Resources and stories from Internal Communications professionals. Read our latest content and find helpful webinars, templates and tools, all for internal comms. In this tutorial I will show you how Bananatag works in tracking email opens and email hyperlink clicks notifications. Outlook Classic Version 3 is a new and improved version of Bananatag’s popular Outlook add-in for Employee Communicators who aren’t using Outlook 365. This release improves the performance and user experience for employee communicators using Bananatag to build and send beautiful, responsive HTML emails right from Outlook.
- Install Bananatag directly in any desktop version of Outlook on Windows or Mac, or access Bananatag from Outlook on the web to send to your existing distribution lists. Explore Outlook integrations Gmail.
- Bananatag integrates seamlessly with your workflow and allows you to easily create and send beautiful emails to your existing distribution lists without leaving Outlook. Simple setup for IT You only need to install the Bananatag add-in on the computers you send from, making it easier for IT to approve. Compatible with both PC and Mac.
Email tracking is quickly becoming more popular in the online world for good reason. Knowing who is opening the emails you send is valuable information. So, Mailtrack’s put together a list of the best email tracking software options available to you.
It lets you know whether to give your contact some extra time, send a follow-up email, pick up the phone, or let them go entirely.
Now, many email tracking software providers give even more metrics, like when the email was opened, how many times, whether the attachments and links have been accessed, and so on.
Contents
- Gmail’s best email tracking software
- Outlook’s best email tracking software
- Best email tracking software for other email service providers
- Best CRMs with email tracking
Gmail’s best email tracking software
Gmail is the most popular email domain which doesn’t rely on specific hardware (Apple just beats out Gmail in total numbers). Its free, open sign-ups, clean interface, and native integration with Google’s other products make it a go-to email service provider for many, many people.
However, as Gmail doesn’t offer email tracking as standard, here are the best Gmail add-ons for getting access to email tracking:
Mailtrack
Mailtrack is the original email-tracking add-on for Gmail. It integrates seamlessly with Gmail, equally on a computer as on iOS and Android devices.
With a free account, users are able to track an unlimited amount of emails each month. This gives a huge advantage whether the users work in sales or marketing, or even in HR, communications and office management. This account even lets users track emails with up to 3MB of attachments.
Mailtrack’s paid plans add a whole range of additional functionalities to Mailtrack. The Email Activity Dashboard gives users a list of metrics including how often the email was opened, at what time it was opened, how many times links in the email were clicked, and unlimited attachment tracking.
Mailtrack for Gmail is definitely the way to go for entrepreneurs, small teams, and companies getting started up with marketing and sales efforts.
Features
- Free unlimited email tracking
- Simple two blue ticks system for opened emails
- Unlimited link and attachment tracking
- Real-time notifications
- Activity dashboard
- iOS and Android mobile integration
Data security
Mailtrack has a proven record of data security, and are deeply committed to maintaining both the security and privacy of the user data it collects. It doesn’t sell or rent out user information, and uses it only when necessary for enabling the use of Mailtrack online.
Free version
Mailtrack Free is available to everyone (for free, of course), with unlimited email tracking included.
Pricing
The Pro account comes in at $4.99/month (billed annually). It includes a range of features that enhance the email tracking, such as metrics, email notifications, and link tracking.
MailTag
MailTag is a handy email tracking software for Gmail. It provides many of the standard features, like link tracking, notifications when your contacts have opened an email, and email scheduling. Unfortunately, there is no free version of Mailtag. But, it remains a fairly low-cost option for anyone in need of email tracking.
Features
- Email scheduling
- Link tracking
- Notifications for when emails are opened
Free version
No free version, though 2-week free trials are available
Pricing
$18/month per user (billed annually)
Mixmax
Mixmax is another helpful email-tracking tool for people sending emails to prospective clients. One of its more useful features is the ability to track individual email opens within group emails. It’s also able to integrate with Salesforce to keep sales-focused activity all logged in one place.
Features
- Lets users see who’s opened the email within group emails
- Works with Gmail as well as Salesforce
- Activated desktop notifications
Free version
The free plan lets users track up to 100 emails per month, and adds “Sent with MixMax” in the email.
Pricing
Unlimited email tracking starts at $9/month per user. There are additional plans at $24/month and $49/month per user (all options billed annually), as well as Enterprise plans with pricing upon request.
