Why Should I Use Active Campaign

You can likewise see whether the conclusion rate has increased or decreased, for how long it considers contacts to reach that goal, and you can browse all contacts to see who did and didn’t reach the objective. ActiveCampaign’s Message Variables is my favorite feature. It conserves me a lots of time and effort, and neither MailChimp nor ConvertKit (upgrade: 9/2020 ConvertKit now has ” snippets”) has a similar feature.

Let’s say you have the first name of only some of your contacts, which holds true with my list. I usually don’t require a very first name to sign up to my list, but in some cases I get a first name, such as when someone purchases a product. Would not it be great to greet your contacts by name, in the events when you have it? You can do this, however 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 after that their given name. If they do not, I simply state “Hey there,” (Why Should I Use Active Campaign). By building a Message Variable in ActiveCampaign, I can easily change my greeting according to whether or not I have the contact’s first name.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

I produced a variable that’s simply %greeting-hey%. If I have the contact’s name, it shows up in the e-mail. If I don’t have the contact’s name, it defaults to “Hey,”. Where Message Variables really conserve me a lot of time is by enabling me utilize the exact same automation over and over again for my webinars, and I can quickly alter out all of the details.

Here vary for a webinar I run called “Bust Through Creative Blocks.” You can see I have a bunch of various variables here, such as the date and time of the webinar, the rate of the product, offer terms, voucher 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 is in an e-mail. This message variable allows me to easily alter out a countdown timer. I did mention earlier that one of the cons of ActiveCampaign is their e-mail editing experience. I switched from MailChimp, and MailChimp takes place to have the best email editing experience. I really like to send basic e-mails.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

I’ve found that very tough to do with ActiveCampaign. For some time, I was editing e-mails in ActiveCampaign’s hybrid editor, which is quite cumbersome. For a very long time, I utilized ActiveCampaign’s hybrid HTML and WYSIWYG editor, which was activated by a fundamental design template I created. The user interface for the HTML editor looks like it was pulled from some free open-source project. Why Should I Use Active Campaign.

Nevertheless, including images is a little bit of a task. You need to pick them from a file web browser. There’s no drag and drop alternative. ActiveCampaign’s HTML e-mail editor requires that you make up completely in HTML. The option to this, if you wish to have control over the HTML, is to edit pure HTML, with a sneak peek on the side.

Adding images to ActiveCampaign’s abundant text editor is a cumbersome experience. You require separate text boxes for above and listed below the image. Recently I have started using ActiveCampaign’s rich text editor. They have some nice templates, however I still want to send the simplest e-mail possible. They do have some plain-looking e-mails, however they have some degree of minimal format, which you can’t remove – Why Should I Use Active Campaign.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

However, with some changes, I can make my e-mail quite standard. I can make it instantly take up the whole window, and I can fine-tune 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. Picture you’ve just typed out a great email. Why Should I Use Active Campaign.

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

They even have a basic mage editor where you can crop the image – Why Should I Use Active Campaign. MailChimp’s editor is the best I’ve seen in all of the email marketing platforms I have actually attempted. You have access to the underlying code, so you can develop a truly plain e-mail, supplied you make a fundamental design template first.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

MailChimp’s built-in image editor is exceptionally effective. You can resize, crop, and add custom-made text to your images. I miss out on MailChimp’s email-editing experience (Why Should I Use Active Campaign). It would save me a little time to have that very same experience on ActiveCampaign. However the highly-customizable automations I can construct on ActiveCampaign more than offset that potential time savings.

ConvertKit’s e-mail editing experience is really plain, however simple to navigate. Their templates are limited, which is great with me, but their email modifying experience is somewhat easier because you can develop inline images, and you can produce an absolutely plain e-mail, and even edit the underlying HTML. If you want to make some quick edits to some e-mails in an automation, with ActiveCampaign, it’s troublesome.

I’ll click an email, and it takes me to the editor for that e-mail. Keep in mind 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 wanted to switch backward and forward in between various emails, I would intuitively be inclined open the exact same automation in numerous tabs, then open the respective emails from each of those tabs.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

In the Automations section, there’s a “Manage Messages” area. 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 whole sequence. Why Should I Use Active Campaign. Contrast that with ConvertKit’s Series.

Again, it would save me a lot of time to have ConvertKit’s automation e-mail modifying experience on ActiveCampaign – Why Should I Use Active Campaign. But choosing an email marketing platform resembles choosing a partner. ActiveCampaign makes up for it with their Message Variables, more robust automations, and advanced segmentation. Mentioning division, another reason I changed from MailChimp to ActiveCampaign was that MailChimp has restricted segmentation options.

