Broadlook News

07/01/2004

EXERPTED FROM THE FORDYCE LETTER July 2004 review of BroadMail.

by Mark E. Berger

I thoroughly enjoyed reviewing another killer, first, best and only in class product from Broadlook Technologies, BroadMail. I have written about several Broadlook products this year so far as they just keep coming…one great program after another. This won’t be a long review as there is simply not a lot to write about BroadMail, which is part of the attraction for me. Simple/Easy = Good.

BroadMail, simply put, provides you with a continuous stream of electronic document tracking and intelligence. I have written in this column before about your ability to use your Outlook program, or other email client, to request a notification be sent to you when that recipient opens/reads the email you sent. BroadMail takes this service to an entire new level, and are the first to offer a product to do this to the best of my knowledge. Have you ever wondered whether an email you sent, be it a marketing letter or candidate’s resume, has been read? Would there be any value to you, as a marketer, in knowing exactly when a recipient has opened your email? If you had an important client that you sent a lot of email to, would it be beneficial to you to develop an email reading pattern for that person? For any marketer or recruiter the answer may be yes. If so, read on.

BroadMail is a simple Internet download that is installed on your local system. Once installed, it keeps track of all your outgoing email and let’s you know the minute the recipient reads the message. For a marketer, this would be your cue to give the person a call, knowing he/she is at their desk reading your email. This product is much better that the Read/Receipt feature in Outlook and it works even when the recipient has his Read/Receipt feature turned off. It also works with browser-based emails like AOL and MSN, which normally do not work with the Outlook feature. Some of the features include:

1. As stated, you receive a notification when the email you sent is received/opened.
2. Track the number of times the email and/or attachment was read.
3. Develop and analyze a pattern as to the time of day/week recipients review the emails.
4. Integrate intelligence data into you existing CRM or contact manager.

The interface is very simple and consists of two parts. One is the Dashboard, which is a small text box that sits on your desktop that dings you whenever one of your sent messages has been read. The other part is the Main Window, which keeps a list of your outgoing emails along with statistics on which ones have been read and how many times. The program also tracks whether the recipient has clicked on any links inside the email message. Many people have links to their web page or other Internet site on their messages. You can also get the IP address of the recipient.

Both myself and my business partner, John, tested this product for thirty days or so. One of John’s comments was that he really like and found useful being able to track the recipients viewing habits. He feels it is a valuable tool for identifying how people respond to your emails and what priority they give it by knowing the time lapse in their reactions. More on the marketing side of our business, John used the feature a number of times to catch people at their desk when he knew they were there.

One of the more interesting features for me was to see how many times a person reads my email. Some were read over 10 times. I wonder why. The program is not 100% accurate at this time as there were some recipients that read emails I sent them that were not acknowledged by BroadMail.

Of note is the fact that attached to each outgoing message, out of common courtesy, is a message certifying the message you are sending is being tracked by BroadMail. Knowing that some people would not take kindly to having their email reading habits tracked, you can turn the BroadMail tracking feature off whenever you like. For ultra secrecy you can also turn off the certification message so the recipient will not know you are tracking them. In the month I used the program I did not have one recipient even ask about the certification, much complain.

In closing, I think both John and I are both sold on the benefits of BroadMail as a great tool for both marketing and recruiting. Anyone doing much in the way of email marketing or recruiting should take this product for a test drive. They would offer a 30-day trial for the asking. Visit the Broadlook web site for additional information on this or any of their other products.