Active Campaign Walkthrough

You can also see whether the conclusion rate has increased or reduced, the length of time it considers contacts to reach that objective, and you can search all contacts to see who did and didn’t reach the goal. ActiveCampaign’s Message Variables is my favorite feature. It saves me a lots of time and effort, and neither MailChimp nor ConvertKit (update: 9/2020 ConvertKit now has ” bits”) has a similar function.

Let’s say you have the first name of just some of your contacts, which is the case with my list. I usually don’t need a first name to register to my list, but in some cases I get a given name, such as when someone buys an item. Would not it be great to greet your contacts by name, in the events when you have it? You can do this, but it’s troublesome.

I’m also filtering for generic terms added by other systems, such as a dash, or “Guest.” If they have a given name, I say “Hey,” and then their very first name. If they do not, I just say “Hey there,” (Active Campaign Walkthrough). By developing a Message Variable in ActiveCampaign, I can easily alter my greeting according to whether I have the contact’s very first name.

Active Campaign Walkthrough

I developed a variable that’s simply %greeting-hey%. If I have the contact’s name, it shows up in the email. If I do not have the contact’s name, it defaults to “Hey,”. Where Message Variables really conserve me a great deal of time is by allowing me utilize the exact same automation over and over once again for my webinars, and I can rapidly alter out all of the information.

Here are variables for a webinar I run called “Bust Through Creative Blocks.” You can see I have a bunch of different variables here, such as the date and time of the webinar, the rate of the product, offer terms, discount coupon code, and more. Each time I run a new webinar, I can change each of these variables to match any schedule modifications or deal modifications.

And here it remains in an e-mail. This message variable enables me to easily change out a countdown timer. I did discuss earlier that one of the cons of ActiveCampaign is their e-mail editing experience. I changed from MailChimp, and MailChimp takes place to have the best e-mail editing experience. I actually like to send out basic emails.

Active Campaign Walkthrough

I’ve discovered that really tough to do with ActiveCampaign. For awhile, I was editing e-mails in ActiveCampaign’s hybrid editor, which is rather clunky. For a very long time, I utilized ActiveCampaign’s hybrid HTML and WYSIWYG editor, which was triggered by a basic design template I produced. The user interface for the HTML editor appears like it was pulled from some complimentary open-source project. Active Campaign Walkthrough.

However, including images is a little bit of a chore. You have to pick them from a file web browser. There’s no drag and drop alternative. ActiveCampaign’s HTML email editor needs that you compose completely in HTML. The option to this, if you want to have control over the HTML, is to modify pure HTML, with a sneak peek on the side.

Including images to ActiveCampaign’s rich text editor is a clunky experience. You require different text boxes for above and below the image. Lately I have actually started utilizing ActiveCampaign’s abundant text editor. They have some great templates, but I still wish to send the plainest email possible. They do have some plain-looking e-mails, however they have some degree of very little formatting, which you can’t eliminate – Active Campaign Walkthrough.

Active Campaign Walkthrough

But, with some adjustments, I can make my e-mail pretty standard. I can make it automatically take up the entire window, and I can modify the typography to be slightly larger, and have a little more prominent. The most discouraging part of ActiveCampaign’s abundant full-screen editor is adding images. Imagine you have actually simply typed out a terrific e-mail. Active Campaign Walkthrough.

You can’t just include an image to a block of text. Instead, you have to develop 2 blocks of text: one for prior to the image, and one for after the image. If you’ve made any format modifications, you’ll need to watch on those to stay constant. That’s one thing to deal with when you wish to add one image, however when you want to add numerous, it becomes a big task.

They even have a standard mage editor where you can crop the image – Active Campaign Walkthrough. MailChimp’s editor is the best I have actually seen in all of the email marketing platforms I’ve attempted. You have access to the underlying code, so you can create a really plain email, offered you make a basic design template first.