You can integrate characteristics with an AND/OR operator, and you can mix and match those groups of qualities with another AND/OR operator. With MailChimp, you can just segment by AND/OR, nevertheless MailChimp’s Pro strategy enables more advanced segmenting, for an extra $199 a month. In my look for the best e-mail marketing platform, I saw lots of others, some of which I’ve currently discussed.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

ConvertKit. If I weren’t on ActiveCampaign, I would most likely be utilizing ConvertKit. Their automations are a lot easier to construct, though they aren’t as versatile as ActiveCampaign’s, and their divisions options aren’t as advanced either. They likewise don’t have goal tracking, or Message Variables. MailChimp. You currently understand that I switched from MailChimp to ActiveCampaign.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

To begin constructing an automation in ActiveCampaign, start with a “trigger.” There are a variety of ways you can trigger an automation, including: When a tag is added When a contact subscribes to a list When a contact sends a type E-commerce and on-site options (offered in the “Pro” plan) When the contact reaches a particular point in another automation.

From there, you can start building the actions in your automation. Some actions that are offered in ActiveCampaign’s automations are: Send an email Alert a group member Wait conditions If/then conditionals Split traffic for screening Skip to other parts of the automation Track objectives (The contact can skip 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 Include and remove tags Include a note Lead scoring, SMS and website messages, and Facebook Customized Audience management are all “Pro” features – Why Should I Use Active Campaign.

Contrast with ConvertKit‘s Automations, which are more restricted. On ConvertKit, you can activate an automation when: The contact sends a type The contact makes a purchase A tag is added to the contact A custom field is upgraded with a certain worth From there, you can create Conditions, to check whether the contact has a certain tag or custom-made field worth.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

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 gotten rid of The contact purchases A date occurs A custom field is upgraded with a specific worth You do not create 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 e-mail course. ActiveCampaign makes it easy for me to develop my email course precisely how I wish to construct it. Lots of marketers develop really easy email sequences for their “e-mail courses.” A contact indications up, and after that that contact right away starts getting lessons.

It was simple to construct with ActiveCampaign, but impossible when I was with MailChimp. I do not 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 new course begins each Monday early morning. When I initially tried this methodology, I was on MailChimp.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

Here’s the automation I use to welcome brand-new trainees to my Style Pitfalls course. There’s a few things going on here: The automation sends out all contacts a “welcome e-mail (Why Should I Use Active Campaign).” The automation validates that it’s not Friday. If it’s not Friday, the automation waits till it is Friday. At 11am, it sends out a “pump up” email to get the trainees prepared for next week’s course, and encourage them to share it with buddies.

The contact will begin getting lessons the following Monday early morning. If it is Friday and after 7pm, the contact missed out on 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 do not wish to send the very same email to every individual on my list. I wish to send them the appropriate email for their level of engagement – Why Should I Use Active Campaign. Why Should I Use Active Campaign. Here’s the automation I utilize to promote an evergreen webinar: First it validates that they have not already bought the product I pitch in the webinar.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

Then it sends out a series of e-mails to get them thinking about the webinar, and to motivate them to register. If they register, they right away hit the “Objective” towards the end of the webinar, and the automation ends. If they don’t register, they get added to an automation promoting a rebroadcast of the webinar. Why Should I Use Active Campaign.

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 registered, went to, missed, or based upon how long they remained in the webinar. These tags can then trigger automations within ActiveCampaign.

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

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

Here’s an automation I got from ActiveCampaign’s library of automations, which I utilize 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, 30 days, 60 days, etc Each time they open an e-mail, a separate automation removes them from this automation, eliminates all of those tags, and begins this automation over once 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 solution. But, due to the fact that you can do anything with ActiveCampaign, in some cases you need to build things from scratch. ActiveCampaign has a choice to delete inactive subscribers, which I do not suggest.

Some subscribers do not have actually tracking switched on, so their opens aren’t taped. Others still want to be subscribed but have been hectic. Here’s my reactivation sequence: I send out one e-mail asking if they still desire to be subscribed, and briefly discussing 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 email, they have actually already been removed from the automation utilizing a separate automation) – Why Should I Use Active Campaign.

Why Should I Use 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 made it possible for. This form adds a tag that I utilize to filter those contacts out. Why Should I Use 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 a basic “do you still want my emails?” confirmation.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

To start constructing an automation in ActiveCampaign, begin with a “trigger.” There are a variety of ways you can activate an automation, consisting of: When a tag is added When a contact signs up for a list When a contact submits a kind E-commerce and on-site options (readily available in the “Pro” strategy) When the contact reaches a particular point in another automation.

