How to Email Brokers on DAT Loadboard in Seconds

The Hidden Time Sink Every Dispatcher Knows

You find a good load on DAT. Now you need to email the broker. So you open a new tab, start a new email, go back to DAT, copy the origin city, paste it, go back to DAT, copy the destination, paste it, grab the rate, the weight, the reference number. Format it all into something professional. Hit send.

Then you do it again. And again. Fifty times a day.

If you spend just 2 minutes per email, that is nearly two hours a day doing nothing but copying and pasting load details into emails. Over a five-day work week, that is almost 10 hours — a full day of work — lost to a task that adds zero value to your business.

The worst part? Every dispatcher knows this is a waste of time. But most just accept it as part of the job. It does not have to be.

The Old Way: Copy, Paste, Repeat

Here is what the typical broker email workflow looks like on DAT Loadboard without any extensions:

1. Find a load that fits your truck
2. Open the load details to get the broker's contact info
3. Open Gmail (or Outlook) in a new tab
4. Type the broker's email address
5. Write a subject line with the origin and destination
6. Copy the load details — origin, destination, rate, weight, miles, equipment type
7. Paste them into the email body and format them so they look professional
8. Add your MC number, truck availability, and any other info the broker needs
9. Hit send
10. Switch back to DAT and find the next load

Multiply that by 30 to 80 emails a day. That is your afternoon gone.

Some dispatchers try to speed this up with text expanders or email templates saved in drafts. That helps a little, but you still have to manually swap out the load-specific details every single time.

The One-Click Way: How dispatchGo Adds Email Buttons to DAT

dispatchGo is a Chrome extension that adds an "Email Broker" button directly onto every load listing inside DAT Loadboard. Instead of the 10-step process above, you get this:

1. Find a load that fits your truck
2. Click the email button on that load
3. Done

Here is how it works under the hood:

Step 1: Install and Connect Gmail

After installing dispatchGo from the Chrome Web Store, you connect your Gmail account through Google's secure OAuth flow. This uses the Gmail API directly, which means emails are sent from your actual Gmail account — not through a third-party server.

Step 2: Set Up Your Email Template

You create a template once using dynamic fields. Something like this:

Subject: Truck available – {origin} to {destination}

Hi,

I have a {equipmentType} available for the load from {origin} to {destination}.

Rate: {rate}
Miles: {miles}
Weight: {weight}

MC# 123456
Available immediately.

Thanks,
[Your name]

dispatchGo automatically fills in {origin}, {destination}, {rate}, {miles}, {weight}, and {equipmentType} from the load listing. You never type those details again.

Step 3: Click the Email Button

When you browse loads on DAT, each listing now has an email button. Click it, and dispatchGo pulls the load details, fills your template, and sends the email through Gmail — all in about one second. No new tabs. No copy-pasting. No formatting.

3 Email Templates You Can Copy Right Now

Here are three battle-tested templates for different situations. Copy them into dispatchGo (or use them manually if you prefer the slow way).

Template 1: Professional and Direct

Subject: {equipmentType} available – {origin} to {destination}

Hello,

I have a {equipmentType} available for your load from {origin} to {destination}.

Load details:
- Rate: {rate}
- Miles: {miles}
- Weight: {weight}

Our MC# is [YOUR MC NUMBER]. The truck is available for immediate pickup.

Please let me know if this load is still available.

Best regards,
[Your Name]
[Your Phone Number]

Best for: First-time contact with a broker. Clean, professional, gets straight to the point.

Template 2: Short and Casual

Subject: Truck ready – {origin} to {destination}

Hi,

Got a {equipmentType} ready for the {origin} to {destination} run. {rate}, {miles} miles.

MC# [YOUR MC NUMBER]. Can pick up today.

Let me know.
[Your Name]
[Your Phone]

Best for: Brokers you have worked with before. High-volume days when you are firing off dozens of emails and need to move fast.

Template 3: Urgent Availability

Subject: AVAILABLE NOW – {equipmentType} in {origin}

Hi,

I have a {equipmentType} sitting in {origin} right now and need to get it moving. Your load to {destination} works for us.

Rate: {rate}
Miles: {miles}

MC# [YOUR MC NUMBER]. Truck is loaded and ready.

Call or email — happy to book this immediately.

[Your Name]
[Your Phone]

Best for: End-of-day loads, hot freight, or when you need to fill a truck that is deadheading. The urgency signals to the broker that you are ready to move.

Why Gmail API Beats Mailto Links

Some browser extensions use mailto: links to open your email client. That approach has problems.

Mailto links open a new tab or window. Every single time. If you are emailing 50 brokers a day, that is 50 new tabs cluttering your browser. You still have to click send in each one.

Mailto links do not pre-fill the body reliably. Different email clients handle mailto formatting differently. Line breaks get stripped, special characters break, and you end up reformatting half your emails anyway.

Mailto links cannot send automatically. They can only open a draft. You still have to review and click send manually for each email.

dispatchGo uses the Gmail API instead. This means:

• Emails send directly from the extension — no new tabs, no extra clicks
• Formatting is consistent every time because the API handles it properly
• It is faster because there is no round-trip to a browser tab
• Your sent emails appear in Gmail just like normal, so you have a full record of every broker contact

The difference is significant when you are dispatching at volume. Saving even 30 seconds per email across 50 emails is 25 minutes back in your day — and that is a conservative estimate.

What About Other Email Methods?

You might be wondering about other ways to contact brokers on DAT.

DAT's built-in contact options let you call or email from the platform, but the email flow still opens your mail client with a blank email. You are back to typing everything manually.

Copy-paste with a text expander (like TextBlaze or PhraseExpress) is a step up from fully manual work. But you still have to trigger the expander, tab between DAT and your email, and manually replace the load-specific fields. It is better than nothing, but it is not one click.

Bulk email tools like Mailchimp or SendGrid are overkill for load booking. Brokers want a direct, personal email from a real dispatcher — not a marketing blast.

The most efficient workflow is one where the load details flow directly from DAT into a pre-formatted email and out to the broker without you touching anything in between. That is what dispatchGo does.

The Math: How Much Time You Actually Save

Let us be conservative. Say you email 40 brokers per day, and the old way takes 2 minutes per email.

• Old way: 40 emails x 2 minutes = 80 minutes/day
• With dispatchGo: 40 emails x 5 seconds = ~3 minutes/day
• Time saved: ~77 minutes/day, or 6.5 hours per week

That is not just time savings. That is 6.5 hours you can spend finding better loads, negotiating rates, or building relationships with the brokers who move your trucks consistently.

And because you are responding to loads faster, you book more freight. The dispatcher who emails a broker 30 seconds after a load posts beats the one who takes 5 minutes every time.

Getting Started

Setting up dispatchGo takes about 2 minutes:

1. Install the extension from the Chrome Web Store
2. Connect your Gmail through the secure Google sign-in
3. Create your first template using the dynamic fields listed above
4. Open DAT Loadboard and start clicking email buttons

There is a 14-day free trial, so you can test it across a full work cycle before deciding. No credit card required.

If you dispatch trucks on DAT Loadboard and you are still copy-pasting load details into emails, you are leaving hours on the table every week. One click should be all it takes.