Everyone who didn’t sell data to Cambridge Analytica or Aleksandr Kogan please take one step forward. Not so fast @Jack. Twitter, it turns out, also sold data to the former Cambridge Analytica researcher who tricked Facebook users into helping him digitally gerrymander the 2016 US presidential election. According to The Telegraph, Dr. Aleksandr Kogan, the mind behind the personality quiz that Cambridge Analytica used to glean personal data from more than 80 million people, bought data from Twitter in 2015. Kogan, of course, denies the Twitter data had anything to do with his work for Cambridge Analytica leading up to…
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect on May 25, 2018. Thousands of sources have published their "expert" advice about the law and how it applies to email marketing over the past several months. But here's the thing: Much of their advice is wrong or misleading — andit's causing a lot of misunderstanding, confusion and fear among small businesses and entrepreneurs around the globe. So, we decided to set the record straight. We’ve already covered the steps you can take to help prepare for the GDPR. (Great news! If you're an AWeber customer, you're probably already doing a lot of those things.) In this post, however, we'll dispel some of the most common myths about the GDPR and email marketing. Use this information so you can confidently move forward. Disclaimer: This blog post is for informational purposes only, and you should not consider it legal advice. We recommend that you seek legal and other professional counsel to determine exactly how the GDPR might apply to you.
Myth #1: “I need to send a re-engagement email to all of my existing subscribers to reconfirm consent.”
One myth we see everywhere is the idea that you must haveallof your subscribers reconfirm their consent in order to be compliant with the GDPR.This is false. Sort of.Here’s the deal: It all depends on whether you can prove consent from your subscribers, or you have other lawful grounds for processing data, according to the GDPR.If you are relying on consent to determine lawfulness, ask yourself these three questions:
Did my subscribers opt in to my list, and can I prove it?
On my sign up form, did I clearly explain how I'd use subscribers' data and what content I'd send them? Can I prove it?
Can my subscribers unsubscribe from my list as easily as they subscribed?
To prove you received consent, you should use the following three data points:
A screenshot of the data collection mechanism (i.e., your signup form or landing page)
You can easily find the date, time, and source information in your subscriber details within your AWeber account. Just look for the date and time when they opted in as well as the source of signup.To prove you clearly explained how you'd be using data and what content you'd send to subscribers, save a copy or screenshot of the signup form you used to collect their personal data.Now, let’s say you imported your list from another email service provider (ESP). In this case, you won't have the source information within your AWeber subscriber details. However, you’re confident your list subscribed in a compliant way through your old ESP. If you don’t have this information available in your previous ESP, you probably can’t prove consent and should consider sending a re-engagement email.Finally, let’s quickly touch on the third question: “Can my subscribers unsubscribe from my list as easily as they subscribed?”The short answer: If you’re using AWeber, your subscribers already have the ability to unsubscribe on their own using the “Unsubscribe” link in the footer of all your emails. You can also make the unsubscribe option more obvious by adding it within the text of your email messages. Here’s an example from Ann Handley's newsletter, which I shared in my previous post with her bi-weekly:
“I can prove consent. Hooray!” 👍
If you answered “yes” to all three of the questions I mentioned previously, thumbs up, you’re able to prove consent and you can continue to engage your subscribers.
“I can’t prove consent. Bummer.” 👎
If you answered “no” to any of the three questions, and you can’t prove consent otherwise, then you should probably send a re-engagement email or delete those subscribers from your email list.Here’s a sample re-engagement email you can send your subscribers. You can use AWeber’sClick Automationsto tag subscribers who click the link to confirm their consent.