From there, you can begin constructing the actions in your automation. Some actions that are offered in ActiveCampaign’s automations are: Send out an email Alert an employee Wait conditions If/then conditionals Split traffic for testing Avoid to other parts of the automation Track goals (The contact can avoid to the objective’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 Add and get rid of tags Add a note Lead scoring, SMS and site messages, and Facebook Customized Audience management are all “Pro” features – Why Should I Use Active Campaign.

Contrast with ConvertKit‘s Automations, which are more minimal. On ConvertKit, you can activate an automation when: The contact submits a kind The contact purchases A tag is included to the contact A customized field is upgraded with a specific worth From there, you can produce Conditions, to inspect whether the contact has a specific tag or customized field value.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

You can also produce Occasions, which are a bit like ActiveCampaign’s Goals, but without the reporting. You can track an Event when: A tag is included or removed The contact makes a purchase A date happens A customized field is updated with a particular worth You do not produce e-mails in ConvertKit’s Automations.

For more on how ActiveCampaign compares to ConvertKit, read my ConvertKit vs ActiveCampaign comparison. The main way I build my list is through an email course. ActiveCampaign makes it easy for me to construct my email course exactly how I want to construct it. Numerous marketers develop extremely easy e-mail sequences for their “e-mail courses.” A contact register, and then that contact instantly starts getting lessons.

It was simple to develop with ActiveCampaign, but impossible when I was with MailChimp. I do not do that approach. My email course is by hand synced with this countdown timer on my website. You have to register by Friday night, and a new course begins each Monday early morning. When I initially attempted this approach, I was on MailChimp.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

Here’s the automation I utilize to invite brand-new students to my Design Pitfalls course. There’s a couple of things going on here: The automation sends out all contacts a “welcome email (Why Should I Use Active Campaign).” The automation confirms that it’s not Friday. If it’s not Friday, the automation waits up until it is Friday. At 11am, it sends out a “pump up” e-mail to get the trainees prepared for next week’s course, and motivate them to share it with good friends.

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 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 desire to send the exact same e-mail to every person on my list. I wish to send them the suitable email for their level of engagement – Why Should I Use Active Campaign. Why Should I Use Active Campaign. Here’s the automation I use to promote an evergreen webinar: First it verifies that they haven’t already acquired the item I pitch in the webinar.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

Then it sends a series of e-mails to get them thinking about the webinar, and to encourage them to sign up. If they register, they instantly hit the “Objective” toward completion of the webinar, and the automation ends. If they do not register, they get contributed to an automation promoting a rebroadcast of the webinar. Why Should I Use Active Campaign.

This enables me to tailor 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 signed up, participated in, missed out on, or based upon how long they remained in the webinar. These tags can then activate automations within ActiveCampaign.

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

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

Here’s an automation I obtained 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 includes a “0 days” tag. As time passes, it includes new tags for 7 days, thirty days, 60 days, etc Each time they open an e-mail, a different automation removes them from this automation, gets rid of all of those tags, and begins this automation over again.

This automation can be overwhelming in the beginning, and this is one of those cases where I wish 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 construct things from scratch. ActiveCampaign has an option to delete non-active customers, which I don’t recommend.

Some subscribers do not have tracking turned on, so their opens aren’t taped. Others still wish to be subscribed but have actually been busy. Here’s my reactivation series: I send out 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 email (if they currently clicked on the verification link in the previous e-mail, they have actually currently been eliminated from the automation utilizing a different automation) – Why Should I Use Active Campaign.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

The automation then unsubscribes them. My emails likewise have a link to a kind where they can enter their email address to let me know that they do not have tracking made it possible for. This type adds a tag that I use to filter those contacts out. Why Should I Use Active Campaign. I used to include this tag when they clicked on a link, however when people do not have tracking on, it makes those links not work so dependably! I only send out a simple “do you still want my e-mails?” confirmation.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

You can also see whether the conclusion rate has increased or reduced, how long it considers contacts to reach that goal, and you can browse all contacts to see who did and didn’t reach the goal. ActiveCampaign’s Message Variables is my preferred feature. It saves me a ton of time and effort, and neither MailChimp nor ConvertKit (upgrade: 9/2020 ConvertKit now has ” bits”) has an equivalent feature.

Let’s state you have the very first name of only a few of your contacts, which holds true 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 a product. Would not it be good to welcome your contacts by name, in the cases when you have it? You can do this, however it’s troublesome.

