You sent the proposal on Tuesday. It is Thursday and there is no reply. Did they open it? Did they reach the price? Six methods answer some version of that. If the proposal is an HTML page, an email-gated link on Hostus is the one we recommend: it names the reader, shows time per section and where they stopped, and costs nothing for 20 docs. The other five range from free and rough to paid and precise, and each still has a case, so this guide covers all six. The better ones tell you what the client read, for how long, and where they stopped, which is enough to write a follow-up that does not begin with "just checking in".
1. How does an email-gated HTML page work? (free plan, reading by section)
If the proposal is an HTML file (from Claude, ChatGPT, v0, or your own template), host it as HTML with an email gate in front. This is the method we recommend. On Hostus: drop the file, sign in with a magic link, switch the doc to Email-gated. The reader types an email before the page opens. You see who and when, plus time per section anchored to your headings, what got re-read, and where they stopped. Leave the gate open, or restrict it to a list or to the client's domain; revocation is instant. No IPs stored, no fingerprinting.
Two things the other methods lack: you can edit the live page after sending and the link stays the same, with version history, and any form in the page ("Accept", "Ask a question") stores its responses and emails you.
Free plan: 20 docs, 2 MB of HTML total, 100 form responses per month, every feature. Paid is $9.99 per month or $49.99 per year.
What it cannot tell you: whether the typed email is real, unless you restrict to a list or domain (Private mode, where each reader signs in with a magic link, verifies identity). HTML only, no PDF, no custom domain, no e-signature.
2. Can Google Docs show who viewed my proposal? (free, Workspace only)
If the proposal is a Google Doc owned by a Google Workspace (work or school) account, Tools > Activity dashboard lists who viewed the file and when. Google's help page is explicit: "If the file isn't owned by a Google Account through work or school, no one can see the view history." A personal gmail.com owner gets nothing.
What it tells you: that a specific signed-in Google user opened the doc, with a timestamp.
What it cannot tell you: anything about a reader who was not signed in, or who turned off "Show my view history" (any viewer can); how long they stayed or which part they read.
3. Do email read receipts and tracking pixels work? (free, unreliable)
Tracking pixels (the mechanism behind "opened" in HubSpot, Mailchimp, Mailtrack and similar) load a one-pixel image when the email renders. Read receipts need the recipient to agree. Both are broken by the two biggest mail clients.
- Apple Mail Privacy Protection. Apple's guide says remote content "is privately downloaded in the background when you receive a message (instead of when you view it)". Every Apple Mail recipient looks opened, whether they were or not.
- Gmail's image proxy. Gmail loads images through Google's servers. Google's help page concedes only that "Sometimes, senders may know whether you've opened an email that has an image."
What it tells you: at best, that the email was rendered by something, once.
What it cannot tell you: whether the attachment was opened, who it was forwarded to, or anything about the proposal itself.
4. What does a tracked link tell me? (free, clicks not reads)
Wrap the proposal link in a Bitly-style shortener, or use the UTM builder on whatever hosts the file. You get click count, timestamp, country and referrer.
What it tells you: that the link was clicked, and when. Make one link per recipient and you also learn which recipient.
What it cannot tell you: whether the page was read. Link previews in Slack, Teams and Outlook and corporate safe-link scanners register a click before any human does. A zero-second click and a twenty-minute read look identical.
5. What do PandaDoc, Proposify and Better Proposals add? (paid, per-section time and e-sign)
Proposal software has you build the proposal in its editor, sends it as a link, notifies you on open, shows time per section and collects the signature in the same document. Verified on their pricing pages today:
- PandaDoc: a $0 plan with real-time tracking, limited to 5 documents sent per month; Starter $19 per seat per month billed annually.
- Proposify: Basic $19 per user per month billed annually ($29 monthly). Promises "a timeline of when each recipient opens your document and how much time they spend in each section".
