Knowing if the email you’ve sent has been delivered not just to the inbox of the recipient, but they’ve actually read it, can give you peace of mind. Whether it is for a job application, work reasons, personal reassurance, or marketing efforts, there are various ways to know if the recipient has read the email you’ve sent.
In this article, we will discuss all about this, going over how to tell if someone has read your email on Gmail. Our article will include a variety of methods, so you’re not short of actions to take.
How to Tell if Someone Read Your Email on Gmail in Five Different Ways
Below are five different ways to tell if someone has read your email on Gmail.
1) Link Tracking
Also known as click tracking, link tracking is one of the most popular ways to tell if someone read your email on Gmail. Whenever someone clicks on a link that includes tracking through tools like Google Analytics or Bitly, you will know that the recipient has clicked on the link and, therefore, interacted with your email.
For this, you will need to craft an email with a trackable link made only for that email. Since the link tracking only shows whether or not it was clicked by someone, it is a clever way of telling if the person on the other end of the email has opened it.
2) Google Drive Tracking
Similar to link tracking, you can use Google Drive’s tracking features to tell if someone read your email. Just like including a link with tracking in your email, attach a Google Drive file with link-sharing turned on.
When they open the email, you will be able to tell that they’ve read or at least interacted with your email because Google Drive shows when the file was last viewed. For this method to work, however, you shouldn’t open the file until they do so. Otherwise, Google Drive will show when you last opened the file, which will make it difficult to track.
3) Image Embed
One of the more professional ways of tracking whether or not an email you send on Gmail is opened or not is by embedding an image. In fact, this is how most marketing agencies determine if their audience is engaging with their emails.
Embed an image from your own server or use a service that does this in the email you send. When the email is opened and the image loads, you will know about it via the log file that records the IP address, time, and so on. It is one of the more reliable ways to tell whether someone read your email on Gmail or not. However, there’s one downside to it, which we discuss in detail below.
4) Email Tracking Extensions
Email tracking extensions are specifically made for this purpose, telling if someone has read your email. Commonly used by outreach marketers, tools like Yesware, Bananatag, and Mailtrack enable their users to get notified when someone reads their email. This is typically done by adding a tracking pixel or an invisible image inside the email.
Nevertheless, both image embed and these email tracking extensions fail to work if the recipient blocks images or chooses which images to load. Since the image won’t load automatically, you will have no way of telling whether or not they’ve read your email.
5) Gmail Read Receipt
Before we get to it, let’s first cover that this isn’t available in the standard Gmail. The read receipts on Gmail are only available on Google Workspace, which is used by businesses, schools, and other organizations.
To use this feature, click the three dots at the bottom after composing an email and select the “request read receipt” option. However, note that this only works if the recipient allows you to receive a read receipt. When the recipient receives your email, they will be able to choose whether or not to send it. Therefore, you can only tell if your email on Gmail was read if the recipient chooses to do so.
How to Tell if Someone Read Your Email on Gmail: Verify the Address
Now you know how to tell if someone has read your email on Gmail. When composing an email for this purpose, it is best to verify the recipient’s email address beforehand. Otherwise, all your work will be for nothing.
The easiest way to do this is by a reverse email lookup through a website like Information.com. It will help you discover if their email address is correct and alert you if there has been a change in their primary email address.
