Does email feel like a guessing game and you have no idea how your campaigns are performing? Email tracking software helps you stay on top of your key email metrics in real-time. For those who use email as a channel intensively, email tracking can help monitor and adjust campaigns and improve the overall ROI of email content.
Today, we take a look at some of the best tools for tracking emails that money can buy in 2024.
What is an email tracking tool?
An email tracking tool is a piece of software that tracks how email recipients interact with the emails you send them. Email tracking software typically tracks the following:
- Whether someone opened an email or not
- The time when they opened it
- Whether they clicked on any links or not (link tracking)
Email tracking software helps email marketers improve their campaigns by giving them real-time insights about sequences and individual emails.
Key benefits of email tracking tools
Even if you already have an email marketing tool, getting an extra one for email tracking services is worth it. Here are some of the major benefits of an email tracking extension or platform.
- Improved follow up emails: thanks to the tracking pixel, you’ll know whether to follow up or not and when to do it
- Better insights into engagement: you’ll know which emails are driving engagement and exactly how recipients interact with them
- Optimized email campaigns: thanks to email tracking tools, you can test and tweak subject lines, content length, calls to action, different links, etc.
- Improved outreach: get real time notifications about the success of your cold emails
Some of the email tracking software on this list also has a Google Chrome Extension, which can be handy, especially for Gmail users who want unlimited tracking in the Google Workspace.
Top features to look for in an email tracking tool
Looking to purchase email tracking software? These are the key email tracking features to look out for:
- Open tracking: using a tracking pixel to see when someone opens an email
- Link click tracking: so you can check who clicks on links and which links get the most opens
- Reply tracking: to determine the percentage of recipients that reply to your emails
- Attachment tracking: to see who downloads attachments and which ones perform the best
- Real time email tracking notifications: so you can stay informed and revise campaigns on the go
- Email scheduling: to plan out emails ahead of time
- Follow up reminders: so you know when to send out your next campaign
- CRM integration: to get real time notifications about emails in your CRM
- Email templates: to help you get started with emails instead of writing from scratch
- Analytics and reporting: a dashboard with the most important email tracking metrics
- Device and location tracking: so you can see which devices get the most opens and where people read your emails
- Security and privacy: so your email lists are safe and that you as a sender are compliant with legislation such as GDPR and CAN-SPAM
- Customization options: the ability to create custom notifications and workflows
- A Google Chrome extension: if you want to do email and link tracking directly from a Gmail inbox
Your email tracking tool may not need to have all of these features, but it should have the main tracking types covered.
9 best email tracking tools to try in 2024
Ready to choose your next email tracking tool? Here are the very best choices in terms of pricing, features, and ease of use.
Woodpecker
Woodpecker is designed to streamline cold email outreach for businesses and agencies aiming to enhance their sales pipeline. It offers a range of features to ensure effective email engagement and follow-up.
Key features:
- Inbox warmup: Prepares your inbox for sending high-volume emails to prevent them from landing in spam.
- Email verification: Verifies your entire database to ensure emails are sent to real human beings.
- Personalization and automation: Allows you to create personalized email sequences with automated follow-ups.
- Detailed analytics dashboard: Provides crucial email analytics, helping you track responses and opened emails.
- Split testing: Enables you to test different versions of emails on your target audience.
- AI-driven templates: Offers a variety of adjustable templates enhanced by AI.
- Integrations: Compatible with most email marketing software, allowing direct messaging from tools like Mailchimp. Also integrates with CRMs such as Hubspot, Salesforce, Zoho, and Pipedrive.
Pricing: Woodpecker’s pricing starts at $29 per month for 500 emails, with a free trial available for new users.
Ready to enhance your email outreach? Sign up and get started for free today!
Snov.io
Snov.io offers a suite of sales tools designed to help businesses generate leads and connect with prospects through email and LinkedIn automation.
Its diverse set of features includes a sales CRM, a Chrome plugin, and a LinkedIn prospect finder, making it a versatile choice for enhancing your outreach efforts.
Key features:
- Email finder and prospect finder for LinkedIn: Locate and gather email addresses and LinkedIn profiles efficiently.
- Email verifier: Ensure that your emails are sent to valid addresses.
- Drip campaign creator: Automate your email campaigns with ease.
- Email warmup and Gmail email tracker: Improve deliverability and track email opens.
- Sales CRM: Manage your sales pipeline effectively.
Snov.io’s pricing starts at $30 per month, with a free trial offering 50 credits per month. However, email verification, integrations, and API access are only available in paid plans.
Snov.io can be challenging to set up for novice users, and its pricing structure is not scalable, becoming expensive with a large number of addresses. It is not cost-effective for small businesses, and the data enrichment feature has low accuracy. Users have also reported unresponsive customer support.
Users have highlighted issues with the user experience, noting that email verification is not always accurate and that data enrichment does not perform well. Additionally, the pricing can become very expensive with a large number of email addresses.
