Today, we\u2019re\u00a0looking at Mailtrack\u2019s native mail merge features<\/b>\u00a0\u2014 and, in particular,\u00a0how they stack up against GMass\u2019s features<\/b>.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re weighing your options between GMass and Mailtrack for sending email campaigns, this should help you make an informed decision.<\/p>\n
Mailtrack Mail Merge vs. GMass: Table of Contents<\/h2>\n\n- Mailtrack vs. GMass Pricing Comparison<\/a><\/li>\n
- Creating an Email Campaign in Mailtrack<\/a><\/li>\n
- Creating an Email Campaign in GMass<\/a><\/li>\n
- Mailtrack Mail Merge vs. GMass: Verdict & Recommendation<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Mailtrack vs. GMass Pricing Comparison<\/h2>\nPricing for mail merge plans on Mailtrack and GMass<\/h3>\n
Mailtrack<\/a>\u00a0only offers email campaign and mail merge features with\u00a0most expensive plan<\/b>, Advanced.<\/p>\nPricing on that plan is $20\/mo or $120\/yr. For that price, you can\u00a0send campaigns to up to 1,000 people in Gmail<\/b>.<\/p>\n
(That 1,000 limit also depends on your Gmail sending limits. Free @gmail.com accounts have a daily sending limit of up to 500 emails. Some newer Google Workspace accounts might not come close to their 2,000-emails-a-day limit.)<\/p>\n
The plan also comes with all of Mailtrack\u2019s tracking features: open tracking, open alerts, reporting, and removing the Mailtrack branding from emails. It also includes Zapier and CRM integrations.<\/p>\n
However,\u00a0Mailtrack recognizes its email campaign features are limited<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0not a plan for pros<\/b>. In their documentation, they\u00a0say<\/a>:<\/p>\nCampaigns is a personal emailing tool and isn\u2019t a substitute for dedicated email marketing tools that can send email marketing campaigns to 1000\u2019s [sic] of people.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nGMass\u2019s<\/a> standard plan is $25\/mo or $225\/yr. GMass\u2019s premium plan, which includes sequences and follow-ups<\/a>,\u00a0API access<\/a>, and\u00a0A\/B testing<\/a>, is $35\/mo or $325\/yr. And the Professional plan, which includes MultiSend for inbox distribution, is $55\/mo or $525\/yr. (GMass is the cheapest cold email tool<\/a>\u00a0on the market by a pretty wide margin, especially for its massive feature set.)<\/p>\nWith all GMass plans you\u2019ll be able to\u00a0send unlimited campaigns to unlimited recipients<\/b>; GMass allows you to\u00a0break Gmail\u2019s limits<\/a>.<\/p>\nGMass\u2019s\u00a0tracking features<\/a>\u00a0include open, click, and reply tracking (along with reporting on bounces, unsubscribes, and spam). Mailtrack does not have stats on replies, bounces, unsubscribes, or emails going to spam.<\/p>\nFree options: Mailtrack vs. GMass<\/h3>\n
Let\u2019s pop in a quick mention here of the\u00a0free options on both services<\/b>.\u00a0Mailtrack\u2019s free plan does not come with email campaigns<\/b>; it tracks email opens (not clicks) for unlimited emails. It also\u00a0adds Mailtrack branding to the emails you send<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Important note:\u00a0Mailtrack does not offer a free trial or refund on paid plans<\/b>. So there\u2019s no way to test out their mail merge and campaign sending features without paying (at least) $20.<\/p>\n
GMass\u2019s free trial does<\/i> allow for email campaigns: Email up to 50 contacts per day during your trial period. All GMass features are included in the free trial, including open, click, and reply tracking.<\/p>\nCreating an Email Campaign in Mailtrack<\/h2>\n
We signed up for Mailtrack\u2019s advanced plan ($20 budget on this article thanks to my very generous expense account, next stop lobster dinner). After I downloaded the Mailtrack Chrome extension and signed up for a paid plan, the extension redirected me to the Mailtrack dashboard.<\/p>\n
![\"Mailtrack](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mailtrack-dashboard-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nStarting a new campaign in Mailtrack<\/h3>\n
There wasn\u2019t any guidance there on what to do next so I figured I\u2019d hop over to Gmail to get rolling.<\/p>\n
I opened a new compose window and spotted\u00a0a new \u201cCampaign\u201d link when I clicked into the To field<\/b>.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mailtrack-campaign-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI clicked on that link and the email turned green. I clicked on the Personalize email button in the body next.<\/p>\n