Subject: Still interested in receiving emails from me?Hi there!I hope you’ve been enjoying the content I have sent you, like {Insert all of the types of content you send (e.g., newsletters, sales, product info, etc.)}.If you’d like to continue receiving emails from me, click the link below:{Keep me on the list - LINK}By confirming your subscription, we’ll continue sending you:
{Insert a list all of the things you plan to send to subscribers on this list}
Not interested anymore? That’s alright. If you don’t click the link above, we’ll take you off our list and stop emailing you. You can also unsubscribe here. (Note: Hyperlink the word "here" to the personalization token {!remove_web} in your email message.)Thanks, and have a great day!{Your Name}
In addition to confirming consent, you can also use your re-engagement email to create better segments of your subscribers, using AWeber’s Click Automations feature.For example, let’s say you send a newsletter as well as product information to your subscribers. You can add multiple links within your re-engagement email to allow them to opt in to receive different types of content. When subscribers click any of the links, you can tag them appropriatelyand send them more targeted emails.Here’s a sample re-engagement email that has multiple options:
Subject: Still interested in receiving emails from me?Hi there!I hope you’ve been enjoying the content I’ve been sending you, like {Insert all of the types of content you send (e.g., newsletters, sales, product info, etc.)}.If you’d like to continue receiving emails from me, click one of the links below:
Keep sending me the newsletter {tag with gdpr-newsletter}
Keep sending me product information {tag with gdpr-productinfo}
Keep sending me both {tag with gdpr-newsletter and gdpr-productinfo}
Not interested anymore? That’s alright. If you don’t click any of the links above, we’ll take you off our list and stop emailing you. You can also unsubscribe here. (Note: Hyperlink the word "here" to the personalization token {!remove_web} in your email message.)Thanks, and have a great day!{Your Name}
It's a best practice to generally wait about seven days after sending a re-engagement email before deleting any subscribers who do not click the link(s) to reconfirm their consent.
Myth #2: “I need to add GDPR checkboxes to all of my signup forms.”
Another rumor floating around is that you need to add checkboxes to your signup forms in order to be GDPR compliant. Some are even calling these “GDPR-friendly signup forms.”This is false. Checkboxes are not required, and are completely optional.Nowhere in the GDPR does it state that you need to add checkboxes to your signup forms.What it does say, however, is that you need to clearly communicate how you will be processing subscribers’ personal data, whether using a descriptive sentence or two, or using a checkbox, if you so choose.One reason to go the sentence-route? Unnecessarily adding multiple checkboxes to your forms may introduce the possibility of click fatigue and lower opt-in rates.Here’s an example of a signup form that is GDPR compliant and does not include checkboxes:So, when is it appropriate to use checkboxes? The GDPR requires that consent must be freely given by subscribers, and cannot be bundled with unrelated actions. Keeping this in mind, here are two examples where checkboxes are required to be compliant with the GDPR:Example #1Let’s say you’re a retailer and you want to send marketing emails to your customers after they make a purchase, as well as share their data with other companies within your retail group. Under the GDPR, you cannot bundle their purchase with consent to send marketing emails.Instead, a separate consent should be captured at the point of purchase that is specific to the purpose of sending marketing emails or sharing their data with partner companies. You might decide to use a separate checkbox to capture this secondary consent.Example #2Let’s say you’re a financial institution and you want to allow third parties to use customers’ payment details for marketing purposes. Under GDPR, this type of processing activity (i.e., the sharing of payment information for marketing purposes) is not necessary for the performance of the contract or agreement with the customer. Consent must be freely given, and if a customer refuses consent, the institution would not be able to deny services or increase fees. That would be a violation of the GDPR.If you would like to share subscribers' data with other parties, you should use a checkbox to allow them to give their consent freely. And keep in mind that these checkboxes cannot be pre-checked.
Myth #3: “I need to use double opt-in to be compliant with the GDPR.”
Double opt-in (a.k.a confirmed opt-in) is when your subscribers sign up for something — like a newsletter — and then they’re asked to also confirm their subscription.Some “experts” are stating that the GDPR requires double opt-in to prove consent.This is incorrect.As I mentioned in myth #1, the GDPR simply requires that you can prove the compliant consent. The act of entering personal information into a signup form and clicking “submit” can be considered an affirmative action, as long as the subscriber was clearly and directly informed of what they are accepting.However, double opt-in is not necessarily a bad thing. There are lots of great reasons to use it, including better subscriber engagement and deliverability. You just don't need to use it to be compliant with the GDPR.
Myth #4: “Subscribers’ personal data that’s already in our database isn’t subject to the GDPR.”
This one is closely related to myth #1.The GDPR applies to all personal data — even data that was collected prior to May 25, 2018.If you cannot prove consent forallof your existing subscribers, you should send a re-engagement email to obtain that consent.
