to do is create a campaign, send it out, and your open rate will be tracked automatically.

Of course, since open rates are no longer accurate, they only give you an indication of how your emails are getting opened, but all other methods, except requesting a read receipt, face the same problem.

The cool thing about email automation tools is that they also show you a host of other metrics that are more reliable than the traditional open rate.

We published a list of 5 email automation and marketing tools that track opens and other useful metrics.

Open rates are inaccurate, now what!? 🫨

Email open rates have traditionally been used to partially measure the success of email campaigns. (Learn more about what open rates are here.)

However , since you should no longer care too much about open rates, we have to turn to other metrics to see how we're doing.

One such metric is the reply rate. If many people reply to your outreach, you’re doing something right.

And if your emails contain links, it offers another way to track our success. If people click on it, it means they’re interested in what you share.

Finally, you can look at meetings booked or revenue generated as reliable numbers that matter most.

If you combine all these metrics, you may actually get to a point where you won't need the open rate anymore.

No excuses 💪🏻

As a final thought, the fact that open rates cannot be trusted is not an excuse to neglect your deliverability.

Even though you can’t track open rates, you must still follow all the steps to get a good open rate.

Open rates still exist; you just can’t measure them reliably anymore.

Here are 5 ways to improve your email open rates.