Activecampaign Knowledge Base

To start developing an automation in ActiveCampaign, start with a “trigger.” There are a number of methods you can trigger an automation, including: When a tag is added When a contact subscribes to a list When a contact submits a form E-commerce and on-site choices (offered in the “Pro” plan) When the contact reaches a certain point in another automation.

From there, you can begin building the actions in your automation. Some actions that are offered in ActiveCampaign’s automations are: Send out an email Notify an employee Wait conditions If/then conditionals Split traffic for screening Skip to other parts of the automation Track goals (The contact can avoid to the goal’s place 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 details Add and remove tags Add a note Lead scoring, SMS and website messages, and Facebook Customized Audience management are all “Pro” features – Activecampaign Knowledge Base.

Contrast with ConvertKit‘s Automations, which are more minimal. On ConvertKit, you can set off an automation when: The contact submits a kind The contact makes a purchase A tag is contributed to the contact A custom-made field is upgraded with a certain worth From there, you can create Conditions, to examine whether the contact has a certain tag or customized field value.

Activecampaign Knowledge Base

You can likewise create Occasions, which are a bit like ActiveCampaign’s Goals, however without the reporting. You can track an Occasion when: A tag is included or eliminated The contact purchases A date happens A customized field is updated with a specific value You do not develop emails in ConvertKit’s Automations.

For more on how ActiveCampaign compares to ConvertKit, read my ConvertKit vs ActiveCampaign comparison. The main method I build my list is through an email course. ActiveCampaign makes it easy for me to build my e-mail course exactly how I ‘d like to build it. Many online marketers construct very easy email sequences for their “e-mail courses.” A contact register, and then that contact immediately begins getting lessons.

It was simple to build with ActiveCampaign, however impossible when I was with MailChimp. I don’t do that approach. My email course is manually synced with this countdown timer on my website. You have to sign up by Friday night, and a brand-new course starts each Monday early morning. When I initially attempted this method, I was on MailChimp.

Activecampaign Knowledge Base

Here’s the automation I use to welcome new trainees to my Style Pitfalls course. There’s a couple of things going on here: The automation sends out all contacts a “welcome email (Activecampaign Knowledge Base).” The automation verifies that it’s not Friday. If it’s not Friday, the automation waits until it is Friday. At 11am, it sends a “pump up” e-mail to get the students ready for next week’s course, and motivate them to share it with friends.

The contact will start getting lessons the following Monday early morning. If it is Friday and after 7pm, the contact missed out on registration 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 difficult for me to automate this with MailChimp.

When I run a webinar, I do not want to send out the same email to every person on my list. I wish to send them the suitable email for their level of engagement – Activecampaign Knowledge Base. Activecampaign Knowledge Base. Here’s the automation I utilize to promote an evergreen webinar: First it validates that they haven’t currently acquired the product I pitch in the webinar.

Activecampaign Knowledge Base

Then it sends out a series of e-mails to get them thinking about the webinar, and to motivate them to sign up. If they register, they right away hit the “Objective” toward the end 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. Activecampaign Knowledge Base.

This allows me to personalize 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, attended, missed out on, or based upon how long they stayed in the webinar. These tags can then trigger automations within ActiveCampaign.

It costs me cash, and it makes it most likely that my e-mails go to spam or Gmail’s promotions tab. Individuals who don’t open my e-mails make it harder for other e-mails to get to the individuals who truly desire them! The “Pro” plan of ActiveCampaign has lead scoring integrated in.

Activecampaign Knowledge Base

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

This automation can be overwhelming at first, and this is one of those cases where I wish ActiveCampaign had a more out-of-the-box option. However, since you can do anything with ActiveCampaign, often you need to construct things from scratch. ActiveCampaign has a choice to erase non-active customers, which I don’t recommend.

Some customers do not have actually tracking switched on, so their opens aren’t tape-recorded. Others still wish to be subscribed but have actually been busy. 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 currently clicked the confirmation link in the previous email, they’ve already been gotten rid of from the automation utilizing a different automation) – Activecampaign Knowledge Base.

Activecampaign Knowledge Base

The automation then unsubscribes them. My e-mails likewise have a link to a type where they can enter their e-mail address to let me understand that they do not have tracking allowed. This kind includes a tag that I utilize to filter those contacts out. Activecampaign Knowledge Base. I used to add this tag when they clicked on a link, but when individuals do not have tracking on, it makes those links not work so dependably! I only send a basic “do you still desire my e-mails?” confirmation.

Activecampaign Knowledge Base

You can likewise see whether the conclusion rate has actually increased or decreased, for how long it considers contacts to reach that objective, and you can browse 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 (upgrade: 9/2020 ConvertKit now has ” bits”) has a comparable function.

Let’s say you have the given name of just some of your contacts, which holds true with my list. I normally don’t require a given name to sign up to my list, but sometimes I get a given name, such as when someone purchases a product. Wouldn’t it be great to welcome your contacts by name, in the events when you have it? You can do this, however it’s cumbersome.

I’m also filtering for generic terms added by other systems, such as a dash, or “Visitor.” If they have a given name, I state “Hey,” and then their given name. If they do not, I just say “Hey there,” (Activecampaign Knowledge Base). By developing a Message Variable in ActiveCampaign, I can easily change my welcoming according to whether or not I have the contact’s first name.

