TL;DR
Read receipts in Plutio show exactly who has seen a message in any conversation, whether the conversation is between team members or with a client inside a project.
Plutio tracks seen status per user per message through the per-message read tracking on each conversation. When someone opens a conversation and scrolls through messages, their read status updates in real time, and the sender sees who has read each message. The real value: knowing a client has seen a project update or approval request eliminates the guesswork behind follow-ups, so messages that need action get flagged based on whether the recipient read them and chose not to respond, rather than whether the message got lost in an inbox.
Read receipts come with all Plutio plans starting at $19/month, with a 7-day free trial. The feature works automatically on every conversation with no setup or configuration required.
What read receipts are
Read receipts are a message tracking feature that records when each participant in a conversation opens and views a message, giving the sender confirmation that their message was seen without waiting for a reply.
In Plutio, read receipts work through two mechanisms: the seen indicator on each conversation's lastMessage, which shows whether the most recent message has been read, and the per-message read tracking, which tracks exactly which messages each user has viewed across the full conversation history. When a user opens a conversation, their read status updates automatically for every message visible on screen.
Last message seen status
The conversation list in Plutio's Inbox shows whether the last message in each thread has been read by all participants. Unread conversations appear with a visual indicator, making it easy to scan the inbox and identify which threads need attention. For team conversations with multiple members, the seen status status reflects per-user tracking, so each team member sees their own unread state independently. A conversation marked as read for one team member can still show as unread for another who hasn't opened the thread yet.
Per-message read tracking
Beyond the last message indicator, Plutio tracks read status on individual messages through the per-message read tracking. Each conversation stores a map of user IDs to the messages those users have seen. When a teammate or client scrolls through a conversation, Plutio updates their seen record to include every message viewed during that session. The sender can then see a list of participants who have read each specific message. Per-message tracking matters most in group conversations where a project update goes to the client, a designer, and a developer, but only the designer has read the message so far. The sender knows exactly who still needs to see the update.
Before read receipts, I'd send a project update to a client and then wonder for two days whether they'd seen it. Now I check once, and if they've read the message but haven't replied, I know the ball is in their court.
Why read receipts matter for client communication
Without read receipts, every unanswered message creates the same question: did the recipient miss the message or choose to ignore the message? Freelancers managing 5 to 10 active client projects send dozens of messages per week asking for approvals, sharing deliverables, and requesting feedback. When a client doesn't respond within 24 hours, the freelancer faces a choice: send a follow-up that might annoy a client who's simply busy, or wait another day and risk missing a deadline because the client genuinely missed the message.
The cost of that uncertainty adds up. A freelance consultant billing $100/hour who spends 15 minutes per day composing and sending follow-up messages that turn out to be unnecessary loses 5+ hours per month on communication that read receipts would have eliminated. Across a year, that's 60+ hours of billable time absorbed by "just checking in" messages. Agencies with 3 to 5 team members multiplied across 10+ active projects face even steeper costs, since each team member independently follows up on messages they're unsure the client received.
Slack offers read receipts on paid plans (Pro at $8.75/user/month, Business+ at $12.50/user/month), but Slack is a general messaging platform with no native project management, invoicing, or client portal. Using Slack for client communication means the read receipt lives in Slack while the project, tasks, and invoices live in a separate tool, so confirming a message was read still requires switching context to act on that information.
The most expensive follow-up is the one that didn't need to happen. Read receipts separate "client hasn't seen the message yet" from "client saw the message and hasn't responded," and that distinction changes how and when to follow up on every active project.
Plutio keeps read receipts inside the same workspace where projects, tasks, invoices, and client portals already live, so seeing that a client read a project update leads directly to checking their task progress or sending an invoice, all without switching tools.
How read receipts work in Plutio
Open any conversation in Plutio's Inbox, send a message, and see exactly who reads the message as recipients open the conversation, with no setup or configuration required.
Read receipts are enabled by default on all Plutio plans and work across every conversation type: team-only threads, client conversations within projects, and direct messages.
Step by step
- Step 1: Open the Inbox from Plutio's navigation bar and select a conversation, or open a conversation directly from within a project. Type and send a message to the conversation participants.
- Step 2: When a recipient (teammate or client) opens the conversation, Plutio automatically updates their seen status on every message visible on screen. The per-message read tracking records which messages each user has viewed.
- Step 3: Check the conversation to see read indicators showing which participants have seen each message. Unread conversations appear with a visual indicator in the Inbox list so scanning for threads that need attention takes seconds.
- Step 4: For group conversations with multiple participants (for example, a client, a designer, and a project manager), check per-message read status to see which specific participants have and haven't read each message.
- Step 5: Use the read status to decide on follow-ups. If a client has seen a message but hasn't responded, the message was received and a follow-up can reference the original message directly. If the message shows as unread after 48 hours, send a follow-up or use a different channel.
Practical tip: check read status before sending follow-up messages on approval requests. If the client has already seen the deliverable message, a follow-up phrased as "any feedback on the design?" lands differently than "wanted to make sure you saw the latest version," and the first version moves the project forward faster.
Who needs read receipts
Freelancers and agencies managing client communication across multiple active projects, particularly those working on deliverable-based workflows where approvals and feedback drive the project timeline, get the most value from built-in read receipts.
A freelance designer working on 8 active branding projects sends 3 to 5 client messages per day: concept approvals, revision rounds, file deliveries, and timeline updates. Without read receipts, each unanswered message requires a mental note to follow up in 24 to 48 hours, and across 8 projects that means tracking 15 to 25 pending responses manually. With read receipts, scanning the Inbox once per morning shows which clients have seen their latest messages and which haven't, cutting daily follow-up decisions from 15 minutes to under 3 minutes.
Agencies with 3 to 5 team members benefit even more, since read receipts prevent duplicate follow-ups. When a project manager sees that the client read the deliverable message sent by a designer, the project manager doesn't need to send a separate "checking in" message. Over 40% of Plutio users on team plans use read receipts to coordinate client responses across multiple team members on the same project.
Microsoft Teams includes read receipts by default on all plans, but Teams is an internal communication tool with no native invoicing, proposals, or client portal. Freelancers using Teams for client communication lose the connection between the message confirmation and the project workflow. HoneyBook, used by many event planners and photographers, has no message read receipts at all, so freelancers switching from HoneyBook gain visibility into client communication that didn't exist in their previous setup. Basecamp also lacks read receipts on messages, leaving teams without confirmation that pings and updates reached the intended recipients.
Bottom line: any freelancer or agency sending client messages that require a response or action, particularly approval requests, deliverable shares, and scope clarifications, saves hours per week by checking read status before deciding whether and how to follow up.
