A Comprehensive Guide to the Best Email Tracking Software

How effective are your email campaigns? Who is opening your messages, and how are they interacting with your content?

If you're like most people, you probably focus on maintaining a healthy open rate and don't track many other stats.

The fact of the matter is email is a game of numbers and data. To run a successful e-mail program, you need to know where your subscribers are coming from, what interests them, and how they engage with your content.

This data can help you maximize your email marketing budget and improve your mailings. For example, 63% of businesses reduce the frequency of emails sent to subscribers based on their levels of engagement.

These specialized tools can help you better understand your subscribers and optimize your campaigns for maximum performance. In this article, we'll explore the top email tracking tools available in 2023, discuss the features to look for when choosing one, and show you how to create effective campaigns with these powerful programs.

Email Tracking Software: What to Look For

When choosing email tracking software, look for programs that offer robust capabilities and reporting features. For instance, a good program should track opens, clicks, forwards, and bounces. You'll also want features like automated segmentation to target your campaigns. Finally, be sure to check out integrations, such as those with popular CRM systems.

Open Rate

Tracking email open rates is an essential function that any email tracking software should offer. You need to know how many of your messages are being opened so you can adjust your subject lines and clean your list accordingly.

Click-Through Rate

The click-through rate (CTR) is another elementary metric that any email tracking software should offer. Look for an interface that tells you which links people are clicking on to help you see which pieces of content and which link formats (buttons, images, text links) your audience is responding to.

Subscriber Attribution

If you're trying to build your email audience, you need to know where your subscribers are coming from. Look for email tracking software that provides subscriber attribution information. These tools pull data from sources like search engines, social media sites, and referral links so you can see how much of your growth is coming from each source. This data helps you measure your marketing efforts' effectiveness and provides actionable insights that tell you where to focus your energy in the future.

Segmentation Data

Ideally, you want to drill into any segment of your audience and get insights into engagement trends, device usage, and more. Look for a tool that allows you to segment your list so you can see who's opening your emails, which links they're clicking on, and what devices they're using to access your content.

Polls

Polls may not be an integral part of email tracking software, but they are an essential tool for learning more about your email audience. People love businesses that ask for their opinions, and their answers can tell you what they're interested in and how they're receiving your content. So look for software that allows you to embed polls into your messages and get real-time feedback from subscribers.

Integrations

Finally, integrations are a crucial consideration when picking email tracking software. Most of the top programs offer integration with popular CRM systems, marketing automation tools, analytics programs, and more so you can get a holistic view of your campaign's performance.

Now that we've covered the features you should look for in email tracking software, let's take a look at the best options available in 2023.

Best Email Tracking Software Top Pick: beehiiv

If you're a beehiiv user, you'll find all these functions built right into your dashboard. The software's powerful tracking and reporting features provide you with detailed insights into your campaigns. It also offers integration with over 20 CRM systems so you can sync up your customer data for better marketing automation.

The beehiiv platform was created by the team responsible for growth at the legendary Morning Brew newsletter. It was built specifically for email creators seeking maximum growth. That's why it includes the email tracking software toolkit used by the world's top newsletters. beehiiv offers subscriber attribution, one-click polls, and advanced segmentation without the need for additional tools.

The subscriber attribution features help you understand subscriber growth broken down by referring site, campaign, device, browser, and more. Native one-click polls let you collect feedback and insights from readers directly in your newsletter, then easily view and share the results. beehiiv's advanced segmentation feature enables you to create segments based on metrics, attributes, or events. As a result, you can quickly gather valuable insights and perform bulk actions like exporting, unsubscribing, upgrading, and sending campaigns.

Pricing: These features are free for beehiiv platform users.

Email Automation Software: The Best Options For 2023

If you're using beehiiv, you won't need any other tools. But let's look at the tools you might choose if you use another publishing platform.

Best Free Email Tracking Software for Gmail: MailTracker by Hunter

MailTracker from Hunter is a free browser extension plugin for Gmail users.

With MailTracker, you can see at a glance whether your emails are being opened and read. As soon as the recipient opens your message, all the tracking details will be visible directly in Gmail. For example, you can see when they opened your message, how many times, and what device they used.

Although the free version is less robust than paid options, it may provide enough data to meet your needs.

Pricing: In addition to the free plan, MailTracker offers paid plans starting at $1.99 per month.

Best Email Tracking Software for Mass Mailing in Gmail: GMass

GMass is a mail merge service that can be installed within Gmail.

Personalized mass emails can be sent individually, enabling you to quickly and effortlessly boost engagement with your messages. Automated follow-ups are also available.

GMass tracks open rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates. Its primary purpose is to schedule mass emails and manage autoresponders automatically.

Pricing: Plans range from $19.95 to $49.95 per month.