![\"Personalizing](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mailtrack-personalize-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nA pop-up without top and bottom margins appeared giving me two options: \u201cFrom Google Sheets\u201d or \u201cFrom Lists.\u201d Lists are a Mailtrack feature where you can manually build contact group lists; I don\u2019t have any set up. Plus those lists wouldn\u2019t include mail merge info like names, so Google Sheets was the way to go.<\/p>\n
I clicked \u201cEnable\u201d for Google Sheets. After giving Mailtrack all the requested permissions it brought up a list of my Google Sheets. I chose to \u201cImport Data\u201d from my testing spreadsheet.<\/p>\n
![\"Choosing](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mailtrack-sheetslist-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\nMajor Mailtrack\/GMass difference:<\/b>\u00a0GMass doesn\u2019t import data from a Google Sheet, it\u00a0connects<\/i> to a Google Sheet. That way you can schedule recurring campaigns; when new rows are added to a Google Sheet, GMass can automatically send the campaign to those contacts.<\/p>\n
GMass can also write analytical data back to the sheet. With Mailtrack, importing contact info from a Google Sheet is a one-time event and one-way street.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Composing your campaign email for Mailtrack<\/h3>\n
My Sheet name was now in my email, along with\u00a0a dropdown where I could select column names<\/b>\u00a0from the sheet to use as mail merge tags.<\/p>\n
![\"Personalization](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mailtrack-sheetinemail-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI put together a quick email. Also note: Mailtrack put all the email addresses from my spreadsheet into the BCC field. (However, when it sends the email, every recipient will get the email To them, not BCCed to them.)<\/p>\n
![\"Composing](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mailtrack-composeemail-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\nMajor Mailtrack\/GMass difference:<\/b>\u00a0Mailtrack does not offer any way to set fallback values for missing merge fields. So your email would say \u201cHello ,\u201d if you didn\u2019t have a first name for a contact.<\/p>\n
GMass and nearly all other mail merge tools offer the ability to include fallback values. That way your email could say (for example) \u201cHello there,\u201d if you don\u2019t have a first name for a contact.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Tweaking campaign settings in Mailtrack (or\u2026 well\u2026)<\/h3>\n
I clicked into the Mailtrack settings. It turns out those settings are just tracking-related, though \u2014 they have nothing to do with the campaign.<\/p>\n
In fact,\u00a0there\u2019s no way to change any setting on the campaign<\/b>. Not a single setting. It’s tracking settings or nothing.<\/p>\n
![\"Mailtrack](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mailtrack-settings-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\nMajor Mailtrack\/GMass difference:<\/b>\u00a0Welllll\u2026 some of the campaign options missing from Mailtrack\u2019s email offering are (deep breath):<\/p>\n
Using templates; unsubscribe link\/unsubscribe management, SMTP sending; setting up automated follow-ups or drip sequences; scheduling emails for the future; changing send speed; creating recurring campaigns; sending messages as replies to prior messages; setting a reply-to address; email verification; suppressing bounced or other contacts; A\/B testing; setting preview text; analyzing messages for spam; and testing links.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Mailtrack offers PDF tracking<\/b>, which is a nice feature. You attach a PDF, then you can see if each recipient opened it, viewed it, and\/or clicked on the links inside of it. However,\u00a0you cannot attach personalized PDFs for each contact<\/b>\u00a0like you can in GMass; every recipient will receive the same PDF with Mailtrack.<\/p>\n
![\"Mailtrack's](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mailtrack-pdftracking-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSending a test, then sending the email with Mailtrack<\/h3>\n
