Tagging for Special Interest in a Single Master List

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1

I thought this solution might be of interest to others, or maybe someone has a better solution.

I’m working in 2 or 3 interest areas, but I want to manage them all as a single list vs multiple lists. After lots of trial and error and extended chats windows with Active Campaign support, here’s my solution.

One List with Multiple Tags

That’s the obvious goal. I don’t want a separate list for every interest. I want a single list with a Tag that represents various interests. This should make email management much easier. I can send emails to the entire list, or interest specific emails to specific tags.

It’s rather like database design.

My Tagging Failed

I created an Automation that would Tag a Contact as Interest A, Interest B, or Failed to Tag. My Tag logic looked for a visit to a specific URL. This URL would reveal where the Contact visited and indicate their interest. But, all the new Contacts were getting Failed by the Automation.

AC Support reminded me that my logic required Site Tracking.

But, Site Tracking doesn’t work until the Contact clicks on a link in their Welcome email. That link takes the Contact back to a URL that has the AC Tracking code and let’s AC uniquely identify the person.

Most people do NOT click on the link at all, some days later. So Tagging Failed because AC had no records of Site Visits. I could not use the AC Lead Form, because most of my leads are coming from a Quiz app with it’s own form.

My Solution with Unique AutoResponders

Create the master list for all Contacts, List: Master List
Create another List: Interest A Temp
Go to any opt-in Lead forms in Web Sites, Landing Pages, Ads, etc
Specify the Contact will go into the List: Interest A Temp
Create an Automation for a unique AutoResponder for Interest A
The Automation starts with a Subscription to List: Interest A Temp
Sends a Welcome letter (with the link that nobody clicks)
Sends an email notification to me “New Contact Entering AutoResponder”
Assigns a Tag to the Contact: Interest A
Adds the Contact to List: Master List
Enters a different Automation to start the email drip sequence for Interest A
End of Automation

In this method, the List: Interest A Temp is simply an intermediary means to get a Contact into the Master List with the correct Tag.

A single AutoResponder for all incoming subscribers can’t assign a specific Tag because AC has no data to know their interest.

A different temporary list and AutoResponder can be created for each product area.

List: Interest A Temp
List: Interest B Temp
List: Interest C Temp

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2

Like the strategy, but how would this work with a double-optin master list?

3

This is why I counsel many email marketers against the fantasy that “one master list” is the way to go for everyone. Every time someone says how much “easier” it is, they show just how complicated it is. Multiple lists and tagging is much simpler and easier to manage for many.

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4

Hi, I’ve read the arguments and pros/cons on double vs single optin. The arguments for a single optin made sense to me, so that’s the way I’m going. But, I’m keeping an open mind if I hear a good rationale.

5

Does your quiz app provide customer fields that can be passed into your account? Instead of tags, could you use the fields to create segments or filter your various automations?

Also, does your Quiz tool allow for 3rd party form code to be placed behind the scenes of their quiz? Many form companies do this allowing for an ActiveCampaign form to capture data while the contact sees the 3rd party form / quiz companies form on the website. This would enable ActiveCampaign’s site tracking.

Here are two examples:

Hopefully this helps provide some more insight into a long term solution.

6

Hi,

I’m using LeadQuizzes.com It only allows a FB pixel, nothing else. I can only use their Lead capture form. I have a love/hate relationship with the product. In some respects it seems like an MVP. But it’s stable, affordable and works great on any platform. I just work around the limitation and idiosyncrasies and give them lots of feedback on enhancements. And they always reply to my questions - (eventually).

7

It’s not true that site tracking only works after a click on an email.

You can start using site tracking as soon as someone provides you with their email.

I wrote about that here.

With that said, it sounds like you would be better using the right solution rather than trying to force software to do something it isn’t designed to do. There are a number of form solutions that allow you to send a tag and/or custom field when someone opts in. You don’t need to use an automation to add a tag to someone.

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8

Good article. To do what you suggest, I would need to move to a quiz app that has more flexibility with their option forms.

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9

I don’t know exactly what you are doing with the quiz app, however there is a very high likely hood you could achieve what you want using something like Gravity Forms with the AC add-on. It is super powerful and you can build pretty much any sort of form or quiz with it and then pass all of that information and whatever tags you want to AC.

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10

Gravity Forms looks really powerful. I’ll need to keep them in mind for some future use. All of the examples I reviewed still look much like “forms”. Whereas the quiz app screens look like quizzes. A minor distinction perhaps, but I think people have a reluctance to fill out forms vs answer questions on a quiz.

The quiz apps also have some underlying logic and scoring, so you can ask a series of questions about your preferences for pets, and it will come up with an answer such as: Your ideal pet is a Border Collie.