Myth #5: “My data is stored with my service provider, so it’s their responsibility to remain compliant with the GDPR, not mine.”
We touched on the relationship between data processors (e.g., AWeber) and data controllers (i.e., you, the one sending the emails) in our previousGDPR blog post. But let’s dive deeper to dispel this myth.Data processors and data controllers share responsibility for complying with the GDPR requirements. As an AWeber customer, you are still considered the data controller. You maintain control over how you use that data. AWeber is simply processing the data at your request.So, it’s not an option to pass responsibility to a service provider who is processing data on your behalf. We recommend that you seek legal and other professional counsel to determine exactly your role and relationship to the data being processed.
Myth #6: “If I’m not compliant by May 25, I’ll get hit with huge fines.”
Anyone reading the GDPR fine print is likely nervous when they see the hefty fines associated with not being GDPR compliant. (Enough to make your palms sweat!)However, EU officials indicate that fines would likely be a last resort.Here’s what Elizabeth Denham, the U.K.’s information commissioner, had to say in arecent blog post:
“It’s scaremongering to suggest that we’ll be making early examples of organizations for minor infringements or that maximum fines will become the norm,” she said. “The ICO’s commitment to guiding, advising, and educating organisations about how to comply with the law will not change under the GDPR. We have always preferred the carrot to the stick.”“While fines may be the sledgehammer in our toolbox, we have access to lots of other tools that are well-suited to the task at hand and just as effective,” she continued. “The GDPR gives us a suite of sanctions to help organisations comply – warnings, reprimands, corrective orders. While these will not hit organisations in the pocket – their reputations will suffer a significant blow.”
If you’re taking the necessary steps to understand and follow the GDPR regulations and engage in good email marketing best practices, you are on the right path to protecting yourself.
Keep calm and email on
On the surface, the new GDPR may appear scary and ominous, but it’s actually pretty straight forward. And it's a good thing for email marketers, too.It really comes down to doing the right thing with the personal data you collect. Only send emails and information to people who’ve given you permission to do so for the purpose you told them.To learn more about the GDPR, visitwww.eugdpr.org.Have questions? Comment below, orcontact our team, and we’ll do our best to answer them.Not an AWeber customer? Get the peace of mind of working with a trusted provider.Try AWeber free for 30 days.
On April 13th, for better or worse, someone gave Kanye West his Twitter password back. What followed was a tweet storm of epic proportions, consisting of cryptic rants interrupted by the occasional fashion photo. It included him backing conservative, and accused far-right, figures — as well as his buddy Trump. Why, you ask? Because he’s writing a book “in real time.” Duh. It’s always been tricky to be a Kanye fan. He values freedom of speech above most, but his opinions are given so obnoxiously they can’t be ignored. Personally, I’ve always been fond of him for his enduring self-belief and eagerness…
It was inevitable. One by one, they all lined up to demand that Mark Zuckerberg come to Brussels to explain himself, or, more accurately, explain what the hell Facebook has been doing with our data. Europe’s political parties have been collectively outraged at reports that Facebook “allowed” private data into the hands of Cambridge Analytica, who then used it to manipulate elections. Of course, the European Parliament is largely responsible for the best bits of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) due to come into force on May 25, and most experts agree that the GDPR might have prevented the…
Sitting down with Shweta, you quickly realize that one of her of most impressive qualities is her unique ability to balance highly technical knowledge with thoughtful communication. She has a knack for taking complicated data ideas and translating them in a way that her audience can understand, whether that is another engineer or a less tech-savvy person, such as myself.
Since joining Sprout in February 2017, Shweta has used her time here to not only grow in her career, but also take on new personal challenges. She is now a city organizer for Tech Ladies Chicago, has attended her first engineering conference and is building her experience as a speaker on topics that impact women of color and women in technology. Shweta has so many fascinating stories to share and I’ve captured just a few of them below.
Name: Shweta Kapur Department: Engineering Started at Sprout: February 2017
What is your role at Sprout Social and can you explain what you do in one sentence?
I’m a Senior Software Engineer on the Data Ingest squad. It is difficult to boil down what I do in one sentence, but I’ll give it a shot. I am responsible for gathering data from the social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google+) and importing it into Sprout’s platform so our customers have the data they need to view and engage with social messages.