Gmelius
Gmelius is another Gmail-integrated email-tracking program that small teams would find beneficial to their work. It includes all the features expected in email-tracking software, as well as the ability to track actions from recipients in the CC and BCC fields. Gmelius also allows users to save email templates and assists with event scheduling in Google Calendar.
Features
- Standard email tracking, including people in CC and BCC
- Email templates can be saved
- Calendar scheduling
Free version
Yes, with unlimited email tracking (includes “Sent with Gmelius” message)
Pricing
Plus, Growth, and Enterprise plans available with an expanded set of features for $8, $18, and $48/month per user, respectively.
Outlook’s best email tracking software
Observation: Although Mailtrack is compatible with Gmail only, it is possible to have email tracking in Outlook with Mailtrack if you synchronize your Outlook account with the Gmail app.
After Gmail, Outlook is the world’s most popular non-native email client and is especially popular for people working in the business world. Thankfully, there are a number of tools available that can add email-tracking functionality to emails sent from Outlook. Here are the most highly recommended email trackers for Outlook.
ZynBit
ZynBit is a great tool for connecting emailing efforts made on Outlook with Salesforce. The program runs smoothly in Outlook and its Salesforce integration is especially popular with salespeople. With a Pro account, ZynBit users get metrics from their Outlook-sent communications, can save the results in Salesforce, and use the data to improve their engagement rates for future sales talks.
Features
- Salesforce integration
- Runs smoothly in Outlook
- Tracks actions of multiple recipients within one email
Free version
Not for including email tracking – free Zynbit accounts available for 1-2 users, and includes alternate features.
Pricing
Pro account includes unlimited email tracking $14/month, and Expert package for $20/month (both billed annually)
Contact Monkey
Another solid email tracking program is Contact Monkey, which gives more data than most software. Along with informing you on who has read your emails and when they read them, Contact Monkey can also tell you where in the world the recipient is, as well as what type of device they used to open it. Contact Monkey also provides users of Outlook and Gmail with a Salesforce-connected sidebar, which is built into the email page itself.
Features
- Toolbar added into Outlook and Gmail
- Provides detailed reports on opened emails, such as who, where, when, and the device
- Salesforce integration
- Mail merge features to help with personalizing mass-emails
Free version
No free version of Contact Monkey, but a free trial is available.
Pricing
Unlimited email tracking starts at $10/month per user, with bigger packages from $15/month and $25/month.
Cirrus Insights
Cirrus Insights is another solid option for Outlook users looking to integrate their Salesforce account, and the program also provides email tracking features. It’s particularly easy to set up and start using, and Cirrus shows its email metrics in a very clear way, such as showing your data within a specific timeframe. Additional features such as email templates, open alerts, and attachment tracking are also included with the pain plans.
Features
- Easy to set up and use
- Useful and clear email metrics
- Other optional features, such as email templates, open alerts, attachment tracking
Free version
None available, but users can try a 14-day free trial.
Pricing
$27/month per user is the most economical plan available and rises to $45/month for added features.
Yesware
Yesware is another sales-driven email-tracking solution. It integrates well not only into Outlook but also with Microsoft’s Office 365. Along with its email tracking ability, it also features other useful tools, like its built-in calendar scheduling. email templates, and email campaigns.
Features
- Integrates nicely into Outlook, as well as Office 365
- Email templates within a shared library
- Calendar scheduling
Free version
Not available, but a 14-day free trial is an option.
Pricing
Unlimited email tracking starts at $12/month. Premium and Enterprise options provide more powerful features for $25 and $55 per month per user.
Best email tracking software for other ESPs
Email service providers (ESPs) are not limited to Gmail, Outlook and those found natively on hardware (e.g. Apple Mail, Samsung Mail, etc). Luckily, for anyone looking for an email tracking software on other ESPs, there are solutions available. We’ve chosen the two best options and reviewed them here:
Saleshandy
Saleshandy is, unsurprisingly, oriented mostly towards salespeople. It provides email tracking not only for Gmail and Outlook, but also for AOL, Yahoo, Zoho mail, and others. It simply needs to be added through the SMTP configuration, and people using a range of different ESPs will be able to track the status of their emails. The software contains most of the expected features – email scheduling, email open tracking, desktop notifications, and so on.
Features
- Can work with AOL, Yahoo, Zoho, as well as Gmail, Outlook, and others.