Active Campaign Walkthrough

MailChimp’s integrated image editor is incredibly powerful. You can resize, crop, and add custom-made text to your images. I miss out on MailChimp’s email-editing experience (Active Campaign Walkthrough). It would conserve me a little time to have that very same experience on ActiveCampaign. However the highly-customizable automations I can build on ActiveCampaign more than offset that possible time savings.

ConvertKit’s email modifying experience is really plain, however easy to navigate. Their design templates are restricted, which is great with me, however their email modifying experience is somewhat easier in that you can produce inline images, and you can develop a totally plain e-mail, and even edit the underlying HTML. If you wish to make some fast edits to some e-mails in an automation, with ActiveCampaign, it’s cumbersome.

I’ll click an e-mail, and it takes me to the editor for that e-mail. Note that I can’t even Command + Click to open it in another tab. Whether they suggested to or not, ActiveCampaign has handicapped Command + Click from the automation editor. If I wished to change backward and forward between numerous emails, I would intuitively be inclined open the exact same automation in various tabs, then open the respective emails from each of those tabs.

Active Campaign Walkthrough

In the Automations section, there’s a “Handle Messages” location. From here, you can see all of the messages in each of your automations. You can edit each one, or you can Command + Click to open each in a brand-new tab to more quickly modify your whole sequence. Active Campaign Walkthrough. Contrast that with ConvertKit’s Sequences.

Once again, it would conserve me a lot of time to have ConvertKit’s automation e-mail modifying experience on ActiveCampaign – Active Campaign Walkthrough. However choosing an email marketing platform is like selecting a spouse. ActiveCampaign offsets it with their Message Variables, more robust automations, and advanced division. Speaking of segmentation, another factor I changed from MailChimp to ActiveCampaign was that MailChimp has limited segmentation options.

You can combine qualities with an AND/OR operator, and you can blend and match those groups of traits with another AND/OR operator. With MailChimp, you can only sector by AND/OR, nevertheless MailChimp’s Pro strategy allows more advanced segmenting, for an extra $199 a month. In my look for the best email marketing platform, I saw numerous others, some of which I’ve already mentioned.

Active Campaign Walkthrough

ConvertKit. If I weren’t on ActiveCampaign, I would probably be using ConvertKit. Their automations are much simpler to develop, though they aren’t as flexible as ActiveCampaign’s, and their segmentations options aren’t as advanced either. They likewise do not have goal tracking, or Message Variables. MailChimp. You already understand that I switched from MailChimp to ActiveCampaign.

Active Campaign Walkthrough

To begin developing an automation in ActiveCampaign, start with a “trigger.” There are a variety of ways you can trigger an automation, consisting of: When a tag is added When a contact subscribes to a list When a contact submits a kind E-commerce and on-site choices (offered in the “Pro” strategy) When the contact reaches a specific point in another automation.

From there, you can begin building the actions in your automation. Some actions that are readily available in ActiveCampaign’s automations are: Send an e-mail Alert an employee Wait conditions If/then conditionals Split traffic for testing Avoid to other parts of the automation Track objectives (The contact can skip to the goal’s location in the automation.) Start or end another automation, or end the current automation Post a webhook Subscribe or unsubscribe the contact to/from lists Update contact information Include and eliminate tags Include a note Lead scoring, SMS and website messages, and Facebook Custom Audience management are all “Pro” features – Active Campaign Walkthrough.

Contrast with ConvertKit‘s Automations, which are more restricted. On ConvertKit, you can trigger an automation when: The contact sends a kind The contact makes a purchase A tag is included to the contact A custom field is upgraded with a specific value From there, you can develop Conditions, to examine whether the contact has a particular tag or custom field value.

Active Campaign Walkthrough

You can likewise create Events, which are a bit like ActiveCampaign’s Goals, however without the reporting. You can track an Event when: A tag is included or gotten rid of The contact buys A date happens A custom field is updated with a certain worth You don’t produce e-mails in ConvertKit’s Automations.

