Understanding Live Quotes, Opens and Views
What is an ‘Open’?
An ‘Open’ is counted by a customer viewing their unique link to the Quote. You can see how many times a customer has opened the Quote over a period of time in the following places:
- On your Dashboard and Quotes screen.
- On the Quote, and under ‘All Activity…’ showing details of when/who viewed it.
- In the Quote Viewed Email Notifications.
When a Quote is first sent, it will display as ‘Unopened’ on your Dashboard and Quotes screen.
What does the ‘Viewed X days ago’ mean?
This is displayed on Quotes that have been viewed at least once within the last 30 days. This is the most recent time that the customer clicked to view the Quote.
What does ‘Live’ mean?
Quotes showing an ‘Live’ status indicate that your customer is currently viewing that Quote. This status is updated in real-time, which means it will only display when the customer is actively on the Quote, and disappear once they are no longer viewing it.
The ‘Live’ status can be seen both on the Dashboard, and on the Quotes screen, where you also have the option to filter your Quotes by ‘Live, past 24 hours’.
FAQ and Troubleshooting
How does an ‘Open’ get triggered exactly?
Each customer receives their own unique (encrypted) link via email. When the link is clicked, and the Quote has been looked at for at least 3 seconds, an ‘Open’ is triggered.
To prevent inflated numbers, refreshing the Quote screen or coming back to it several times in short succession (within 30 minutes of the last view) will count as a single ‘Open’ and only the ‘Viewed XX minutes ago’ will be updated.
If the customer came back sometime later (30 minutes from the last view), an additional ‘Open’ will then be counted.
Can Quote Authors trigger an ‘Open’?
While signed in to your Quotient account, opening a Quote link on that device will not trigger an Open.
If you open a Quote link (e.g. from a copy of the customer email) on another device/browser where you aren’t signed in, it WILL trigger an Open. This is because the system will not register you as the Quote Author while you're not signed in on that device/browser.
My customer tells me that they have opened the Quote but it’s still showing as ‘Unopened’?
Your customer may have opened the Quote Email, but not necessarily clicked through to view the Quote.
When the Quote link is clicked the server logs and records a view, so long as the recipient's browser is running JavaScript.
The link each Quote Recipient receives is 100% unique to them and irreversibly encrypted. So long as the link is kept private to them this process is more secure than using a password type system. Every Quote sent utilizes this exact process without exception, so it has been well scrutinized and tested over time.
Can anyone other than the Quote Recipient trigger a view?
As the link to view the Quote may be forwarded via email (by the Quote Recipient, or Quote Author), an Open can be triggered by anyone who opens the Quote link that isn’t the Quote Author signed into their Quotient account.
If you see ‘Opened via direct link’ under ‘All Activity’ this means the Quote has been opened via the URL and not via the link in the email that was sent to the Quote Recipient.
Integrated apps and workflows may inadvertently trigger an ‘Opened via direct link’ view. This can happen when a third-party app is configured to receive Quote Sent/Accepted data from Quotient. If the third-party app reads/previews the Quote URL then it will trigger an Open.
An aggressive spam filter may click through the link to view the Quote in your customer’s Quote Email, to make sure the link doesn’t direct them to anything malicious. Currently, there is no way for us to see if a link has been clicked by a spam filter or your intended customer. Also, see some healthy tips to avoid spam filters.