Sequence Open Filters

[KLama]

Dear HS team, 

When emailing prospects manually or sequencing them, I can't find a filter on Contact views that would let me view leads who have opened an email from me "x" number of times. 

For example:

Example 1. 

1. Recent sales email open date - This month 

2. Number of sales email opens - ? 
    - The above filter is one I cannot find. Is there a filter for this? 

Example 2. 

1. Number of Sequenced emails opened - This month 
   - Is there a filter for this as well? 

Thank you in advance for help. 

Karma 

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @KLama,

You're correct, there aren't any properties for number of sales email opens and number of sequence email opens.

Theoretically, you can set this up via a contact-based workflow (re-enroll when "Recent sales email open date is known", then increase custom number property by 1). However, keep in mind that email open information is not very reliable for a number of reasons:

• Open tracking is generally not reliable anymore since iOS 15, see here: https://community.hubspot.com/t5/Email-Marketing-Tool/iOS-15-let-s-talk-about-it/m-p/499877
• Recipients tend to go through their inbox a lot, opening emails accidentally and unintentionally.
• Email clients cache emails for faster loading, sometimes also making it seem like an email was opened.
• Open tracking cannot distinguish between opens by the intended recipient and opens by people to whom it was forwarded.
• Some recipients will completely block tracking pixels / links using extensions or client settings.

So as you see, you can attempt counting, but it's questionable as to how valid the numbers you're getting are. Personally, I recommend to not focus on open rates / numbers at all anymore, because of the reasons above. This is likely also the reason why HubSpot doesn't make more detailed information available as it would be misleading.

Let me know if you have any follow-up questions or need help with the workflow. Happy to elaborate.

[KLama]

Hey @karstenkoehler , 

Thanks for the detailed response. 

I should clarify, I'm approaching this from a typical Sales Rep permissions based account where workflows are unavailible to me. Everything is email sequenced or manual. No marketing performed on my end.

Most of my prospects typically open emails via desktop and few from mobile. Due to this, I' dont think iOS 15 isn't too much of a problem for me (?). Additionally, emails tracked as opens from forwarding is ok as I assume that the recepient is passing along my email to the right person. 

For purposes of tracking email activity to propsects from manual emails sent/sequences, would you recommend that these filters are good enough to gague interest? Interest = cold call. 

Recent sales email open date, specified for last week. 

AND 

Number of sales activities is greater than "X". 

Cheers, 

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @KLama,

If you want to reach out to contacts who show some level of interest, I still would say that an email open is not very conclusive. I open a lot of emails from senders that I'm not planning to purchase from.

Have you considered to look instead at email clicks / page views?

"Number of sales activities" includes your own activity, so it's not a good measure of whether a contact is open to be reached out to.

[KLama]

@karstenkoehler , I do utilize the email clicks / page views but with how niche my vertical is, there isn't too much activity there. So I'm reliant on viewing the prospects email activity with my emails. Usually more than 2 opens or consistent open rates pushes me to call them, interest or not. 

I've heard that including website links in the first email to a new company domain might get blocked from the recepient's email IP. Any truth on that? I typically keep website links for the second email. 

"I open a lot of emails from senders that I'm not planning to purchase from." - Any emails from senders that have piqued your interest that you could share? If it's not taking up too much of your time to comment on. 

Thanks!

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @KLama,

Unfortunately, we're running into the limitations of sales email tracking in HubSpot then. If you don't have access to workflows, you only have the default contact properties to your disposal.

I haven't kept track of recent cold emails, sadly, otherwise I would be sharing them.

Best regards!

[KLama]

Thanks for the fast feedback @karstenkoehler ! 

[PamCotton]

Hello, @KLama thank you for posting in our Community and sharing your goal!

I want to invite our top experts to this conversation @GeorgeBThomas @jolle any suggestions for the @KLama matter?

Thank you,

Pam