My email is all ready to go so I\u00a0clicked the Continue button<\/b>. (Speaking of \u201ccontinue,\u201d I continue to fight my adult onset OCD here with Mailtrack\u2019s decision to eliminate the bottom margin for the Gmail compose window.)<\/p>\n
That brought up the pre-launch pop-up. I\u2019m going to send a preview email.<\/p>\n
![\"Sending](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mailtrack-prepareforlaunch-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI received the test email. It used the personalization options for the first recipient on the Google Sheet. It also helped me realize I forgot to set a subject line during this process. That\u2019s why I always send a test.<\/p>\n
![\"My](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mailtrack-preview-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI went back to my Drafts folder, grabbed the email, added a subject line, and sent the campaign.<\/p>\n
Post-campaign reporting in Mailtrack<\/h3>\n
I opened the email with one of my seven addresses, opened the PDF, and sent a reply.<\/p>\n
Now it\u2019s time to\u00a0see how the results look<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Everything is\u00a0accurate and easily digestible here in the various stats views<\/b>. (Reporting\u00a0is<\/i> Mailtrack\u2019s core business, after all \u2014 it makes sense their reports look good and were designed with thoughtfulness and intentionality.) I could not find a way to see the IP address or user agent of recipients who opened<\/strong> (even clicking through to downloadable PDF reports on each email). That data is available with GMass.<\/p>\n![\"Mailtrack](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mailtrack-trackingreport-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Mailtrack's](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mailtrack-campaignreport-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMajor Mailtrack\/GMass difference:<\/b>\u00a0Mailtrack does not report on whether recipients replied to an email \u2014 a key metric for most cold emailers.<\/div>\nIf you want to send a new campaign based on, say, people who opened but didn\u2019t click,\u00a0that would be a manual process in Mailtrack<\/b>. In GMass, you can send segmented new campaigns based on recipient behavior.<\/p>\n
Now we\u2019ll compare the process of sending a similar campaign with GMass.<\/p>\n
Creating an Email Campaign in GMass<\/h2>\n
Now that I\u2019ve created and sent a campaign with Mailtrack I\u2019ll do the same with GMass to compare the processes.<\/p>\n
Starting a new campaign in GMass<\/h3>\n
There are multiple ways to start a campaign in GMass.<\/p>\n
\n- Click the\u00a0GMass icon<\/b>\u00a0in the To field of the Gmail compose window to\u00a0connect a Google Sheet<\/a>\u00a0or start a behavior-based campaign.<\/li>\n
- Click the\u00a0Sheets icon<\/b>\u00a0next to the search bar to connect a Google Sheet.<\/li>\n
- Click the\u00a0email icon<\/b>\u00a0next to the search bar to create a\u00a0behavior-based campaign<\/a>\u00a0from a prior campaign (e.g., sending a new campaign to everyone who opened but didn\u2019t reply).<\/li>\n
- Run a search in Gmail, then clicking the\u00a0magnifying glass icon<\/b>\u00a0that appears next to the search bar to\u00a0create a list based off that search<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
For our apples-to-apples comparison with Mailtrack, I\u2019m going to connect to a Google Sheet.<\/p>\n
![\"Starting](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gmass-startcampaign-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe pop-up offers me a choice of all the Google Sheets in my account. I can also choose which sheet within each Google Sheet to use. There are filtering options to only send to select rows. There are also options to keep duplicate emails and to update the Google Sheet with reporting.<\/p>\n
![\"Connecting](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gmass-connecttosheet-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThis is a difference between Mailtrack and GMass \u2014\u00a0since GMass connects to a Google Sheet and doesn\u2019t just import its info, GMass can update that sheet with stats<\/b>.<\/p>\nComposing your campaign email for GMass<\/h3>\n
