We’ve all had that feeling: You’ve sent a very important message and you’re eagerly awaiting a response. you do not know if the email has arrived correctly; it can’t tell if it’s been seen or read, so it sits in limbo while guessing its next move. But luckily, gmail allows you to set up read receipts so you can get notified when your email is read by your recipient.
here’s how you do it, so you can eliminate that email anxiety.
how to configure read receipts in gmail
The first thing you need to know is that you cannot access read receipts in your personal account
gmail account (an account ending in @gmail.com). Most importantly, you can only set up read receipts if you have a g-suite account, but to do so, you must be a company or organization.
Also, to enable read receipts, you need the administrator (the person who initially set up g-suite) to go to settings and enable read receipts for all other users.
To set up your g-suite account, follow these instructions.
Once you have added the code to your website and your account has been verified, log in to g-suite.
Step 1. Compose a new email.
step 2. enter the to and subject fields.
step 3. go to more options (the 3 dots on the right side of the email composer).
step 4. click request read confirmation.
step 5. click submit. add_this_text
what is a gmail read receipt?
A read receipt is as simple as it sounds: it’s an email confirmation that lets you know that the recipient of the email received and opened your message. so when you send an email, you don’t need to wonder if your message got lost in the ether or was simply ignored by your contact.
They can help people gauge how to proceed with their email conversations and help marketing departments measure the effectiveness of their email campaigns.
read receipts help you make the most of your time and increase the effectiveness of your campaigns.
the limitations of gmail read receipts
read receipts are a useful addition to gmail, but there are some limitations, aside from needing a g-suite account linked to a company or organization:
1. read receipts are not available for all gmail users
If you have a gmail account that ends with @gmail.com, you won’t have access to the read receipt feature. only if you have a g-suite account (i.e. a company or organization account ending with @yourcompany.com or @yourschool.edu) will you benefit from the feature.
2. gmail read receipts are optional
When your recipient receives an email from you, they are asked if they want to send a read receipt. they have every right to say no.
3. gmail read receipts not appearing on all providers
they work fine on the big providers like outlook and thunderbird, but not on all the lesser known email service providers.
4. it has to be done manually
You have to manually request a read receipt for each new message you send. you cannot set your account to automatically request read receipts.
5. accept read receipt
Recipients must accept your read receipt, so there is no guarantee that they will use it. If you don’t receive a read receipt notification, you can’t be 100% sure that the recipient didn’t read your email.
6. not compatible with mail merge
cannot be used for mass email lists or mail merges; it only works when you use your to and cc
other options to track your emails in gmail
the right inbox offers an answer to this problem. By downloading the chrome extension, users will gain access to the email tracking feature which, with the click of a button, will allow you to see if a recipient has opened your email, how many times they have clicked links in the email. , their location and the device they have used.
Email tracking is one of our customers’ favorite features. We want people to see the value of email tracking, so we’ve decided to add 5 email tracking credits to every free account.
the right inbox can be downloaded to your chrome browser in just a couple of minutes. all you need to do is navigate to this page, click add to chrome, click add extension in the popup and you’re good to go.
how to use right inbox email tracking feature [step by step]
It couldn’t be easier to use the right inbox email tracking feature:
step 1. enable the feature by clicking the eye icon at the bottom of the gmail compose window.
Step 2. Select whether you want to track email opens, clicks, or both. this is done through the popup you see in the image below.
Step 3. See real-time notifications at the bottom left of your compose window.
Step 4. Click your Sent folder and hover over the checkmark icon to see how many times the email has been opened. you can also see where it was opened and on how many devices.
some of the benefits of the right inbox email tracker are:
1. anyone who uses gmail can access it (you don’t need a g-suite account)
2. you don’t have to leave gmail to track your emails
3. you get real-time updates on who has opened and read your email
4. will support a variety of different email tactics, including:
- sales teams keeping track of customer interests
- businesses making sure staff are opening up crucial communications
- entrepreneurs needing to adjust email campaigns for better results
read receipt in gmail frequently asked questions (faqs)
why doesn’t my gmail read receipt option appear?
If you don’t see the read receipts option in gmail, then you don’t have g-suite configured, you don’t have read receipts enabled, or you don’t have an app like the right inbox. the best option is to use an app that automatically alerts you when someone opens your messages. you can install the correct inbox for free.
how do gmail read receipts work?
Unless you are using the correct inbox, you should use g-suite and request read receipts. The recipient must also have read receipts enabled if they only use g-suite; otherwise you won’t know if someone read your email.
how do i stop my email from sending gmail read receipts?
if you never agree to read receipts or turn them on in the first place, gmail won’t show them to senders by default.
why doesn’t my gmail have a read receipt?
gmail sees this as a premium feature, therefore only g-suite users can access it. you can bypass this by using the right inbox instead.
does adding a read receipt affect deliverability?
read receipts (using standard gmail settings) will only work for the to or cc options. you can’t turn on read receipts on bulk mailings or mail merges.
in summary
read receipts are a useful addition to gmail. They notify you when your recipient opens an email you’ve sent them, eliminating any doubt that they received it.
That said, gmail makes it more difficult for users to access the feature by requiring them to first have a professional g-suite account. you also need to manually request a read receipt when you compose each email. even then, you cannot guarantee that your recipient will agree to use it.
However, there are ways around all of this, especially if you choose to use the email tracking feature of the right inbox. That way you can keep track of your emails and get even more detailed information about your gmail activity.