Read Receipts.

[boconnor]

Hey Everyone,

I am currently using the GM Lead Management Tool at the dealership I am working at now. My question concerns Read Receipts and emailing leads. Meaning, is there a way to see if and when a lead has opened an email I sent them through the GM Lead Management Tool. If anyone can help me out I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank You,

-Brian

 

[ArtMorris]

Are you just asking if there's a way to make the outgoing emails from the GM tool include the "Disposition-Notification-To" MIME header?

I just want to make sure you realize that your customers can opt out of sending read receipts; they can read your messages without sending a read-receipt.

 

[Loun]

Theres a number of reasons those types of read receipts are a bad idea.

1. Customers can simply opt out as mentioned.
2. If a customer is reading the email in a preview pane of Outlook and never opens it you will never get the read receipt and likely just get a deleted/not read receipt which will annoy you even though it was actually read.
3. Customers can feel that there is a lack of trust if they see something popping up saying you requested a read receipt.

There are other options however, blank gifs that lead back to trackers etc, which I think some CRM tools use to let you know if an emails been read. However your best bet.. after you email them, follow up with a phone call. Have a reason to call on every call you make and "Mr. Customer, I sent you an email earlier today and it was so important I really wanted to make sure you got it.... do you have a few minutes to discuss it?"

-Lou

 

[boconnor]

Thanks for the responses.

I do always make follow up phone calls to confirm that the customer received the information I sent, and I call a different times on different days. I really wanted to use the read receipts with customers I can never get ahold of or give bad phone numbers.

How would I get and use a blank gif and a tracker?

 

[Loun]

If your CRM isnt currently setup with that type of tracker and/or you dont email out through your CRM tool then it will likely be more of a PITA than its worth for you. I was using DealerSocket as a CRM tool last and I believe their system was setup around a blank image for tracking. If you are just looking to use read receipts with a couple customers and they are less responsive customers then I guess it wouldnt be that big of a deal. Just realize even though you dont get the read receipts they may have actually seen the emails. I personally would recommend you dont change anything based on whether you think a customer has or hasnt read your email. Keep pushing the same way with all. GL

*edit: to answer your question though, youd have to create and upload a blank gif. Then add that blank gif to the email so that when the email is opened that gif will be loaded and it will show in your stats that the gif was loaded upon open. Theres probably other services out there that offer something like this as a service though. But again I dont think it would really be worth it if its not currently automatic in your CRM.

Example: http://www.readnotify.com/

 

[boconnor]

I dont think my Lead Managment tool has this set up in any way. From my experience it is pretty basic with just emails and a calendar. I can't even edit email addresses if something wrong in them.

I am going to look into this a little more though. I wonder if it would be possible to have the blank gif on a template so I do not have to load it on each individual email.

Thanks Again.

 

[Loun]

"I wonder if it would be possible to have the blank gif on a template so I do not have to load it on each individual email." The part that is a pain in the butt is that each gif has to be different than the last, otherwise how would you know if its been opened in that email, or if it was just reread in a previous email. So no you cant just add a gif to a template unfortunately. Thats why im saying your time and effort might be better spent elsewhere than on this problem, if your lead management tool doesnt offer it You are welcome, good luck with it.