Activecampaign Knowledge Base

I developed a variable that’s simply %greeting-hey%. If I have the contact’s name, it appears in the e-mail. If I don’t have the contact’s name, it defaults to “Hey,”. Where Message Variables actually save me a lot of time is by enabling me use the same automation over and over again for my webinars, and I can rapidly change out all of the information.

Here vary for a webinar I run called “Bust Through Creative Blocks.” You can see I have a lot of different variables here, such as the date and time of the webinar, the price of the item, deal terms, voucher code, and more. Each time I run a new webinar, I can alter each of these variables to match any schedule changes or offer changes.

And here it remains in an e-mail. This message variable enables me to quickly change out a countdown timer. I did point out earlier that a person of the cons of ActiveCampaign is their email editing experience. I switched from MailChimp, and MailChimp happens to have the finest email editing experience. I really like to send basic e-mails.

Activecampaign Knowledge Base

I’ve found that really tough to do with ActiveCampaign. For awhile, I was editing emails in ActiveCampaign’s hybrid editor, which is quite clunky. For a long time, I utilized ActiveCampaign’s hybrid HTML and WYSIWYG editor, which was triggered by a standard template I created. The interface for the HTML editor appears like it was pulled from some free open-source project. Activecampaign Knowledge Base.

However, including images is a bit of a chore. You need to pick them from a file internet browser. There’s no drag and drop alternative. ActiveCampaign’s HTML email editor requires that you compose entirely in HTML. The option to this, if you wish to have control over the HTML, is to edit pure HTML, with a preview on the side.

Adding images to ActiveCampaign’s abundant full-screen editor is a clunky experience. You need different text boxes for above and listed below the image. Lately I have actually begun utilizing ActiveCampaign’s rich full-screen editor. They have some great templates, however I still want to send out the simplest email possible. They do have some plain-looking emails, however they have some degree of minimal formatting, which you can’t remove – Activecampaign Knowledge Base.

Activecampaign Knowledge Base

However, with some modifications, I can make my email pretty fundamental. I can make it instantly use up the entire window, and I can fine-tune the typography to be somewhat larger, and have a little more leading. The most frustrating part of ActiveCampaign’s rich full-screen editor is adding images. Imagine you have actually simply typed out a fantastic email. Activecampaign Knowledge Base.

You can’t just include an image to a block of text. Instead, you have to develop 2 blocks of text: one for before the image, and one for after the image. If you have actually made any format changes, you’ll have to keep an eye on those to stay consistent. That’s something to deal with when you wish to add one image, however when you wish to add numerous, it ends up being a huge task.

They even have a fundamental mage editor where you can crop the image – Activecampaign Knowledge Base. MailChimp’s editor is the very best I have actually seen in all of the e-mail marketing platforms I have actually tried. You have access to the underlying code, so you can create a truly plain email, supplied you make a standard template initially.

Activecampaign Knowledge Base

MailChimp’s integrated image editor is extremely effective. You can resize, crop, and add customized text to your images. I miss out on MailChimp’s email-editing experience (Activecampaign Knowledge Base). It would conserve me a little time to have that exact same experience on ActiveCampaign. However the highly-customizable automations I can construct on ActiveCampaign more than offset that potential time cost savings.

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

I’ll click on an email, and it takes me to the editor for that email. Note that I can’t even Command + Click to open it in another tab. Whether they meant to or not, ActiveCampaign has handicapped Command + Click from the automation editor. If I desired to switch back and forth between numerous e-mails, I would intuitively be inclined open the exact same automation in numerous tabs, then open the respective emails from each of those tabs.

Activecampaign Knowledge Base

In the Automations area, there’s a “Handle Messages” location. From here, you can see all of the messages in each of your automations. You can edit every one, or you can Command + Click to open each in a brand-new tab to more easily edit your entire series. Activecampaign Knowledge Base. Contrast that with ConvertKit’s Sequences.

Again, it would save me a lot of time to have ConvertKit’s automation e-mail editing experience on ActiveCampaign – Activecampaign Knowledge Base. However picking an email marketing platform is like picking a partner. ActiveCampaign makes up for it with their Message Variables, more robust automations, and advanced segmentation. Speaking of division, another reason I switched from MailChimp to ActiveCampaign was that MailChimp has actually restricted segmentation options.

You can combine characteristics with an AND/OR operator, and you can blend and match those groups of qualities with another AND/OR operator. With MailChimp, you can only sector by AND/OR, nevertheless MailChimp’s Pro strategy permits more advanced segmenting, for an additional $199 a month. In my search for the perfect e-mail marketing platform, I saw numerous others, a few of which I’ve already pointed out.

Activecampaign Knowledge Base

ConvertKit. If I weren’t on ActiveCampaign, I would most likely be utilizing ConvertKit. Their automations are a lot easier to build, though they aren’t as flexible as ActiveCampaign’s, and their segmentations options aren’t as sophisticated either. They likewise do not have objective tracking, or Message Variables. MailChimp. You currently understand that I changed from MailChimp to ActiveCampaign.