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

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

I produced a variable that’s simply %greeting-hey%. If I have the contact’s name, it reveals up in the email. If I do not have the contact’s name, it defaults to “Hey,”. Where Message Variables truly conserve me a great deal of time is by enabling me use the same automation over and over once again for my webinars, and I can quickly 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 lot of various variables here, such as the date and time of the webinar, the cost 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 changes or offer changes.

And here it remains in an email. This message variable enables me to easily alter out a countdown timer. I did mention earlier that one of the cons of ActiveCampaign is their e-mail modifying experience. I switched from MailChimp, and MailChimp takes place to have the finest e-mail modifying experience. I truly like to send out simple emails.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

I’ve discovered that really tough to do with ActiveCampaign. For awhile, I was modifying e-mails in ActiveCampaign’s hybrid editor, which is rather clunky. For a long time, I utilized ActiveCampaign’s hybrid HTML and WYSIWYG editor, which was triggered by a standard design template I created. The user interface for the HTML editor looks like it was pulled from some free open-source task. Why Should I Use Active Campaign.

However, adding images is a little a chore. You need to choose them from a file internet browser. There’s no drag and drop alternative. ActiveCampaign’s HTML e-mail editor needs that you compose completely in HTML. The alternative to this, if you wish to have control over the HTML, is to modify pure HTML, with a sneak peek on the side.

Including images to ActiveCampaign’s rich full-screen editor is a cumbersome experience. You require different text boxes for above and below the image. Lately I have begun using ActiveCampaign’s rich full-screen editor. They have some nice design templates, but I still wish to send out the plainest email possible. They do have some plain-looking emails, but they have some degree of very little formatting, which you can’t get rid of – Why Should I Use Active Campaign.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

But, with some changes, I can make my email pretty standard. I can make it automatically take up the entire window, and I can fine-tune the typography to be a little bigger, and have a bit more prominent. The most frustrating part of ActiveCampaign’s abundant full-screen editor is including images. Picture you’ve just typed out a fantastic e-mail. Why Should I Use Active Campaign.

You can’t just add an image to a block of text. Instead, you need to produce two blocks of text: one for before the image, and one for after the image. If you’ve made any format changes, you’ll need to keep an eye on those to remain consistent. That’s something to deal with when you want to include one image, but when you wish to add several, it becomes a big task.

They even have a standard mage editor where you can crop the image – Why Should I Use Active Campaign. MailChimp’s editor is the finest I’ve 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, supplied you make a basic design template initially.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

MailChimp’s integrated image editor is very powerful. You can resize, crop, and include custom-made text to your images. I miss out on MailChimp’s email-editing experience (Why Should I Use Active Campaign). It would save me a little time to have that very same experience on ActiveCampaign. But the highly-customizable automations I can construct on ActiveCampaign more than make up for that potential time savings.

ConvertKit’s e-mail modifying experience is really plain, however simple to navigate. Their design templates are limited, which is fine with me, but their e-mail modifying experience is somewhat easier because you can create inline images, and you can create a totally plain email, 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 an e-mail, and it takes me to the editor for that e-mail. Keep in mind 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 switch backward and forward in between various emails, I would intuitively be inclined open the very same automation in numerous tabs, then open the respective e-mails from each of those tabs.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

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 every one, or you can Command + Click to open each in a new tab to more easily modify your entire sequence. Why Should I Use Active Campaign. Contrast that with ConvertKit’s Sequences.

Again, it would conserve me a lot of time to have ConvertKit’s automation e-mail modifying experience on ActiveCampaign – Why Should I Use Active Campaign. But picking an email marketing platform is like choosing a spouse. ActiveCampaign makes up for it with their Message Variables, more robust automations, and advanced segmentation. Speaking of segmentation, another factor I changed from MailChimp to ActiveCampaign was that MailChimp has limited division choices.

You can combine attributes with an AND/OR operator, and you can mix and match those groups of qualities with another AND/OR operator. With MailChimp, you can only segment by AND/OR, however MailChimp’s Pro plan enables more advanced segmenting, for an additional $199 a month. In my search for the perfect email marketing platform, I saw numerous others, some of which I’ve currently mentioned.

Why Should I Use Active Campaign

ConvertKit. If I weren’t on ActiveCampaign, I would most likely be using ConvertKit. Their automations are a lot easier to construct, though they aren’t as flexible as ActiveCampaign’s, and their divisions alternatives aren’t as sophisticated either. They also don’t have goal tracking, or Message Variables. MailChimp. You already understand that I changed from MailChimp to ActiveCampaign.