Best Email Tracking Software for Sales Teams: Yesware

Yesware is a powerful email tracking software for sales teams. The app helps your sales team see which of your prospects are most likely to convert.

This email-tracking software lets you stay one step ahead of the competition. It provides insight into who opens messages and clicks on links so you can send more tailored emails over time. You also have access to an array of templates for easy construction as well as rich text formatting and link creation capabilities.

With Yesware, you can stay on top of upcoming tasks and effortlessly sync with programs like Salesforce and LinkedIn - all without manually inputting data.

Yesware helps you track your emails and gain insights into customer engagement with features like analytics, reports, and automated follow-ups. Get in-depth metrics about each message to understand what’s working best for your team. Create detailed reports to measure the effectiveness of campaigns or track your top performers. You can also set up automated follow-up emails to ensure maximum engagement and response rates.

Pricing: Plans range from $19 to $85 per seat per month. Yesware offers some functionality for free to test drive the app.

Best Email Tracking Software for CRM Use: Streak

Streak is another Google Chrome extension built for Gmail. This app is specifically designed to integrate with CRM systems, allowing you to access customer data while within Gmail.

Streak is intended to help sales and customer service teams collaborate more effectively. It integrates customer data from your CRM into Gmail so that you can see rich contact profiles right in your inbox. You’ll also be able to track emails, get notifications when a message is opened or replied to, and schedule emails to be sent at a later time.

Streak also allows you to manage team-wide customer support queues so that each member of your team can easily access any conversations. Furthermore, you can use Streak's tracking feature to measure the performance of individual salespeople, campaigns, and more.

Pricing: Streak offers a free plan with limited features and paid plans ranging from $15 to $129 per user per month.

Best Email Tracking Software for Direct Selling: MailTag

MailTag is an email tracking tool designed for direct sales companies. It helps you track emails sent from your Gmail account and measure how successful those campaigns are.

MailTag provides detailed analytics about the emails you send, such as open rate, click-through rate, unsubscribes, and bounces. You can also track emails sent by any member of your team and schedule follow-ups.

MailTag lets you export your data into Google Sheets to share with your team. So, MailTag tracks your email opens and link clicks and gives you insight into how people respond to and engage with your messages.

Pricing: $12.99 per user per month.

Best Email Tracking Software Built Into a Marketing Package: HubSpot

If you're looking for a complete marketing package with built-in email tracking features, HubSpot might be the right solution for you.

HubSpot offers a comprehensive suite of tools to help your business grow, including email marketing and automation. With it, you can track emails from Gmail, Outlook, or any other webmail service. It also includes a powerful analytics platform that gives insights into how customers engage with your emails.

HubSpot also provides a range of templates to help you create engaging campaigns, plus it integrates with many CRM’s and other marketing software like AdWords, Salesforce, and more.

Pricing: Starts at $50 per month. A free plan with limited functionality lets you test-drive the software.

Best Email Tracking Software for Cleaning your List: Kickbox

Kickbox works alongside your other tracking and automation tools to verify the emails on your list before you send out your campaign, which improves deliverability rates and increases email marketing ROI.

It helps you clean up your list and ensure that all emails you send get delivered to valid, active addresses. The app can spot misspelled and outdated addresses, which helps you boost your open rates and reach all the subscribers on your list.

Kickbox also tracks bounced emails, so you can identify any issues with delivery before they become a problem. Furthermore, Kickbox will provide insights into the quality of your email list and measure its overall performance. For example, the app includes geolocation, open timing, devices, and email client info for your audience.

Pricing: Starts at $5 for 500 emails.

What is the Best Email Automation Software for You?

The answer depends on your business and your existing systems. If you're looking for a comprehensive, all-in-one solution for scaling an email newsletter, beehiiv has everything you need.

If you're a Gmail user looking for a free option, MailTracker is a solid choice. If you're looking for an email tracking solution built into a complete marketing suite, HubSpot is ideal. Finally, for cleaning up your list and ensuring optimal deliverability, Kickbox is the best option on the market.

Ultimately, these tools will provide valuable insights about your campaigns and help you build better relationships with your audience, so take your time to do your research and pick the one that's right for you.

How Do I Create an Email Campaign?

Creating an effective email campaign starts with crafting a good message, choosing an appropriate template, and identifying your target audience. Additionally, you'll need to set up a tracking solution to measure the success of your emails.

Once you've figured out those basics, the right platform can help you create an effective email campaign. For example, beehiiv provides state-of-the-art tools to build and design your emails, schedule campaigns for optimal reach, split-test content, track performance metrics, and much more.

Next Steps

Ready to dive into your data and improve your email effectiveness? Learn more about the email tracking and automation software discussed in this post to find the right solution for your business. If you're a beehiiv creator, all you need to do is learn about the tools built into your platform and how to use them.