Before we jump further into what you do, can you share a fun fact about yourself so we can get to know you a little better?
I am both a mechanical and software engineer. While I have been programming since I was a young child, it was the Mechanical and Automation Engineering program in college that initially grabbed my interest. Courses taught me about everything from engines and turbines to mechatronics and robotics. However, following an internship at a railways workshop, I realized my true passion was to be a software engineer.
I still received my undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering, but went back for a Master’s degree in Computer Science, and ultimately took my first job out of college with a software firm.
Now switching back to work, what is one aspect of your job that is unique to your role or department?
Our engineering department generally consists of squads that focus on different pillars of the Sprout product. This includes engagement, publishing and analytics. The Data Ingest squad is unique because we are not focused on a specific pillar, but rather touch every aspect of the platform.
Ultimately, for everyone else to do their jobs, we first need to ensure they have the right data. This means my role comes with a lot of responsibility and dependencies. I need to anticipate needs and stay in constant communication with other teams to ensure I am providing the most value.
What is one of you or your team’s greatest successes from the past year?
In late 2017, Facebook changed the format for private message identifiers, which impacted how different squads were going to be able to access that data within the Sprout platform. Albeit, a small change in theory, this presented a huge challenge as it required us to not only adjust how we were going to pull in future Facebook private message data, but also how we were going to retroactively update historical data to match the new identifier format.
Most importantly, the end goal was to ensure that there would be no loss of data and little to no impact to our customers as we migrated the identifiers behind the scene.
The entire project took almost three months to complete and it touched almost every aspect within the Sprout platform. While we ran into obstacles throughout the process, our cross-squad team was able to work through them all and successfully make the switch. What was most rewarding about the project was that with more than 20,000 customers, we only received one support ticket in response to the change.
What is currently at the top of your bucket list?
Traveling to Ireland. I don’t know exactly where this desire came from, but I think the scenery is absolutely beautiful and, of course, who doesn’t want to drink Baileys in Ireland. Plus, if you turn the Indian flag clockwise and remove the chakra, it is almost a replica of the Irish flag, so I’m convinced that may have something to do with it.
Do you use any specific tools or have a routine that helps you stay productive?
As a team, we practice agile engineering using Jira, a project tracking software developed by Atlassian. Within this methodology, we work in two week sprints and focus our time and efforts on priority projects that align with our goals. This allows us, as a team, to more efficiently and effectively delegate our time to priority tasks.
Personally, I use a task management app called OmniFocus. I always have so many ideas floating around my head and by using OmniFocus I can pretty much do a braindump and quickly capture and classify my thoughts in one place. It helps me organize and prioritize without having to keep it all in my head, which also frees up space for me to concentrate on what project is in front of me.
Do you work at a standing desk or seated desk? Why?
Seated desk. I find it harder to concentrate when I am standing. I also do a lot of pair programming, which is when you partner up with another team member and sit together to tackle a problem as opposed to doing it on your own. This requires a lot of back and forth conversation as well as two screens so seated desks are typically the preference among myself and my colleagues for this type of work.
Lightning round! Answer the following with whatever comes to mind first.
Humans love stories. We communicate through them. We learn from them. Our personal stories and memories give our lives meaning and order.In fact, your brain may actuallycravestories: Scientists believe we are evolutionarily hardwired for narratives because they helped our ancestors survive.Quick quiz: Which one is more effective?Option A: There’s an animal in a cave over there. Don’t go near it.Option B: My brother was mauled to death by a giant ferocious cat-like beast. The beast's teeth are as long as your arm and as sharp as the deadliest arrow. The monster lives in that cave with the two twisted trees in front of it. Don’t go near it.You don’t need to worry about sabre-toothed tigers anymore, but your brain is still much more engaged by the story in option B than by a burst of facts. It makes you fearful. It gives you goosebumps.You remember a good story.It stays with you.