- Open tracking, desktop notifications, attachment, and link tracking
- Email scheduling, mail merge (up to 5,000 per day), email templates
Free version
A free version with unlimited email tracking is available.
Pricing
Paid accounts range from $7/month to $16/month and $40/month for Enterprise clients (all billed yearly)
Bananatag
Bananatag can be configured to almost any email server through the SMTP relay, similar to Saleshandy. What sets Bananatag apart is a focus on internal communications, making it perfect for people working in HR, office management, or communications. The software integrates cleanly into the compose window and is very easy to start using, making it useful for people working in companies of any size.
Features
- Focus on internal communications
- Can be configured with any email server through the SMTP relay
- Also available for Outlook and Gmail
- Email scheduling, attachment tracking, email templates
Free version
An option is available, but only offers 5 tracked emails per day. The free version can also be configured with any email server through an SMTP relay.
Pricing
Pro ($10/month) and Teams ($20/month per user) offer expanded email tracking – 100 and 200 emails per day, respectively. No unlimited email tracking option exists.
Best sales CRM with email tracking
Email trackers have become recognized as a highly valuable tool, especially for anyone working in sales. This software can help you to find out when your leads are hot, and act upon findings accordingly by pinpointing timings. Additionally, if you can A/B test emails, you can improve things like subject lines, preview texts, and email content all the better. Let’s take a look at the CRMs which provide email tracking.
Freshsales
For those of you looking for a CRM with email tracking that won’t break the bank, Freshsales is a solid option. Even the cheapest plan comes with email tracking, along with a phone dialer, calendar-syncing, lead-scoring functionality, workflow automation, and more. More tools are added for users who sign up to more expansive plans, such as reports, dashboards, and activity tracking.
Features
- Affordable CRM with email tracking
- Contact/lead management
- Calendar syncing and phone-dialing
- Follows lead actions, and then gives them a lead score automatically
Free version
No free version exists, but users are offered a 21-day free trial
Pricing
Range of premium options available, from $12/month per user for small teams to $79/month per user at the enterprise-targeted Forest plan.
Salesforce Pardot
At the other end of the spectrum, there is Salesforce Pardot. This is Salesforce’s own CRM system, but perhaps should be seen as more like powerful B2B automation software. Link tracking is included, as are a range of other tools such as email A/B testing, lead management software, automation for a number of tasks, and even a landing page builder for optimizing conversion rates. While Pardot may be out of the price range for many smaller companies and most entrepreneurs, it’s a great addition to larger corporate sales teams.
Features
- Powerful B2B automation software with link tracking capability
- Email A/B testing
- Plenty of automation and optimization features
- Lead management tools
- Landing page builder
Free version
No free version of Salesforce Pardot exists.
Pricing
Salesforce Pardot does not come cheap by any stretch. The most affordable plan – Growth- is $1,250/month, and the Advanced plan costs users $4,000/month, with an intermediate plan of $2,500/month.
Outreach
The Outreach sales engagement platform is a powerful tool available at a much more affordable rate than Salesforce Pardot. Sales-focused features include automating sales touchpoints and personalizing emails in numbers. It uses the data gained from its email-tracking tool to help users prioritize the hottest leads and pinpoint the best way to contact them It integrates well with both Gmail and Outlook, as well as with other CRMs, and also with Salesforce.
Features
- Mail tracker, with metrics available
- Works with Gmail, Outlook, and integrates into SFDC
- Powerful sales engagement platform
- Automates sales touchpoints, and enables email personalization
Bananatag Outlook Plugin Not Working
Free version
Outreach doesn’t offer any free plans, nor a free trial.
Pricing
The lowest-cost option for email tracking is the Solo plan, at $18, with additional plans at $38/month and $79/month for advanced features.
Streak
Streak fully integrates as a CRM into Gmail, letting you track the status of leads, take notes on contacts, schedule emails, and, of course, track the status of sent emails – all within your Gmail inbox. It adds a sidebar into Gmail which is very intuitive and simple to use. The email tracking itself gives more data than many options. It lets you see not only the status of the emails but also tracks the location where the emails were opened. Finally, users can see the data from email tracking in new ways, such as a map and a bar-chart timeline.