- Better Proposals: Starter $13 per user per month annually ($19 monthly), capped at 10 sends per month; Premium $21 annually. Tracks opened, read, forwarded, downloaded, signed, and time per section.
What it tells you: opened, by whom, time per section, and whether they signed.
What it cannot do: host a proposal you designed elsewhere as HTML. You work inside their templates and pay per user.
6. What about document tracking tools like DocSend and Papermark? (PDF, per page)
Upload a PDF, get a link, see each visitor's time on each page. Verified today: DocSend Personal is $10 per user per month with no permanent free plan; requiring viewers to authenticate by email is an Advanced feature at $150 per month. Papermark, the open-source alternative, is free for 50 documents with page-by-page analytics; Pro is €24 per month billed yearly. More options are on our DocSend alternatives page.
What it tells you: who (if the link requires an email or you make one link per person), which page, how long, and repeat visits.
What it cannot tell you: anything past page level, and nothing about interactive content. An HTML proposal has to be flattened first.
Which method tells you what?
| Method | Opened? | Who? | Which section? | Re-read? | Replied? | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Email-gated HTML page (Hostus) | Yes | Yes, typed email | Yes, per heading | Yes, plus where they stopped | A form in the page | Free for 20 docs; $9.99 per month |
| Google Docs activity dashboard | Yes, if signed in | Google account, if not hidden | No | Repeat views only | No | Free with Workspace |
| Read receipt / pixel | Unreliable | The address you sent to | No | No | No | Free |
| Tracked link | Clicked, not read | Only with one link per person | No | Repeat clicks | No | Free |
| Proposal software | Yes | Yes, the recipient | Yes, time per section | Yes | Sign or accept in the doc | $13 to $19 per user/month annually; PandaDoc has a $0 plan |
| DocSend / Papermark | Yes | Yes, if email is required | Per page | Yes | No | Papermark free for 50 docs; DocSend from $10 per user/month |
"Replied?" is mostly "No" on purpose: no tracker tells you the client answered, the reply does. The two exceptions let the client act inside the document.
What should I do with the signal?
- Opened, six minutes, stopped at Pricing. Follow up within 24 hours about pricing, specifically. "Happy to walk through how the retainer maps to the scope" beats "did you get a chance to look?"
- Not opened after three business days. Resend with a different subject line, or call. Do not say you know it was unopened.
- Scope re-read three times. Something in it is ambiguous. Rewrite that section before the call; the link they already have shows the fix.
- Nobody reached Next steps. Move the ask up, or add a short summary with it at the top.
Use the signal to choose what to say and when, never as something to mention. A client who hears "I saw you opened it twice" reads the next one less.
Do clients dislike tracked links?
Some do, and pretending otherwise is how you lose them. A HubSpot Community thread about documents that require an email to view has 24,600 views; one user wrote that "it's a turn-off for people to view a document and have to enter their e-mail every time". On Hacker News, an investor discussing pitch decks wrote: "I rarely open docsend docs and never on cold pitches."
The common thread is friction that arrives unexplained. So:
- Gate when the stakes justify it. A proposal to a warm client who expects it: fine. A cold pitch: ungated link or PDF, track clicks at most.
- Say it up front. "The page asks for your email so I know it reached you." Silence is what reads as surveillance.
- Prefer a visible gate to a hidden pixel. A gate the reader consents to is more honest than an invisible image in their inbox, and it works.
- Send the PDF if they ask. The relationship is worth more than the data.
Good to know before you switch
If the proposal is two paragraphs and a price, put it in the email body; use these methods when a client, an investor or a committee will open a document that took real time to make. Hostus hosts HTML only (no PDF, Word or PowerPoint), has no custom domain, no e-signature, no data rooms and no team seats, the editor is desktop-only, and the free plan covers 20 docs and 2 MB of HTML total. Use proposal software if you need a signature in the same link, and Papermark (free for 50 documents) if the file is a PDF that stays a PDF.