To use mail merge fields with GMass, I can grab fields from the GMass settings box or type a left curly brace\u00a0{<\/code>\u00a0to bring up my choices.<\/p>\n![\"Mail](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gmass-mergefields-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAnd\u00a0GMass allows you to set fallback values<\/b> like {FirstName|there}<\/code> (or use conditional content<\/a>\u00a0if you want to get extra fancy with your fallbacks, like I did in the body of the email with the last names).<\/p>\n![\"Composing](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gmass-composeemail-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nTweaking campaign settings in GMass<\/h3>\n
I brought up the GMass campaign settings and, as I discussed in the Mailtrack section of this article,\u00a0GMass offers several dozen options here to customize your campaign<\/b>\u00a0exactly as you want it.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gmass-settings-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nHere are\u00a0some of the features I can set with GMass here I couldn\u2019t set with Mailtrack<\/b>\u00a0(going from top to bottom of the settings box):<\/p>\n\n- Testing the email to see inbox, spam, or promotions placement<\/b>\u00a0with\u00a0GMass\u2019s Spam Solver<\/a>. And then tweaking the email based on suggestions to improve deliverability.<\/li>\n
- Testing links<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0in the email.<\/li>\n
- Analyzing the technical details<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0behind the email to spot possible errors.<\/li>\n
- Sending a\u00a0test of an entire email sequence<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\n
- Using a template<\/b>\u00a0(in GMass\u2019s case, any prior email campaign is available as a\u00a0template<\/a>).<\/li>\n
- Editing the\u00a0HTML code<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0of an email.<\/li>\n
- Adding an\u00a0unsubscribe link<\/a><\/strong>. Mailtrack doesn\u2019t handle unsubscribes at all; GMass will\u00a0manage everyone who unsubscribes<\/a>\u00a0and suppress any future emails to them.<\/li>\n
- Creating\u00a0emails as drafts<\/a>\u00a0before sending<\/strong> to review.<\/li>\n
- Sending via a\u00a0third-party SMTP<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0service (which is a key to breaking Gmail\u2019s daily limits).<\/li>\n
- Creating\u00a0auto follow-up sequences<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(composing emails, setting the timing of those emails, stopping the sequence when a recipient takes an action).<\/li>\n
- Creating a\u00a0drip series<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0where a recipient gets every email in the series.<\/li>\n
- Scheduling<\/a>\u00a0an email<\/strong> for the future.<\/li>\n
- Skipping weekends<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0for a scheduled campaign, recurring campaign, and\/or campaign follow-ups.<\/li>\n
- Throttling the\u00a0sending speed<\/a><\/strong>, a\u00a0key feature for cold emailers<\/a>\u00a0looking to simulate one-on-one email sending.<\/li>\n
- Creating a\u00a0recurring campaign<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0which goes out automatically when new contacts are added to a Google Sheet.<\/li>\n
- Sending emails as either new messages or\u00a0replies to a prior conversation<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0or campaign.<\/li>\n
- Setting images as\u00a0embedded or hosted<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(embedded can boost deliverability).<\/li>\n
- Setting a\u00a0reply-to address<\/a><\/strong>.<\/li>\n
- Verifying email addresses<\/a>\u00a0before sending<\/strong> to cut down on bounces (a major spam signal).<\/li>\n
- Skip logging<\/a>\u00a0sent emails<\/strong> to the Sent folder.<\/li>\n
- Suppressing contacts in other campaigns<\/b>. GMass also can\u00a0automatically suppress emails<\/a>\u00a0to contacts who have unsubscribed or whose emails have bounced.<\/li>\n
- A\/B testing<\/a>\u00a0campaigns<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
- Setting the\u00a0preview text<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0for a campaign.<\/li>\n
- Naming<\/a>\u00a0a campaign<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Mailtrack does not offer any of these features. Again,\u00a0Mailtrack is not an email sending platform at its core; it\u2019s a mail tracking product<\/b>. The campaigns are an add-on, so they don\u2019t have a robust feature set available. Mailtrack\u2019s development efforts primarily go to improving their open tracking, since open tracking is their core business.<\/p>\n