Features
- Adds intuitive sidebar to the emails within Gmail
- Helps to manage email campaigns, with plenty of customization options
- Tracks location of email openings
- Shows data in both a map and a bar-chart-style timeline within Gmail
Free version
Yes, and it includes unlimited email tracking.
Pricing
Paid options range from $15/month per user for a Solo account to $129/month per user for their Enterprise package.
Hubspot Sales
The sales-facing side of Hubspot’s impressive suite of software also offers link tracking as a feature. The link tracking is built into your Gmail or Outlook inbox and includes many expected aspects, such as open notifications. One interesting part of Hubspot Sales is the Activity Stream, which lets you look back on closed deals and see the steps that lead up to it, so you can learn from success and improve your cadence for the future.
Features
- Integration with both Gmail and Outlook
- Link tracking offered for free with limited open notifications
- Activity stream for reviewing previous email chains
Free version
A free Hubspot account includes unlimited email tracking and provides up to 200 open notifications per month.
Pricing
Hubspot has a number of options for paid plans, ranging from a Started plan at $36.80/month to $2,994/month with an Enterprise package.
Groove
This sales-facing CRM integrates well with Gmail, Salesforce, and other apps such as Google Calendar – all three of which can be synced together. Groove is a big boost for salespeople who send a lot of emails – it includes email tracking software, as well as automated email sequences. As a tool, it’s very helpful for enabling sales teams to make more data-driven decisions. Groove’s biggest feature is its scheduling tool, which allows your contacts to choose when they want to speak to your team, making the call scheduling process much less attritional.
Features
- Syncs Gmail, Google Calendar, and SFDC together
- Enables automated email sequences, ideal for lead nurturing
- Great for helping sales teams make data-driven decisions
- The scheduling tool eases the transition from email to call
Free version
Groove doesn’t offer a free version of their product, but their paid plans have a 120-day free trial.
Pricing
The Starter plan comes in at $9/month per user, with more options at $19 and $29/month per user, with enterprise plans available upon request.
Yesware
We’ve mentioned Yesware’s usefulness as a built-in email tracking, but it’s also a CRM that salespeople could find helpful. Yesware uses information learned from email tracking to provide data-driven reports, which are especially useful for helping salespeople to understand customers and sales-ready leads. It also connects nicely into Salesforce, allowing salespeople to keep all data related to sales efforts in one place. Sales teams will also appreciate the shared library of email templates.
Features
- Email scheduling and email follow-ups for nurturing email campaigns
- Calendar scheduling
- Syncs up with SFDC, as well as Outlook and Gmail
- Phone dialer
Free version
Not available, but a 14-day free trial is an option.
Pricing
Unlimited email tracking starts at $12/month. Premium and Enterprise options provide more powerful features for $25 and $55 per month per user.
Boomerang
Along with email tracking, Boomerang’s main features are its ability to easily schedule emails to be sent later, returning emails to your inbox until you’re ready to work on them, and giving users reminders for follow-ups. While thee tools do already exist with a standard Gmail account, Boomerang offers a very intuitive UI. On paid plans, Boomerang also syncs with Salesforce, and the software can be used on iOS and Android mobile devices.
Features
- Email tracking, follow-up reminders, and email scheduling
- Temporarily sends unopened emails away from your inbox
- Salesforce integration
- iOS and Android mobile device integration
Free version
Boomerang Basic plan gives users 10 message credits per month, with which they’re able to track email openings.
Pricing
Unlimited email tracking starts with the Personal plan for $4.99/month
Looking for the best BananaTag alternative? That’s what we’re discussing today. We’ll look at five more powerful tools in pricing, features, and functionality.
But before we do that, we must all agree that BananaTag is undoubtedly an sales engagement tool.
Bananatag Outlook Add-in
Over the years, it has developed from a simple email tracking software into a sophisticated internal communication tool with full-suite features.
BananaTag Key Features
- Professional templates to reflect your brand image.
- Internal communication and email engagement metrics.
- Ability to integrate with Slack, Outlook, and Gmail
- Customer distributions list to reduce employee email overload.
BananaTag merged with Staffbase to form the first end-to-end internal communication platform. The two companies are equally powerful, and bringing them together will make them the fastest-growing vendor in the space.
While this was good news to customers, BananaTag still has some flaws which they should work on. For example, the free version gives you only five trackable emails per day, which isn’t enough for a satisfying test drive. You also have to book a demo before seeing the product in action.