For more on how ActiveCampaign compares to ConvertKit, read my ConvertKit vs ActiveCampaign contrast. The primary method I develop my list is through an email course. ActiveCampaign makes it simple for me to build my e-mail course precisely how I ‘d like to develop it. Numerous marketers develop very basic e-mail sequences for their “email courses.” A contact register, and after that that contact right away begins getting lessons.

It was easy to construct with ActiveCampaign, but difficult when I was with MailChimp. I don’t do that method. My e-mail course is manually synced with this countdown timer on my site. You need to sign up by Friday night, and a brand-new course starts each Monday morning. When I initially attempted this approach, I was on MailChimp.

Active Campaign Walkthrough

Here’s the automation I utilize to invite brand-new trainees to my Design Pitfalls course. There’s a few things going on here: The automation sends out all contacts a “welcome email (Active Campaign Walkthrough).” The automation confirms that it’s not Friday. If it’s not Friday, the automation waits till it is Friday. At 11am, it sends a “pump up” email to get the trainees ready for next week’s course, and motivate them to share it with buddies.

The contact will start getting lessons the following Monday morning. If it is Friday and after 7pm, the contact missed enrollment for next week’s class. They’ll get the pump up e-mail the following Friday early morning, and lessons the Monday after that. It was impossible for me to automate this with MailChimp.

When I run a webinar, I don’t want to send the same email to everyone on my list. I want to send them the proper email for their level of engagement – Active Campaign Walkthrough. Active Campaign Walkthrough. Here’s the automation I use to promote an evergreen webinar: First it verifies that they haven’t already bought the item I pitch in the webinar.

Active Campaign Walkthrough

Then it sends a series of e-mails to get them interested in the webinar, and to motivate them to register. If they sign up, they right away struck the “Objective” toward completion of the webinar, and the automation ends. If they don’t sign up, they get contributed to an automation promoting a rebroadcast of the webinar. Active Campaign Walkthrough.

This allows me to customize my messaging, in other automations, based upon the contact’s engagement with the webinar. Here’s the WebinarJam integration panel: I can include tags based upon whether the contact signed up, went to, missed, or based upon the length of time they remained in the webinar. These tags can then trigger automations within ActiveCampaign.

It costs me money, and it makes it most likely that my e-mails go to spam or Gmail’s promos tab. People who do not open my e-mails make it harder for other emails to get to individuals who really want them! The “Pro” plan of ActiveCampaign has lead scoring integrated in.

Active Campaign Walkthrough

Here’s an automation I obtained from ActiveCampaign’s library of automations, which I utilize to inform which contacts aren’t engaging with my e-mails. When a contact subscribes, this automation includes a “0 days” tag. As time passes, it includes brand-new tags for 7 days, 30 days, 60 days, etc Each time they open an e-mail, a separate automation eliminates them from this automation, removes all of those tags, and begins this automation over again.

This automation can be frustrating in the beginning, and this is one of those cases where I wish ActiveCampaign had a more out-of-the-box service. However, due to the fact that you can do anything with ActiveCampaign, in some cases you need to develop things from scratch. ActiveCampaign has a choice to erase inactive customers, which I do not advise.

Some customers do not have actually tracking turned on, so their opens aren’t recorded. Others still want to be subscribed but have been hectic. Here’s my reactivation series: I send one email asking if they still wish to be subscribed, and briefly explaining why I keep my e-mail list clean. In one week, I send them another e-mail (if they already clicked on the confirmation link in the previous e-mail, they have actually currently been removed from the automation utilizing a separate automation) – Active Campaign Walkthrough.

Active Campaign Walkthrough

The automation then unsubscribes them. My emails likewise have a link to a type where they can enter their e-mail address to let me know that they do not have tracking allowed. This form includes a tag that I utilize to filter those contacts out. Active Campaign Walkthrough. I utilized to add this tag when they clicked a link, but when people don’t have tracking on, it makes those links not work so reliably! I only send an easy “do you still desire my emails?” confirmation.