GMass\u2019s development efforts primarily go toward new email features users want or need.<\/p>\n
GMass does not currently offer the PDF open tracking options in Mailtrack. However, GMass allows you to send\u00a0personalized PDFs<\/a>\u00a0to different recipients on your list; Mailtrack does not.<\/p>\nSending a test, then sending the email with GMass<\/h3>\n
I\u00a0sent myself a test of my GMass campaign<\/b> using the Send Test button.<\/p>\n
![\"GMass](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gmass-sendtestbutton-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAll looks good on the mail merge (and conditional content) here.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gmass-testemail-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNow I can send the campaign by clicking the GMass button.<\/p>\n
![\"Send](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gmass-sendcampaign-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPost-campaign reporting in GMass<\/h3>\n
Time to check out the reporting. There are a few different ways to\u00a0check analytics<\/a>\u00a0on a GMass campaign:<\/p>\n\n- Checking the Google Sheet<\/b>\u00a0to see opens, clicks, and replies<\/li>\n
- Checking the\u00a0GMass dashboard<\/b><\/li>\n
- Checking the\u00a0sharable web-based campaign report<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
I\u2019ll have a look at the web-based report to see the stats on my email. Much like the Mailtrack report I can get details on opens, clicks, and time stamps. In GMass I also get IP addresses, user agent, replies, bounces, and unsubscribes.<\/p>\n
![\"GMass](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gmass-reporting-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMailtrack also offers a quick glance at who has and hasn\u2019t opened an email by putting\u00a0check marks next to the email in the inbox<\/b>. GMass does not offer that feature.<\/p>\nMailtrack Mail Merge vs. GMass: Verdict & Recommendation<\/h2>\n
Mailtrack is an extremely popular open tracking tool. Their free plan is generous (although it does add Mailtrack branding to your emails).<\/p>\n
However,\u00a0Mailtrack\u2019s email campaign and mail merge features would likely fall short for anyone looking to send anything other than the most basic of emails<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Cold emailers, email marketers, and even people using email to manage their club or other hobbies will likely\u00a0find the lack of features to be a dealbreaker<\/b>. Essentials are missing like scheduling, follow-ups, fallback values, unsubscribe handling, segmentation, templates, and more.<\/p>\n
Plus GMass offers deliverability tools like\u00a0free email verification<\/a>, Spam Solver<\/a>, and many more that Mailtrack does not.<\/p>\nGMass, and other email-first platforms, should meet your needs far better for\u00a0Gmail-based mail merges<\/a>. And depending on your needs, GMass\u00a0should also be able to meet many of your email tracking needs<\/b>. (GMass does not have real-time tracking notification pop-ups and alerts or in-inbox check marks like Mailtrack. The rest of the features are the same or comparable.)<\/p>\nYou can\u00a0try GMass \u2014 and *all* of its email campaign, mail merge, and reporting features \u2014 for free<\/b>. The free trial has a limit of 50 emails per day. Try it out<\/a>, see what GMass has to offer, then upgrade to a paid plan.<\/p>\n
Mailtrack vs. GMass Pricing Comparison<\/h2>\nPricing for mail merge plans on Mailtrack and GMass<\/h3>\n
Mailtrack<\/a>\u00a0only offers email campaign and mail merge features with\u00a0most expensive plan<\/b>, Advanced.<\/p>\n Pricing on that plan is $20\/mo or $120\/yr. For that price, you can\u00a0send campaigns to up to 1,000 people in Gmail<\/b>.<\/p>\n (That 1,000 limit also depends on your Gmail sending limits. Free @gmail.com accounts have a daily sending limit of up to 500 emails. Some newer Google Workspace accounts might not come close to their 2,000-emails-a-day limit.)<\/p>\n The plan also comes with all of Mailtrack\u2019s tracking features: open tracking, open alerts, reporting, and removing the Mailtrack branding from emails. It also includes Zapier and CRM integrations.