If you send a lot of sales emails and want to know who’s actually reading them, you’re in the right place. This guide is for people who use Clearslide (or are about to) and want the real, step-by-step playbook for tracking email engagement—without wading through fluff or half-baked “best practices.” Whether you’re in sales, customer success, or just trying to get a handle on what’s working, I’ll show you what’s worth doing, what’s a waste of time, and how to get started fast.
Why bother with email engagement analytics?
Let’s be clear: not every email needs to be tracked, and sometimes “open rates” don’t tell you much. But if you’re sending proposals, decks, or anything that’s supposed to move a deal forward, you want to know if your message landed—or just landed in the trash. Engagement analytics help you:
- See who’s actually opening your emails and interacting with your content
- Spot the difference between “maybe interested” and “definitely ignoring you”
- Get real feedback on what content works (and what’s just taking up space)
- Focus your follow-ups on people who care
If you want to stop guessing and start getting real signals, Clearslide has some tools that can help. Here’s how to actually use them.
Step 1: Get your Clearslide account set up
First, the obvious: you need a Clearslide account. The best features—tracking, content analytics, and reporting—are only available if you’re logged in and using the platform properly. If you’re just using email without Clearslide, you won’t get any of these analytics.
What you need: - An active Clearslide license (ask your admin if you’re unsure) - Access to the content you want to send (presentations, PDF, etc.) - (Optional) Email integration set up—this makes your life easier, but you can get by without it
Pro tip:
If your company hasn’t set up the Outlook or Gmail add-in, do it now. It makes sending tracked emails way less painful.
Step 2: Add your content to Clearslide
Clearslide tracks engagement best when you send content through their platform. That means uploading your sales decks, one-pagers, or whatever you want to share with prospects.
How to do it: 1. Log into Clearslide. 2. Find the “Content” or “Library” section. 3. Click “Upload” and add your files (PowerPoint, PDF, video, etc.). 4. Organize stuff into folders so you can actually find it later.
Stuff to skip:
Don’t bother uploading every single email template or generic doc. Focus on the content you actually want to track—usually things like decks, proposals, and case studies.
Gotcha to watch for:
Some file types (like Excel or weird formats) don’t always render perfectly. Double-check the preview before you send.
Step 3: Send email using Clearslide’s tracked links
This is where the magic (or at least, the tracking) happens. Clearslide lets you send emails with special links that track:
- Whether the email was opened (using a tracking pixel)
- If someone clicked your link
- How long they spent viewing your content, and which pages/slides they looked at
Your options:
- Send directly from Clearslide: You can compose and send emails from inside Clearslide. This works, but the emails can look a bit generic.
- Use the Outlook or Gmail add-in: This is usually better—it lets you send tracked links from your real email account, so it looks more personal.
How to send a tracked email: 1. Open the content you want to send in Clearslide. 2. Click “Share” or “Send Email.” 3. Choose your recipients (ideally, one at a time for best tracking). 4. Customize your message. Don’t use the default template—it’s obvious and boring. 5. Make sure “Track engagement” or similar is checked. 6. Send.
Pro tip:
If you want to track who viewed your content, send unique links to each person. Group emails can muddy the data.
Step 4: Understand what Clearslide actually tracks
Here’s what you’ll see after you send:
- Email opens: Tracked via a pixel. Not bulletproof—lots of email clients block these by default.
- Link clicks: More reliable. If someone clicks the link, you’ll know.
- Content viewing: Clearslide tracks how long someone looked at your deck, which slides they lingered on, and whether they forwarded the link.
- Downloads: If you allow downloading, you’ll see who grabbed the file.
What these numbers don’t mean:
- An “open” doesn’t mean your email was read—just that the pixel loaded (or wasn’t blocked).
- Time spent on a slide is only tracked if the viewer is using the Clearslide viewer. If they download the file, you’re in the dark.
- Multiple opens/clicks could just be someone coming back later, or forwarding your email.
Honest take:
Don’t obsess over “open” rates. Focus on actual content engagement—who’s clicking, who’s spending time, and what’s resonating.
Step 5: Check your analytics and reports
Now for the fun part: seeing what actually happened.
Where to find the data:
- Email notifications: Clearslide can send you alerts when someone opens your email or views your content.
- Engagement dashboard: In the Clearslide platform, find the “Engagement” or “Insights” tab. Here you’ll see:
- Who opened your email
- Who clicked/viewed your content
- Time spent, slides viewed, and drop-off points
- Content reports: You can pull reports on specific pieces of content to see which ones get the most play.
How to use this info: - Prioritize follow-ups based on engagement—don’t chase ghosts. - See which slides or pages people care about, and which ones get skipped. - Test different content and see what actually lands.
Stuff to ignore: - Vanity metrics. A hundred opens from one person means nothing if they never reply. - Anyone who only opened but didn’t click—maybe they’re curious, maybe it’s just spam filter weirdness.
Pro tip:
If you see multiple people from the same company viewing your deck (Clearslide sometimes shows you the IP or email domain), that’s a buying signal. Time to nudge.
Step 6: Use analytics to tweak your sales process
This is where most people drop the ball—they look at the numbers, nod sagely, then go back to sending the same old stuff. Don’t be that person.
What actually works: - Shorten or reorder your content if everyone drops off at slide 6. - Personalize follow-ups based on what people viewed. “Saw you spent time on our pricing page—any questions?” - Cut the stuff nobody ever clicks or views. Less is more. - If a prospect keeps opening but never responds, try a different approach or channel.
What doesn’t:
- Sending more of the same to people who clearly aren’t interested.
- Over-analyzing tiny differences in open rates (they’re mostly noise).
Step 7: Know the limits—and the workarounds
Clearslide is useful, but it’s not magic. Here’s what you should keep in mind:
- Privacy blockers: Apple, Gmail, and others are getting better at blocking tracking pixels. Opens are less reliable than ever.
- Forwarded emails: If your email gets forwarded, you might see “new viewers.” Sometimes that’s great (buying committee!), sometimes it’s just noise.
- Mobile viewing: Engagement data is sometimes less accurate on phones.
- Downloads: Once someone downloads your file, you lose visibility.
Workarounds: - Keep content in the Clearslide viewer (don’t allow downloads) if tracking is critical. - Use unique links for each person—don’t blast out the same link to a huge list. - Follow up personally. No analytics will ever replace a real conversation.
Quick reference: What to focus on (and what to skip)
Worth your time: - Tracking link clicks and content engagement - Tailoring follow-ups based on real behavior - Iterating your content based on what works
Safe to ignore: - Obsessing over open rates - Worrying about every single metric - Trying to track everything—just focus on key deals
Wrapping up: Keep it simple, keep improving
You don’t need to drown in data to get value from Clearslide’s analytics. Set up the basics, track what matters, and use the insights to have better conversations—not just better spreadsheets. Start small, tweak as you go, and remember: real engagement beats pretty charts every time.