Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign

You can also see whether the completion rate has increased or reduced, how long it takes for 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 function. It conserves me a load of effort and time, and neither MailChimp nor ConvertKit (update: 9/2020 ConvertKit now has ” snippets”) 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 do not require a first name to register to my list, however in some cases I get a given name, such as when someone purchases an item. Would not it be nice to greet your contacts by name, in the events when you have it? You can do this, but it’s cumbersome.

I’m also filtering for generic terms added by other systems, such as a dash, or “Guest.” If they have a given name, I state “Hey,” and then their very first name. If they don’t, I just state “Hey there,” (Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign). By constructing a Message Variable in ActiveCampaign, I can easily change my welcoming according to whether I have the contact’s very first name.

Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign

I developed a variable that’s just %greeting-hey%. If I have the contact’s name, it appears in the email. If I don’t have the contact’s name, it defaults to “Hey,”. Where Message Variables truly conserve me a great deal of time is by allowing me use the same automation over and over once again for my webinars, and I can rapidly alter 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 various variables here, such as the date and time of the webinar, the cost of the item, offer terms, discount coupon code, and more. Each time I run a brand-new webinar, I can change each of these variables to match any schedule changes or deal changes.

And here it remains in an e-mail. This message variable allows me to quickly change out a countdown timer. I did mention earlier that one of the cons of ActiveCampaign is their e-mail modifying experience. I changed from MailChimp, and MailChimp occurs to have the best email modifying experience. I really like to send basic e-mails.

Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign

I have actually discovered that very tough to do with ActiveCampaign. For awhile, I was modifying emails in ActiveCampaign’s hybrid editor, which is rather clunky. For a very long time, I used ActiveCampaign’s hybrid HTML and WYSIWYG editor, which was triggered by a fundamental design template I developed. The user interface for the HTML editor looks like it was pulled from some totally free open-source task. Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign.

However, adding images is a little a task. You need to select them from a file web browser. There’s no drag and drop alternative. ActiveCampaign’s HTML e-mail editor needs that you make up totally in HTML. The alternative to this, if you want to have control over the HTML, is to edit pure HTML, with a sneak peek on the side.

Adding images to ActiveCampaign’s rich full-screen editor is a cumbersome experience. You need different text boxes for above and below the image. Recently I have actually begun utilizing ActiveCampaign’s abundant full-screen editor. They have some good templates, however I still wish to send the plainest email possible. They do have some plain-looking emails, however they have some degree of very little format, which you can’t remove – Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign.

Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign

However, with some modifications, I can make my e-mail quite standard. I can make it automatically take up the whole window, and I can tweak the typography to be a little bigger, and have a little bit more leading. The most discouraging part of ActiveCampaign’s abundant full-screen editor is adding images. Envision you have actually simply typed out an excellent e-mail. Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign.

You can’t merely add an image to a block of text. Instead, you have to create 2 blocks of text: one for before the image, and one for after the image. If you have actually made any formatting modifications, you’ll need to watch on those to stay consistent. That’s one thing to handle when you want to include one image, however when you wish to include a number of, it ends up being a huge chore.

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

Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign

MailChimp’s integrated image editor is incredibly effective. You can resize, crop, and include custom text to your images. I miss out on MailChimp’s email-editing experience (Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign). It would save me a little time to have that exact same experience on ActiveCampaign. But the highly-customizable automations I can develop on ActiveCampaign more than make up for that potential time savings.

ConvertKit’s email editing experience is really plain, but easy to browse. Their design templates are limited, which is great with me, however their email modifying experience is slightly easier in that you can develop inline images, and you can develop an absolutely plain email, and even modify the underlying HTML. If you wish to make some quick 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 meant to or not, ActiveCampaign has disabled Command + Click from the automation editor. If I desired to change back and forth between various emails, I would intuitively be inclined open the very same automation in various tabs, then open the respective emails from each of those tabs.

Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign

In the Automations section, there’s a “Handle Messages” area. 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 entire sequence. Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign. Contrast that with ConvertKit’s Series.

Again, it would conserve me a great deal of time to have ConvertKit’s automation email editing experience on ActiveCampaign – Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign. However selecting an email marketing platform is like selecting a spouse. ActiveCampaign makes up for it with their Message Variables, more robust automations, and advanced division. Mentioning segmentation, another factor I changed from MailChimp to ActiveCampaign was that MailChimp has limited segmentation options.

You can integrate 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 section by AND/OR, nevertheless MailChimp’s Pro plan allows more advanced segmenting, for an additional $199 a month. In my search for the best e-mail marketing platform, I saw numerous others, some of which I’ve currently discussed.

Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign

ConvertKit. If I weren’t on ActiveCampaign, I would probably be using ConvertKit. Their automations are a lot easier to develop, though they aren’t as flexible as ActiveCampaign’s, and their segmentations alternatives aren’t as sophisticated either. They likewise do not have objective tracking, or Message Variables. MailChimp. You already know that I switched from MailChimp to ActiveCampaign.

Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign

To start building an automation in ActiveCampaign, start with a “trigger.” There are a number of methods you can activate an automation, consisting of: When a tag is added When a contact signs up for a list When a contact sends a form E-commerce and on-site alternatives (available in the “Pro” strategy) When the contact reaches a certain point in another automation.

From there, you can begin developing the actions in your automation. Some actions that are offered in ActiveCampaign’s automations are: Send an email Notify a staff member Wait conditions If/then conditionals Split traffic for screening Skip to other parts of the automation Track objectives (The contact can avoid to the goal’s place in the automation.) Start or end another automation, or end the present automation Post a webhook Subscribe or unsubscribe the contact to/from lists Update contact details Add and get rid of tags Add a note Lead scoring, SMS and site messages, and Facebook Customized Audience management are all “Pro” features – Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign.

Contrast with ConvertKit‘s Automations, which are more limited. On ConvertKit, you can set off an automation when: The contact sends a kind The contact makes a purchase A tag is contributed to the contact A custom field is updated with a particular worth From there, you can produce Conditions, to check whether the contact has a certain tag or custom field worth.

Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign

You can likewise produce Events, which are a bit like ActiveCampaign’s Objectives, however without the reporting. You can track an Occasion when: A tag is included or removed The contact purchases A date happens A custom field is upgraded with a specific worth 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 construct my list is through an email course. ActiveCampaign makes it easy for me to build my e-mail course precisely how I ‘d like to build it. Lots of marketers develop really easy email series for their “e-mail courses.” A contact signs up, and after that that contact right away begins getting lessons.

It was easy to build with ActiveCampaign, but impossible when I was with MailChimp. I do not do that method. My e-mail course is by hand synced with this countdown timer on my website. You need to register by Friday night, and a brand-new course begins each Monday morning. When I first tried this method, I was on MailChimp.

Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign

Here’s the automation I use to welcome brand-new students to my Design Pitfalls course. There’s a few things going on here: The automation sends out all contacts a “welcome e-mail (Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign).” 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 encourage them to share it with pals.

The contact will start getting lessons the following Monday early morning. If it is Friday and after 7pm, the contact missed registration for next week’s class. They’ll get the pump up email the following Friday 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 desire to send the exact same e-mail to everyone on my list. I wish to send them the proper e-mail for their level of engagement – Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign. Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign. 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.

Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign

Then it sends out a series of e-mails to get them thinking about the webinar, and to encourage them to sign up. If they sign up, they instantly struck the “Objective” towards completion of the webinar, and the automation ends. If they do not sign up, they get added to an automation promoting a rebroadcast of the webinar. Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign.

This enables me to personalize my messaging, in other automations, based upon the contact’s engagement with the webinar. Here’s the WebinarJam combination panel: I can include tags based upon whether the contact registered, attended, missed out on, or based upon the length of time they stayed in the webinar. These tags can then activate automations within ActiveCampaign.

It costs me money, and it makes it more likely that my emails go to spam or Gmail’s promotions tab. Individuals who don’t open my emails make it harder for other e-mails to get to individuals who actually want them! The “Pro” plan of ActiveCampaign has lead scoring developed in.

Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign

Here’s an automation I got from ActiveCampaign’s library of automations, which I use to inform which contacts aren’t engaging with my emails. When a contact subscribes, this automation adds a “0 days” tag. As time passes, it adds brand-new tags for 7 days, 1 month, 60 days, etc Each time they open an e-mail, a different automation eliminates them from this automation, eliminates all of those tags, and begins this automation over again.

This automation can be overwhelming initially, and this is among those cases where I want ActiveCampaign had a more out-of-the-box service. But, due to the fact that you can do anything with ActiveCampaign, often you have to develop things from scratch. ActiveCampaign has a choice to erase inactive subscribers, which I don’t advise.

Some subscribers don’t have actually tracking turned on, so their opens aren’t tape-recorded. Others still desire to be subscribed but have actually been hectic. Here’s my reactivation sequence: I send one e-mail asking if they still desire to be subscribed, and briefly discussing why I keep my email list tidy. In one week, I send them another email (if they currently clicked the verification link in the previous email, they have actually currently been removed from the automation utilizing a different automation) – Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign.

Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign

The automation then unsubscribes them. My emails likewise have a link to a type where they can enter their email address to let me know that they don’t have tracking allowed. This kind adds a tag that I utilize to filter those contacts out. Adding Custom Fields To Active Campaign. I used to add this tag when they clicked a link, but when people don’t have tracking on, it makes those links not work so dependably! I just send out a basic “do you still desire my e-mails?” verification.