<\/p>\n However,\u00a0Mailtrack recognizes its email campaign features are limited<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0not a plan for pros<\/b>. In their documentation, they\u00a0say<\/a>:<\/p>\n Campaigns is a personal emailing tool and isn\u2019t a substitute for dedicated email marketing tools that can send email marketing campaigns to 1000\u2019s [sic] of people.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n GMass\u2019s<\/a> standard plan is $25\/mo or $225\/yr. GMass\u2019s premium plan, which includes sequences and follow-ups<\/a>,\u00a0API access<\/a>, and\u00a0A\/B testing<\/a>, is $35\/mo or $325\/yr. And the Professional plan, which includes MultiSend for inbox distribution, is $55\/mo or $525\/yr. (GMass is the cheapest cold email tool<\/a>\u00a0on the market by a pretty wide margin, especially for its massive feature set.)<\/p>\n With all GMass plans you\u2019ll be able to\u00a0send unlimited campaigns to unlimited recipients<\/b>; GMass allows you to\u00a0break Gmail\u2019s limits<\/a>.<\/p>\n GMass\u2019s\u00a0tracking features<\/a>\u00a0include open, click, and reply tracking (along with reporting on bounces, unsubscribes, and spam). Mailtrack does not have stats on replies, bounces, unsubscribes, or emails going to spam.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s pop in a quick mention here of the\u00a0free options on both services<\/b>.\u00a0Mailtrack\u2019s free plan does not come with email campaigns<\/b>; it tracks email opens (not clicks) for unlimited emails. It also\u00a0adds Mailtrack branding to the emails you send<\/b>.<\/p>\n Important note:\u00a0Mailtrack does not offer a free trial or refund on paid plans<\/b>. So there\u2019s no way to test out their mail merge and campaign sending features without paying (at least) $20.<\/p>\n GMass\u2019s free trial does<\/i> allow for email campaigns: Email up to 50 contacts per day during your trial period. All GMass features are included in the free trial, including open, click, and reply tracking.<\/p>\n We signed up for Mailtrack\u2019s advanced plan ($20 budget on this article thanks to my very generous expense account, next stop lobster dinner). After I downloaded the Mailtrack Chrome extension and signed up for a paid plan, the extension redirected me to the Mailtrack dashboard.<\/p>\n There wasn\u2019t any guidance there on what to do next so I figured I\u2019d hop over to Gmail to get rolling.<\/p>\n I opened a new compose window and spotted\u00a0a new \u201cCampaign\u201d link when I clicked into the To field<\/b>.<\/p>\n I clicked on that link and the email turned green. I clicked on the Personalize email button in the body next.<\/p>\n A pop-up without top and bottom margins appeared giving me two options: \u201cFrom Google Sheets\u201d or \u201cFrom Lists.\u201d Lists are a Mailtrack feature where you can manually build contact group lists; I don\u2019t have any set up. Plus those lists wouldn\u2019t include mail merge info like names, so Google Sheets was the way to go.<\/p>\n I clicked \u201cEnable\u201d for Google Sheets. After giving Mailtrack all the requested permissions it brought up a list of my Google Sheets. I chose to \u201cImport Data\u201d from my testing spreadsheet.<\/p>\n Major Mailtrack\/GMass difference:<\/b>\u00a0GMass doesn\u2019t import data from a Google Sheet, it\u00a0connects<\/i> to a Google Sheet. That way you can schedule recurring campaigns; when new rows are added to a Google Sheet, GMass can automatically send the campaign to those contacts.<\/p>\n GMass can also write analytical data back to the sheet. With Mailtrack, importing contact info from a Google Sheet is a one-time event and one-way street.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n My Sheet name was now in my email, along with\u00a0a dropdown where I could select column names<\/b>\u00a0from the sheet to use as mail merge tags.<\/p>\n I put together a quick email. Also note: Mailtrack put all the email addresses from my spreadsheet into the BCC field. (However, when it sends the email, every recipient will get the email To them, not BCCed to them.)<\/p>\n Major Mailtrack\/GMass difference:<\/b>\u00a0Mailtrack does not offer any way to set fallback values for missing merge fields. So your email would say \u201cHello ,\u201d if you didn\u2019t have a first name for a contact.