The Power of Telling Your Personal Story through Email
Good salespeople and marketers understand the importance and power of storytelling — and they use it to their advantage.It’s why Coca-Cola doesn’t sell you carbonated water, high-fructose corn syrup, phosphoric acid, and caramel coloring — it sells you a “feeling.”The company’s most iconic commercial of all time“I’d like to buy the world a Coke”focuses on the drink being a commonality among people all over the world. It brings people together — regardless of their backgrounds, faith, gender, race, or opinions. No one even takes a sip of the soda in the ad.It’s this emotional connection — this feeling — that makes your business and marketing memorable. It makes your brand stand out among the myriad of marketing messages — email, text messages, social media, TV, voicemail, commercials — that people are bombarded with every single day. And it’s one of the main reasons your readers will pick your business over your competitors.So tellyour personal story in an email. You don’t need to become Charles Dickens or Jane Austen to do so. Heck, you don't even need to be a great writer. You just need to tell an engaging tale about your products and services, and why they matter to your subscribers.
4 Steps to Writing a Powerful "Story Email"
1. Keep it short.
Nowadays, we consume content at lightning speed. It's rare if a person can dedicate a huge chunk of time to a long-form article. So we need to communicate at a quick clip, too. That means breaking our messaging down into easy-to-read, bite-sized pieces that are super relevant. The following Story Email is from Jill Angie of Not Your Average Runner, who leveraged the AWeber platform to reach her customers.Jill’s story is 10 sentences long. That’s it!Keep your writing concise and cut out any words you can. It’ll not only make you a tighter, more effective writer, but it’ll keep your readers’ attention. In a world of information overload, less will be a welcome thing for your subscribers.
2. Ooze likeability.
We enjoy doing business with people we know, like, and trust — as opposed to a large faceless corporation. Humanize your message to increase connection and engagement with your subscriber.One easy way to do this: Pretend you’re sending an email to a friend.When we write emails to our list, we tend to forget that we're a human communicating with other humans. We suddenly turn very formal, robotic, corporate, and, well, safe. Your readers signed up for your email list to hear from you. They want to hear from the voice behind the business or brand or company. So write like you talk. Show them that you're a human being with a pulse. You'll come off much more conversational and likeable.Take Jill Angie’s Story Email, shown above in step #1. It may be short, but it’s super easy to read and extremely friendly. It makes Jill relatable. Youwantto run with her. Youwanther to be your coach. Eventually, when Jill pitches her books or workout plans to you, you’ll want to scoop them up, too.
3. Hit your reader’s biggest pain point.
Here’s an email from AWeber customer Noah Kagan, who runs OkDork.com. He's also the founder of the ridiculously popular AppSumo, a site that sends out awesome daily deals for digital products.Noah’s story is just four sentences! It’s short, but super compelling. He shows you how he found massive success— fast.But the best thing Noah does? He hits his readers’ problem straight on: "Starting a business can be hard." It can be intimidating.Noah doesn’t just tell his story for the heck of it. He’s doing it in relation to the reader’s main pain point. In just a few words, he evokes feelings of frustration and worry and stress in his subscribers — while setting himself up as their solution.Starting a business can be hard — but it doesn't have to be. That's because Noah can make it easier for them. He can help them start their business and leave those worries behind. Below is another example of a well-done Story Email. It's from AWeber customer Pete Servold, owner of Pete's Paleo, a food delivery service that sends healthy, seasonal, organic paleo meals directly to your door. Pete's Story Email may be longer than Noah's, but it's not long-winded. Pete's Story Email is easy to read, and he does a fantastic job painting the picture of his life in the restaurant industry (long days and nights filled with indulgent food choices), and the pivotal health event that changed his life. Within Pete's story, he hits his reader's biggest struggle: weight loss and sticking to a healthy diet. But he makes it clear that he has the answer. Pete's Paleo makes it easy for you to drop the pounds and regain your health. It worked for him. He's leading his readers from their pain point straight to a solution in one short narrative.
