Author: Clarence Ling
Category: News
Published: 07 July 2015

REVIEW: Sidekick, Best Browser Email Tracker

Summary: Sidekick is an email tracker by Hubspot. It is one of the best in the market and today we will be reviewing its features and benefits. There is a freemium version of Sidekick available, and paid versions also. Sidekick has some excellent CRM integration available.

There is nothing cooler than having your own Sidekick. In the CRM world, there are lots of players. Most of them are almost carbon copies in terms of functionality, so Hubspot's take on emails, and thus emails in CRM is a fresh breeze. Its exciting stuff.

Sidekick Review

There is nothing cooler than having your own Sidekick. In the CRM world, there are lots of players. Most of them are almost carbon copies in terms of functionality, so Hubspot's take on emails, and thus emails in CRM is a fresh breeze. Its exciting stuff.

What is Sidekick

Sidekick is an email tracker, so far only available for Google Chrome. It can tell you exactly when your emails are opened and how many clicks the recipient made. Stalker-like stuff, but cool if you want in depth marketing data and feedback.

Sidekick see who opens emails

There is currently little third party app support for Sidekick, and the only CRM that can implement it beyond basic commands like notify the CRM user of a new lead is Salesforce. Hubspot does not count as they made Sidekick. Please note Hubspot now do CRM.

Sidekick settings

The software is simple to use. Simply install as an extension to Chrome and compose an email. Click The Sidekick Icon to activate tracking. See below:

click here to track emails with sidekick

What happens next is a feed to your Chrome browser:

Sidekick chrome browser

As simple as that. Plus you can see how many views at the corner of the alert box. By the way, the "EurekaMay" entries demonstrates how often I tried to connect Sidekick to a third party app using a connector. Not very feasible at this point in time as I failed to get the features I wanted, i.e. email tracking, though I could get a Twitter alert feed set up. Nevertheless, if you are a Hubspot or Salesforce user, things could be different.

Sidekick is not only serious about helping you write more effective emails, they have gone above and beyond, producing many articles on sales email strategy as seen below:

Sidekick CRM

Oh. And Sidekick can schedule your emails too.

Sidekick schedule emails for later

Sidekick is a ridiculously useful email extension for Chrome, which will allow you to improve your sales pitch and more. It is easy to install and use and does not pretend to be a whole CRM replacement. Nevertheless, there is direct CRM integration in Hubspot and Salesforce and I would be very glad to take it for a spin. With prices from US$10 per user/per month this sales tool is yours to exploit like the customer stalker you dream to be.

The key difference between Sidekick and traditional email trackers is this:

  • Read receipts like in Outlook, only work once. You cannot see more than one click of your email
  • You can see all and the exact time for all clicks on your email in Sidekick
  • Sidekick is live. Just imagine you being able to hone in on a sale because you know your emails are being clicked often by your client

In sum, my review is as follows:

Pros:

  • Email tracking
  • Email scheduling
  • Easy to use
  • Easy to useGreat support base with tutorials on better sales emails
  • Cheap and value for money

Cons:

  • Only apps by Salesforce and Hubspot can use it properly if used in CRM
  • Connector app support is not very good at this point in time

Overall Rating 4.5/5.0

About the Author

Clarence Ling Marketer

Clarence Ling

Clarence Ling is the founder and business owner of CLASS Digital Marketing. He is a self trained Joomla Front End Web Designer and a Digital Marketer, constantly procuring the latest martech (marketing tech) and incorporating current developments in marketing. Based in Perth, Western Australia, he is also a real estate agent in Malaysia, selling Australian property overseas, attached to the largest and best East Malaysian real estate agency, Kozin Real Estate Sdn Bhd. Clarence regularly commutes between Australia, Malaysia and sometimes other parts of Asia in his line of work.

Phone (Australia): +61 413 665 375
Phone (Malaysia): +60 12 818 1160