<\/p>\n GMass and nearly all other mail merge tools offer the ability to include fallback values. That way your email could say (for example) \u201cHello there,\u201d if you don\u2019t have a first name for a contact.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I clicked into the Mailtrack settings. It turns out those settings are just tracking-related, though \u2014 they have nothing to do with the campaign.<\/p>\n In fact,\u00a0there\u2019s no way to change any setting on the campaign<\/b>. Not a single setting. It’s tracking settings or nothing.<\/p>\n Major Mailtrack\/GMass difference:<\/b>\u00a0Welllll\u2026 some of the campaign options missing from Mailtrack\u2019s email offering are (deep breath):<\/p>\n Using templates; unsubscribe link\/unsubscribe management, SMTP sending; setting up automated follow-ups or drip sequences; scheduling emails for the future; changing send speed; creating recurring campaigns; sending messages as replies to prior messages; setting a reply-to address; email verification; suppressing bounced or other contacts; A\/B testing; setting preview text; analyzing messages for spam; and testing links.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mailtrack offers PDF tracking<\/b>, which is a nice feature. You attach a PDF, then you can see if each recipient opened it, viewed it, and\/or clicked on the links inside of it. However,\u00a0you cannot attach personalized PDFs for each contact<\/b>\u00a0like you can in GMass; every recipient will receive the same PDF with Mailtrack.<\/p>\n My email is all ready to go so I\u00a0clicked the Continue button<\/b>. (Speaking of \u201ccontinue,\u201d I continue to fight my adult onset OCD here with Mailtrack\u2019s decision to eliminate the bottom margin for the Gmail compose window.)<\/p>\n That brought up the pre-launch pop-up. I\u2019m going to send a preview email.<\/p>\n I received the test email. It used the personalization options for the first recipient on the Google Sheet. It also helped me realize I forgot to set a subject line during this process. That\u2019s why I always send a test.<\/p>\n I went back to my Drafts folder, grabbed the email, added a subject line, and sent the campaign.<\/p>\n I opened the email with one of my seven addresses, opened the PDF, and sent a reply.<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s time to\u00a0see how the results look<\/b>.<\/p>\n Everything is\u00a0accurate and easily digestible here in the various stats views<\/b>. (Reporting\u00a0is<\/i> Mailtrack\u2019s core business, after all \u2014 it makes sense their reports look good and were designed with thoughtfulness and intentionality.) I could not find a way to see the IP address or user agent of recipients who opened<\/strong> (even clicking through to downloadable PDF reports on each email). That data is available with GMass.<\/p>\n If you want to send a new campaign based on, say, people who opened but didn\u2019t click,\u00a0that would be a manual process in Mailtrack<\/b>. In GMass, you can send segmented new campaigns based on recipient behavior.<\/p>\n Now we\u2019ll compare the process of sending a similar campaign with GMass.<\/p>\n Now that I\u2019ve created and sent a campaign with Mailtrack I\u2019ll do the same with GMass to compare the processes.<\/p>\n There are multiple ways to start a campaign in GMass.<\/p>\n For our apples-to-apples comparison with Mailtrack, I\u2019m going to connect to a Google Sheet.<\/p>\n The pop-up offers me a choice of all the Google Sheets in my account. I can also choose which sheet within each Google Sheet to use. There are filtering options to only send to select rows. There are also options to keep duplicate emails and to update the Google Sheet with reporting.<\/p>\n This is a difference between Mailtrack and GMass \u2014\u00a0since GMass connects to a Google Sheet and doesn\u2019t just import its info, GMass can update that sheet with stats<\/b>.<\/p>\n To use mail merge fields with GMass, I can grab fields from the GMass settings box or type a left curly brace\u00a0 And\u00a0GMass allows you to set fallback values<\/b> like I brought up the GMass campaign settings and, as I discussed in the Mailtrack section of this article,\u00a0GMass offers several dozen options here to customize your campaign<\/b>\u00a0exactly as you want it.