4. Be authentic.
Cheri Alberts of the Watering Mouth has been an AWeber customer since 2012. She’s a wellness coach and recipe developer who offers consultations and meal plans to help her clients eat better, lose weight, find more energy, and look and feel better in their clothes.Here’s Cheri’s story email:Cheri’s Story Email is a lot different than Noah Kagan’s. She gets much more personal.The reason: As a wellness coach, Cheri must to get to the bottom of what’s causing her client’s unhealthy decisions. In order to do that, though, she has to build a deeper relationship with her subscribers first. So Cheri opens up in her Story Email and shares her vulnerabilities — warts and all — because one day she’ll ask her clients to do the same for her.You may not want to — or have to! — reveal as many personal details as Cheri, but you can be just as authentic.Give a glimpse at where your company started, and how you or your product has drastically improved since then. Tell your struggles. Highlight your lows. Celebrate your highs. Be witty. Be emotional. Tell them what's on your mind. Or even include a selfie (no photoshopping!) instead of a professional headshot. Most of all, be you. Authenticity is the key to building a foundation of truth and reliability with your subscribers. The stronger that foundation, the easier it'll be to sustain a long-term, profitable relationship with your email list.
When to Send Your "Story Email"
The best time to send your subscribers your personal story is during the awareness stage of your marketing funnel. (Click here to understand the marketing funnel and how it can drastically improve your email marketing strategy.) Your subscriber just joined your list. They're still getting to know you. This is the perfect time to engage with them on a deeper level by revealing what makes you unique compared to your competitors. Schedule your Story Email to automatically send a day or two after they receive your Welcome Email. Or, if your personal story is only a few sentences, include it right in your Welcome Email. Either way, the earlier you start to emotionally connect with your readers, the better. Want more great email writing tips? Check out AWeber's FREE What to Write course, an email series that helps you craft the perfect emails. Plus, it comes with 45+ content templates so you can just fill in the blanks! And if you're ready to start sending phenomenal emails to your subscribers, then you'll want to join AWeber today. With easy-to-use automation tools, free educational marketing content, and the best Customer Solutions team (seriously, they won TWO Stevie Awards last year, which are basically the Oscars of the service industry), we have everything you need to make your email marketing successful.
Scandinavia’s favorite TV-show Skam — or “Shame”— is airing in the US, at 3.40PM CT today on Facebook Watch. Oh, you have no idea how excited you should be. Skam, as it is called in the original, is a Norwegian tv-show produced by the public broadcasting channel NRK. It follows a group of friends at a high-school in Oslo and depicts their everyday lives, struggles, and insecurities. The show first aired in the fall of 2015 and soon became a massive success — and even achieved cult status. The success of the series is based in its incredibly honest, funny,…
The rapid evolution of technology means that it’s not just celebrities who are the biggest influencers today. Now, it’s possible for unknown individuals to raise their awareness, their influence ability, and become famous through platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram. Yet, while these avenues may attract a significant number of people to follow them, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they get the exposure they want with the brands they want. With the global influence market worth more than $1 billion it can provide great opportunities. For the top influencers who are lucky enough to have a large fan base…
After first rocketing on to the scene as a “thing” in 2016, it didn’t take “fake news” long to worm its way into the American lexicon. And while bogus information in the digital age is as old as the internet itself, 2016 was the first time we found the words to articulate it, even crassly. Americans understand the problem, now more than ever. But according to a new poll by Pew Research, it’s not lawmakers the majority of citizens are counting on to fix it. Quite the opposite, actually. Nearly 60 percent of those polled agree the mess belongs to…
A few months never go by without authorities in Uganda coming up with something bombastic to declare, the latest is a social media tax. The social media tax is expected to be implemented in July 2018 according to Uganda’s government. In making the announcement, Uganda’s government said that the soon to be introduced social media tax will help boost the country’s revenue and help with national security. “We’re looking for money to maintain the security of the country and extend electricity so that you people can enjoy more of social media, more often, more frequently,” Matia Kasaija, Uganda’s Minister of Finance, is reported to…
Facebook is working on a new feature to hook in the one market that they’ve struggled to dominate: teenagers. ‘High School Networks for Messenger’ appears to be its latest attempt to drag post-millennials to its platform, according to sources who shared screenshots with TNW. High School Networks appears to be a way for students to connect with their peers at the same school and/or taking the same classes. The details for the feature are limited at the moment, as the feature appears to be hidden and is yet to go live in the latest version of Messenger in the App…
Earlier this month, Facebook promised to implement an unsend message (revoke) option for all Messenger users. Well, it looks like the feature is almost ready to go live. TNW obtained this screenshot of how the button looks set to appear in Messenger. The screenshot came from a reliable source who agreed to share it with us on the condition of anonymity. While Facebook toyed around with the idea of giving users the ability to unsend messages in WhatsApp last year (and later implemented the feature for all users), the company has yet to try this out with Messenger. There’s no way of telling when…
You've probably read about email segmentation. In fact, pro email marketers recommend it all the time. But is it really worth the work? After all, segmentation takes effort. It’s much easier to simply blast your list with a generic email. To find out, we decided to put segmentation to the test. We updated our blog's email automation series. The goal? To ask each subscriber what content they wanted in their inbox, and email them segmented content based off their choice. We got some pretty crazy results — like an email click-through rate630% above our average. Here’s how we did it ...
