How Zoho CRM tracks email activity?

We use web beacon trafficking, the industry standard followed by email service providers for tracking emails. A small graphic (one-by-one pixel) is embedded at the bottom of the HTML emails sent from Zoho CRM. When a recipient opens the email and chooses to Display images in it, this tiny image is downloaded from our server. This download enables Zoho CRM to track the opens and clicks on your email.

This is a simple and widely used method to track emails. However, this comes with its set of limitations. Following are some points for you to note:

• Since this is an image, it can only be embedded in HTML emails. As a result, plain text mails cannot be tracked by Zoho CRM.
  
• An open is recorded only when the recipient has chosen to Display images in the email. Otherwise the email will not be tracked.
  
  For a more accurate tracking, please request your customers to include your email address in their address book or make sure they choose to display images on the email.

Here's More Information About Tracking Emails:

Monitor Email Response Contextually

The details of a particular customer's engagement with your email is available contextually. The status of individual emails can be seen under the Emails section of every Lead, Contact or Deal.

To view details of a customer's activity on your email

1. Go to the desired module.
   
2. Click the record for which you wish to view the email status.
   
3. In the Record's Details Page, scroll down to the Emails section.
   
   After an email is sent, the status bar displays any of these four status messages.
   
   • Delivered - The email has reached the recipient.
     
   • Bounced - The email has failed to reach the recipient.
     
   • Opened - The email has been seen, and opened.
     
     When you point your mouse to the Opened status, the following details about the opens will be displayed in an information box.
     
     • Total number of times the mail has been opened.
       
     • The first time the mail was opened.
       
     • The last time the mail was opened.
       
       
   • Clicked - Links in the email have been clicked.
     
     When you point your mouse to the Clicked status, the following details about the clicks will be displayed in an information box.
     
     • Total number of opens.
       
     • The first time and the last time the mail was opened.
       
     • Total number of clicks recorded in the mail.
       
     • The first time a click was recorded.
       
     • The last time a click was recorded.
       
       

Note

• The term "Delivered" technically refers that the email has not bounced and was successfully delivered to the recipient. 
  
• If a sent email is clicked by the receiver, then the "opened email" stats will consider the email as opened.
  

How Zoho CRM tracks email activity?

We use web beacon trafficking, the industry standard followed by email service providers for tracking emails. A small graphic (one-by-one pixel) is embedded at the bottom of the HTML emails sent from Zoho CRM. When a recipient opens the email and chooses to Display images in it, this tiny image is downloaded from our server. This download enables Zoho CRM to track the opens and clicks on your email.

This is a simple and widely used method to track emails. However, this comes with its set of limitations. Following are some points for you to note:

• Since this is an image, it can only be embedded in HTML emails. As a result, plain text mails cannot be tracked by Zoho CRM.
  
• An open is recorded only when the recipient has chosen to Display images in the email. Otherwise the email will not be tracked.
  
  For a more accurate tracking, please request your customers to include your email address in their address book or make sure they choose to display images on the email.
  

Filter records by email status

Zoho CRM now lets you sort records based on associated sales priorities such as tasks, calls, events and emails besides the regular search parameters.

With Email Insights enabled for your account, Email Status is among the priorities based on which you can conduct the search. For example, using advanced filters, you can search for “contacts that have opened mails in the past 3 days”. Or “contacts to which mails have been sent but not opened this week”.

Note

If an email is sent to the customer on Day 1 and the customer sends an email on Day 2 (not in response to the Day 1's email), then the status will be considered as "Received", it will NOT be considered as "Sent". This is because the latest status of the record is receipt of an email, therefore, the previously sent email status will be overridden with the latest email. 

Take a look at a few scenarios in which Email Status is used as one of the search criteria in the advanced filters:

1. Emails that have been sent to contacts in the last 2 days but not been opened.
   
   
2. Emails that have been sent to leads in the last 2 days and have bounced.
   
   
3. Emails that have been clicked by the leads.
   
   

Using this in combination with other criteria will yield even more valuable insights. For example, consider the following example.

Filter deals

• That are closing this month
  
• For which emails have been opened but not replied to.
  
  

If this search yields results, you may want to make a second follow up on such potentials. To further drill down the search, you can enter a potential amount as well. Say potential amount is greater than 50000 USD. This way, you can attend to these potentials first.

You can apply instant actions on the records filtered using the advanced filters such as Mass Update, Mass Email, Macros and so on.

This way, advanced filters open the doors for discovery of sorts when it comes to your CRM data! With Email Status among the search criteria, the search only gets better.

View Email Reports

Once you have enabled Email Insights in your Zoho CRM account, you will have access to the following Email Reports:

• Email Analytics
  
• Email and Call Analytics Report
  
• Sent Email Status
  
• Top 10 Templates by Open Rate
  
• Top 10 Templates by Click Rate
  
• Top 10 Users
  

Email Analytics

The Email Analytics report in Zoho CRM offers you statistics of emails that are sent via Zoho CRM and SalesInbox. Email Analytics is the summary of email status based on date, template, module and user.

To check email analytics

1. Click the Reports module.
   
2. Select the Email Reports folder.
   
3. In the Email Reports folder, click Email Analytics.
   
   
4. In the Email Analytics page, you will be able to choose the parameters by which the email statistics are to be filtered. For example, Date Range,Group and Users and so on.
   
5. On applying the filter options, you will be able to view the complete email statistics filtered according to the conditions applied under two types of reports:
   
   • Summary Report: A summary of stats for the entire chosen period.
     
     
   • Detailed Report: A detailed break-up of the summary report. The numbers in the Detailed Report add up to the total number presented in the Summary Report.
     

The Email Stats presented in the following columns under Summary Report and Detailed Report are:

• Sent - Only those emails that are sent from Zoho CRM and SalesInbox will be tracked.
  
  Emails that are sent via IMAP configuration, that is Zoho Mail or Gmail etc. will not be tracked. 
  
• Bounced - Total emails that could not be delivered.
  
• Tracked - Emails that are being tracked by Zoho CRM to measure performance. Only if emails are tracked, Zoho CRM will be able to ascertain if they have been opened or clicked.
  
  Usually, all emails sent from Zoho CRM are tracked. Sometimes, when this is not the case, the number of emails under "Tracked" tells you how many out of the Total Sent mails are actually being tracked. Therefore, this number is less than or equal to the Total Sent emails.
  
• Bounced among tracked - Number of "tracked emails" that have bounced. Therefore this number is less than or equal to the Total Bounced emails. An addition exclamatory icon gives you additional details regarding the type of bounce - hard bounce or soft bounce: See also: Understanding Email bounces
  
  
• Opened - Emails that have been seen, and opened by the recipients.
  
• Clicked - Emails in which the recipients have clicked links.
  
• Received - Emails that have been received by sales reps from customers.
  
• Responded - Customers' emails to which sales reps have responded.
  

Note

• An email will not be tracked if Email Insights has been disabled in Zoho CRM.
  
• Email analytics will track only those emails that are sent from Zoho CRM and SalesInbox. Any email sent from mailing platforms like Gmail, Zoho Mail etc. will not be shown in the sent email status because these emails cannot be tracked by Zoho CRM.