Read receipts

[KevinFischman]

Would it be possible to have Scoutbook ask for read receipts? We send out email after email with no idea if people are even reading them. I know I have talked to other Scouters that have also thought it would be a good idea. I just do not know how feasible it would be with your system.

Thanks,
ScoutMaster Kevin

[DonovanMcNeil]

Once an email goes to a third party client it is out of the systems hands really. Unless we forced SB Logins to read messages, it is not very feasible.

[KevinFischman]

Thanks for the quick response and I agree read receipts can never be forced I just did not know if we could send the request and hope they allow. I always figured the feature was just a request, but then of coarse you have to be able to get it back to the sender.

Thanks again

[DonovanMcNeil]

I do send a weekly email (outside of SB platform) - But email is not a dependable way to get info out in my opinion unless you have a very trained audience looking for your stuff. What is the first thing you do in the morning? Read titles of emails and delete them.

[Dylan]

I think this is a great idea and I would like to see it happen. Thanks

[MrAdamJohn]

There are ways to integrate both read and bounce metrics to emails sent from systems like this one. The ability is not dependent on the mailing system necessarily, although there are some great integrations available. Happy to provide recommendations when & where appropriate for anyone interested.

However, it’s a system integration, not available to us here right now as mail sent is based on platform configuration.

[KevinFischman]

Yes please how can I integrate that into emails?
Thanks

[MrAdamJohn]

Sorry if I was unclear - on Scoutbook - at present - I’m not aware of a way native to the platform itself as yet.

Export or obtain a list of emails and bring them into a “mass email platform” or “email newsletter service” … This is the simplest method for now. Sending outside the platform opens many options for metrics and tracking.

Mailgun, Sendgrid, AWS SES and others offer back-end capabilities and would be easy to integrate in the platform; but not a near term option. These may also be used integrated to a website or similar service. Ping me directly if you have questions as answers from this point branch off in many directions.

However, a preferred consideration may be;
MailChimp, Mautic, and (ack) ConstantContact as these are just a few of many newsletter options - commonly used approach and there are favorable choices in most cases. Using the newsletter approach very closely matches most use cases however a mail list might also be an option. Off topic but again I’m happy to answer directly if you’re interested.

HTH

[SageLichtenwalner]

Read receipts are notoriously difficult to do correctly (i.e. without a lot of development effort), and even then, they are unreliable and will never get close to 100%. For example, see the caveats Mailchimp lists for their “open tracking” feature.

A far better approach I would think is to improve the RSVP functionality, i.e. sending out reminders to those who haven’t responded, and reminding those who have of their previous response (which I think I’ve seen requested).

Passive tracking is ok for marketing. But I think soliciting active responses from scouts/parents would be far more reliable.

[MrAdamJohn]

@SageLichtenwalner

Passive tracking is ok for marketing. But I think soliciting active responses from scouts/parents would be far more reliable.

Absolutely agree.