<\/p>\n Here are\u00a0some of the features I can set with GMass here I couldn\u2019t set with Mailtrack<\/b>\u00a0(going from top to bottom of the settings box):<\/p>\n Mailtrack does not offer any of these features. Again,\u00a0Mailtrack is not an email sending platform at its core; it\u2019s a mail tracking product<\/b>. The campaigns are an add-on, so they don\u2019t have a robust feature set available. Mailtrack\u2019s development efforts primarily go to improving their open tracking, since open tracking is their core business.<\/p>\n GMass\u2019s development efforts primarily go toward new email features users want or need.<\/p>\n GMass does not currently offer the PDF open tracking options in Mailtrack. However, GMass allows you to send\u00a0personalized PDFs<\/a>\u00a0to different recipients on your list; Mailtrack does not.<\/p>\n I\u00a0sent myself a test of my GMass campaign<\/b> using the Send Test button.<\/p>\n All looks good on the mail merge (and conditional content) here.<\/p>\n Now I can send the campaign by clicking the GMass button.<\/p>\n Time to check out the reporting. There are a few different ways to\u00a0check analytics<\/a>\u00a0on a GMass campaign:<\/p>\n I\u2019ll have a look at the web-based report to see the stats on my email. Much like the Mailtrack report I can get details on opens, clicks, and time stamps. In GMass I also get IP addresses, user agent, replies, bounces, and unsubscribes.<\/p>\n Mailtrack also offers a quick glance at who has and hasn\u2019t opened an email by putting\u00a0check marks next to the email in the inbox<\/b>. GMass does not offer that feature.<\/p>\n Mailtrack is an extremely popular open tracking tool. Their free plan is generous (although it does add Mailtrack branding to your emails).<\/p>\n However,\u00a0Mailtrack\u2019s email campaign and mail merge features would likely fall short for anyone looking to send anything other than the most basic of emails<\/b>.<\/p>\n Cold emailers, email marketers, and even people using email to manage their club or other hobbies will likely\u00a0find the lack of features to be a dealbreaker<\/b>. Essentials are missing like scheduling, follow-ups, fallback values, unsubscribe handling, segmentation, templates, and more.<\/p>\n Plus GMass offers deliverability tools like\u00a0free email verification<\/a>, Spam Solver<\/a>, and many more that Mailtrack does not.<\/p>\n GMass, and other email-first platforms, should meet your needs far better for\u00a0Gmail-based mail merges<\/a>. And depending on your needs, GMass\u00a0should also be able to meet many of your email tracking needs<\/b>. (GMass does not have real-time tracking notification pop-ups and alerts or in-inbox check marks like Mailtrack. The rest of the features are the same or comparable.)<\/p>\n You can\u00a0try GMass \u2014 and *all* of its email campaign, mail merge, and reporting features \u2014 for free<\/b>. The free trial has a limit of 50 emails per day. Try it out<\/a>, see what GMass has to offer, then upgrade to a paid plan.<\/p>\nFree options: Mailtrack vs. GMass<\/h3>\n
Creating an Email Campaign in Mailtrack<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nStarting a new campaign in Mailtrack<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nComposing your campaign email for Mailtrack<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nTweaking campaign settings in Mailtrack (or\u2026 well\u2026)<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nSending a test, then sending the email with Mailtrack<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nPost-campaign reporting in Mailtrack<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nCreating an Email Campaign in GMass<\/h2>\n
Starting a new campaign in GMass<\/h3>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nComposing your campaign email for GMass<\/h3>\n
{<\/code>\u00a0to bring up my choices.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n{FirstName|there}<\/code> (or use conditional content<\/a>\u00a0if you want to get extra fancy with your fallbacks, like I did in the body of the email with the last names).<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nTweaking campaign settings in GMass<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Sending a test, then sending the email with GMass<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nPost-campaign reporting in GMass<\/h3>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\nMailtrack Mail Merge vs. GMass: Verdict & Recommendation<\/h2>\n