How we redesigned our blog welcome series to collect subscribers’ preferences
When people subscribe to our blog newsletter, they receive a weekly email with our latest and best blog content. We also send them an automation series right after they subscribe. This series is our way of welcoming subscribers to our email list. We explain how often we’ll send them emails and what kind of content they’ll get. Then, we give them an actual glimpse into how awesome our content is by emailing them our best content –– like our top blog posts and our best free courses. But something was missing from the series ... We didn't know what topics our audience was most interested in learning about, and we had no way of segmenting our audience based off their individual learning interests. This info was important for two reasons:
Knowing what the majority of our audience wanted to learn about would help us write the right content for our audience. If most people were interested in automation, then we should be writing more posts about automation!
Knowing more about each individual subscriber would help us send more relevant content. Instead of sending every subscriber the same blog post, we could send blog posts to subscribers based off their interests.
That's why we redesigned our blog series. In the redesigned series, we asked subscribers what they wanted to learn about. All they needed to do was click a link. With a simple click, they could tell us what they wanted to learn about. There are 6 email marketing topics our audience typically asks questions about. We made these 6 topics the options a subscriber could choose from. They could decide to learn about how to:
Grow their email list
Automate their email marketing
Create and send emails
Design emails
Make money with email marketing
Improve their open and click-through rates
Or, they could choose to learn about everything! To gather our subscribers preferences, we added this simple email to our blog welcome series: When a subscriber clicks on one of the links, they get access to a landing page where they can download the free guide we promise in the email. On that page, we also share some of our most popular blog posts in their chosen category. But behind the scenes, even more is going on! Using AWeber’s Click Automations, we automatically tag subscribers with a label that matches their choice when they click on one of the options. For example, if a subscriber clicks “Grow my email list,” they receive a “grow email list” tag. Using AWeber and tags, we can build segments of subscribers who have a particular tag, and then send one-time emails or automation series to that segment. This gives us the ability to do some pretty powerful things. Let’s say we wanted to share our latest post on increasing email open rates. Instead of blasting our entire list, we could send that post specifically to people who told us they wanted to improve their open and click-through rates. By segmenting our audience in this way, we hypothesized that we’d get better open and click-through rates. But there was one flaw with our method. Not everyone opens an email. Even fewer people click on it. Our new email would only collect the preferences of subscribers who chose to engage with it. This meant that we wouldn’t be able to collect the interests of everybody on our list. That’s why we added a second, similar email at the end of our welcome series: This email gave subscribers who didn't click on the first email another chance to share their preferences. By adding it to our series, we were able to encourage even more people to tell us what they’d like to learn about. And the best part? Using segmentation and automation, we only sent this email to people who didn't open or click the other email asking for their preferences. Here’s how we structured the redesigned series:
Email 1: Welcome to the AWeber blog newsletter!
Goal: Welcome subscribers to our list, tell them how frequently we’d send emails, deliver our incentive, and ask them to whitelist us.
Delivery time: Immediately after subscribing
Audience: All subscribers
Email 2: Share your interests and we’ll send a free guide
Goal: Encourage subscribers to share what they’d like to learn about email marketing by clicking on a link in the email
Delivery time: 1 day after email 1
Audience: All subscribers
Email 3: Explore the best email marketing content
Goal: Share our best blog content with our audience and get them excited about being a subscriber
Delivery time: 1 day after email 2
Audience: all subscribers
Email 4: Get 45+ email copy templates and master your content
Goal: Delight our subscribers with even more educational and free content –– our “What to Write in Your Emails” course.
