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A proposal sitting in silence is a small agony of freelancing and sales alike. Chase too soon and you look desperate; wait too long and the deal cools. The missing piece is simple: did they actually read it? Here is how to find out and follow up like a professional.
By Daniel O'Loughlin ·
Most follow-ups are timed by anxiety, not information. You send a “just checking in” note into the dark, hoping it lands well. If you knew whether the proposal had been opened, and when, the message would write itself and land at the right moment.
| What you see | Likely situation | Best follow-up |
|---|---|---|
| Not opened after a few days | Lost in the inbox, or wrong contact | Resend briefly, or nudge via another channel |
| Opened once, then quiet | Reviewing, or waiting on someone else | Give it a day or two, then add value, not pressure |
| Opened repeatedly | Serious interest, likely being shared | Follow up promptly with next steps and a call offer |
Native read receipts do not help here: they prompt the client, who can decline, and personal accounts do not offer them at all. A read-receipt tracker does it silently. Vidi shows a grey tick when your proposal email sends and two green ticks the moment the client opens it. Nothing visible is added, so the client sees an ordinary, professional email. It even works if the client reads it in Outlook or Yahoo, not just Gmail.
Tracking whether your own proposal was opened is normal business practice and stays well within bounds (see is email tracking legal?). It tells you the open, not what the client is thinking. Use it to be timely and relevant, which is exactly what wins the work.
Stop guessing at the follow-up. Knowing whether your proposal was read turns an awkward chase into a confident, well-timed message. Try Vidi, with a 30-day money-back guarantee, and send your next proposal with the ticks on.
Vidi turns every important email into a clear grey-tick / green-tick answer — across Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Outlook.
$1.99/month launch pricing, locked in for as long as you stay, or pay once and never pay again · 30-day money-back guarantee · Cancel in two clicks