Waalaxy
Waalaxy is a robust automated lead generation tool that streamlines LinkedIn activities, such as automating connection requests and scheduling interactions. In addition to its LinkedIn capabilities, Waalaxy also offers features for cold email outreach and email tracking.
Key features:
- Email finder: Locate and gather email addresses efficiently.
- Many integrations: Connect with various other tools and platforms.
- Campaign tracking: Monitor the progress and performance of your campaigns.
- A/B testing: Optimize your emails by testing different versions.
- AI prospect finder: Utilize AI to identify potential leads.
Waalaxy offers a limited free version and two paid plans starting at €112 per month. For more team-oriented features, you can opt for the Team plan, which includes additional add-ons.
While Waalaxy provides cold email features, they are limited and only available in the highest plan. The tool is more focused on LinkedIn activities than cold emailing, and the free plan has many restrictions. Additionally, Waalaxy does not integrate natively with HubSpot.
Users have mixed feelings about Waalaxy. One review notes that “automatic connection requests can be a bit annoying,” and another mentions, “sometimes not so easy to find your way through what to do.” Some users have pointed out missing functions, such as search based on location and experience, although they acknowledge that these features might be in development.
A significant concern is the platform’s performance, with one user stating, “The platform is riddled with bugs that frequently hinder workflow. Speed, or the lack thereof, has been a recurrent issue. For a tool priced at a premium, one would expect seamless, efficient operations, but this has not been my experience.”
Lemwarm
Lemwarm, a tool by Lemlist, focuses on email warm-up and deliverability to help users avoid their emails landing in spam folders. The primary goal of Lemwarm is to ensure that your emails reach your recipients’ inboxes reliably and maintain a good reputation with your favorite email service provider.
Key features:
- Warm-up: Prepares your email account for optimal deliverability.
- Deliverability features: Enhances the likelihood of your emails reaching the inbox.
- Team-friendly: Designed to be used by teams for collaborative efforts.
- Robust email tracking capabilities: Monitors email performance and deliverability.
Lemwarm offers three pricing plans starting at $29 per month. A free trial is available, but only for the lowest plan. Users of Lemlist can access Lemwarm for free, adding value for those already utilizing Lemlist’s services.
Despite its strengths, Lemwarm is somewhat limited compared to other platforms. It functions as a separate tool and lacks the versatility found in competitors. There are no reviews on major trusted platforms, and other tools, such as Woodpecker, offer more features at similar or slightly higher prices.
User feedback on Lemwarm is mixed. One user noted, “I can only add one email account to Lemwarm.” Another pointed out issues with the tool’s API, stating, “All our warm-up emails were going to the spam and categories section, which was really frustrating. I don’t know if they’ve fixed it, but before that was creating email deliverability issues for us.” Additionally, some users have found that “similar tools work better.”
Yesware
Yesware, developed by Vendasta, is a robust sales engagement platform designed to enhance email outreach for individuals, teams, and enterprises. It offers a range of features to streamline email communications and improve sales productivity.
Key features:
- Email tracking: Monitor email opens and interactions.
- Multichannel campaigns: Engage prospects across various channels.
- Email templates: Save time with customizable email templates.
- Analytics: Gain insights with detailed email performance reports.
- Outlook add-On: Seamlessly integrate with Outlook for better email management.
- Google Chrome extension: Enhance functionality with a browser extension that has an email tracking feature.
Yesware provides four pricing plans to cater to different user needs, ranging from individuals to large sales teams. The plans are Free, Pro, Premium, and Enterprise, starting at $15 per seat per month. There is a free plan and a free trial for higher-tier packages. For those requiring tailored solutions, Yesware offers custom plans.
Despite its strengths, Yesware has some limitations. The lower-tier plans are quite restricted, and users have reported issues with reminder alerts. The reporting capabilities could be improved, and the platform only integrates with one CRM. Additionally, mastering sequencing takes time and effort.
User feedback on Yesware is mixed. One user commented, “Sequencing contacts is not as easy in Yesware as other CRMs.” Another mentioned, “No ability to send campaigns or sequences. Calendar/meeting feature is not easy to use.” Some users noted visibility issues, stating, “I could see a Yesware label on emails.”
Others expressed concerns about customization, with one review highlighting, “The customization of the cadences leaves a lot to be desired. The unique fields you can put in are not very accurate, and this leads to a lot of generic cadences and manual work on your end. It is very limiting.”
Overloop
Overloop is a comprehensive sales engagement platform designed to enhance the outreach efforts of sales teams. It facilitates the sending of cold emails, LinkedIn messages, and making cold calls, providing a multifaceted approach to lead generation and management.
Key features:
- Outbound cold emails: Send personalized cold emails to prospects.
- LinkedIn cold messages: Engage leads through LinkedIn messaging.
- Email finder and lead management tool: Locate email addresses and manage leads efficiently.
- Multichannel campaigns with email tracking: Track and manage email campaigns across multiple channels.
- Workflows and task management: Organize and streamline sales team activities.
Overloop offers a pricing plan starting at $49 per user per month, which covers up to three campaigns at a time. However, it does not provide a free trial.