Unlike other sales engagement software that openly displays their website pricing, BananaTag has concealed the information until you sign up. This is incredibly frustrating as you’re left to guess or research the price online.
With that said, you might want to get a viable alternative that is transparent, easy to use, and gives value to your money. Here are my five best BananaTag alternatives you can consider today.
1. Right Inbox
Right inbox is a chrome extension that connects with your Gmail and gives you the right features to enhance your productivity.
As a sought-after sales engagement software, Right Inbox has focused on providing all the tools needed to make an effective sales funnel. A few of the most popular features include:
- Email tracking: The inbox email tracking feature allows you to compare the performance of individual email links and make decisions from the data you get.
- Sequences: This feature enables you to automate emails to target unresponsive recipients.
- Email templates: Right inbox gives you a ton of email templates that you can customize to your liking.
- Email reminders: This tool marks the most critical messages and gives you a nudge when you forget to reply.
- CRM Sync: The feature allows you to send important conversations into CRM software without leaving Gmail.
What’s more exciting is that Right Inbox doesn’t charge you the top dollar for such excellent features. Unlike the majority of their competitors Right Inbox’s free plan gives users a lot of scope to test out the product. The top-tier plan costs $7.95/per user per month, and you get access to all the premium features. But if you’re a team working on a similar project, you save $1 per user per month on both plans. Download for Free here
2. MailTrack.io
Mailtrack is the simplest email tracking tool you’ll come across. As the name suggests, its primary function is tracking emails, which is an unlimited feature you get on its free version.
The paid versions are a bit extensive and offer unique features. One such feature is the full email metrics to assist in your sales prospecting.
You get to know the percentage of your emails read, the percentage of links your recipients have clicked, and the number of messages you have sent.
In addition, you can integrate the software with salesforce, create campaigns, and export CSV data. These are the features you’ll get on premium sales engagement tools like Gmass, Saleshandy, and Yesware, which are a bit pricy.
However, Mailtrack has kept its charges as low as possible. The paid plans go for $4.99 and $7.49/month with impressive discounts if you choose the yearly plan.
3. Snov.io
Snov.io is famously known as an email finder tool. You can find prospects’ email addresses on Linkedin, Twitter, or domain addresses with the chrome extension.
However, it’s still a viable sales engagement tool, and that’s why I had to include it on this list. Most of its features enable you to make effective lead generation and email outreach campaigns for your business.
With the campaign features, you can create automatic follow-ups, campaign scheduling, and email tracking.
The main reason why Snov.io is better than BananaTag is that it’s a complete suite lead generation tool. You can use it to find emails, verify them all the way to prospect management.
Due to the many features it offers, Snov.io pricing is progressive. It spans five pricing options starting from $33/month to $482/month. But unfortunately, that’s one of its disadvantages. It has spread itself too thin, which affects the quality of some features.
4. Yesware
Yesware boasts some great tools in email tracking and customer engagement. The goal of Yesware is to help salespeople deliver great buying experiences to customers without being pushy or annoying.
Furthermore, the tools also help you reach and connect to your potential customers right from your inbox.
The main features include:
- Professional email templates
- Meeting scheduler
- Reports and analytics
- Integrations with Salesforce and Linkedin
- Prospecting campaigns
- Productivity tools
While Yesware is armed with impressive features, it’s very pricy hence not the best option for huge teams. The three pricing plans cost $15, $35, and $65.
5. Mixmax
Mixmax is another popular name when it comes to email outreach software. You can use it to send cold emails, recruiting emails, and content promotion.
It has similar features to the tools talked about above. These include emails tracking, email sequences, and meeting scheduler.
But one thing it has done incredibly well is email personalization. Unlike BananaTag, Mixmax provides you with populated data from sources like salesforce leads and Google directory contacts to improve your email engagement rate.
Mixmax pricing plan is progressive, with three options to choose from. The least-tier option goes for $9/user/month and gives you basic email outreach features.
The other plans go for $24 and $49/user/month and give you more features like integrations, salesforce, slack, polls, and type forms.
Final Point
There are so many BananaTag alternatives out there, so why these five? It boils down to a budget that suits your team and the number of features that resonate with your operations.
So if you’re looking to change from Bananatag to a more efficient tool that better suits your needs, try any of these Banantag alternatives.