Top 4 e-mail tracking tools using big data

Top 4 e-mail tracking tools using big data

Big data is being incorporated in many aspects of e-mail marketing. It has made it surprisingly easy for organizations to track the performance of e-mail marketing campaigns in fascinating ways.

How big data changes e-mail tracking

No matter what your role is, if you work in the technology sector, you likely spend a large portion of your day dealing with e-mail in some way. You’re sending, reading, or reviewing e-mails, or you’re checking your inbox to see if anything else comes in. By some estimates, the average worker even spends 30 hours a week checking their e-mail.

Despite being such a centrally important and frequent job function, most of us are flying blind. We don’t understand how much time we’re spending on e-mail, nor do we have a solid understanding of whether our efforts are productive. Fortunately, there are several new e-mail tracking software tools that employers and employees can use to keep a closer eye on these metrics.

The problem is that previous e-mail monitoring tools lacked the analytics capabilities needed to make empirically based decisions with the quality managers needed. Big data is making it easier for companies to get deeper insights.

Why use e-mail tracking software tools that rely on big data?

There are many potential applications for e-mail tracking software tools, but these are some of the most important:

• Productivity analytics. Studying how you e-mail can alert you to the nuances of your e-mail habits, including how often you send e-mail, how long it takes you to write and read e-mail, and what your busiest days and times are. You’ll learn what your worst habits are, so you can polish them and use your time more efficiently, and will learn to optimize your schedule to get more done each day.
• Sales and response metrics. Many companies rely on sales or prospecting via e-mail, but if you aren’t gathering metrics like open rates and response rates, you may not be able to improve your process over time. e-mail tracking software can help you keep tabs on your progress, and may help you gather or organize information on your prospects at the same time.
• Employee monitoring. Employees waste about 3 hours a day on unproductive activities, while most human resources departments only assume that 1 hour or less is wasted per day. Using some kind of e-mail tracking can help you measure your employees’ productivity, and help you balance workloads between multiple employees.

Big data is at the root of all of these functions, and this makes it critical to control your data. It makes it easier for brands to get better insights.

The best e-mail tracking software tools that leverage big data

Some e-mail tracking tools focus exclusively on one e-mail function, like tracking sales or marketing campaigns. Others offer a more robust suite of features, allowing you to track your overall productivity.

Whatever your goals are, these five tools are some of the best e-mail tracking apps you can get your hands on. They all rely on sophisticated big data analytics systems.

1. EmailAnalytics

First, we have EmailAnalytics, which can be thought of like Google Analytics for Gmail. This tool integrates with your Gmail or G Suite account and visualizes your e-mail activities into charts, graphs, and tables. It reports on metrics like average e-mail response time, e-mails sent, e-mails received, times and days of the week that are busiest for you, and how long your average e-mail threads tend to last. With the help of interactive data visuals and regular reports, you can quickly determine the weak points in your approach to e-mail (and resolve to fix them). The tool also enables managers to view reports for teams or employees, so you can monitor team e-mail productivity.

2. Microsoft MyAnalytics

Microsoft’s MyAnalytics isn’t quite as robust as EmailAnalytics, but it works quite well as a productivity tracker for Microsoft Outlook. With it, you can keep track of how you and your employees are spending the hours of your day, drawing in information from your e-mail inbox and calendar. If you’re spending too much time in meetings, or too much time on managing your inbox, you’ll be able to figure that out quickly, and starting making proactive changes to your scheduling and work habits.

3. Streak

Streak is another Gmail tool, and one that attempts to convert Gmail into a full-fledged CRM platform. With it, you can convert messages into leads and prospects across various pipelines, and track your progress with each new prospective sale. It also offers built-in collaboration tools, so your team can work together on a single project—and track each other’s efforts.

4. Yesware

Yesware is designed with salespeople and salesmanagers in mind, and it offers prescriptive sales analytics based on your e-mail activity. With it, you can track a number of metrics within your e-mail strategy, including open rates, click-through rates, and other forms of customer engagement. Over time, you’ll learn which strategies work best for your prospects, and can use those strategies to employ more effective sales techniques.

Implementing these e-mail tracking software tools in your business can help you better understand how you and your employees are using e-mail, improve your sales process, and spend less time on this all-too-important communication medium. Just remember, while data visuals and reports can be helpful in improving your understanding, those insights are only truly valuable if you take action on them.

Big data makes e-mail tracking more effective than ever

Big data is changing the nature of e-mail marketing. Companies can use more nuanced data analytics capabilities to drive their decision-making models in fascinating ways.

Author: Matt James

Source: SmartDataCollective