While Overloop has numerous strengths, it also has some limitations. It is not very scalable and can become buggy and slow. Users have reported issues with bounce reporting, and integrations, particularly with Salesforce, can break. Additionally, Overloop is relatively expensive compared to its competitors.
Users generally find Overloop easy to use, with a great onboarding experience and a wealth of features. However, some users have noted that the platform can be very slow at times.
La Growth Machine
La Growth Machine is a multichannel sales engagement platform designed for cold outreach and prospecting across email, LinkedIn, and Twitter. It aims to streamline and enhance the process of reaching potential clients through various channels.
Key features:
- Lead data enrichment: Enhance the quality and completeness of your lead information.
- Automated email and social media outreach sequences: Create and execute automated outreach campaigns across multiple channels, including automated follow up emails.
- Lead management and tracking: Efficiently manage and track your leads throughout the sales process.
- Detailed analytics and reporting: Gain insights with comprehensive analytics and reporting tools.
- Integrations: Seamlessly integrate with CRMs and other tools to streamline your workflow.
La Growth Machine offers pricing starting at €50 per user per month, with a free trial available for 14 days.
While La Growth Machine has many strengths, it also has some drawbacks. Building custom workflows and sequences requires the most expensive plan. Additionally, there is a lack of a centralized dashboard for tracking campaigns and individual contributors. The platform also lacks a Chrome extension, which can be inconvenient for some users.
Users appreciate the mix of tools for multichannel outreach and the decent integrations with CRMs. However, they note that it doesn’t integrate as well from the CRM to La Growth Machine. The platform is also considered expensive for many users.
Breakcold
Breakcold is a versatile tool designed to enhance your cold email outreach. It offers unlimited email campaigns, ensuring you can reach as many prospects as needed. The tool’s personalization capabilities help tailor emails to individual recipients, improving engagement.
A unified CRM email inbox consolidates all communications, making it easier to manage interactions. Additionally, Breakcold automatically rotates email domains to maintain high deliverability rates.
Pricing for Breakcold starts at $29 per user per month, with two packages available. A free trial is offered, allowing users to explore its features before committing, although there is no free plan available.
However, Breakcold has some drawbacks. Users report a steep learning curve and integration issues. The tool lacks add-ons, and the upgrade options could be more robust. Additionally, Breakcold is not as specialized in cold emailing as some other tools.
User reviews highlight both strengths and areas for improvement. One user noted, “There are a few bugs here and there,” while another mentioned, “Several features are absent and need time to be developed.” The software currently lacks advanced analytics, which can limit insights into campaign performance. Additionally, filtering contacts can be cumbersome if not done correctly from the start.
Saleshandy
Saleshandy is a robust tool designed to scale outbound email campaigns, providing versatile solutions for outbound sales, recruitment, and account management services.
Key features:
- Unified inbox: Manage all your emails in one place.
- Sender rotation: Automatically rotate senders to avoid spam filters.
- Automatic email warmup: Gradually increase email sending volume to improve deliverability.
- A/B Testing (multivariant): Test different versions of emails to optimize performance.
- Email verification: Verify email addresses to ensure accuracy (extra charge).
Saleshandy does not offer a free plan, but there is a 7-day free trial available. Paid packages for cold emailing start at $36/month. Email verification incurs additional charges. The platform offers various plans tailored to specific needs, such as cold emailing, B2B lead finding, and agency account management services.
Saleshandy has some limitations, particularly in its lower-tier plans. Integrations with CRM platforms like Hubspot, Pipedrive, and Zoho are not available in the basic plans.
The follow-up feature is also not included in the standard cold emailing plans and requires an additional package or a custom plan. The wide range of plans can be overwhelming for new users who may just want tracking details regarding their email campaign.
User feedback highlights several areas for improvement. The user interface and contact management can be confusing and difficult to navigate. Additionally, the tool doesn’t fully integrate with Zoho and lacks sufficient HTML email templates, which complicates creating high-quality emails. Users also express a desire for more integrations.
Conclusion
Using email tracking software can help you gain control over the performance of your email campaigns. From individual emails to entire sequences, unlimited email tracking shows you what kind of email content drives results and what should be scrapped for good.
At Woodpecker, we have all the right tools to make cold outreach effective. Email templates, email tracking features with detailed analytics, email inbox warmup, verification, and more.
And you can get started for free today!
Frequently asked questions
What does an email tracker do?
Email tracking software is used to check how recipients interact with emails: whether they open them (and when), whether they click on links, open attachments, and more. A free email tracker will have all of these, but will lack the more advanced features found in the email tracking tools listed above.
Is email tracking legal?
Yes, email tracking features are legal. Email tracking software only tracks if someone opened and email and when they did, and no other information is collected. This makes email and link tracking perfectly legal.
Is email tracking compliant with GDPR?
To be compliant with GDPR and still manage tracked emails, you need to get explicit consent from your recipients first, before sending out any campaigns. In other words, when users opt-in to receive emails from you, they should give you consent for email tracking too.