How can you tell if a client has actually looked at your proposal?

Read receipts are unreliable. How tracked links work, what they can and cannot tell you, and how to see which parts a client spent time on.

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By Kaz Kato · Published 12 October 2026 · Updated 12 October 2026

Email read receipts are unreliable: many accounts do not offer them, and the recipient can be asked to approve each one. To know for sure, send the proposal as a tracked link, one per person, through a tool that records opens. A tracked link tells you who opened it, when, how often and for how long.

This guide covers why read receipts fall short, what a tracked link records, which tools do it, and what “looked at” should mean. It ends with what to do with what you learn, and what no tool can tell you. For a side-by-side of document trackers, see content tracking compared.

The ways to tell, side by side

Read receipt Tracked document link A Roomi room
Tells you it was opened Sometimes Yes Yes
Tells you who opened it The person you sent it to When the link asks for an email By name: each link is made for one person
Time on each part No Time on each page Time on each screen and page
How far they got No How much of the document they viewed How far through the guided tour they got
If they forward it Nothing Varies by tool The next person is asked who they are
What they said back Only by email Varies by tool Comments pinned to the screen, and their answer to “What happens next?”

Why don’t read receipts work?

Read receipts depend on the recipient’s email account, and on their say-so. Gmail read receipts work only on work and school accounts, not personal Gmail ones, and the recipient may have to approve each one. Google says a receipt does not always mean the message was read.

So a missing receipt tells you nothing, and an arriving one tells you little. Neither says whether they reached the price, or showed it to their boss.

A tracked link records each time someone opens it: when, how often, and for how long. Good ones go further. A document tracker shows the time spent on each page. A room shows the time on each screen of a working demo, how far through the tour they got, and who the link was forwarded to.

DocSend lists each visit to a document with the time spent on each page and how much of it was viewed. It names the visitor only when the link requires an email to view. Every Papermark plan, Free included, has page-by-page analytics and unlimited visitors. Free holds up to 50 documents.

The catch is identity. A link everyone shares can only count visits. A link made for one person files every visit under their name, so you know it was Priya, not just someone.

Which tools track proposals?

Document trackers suit a proposal that is a PDF or a slide deck. A room suits a proposal that is, or sits beside, something working: a demo, a prototype, an app. The table says what each records, from each vendor’s own pages, and names what this guide could not check.

Tool What you send Who opened it Time on each part Alert when opened
DocSend A document, or a link to a web page When the link asks for an email Each page of a document Yes, by email
Qwilr A proposal page built in Qwilr Listed, as identity analytics Listed, as page analytics Yes, listed
Papermark A document Not checked here Each page, on every plan Not checked here
Roomi A working demo, with the proposal beside it as a page or a PDF By name, one link per person Each screen and page, and a PDF page by page Yes, by email, and in the app when they come back

DocSend can email you the moment someone opens one of your links, with their device, their location, how much of the document they viewed and how long they spent. Qwilr’s pricing page lists real-time alerts when a page is viewed, accepted or stalls, page analytics showing where prospects spend their time, and identity analytics showing who is viewing. DocSend can track a link to an outside web page on its Standard plan and above, not on a trial. For such a link it records only the visitor’s device and operating system, their location and the time of the visit.

On Roomi, you start on Free. A private link per person, and everything each one did, come with Pro at £4 a month before VAT. Pricing has every plan.

What does “looked at” really mean?

An open is not a read. Someone can open a link for three seconds on the train and never come back. What tells you they looked is time, return visits, and which parts they spent it on. The pricing page read twice says more than ten opens of the cover.

Roomi sorts each person by what they did, never by a score:

Stage What it means
Sent The link has not been opened
Opened One visit
Engaged Two or more visits, two minutes or more inside, or a question or a colleague named
Said yes They booked a meeting, or asked for the proposal
Later They said “Get back to me”
Not now They said “Not for me”

Each card on the pipeline shows the evidence behind its stage: time inside, visits, what they used and read, and when they were last seen. Analytics and the pipeline explains each measure. Buying signals ranks the ones that matter most.

What should you do with what you learn?

Act on what they did, while they are still thinking about you. A link not opened after a few days earns a short nudge. A client who came back to the pricing screen, or brought a colleague in, earns a call today. Someone who said “Get back to me” gets a follow-up date, and nothing sooner.

What they did What to do
Not opened after a few days A short, friendly nudge, with the link again
Opened once, briefly Ask if they want a five-minute walk through it
Came back, or spent time on pricing Call, today
Forwarded it to a colleague Offer the colleague a link of their own
Said “Get back to me” Set a follow-up date on their card, and wait for it

Roomi also names who to call first: the person most worth a call today, with the evidence that put them first. How to follow up after a demo says what to send for each thing they did.

Will your client know you can see what they did?

Not unless you tell them. A Roomi room asks each person who they are, and says you made the link for them, so they know you will see their name. It says the demo runs on mock data. It does not, by itself, tell them that their visits and the time they spend are recorded.

Roomi’s terms ask you to tell each viewer who you are, that it logs what they do in the room, and how to reach you about their data. The easiest place is the message you send the link in. One line is enough: “The room shows me which parts you looked at, so I can follow up on what matters to you.” The privacy notice says what is recorded. The follow-up email templates build that line into the message that sends the link.

What can’t any tool tell you?

No tool can tell you who is really at the keyboard, or whether they understood what they read. A name on a link is the name you gave it, or the one a newcomer typed. Time on a page shows attention, not agreement. Read the signals, then ask.

  • Who is really reading. Roomi asks, and records what it is told. It does not check.
  • Whether they understood it. Long time on a page can mean interest or confusion. Only a conversation tells you which.
  • Where they are. Roomi records no IP address and no location, and nothing they type except what they choose to send you. Some document trackers do record location, as DocSend’s above shows.

Questions people ask

This guide is not legal advice. What matters is what each tool records and whether you tell people. Roomi’s terms ask you to tell each viewer that it logs what they do in the room, and how to reach you about it.

Can I get an alert when they open it?

Yes, with most tracked links, though not with a plain attachment. Roomi emails you the first time each person opens their link, if you choose, and the app tells you when they come back.

What if they forward it?

On Roomi, whoever opens a forwarded link is asked whether they are the person it was made for. Someone who says no gives their own name, and you see them under the same link.

What if my proposal is a PDF?

A document tracker handles a PDF on its own. If you also have something working to show, put the PDF in a Roomi room beside the demo. It opens a page at a time, and you see which pages were read.

Sources

About the author

Kaz Kato, Co-founder & CTO, Roomi. Kaz co-founded Roomi with Tesh, whom he has built with since 2017: two startups that failed, one venture studio that didn’t, and an exit.

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