Delivery time: 1 day after email 3
Audience: All subscribers
Email 5: Would you like another free guide?
Goal: To encourage more subscribers to click on a category and tell us what they’re interested in.
Delivery time: One day after email 4
Audience: Subscribers who didn’t click on a category in email 2
To get a visual picture of the original series versus the new series, here's an automation map of the original: And here’s the automation map for the updated series: In the updated series, there are 7 content categories subscribers can choose from. However, we only use 6 tags in our series. That’s because the final option is to “Learn it all!” If a subscriber clicks this, they are tagged with all 6 tags, rather than a 7th separate tag. Pro tip: Instead of sending people to a landing page when they click on a Click Automation, you can send them to a hosted form that says something like “Thanks for sharing your preferences! We’ve updated your info.” This can be easier than creating a landing page.
But we still had a problem … what about our current subscribers?!
When we updated our welcome automation series to include these 2 new emails, we already had thousands of subscribers on our blog newsletter list. And since this series was only for new subscribers, current subscribers didn’t receive it. Which meant that we wouldn’t find out the interests of our current subscribers through this series. So we decided to send all of our current subscribers a one-time broadcast email to ask them the same question. This email functioned in the same way as the 2 emails we added to our automation series. When a subscriber clicked on one of the options, they received a tag that matched their choice. The email content is nearly identical to the ones we added to our automation series: After sending it, thousands of our current subscribers clicked on an option to tell us what they’d like to learn about. 40% of them clicked “I want to do it all!” The second most popular choice was “Grow my email list,” with 21% of people clicking this option.
We chose the most popular category and gave subscribers a cool freebie.
Since the majority of our subscribers said they wanted to learn about list growth, we decided to email them our free course “Email List Growth Blueprint.” And we saw phenomenal results. Our open rate for this email was 118% higher than our average open rate for this list. Our click-through rate was an astounding 630% higher than our average click-through rate. 😱 This record-breaking engagement is thanks to the power of segmentation and sending the right content to the right people. Theory proved: Segmentation works.
Skyrocket your engagement! Try this out yourself.
Want to do something similar on your own email lists? Simply follow these steps:
Write 1 or 2 emails and add them to your automation series
Add a question and answers to your new emails.
Add hyperlinks to your answers. You can link off to a hosted sign up form or landing pages
Use AWeber's Click Automations to tag subscribers based off the link they click. The options you give subscribers don't need to be about their content preferences! You could ask subscribers for their skill level at a certain task, what products they're interested in, or anything that helps you send more targeted content!
Send relevant one-time and automated emails to your subscribers using AWeber’s tags to build your segments.
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When a subscriber clicks on one of the links, they get access to a landing page where they can download the free guide we promise in the email. On that page, we also share some of our most popular blog posts in their chosen category. But behind the scenes, even more is going on! Using 
This email gave subscribers who didn't click on the first email another chance to share their preferences. By adding it to our series, we were able to encourage even more people to tell us what they’d like to learn about. And the best part? Using segmentation and automation, we only sent this email to people who didn't open or click the other email asking for their preferences. Here’s how we structured the redesigned series:
And here’s the automation map for the updated series: 
In the updated series, there are 7 content categories subscribers can choose from. However, we only use 6 tags in our series. That’s because the final option is to “Learn it all!” If a subscriber clicks this, they are tagged with all 6 tags, rather than a 7th separate tag. Pro tip: Instead of sending people to a landing page when they click on a Click Automation, you can send them to a hosted form that says something like “Thanks for sharing your preferences! We’ve updated your info.” This can be easier than creating a landing page.
After sending it, thousands of our current subscribers clicked on an option to tell us what they’d like to learn about. 40% of them clicked “I want to do it all!” The second most popular choice was “Grow my email list,” with 21% of people clicking this option.
And we saw phenomenal results. Our open rate for this email was 118% higher than our average open rate for this list. Our click-through rate was an astounding 630% higher than our average click-through rate. 😱 This record-breaking engagement is thanks to the power of segmentation and sending the right content to the right people. Theory proved: Segmentation works.
