Hey {{ subscriber.firstName | default('friend') }}!
Today is Day #3 of the email challenge and we're coming up to the finish line! Below, we're covering merge tags, driving traffic to your mailing list and creating your first email campaign.
Merge Tags/ Conditional Merge Tags
Have you ever received an email that read: "Hey First Name!"? This is common when signup forms either exclude the First Name field as a requirement or the name was simply excluded from the email, but a merge tag was used to pull it in. A simple way of avoiding this and to personalize every email you send out to your subscribers, is to use merge tags. Merge tags are used by pulling in data made available in the audience field for each subscriber or dynamic content. Dynamic content is essentially data that changes based on the data being collected from your subscribers.
Merge tags can be customized via the audience settings along with the field type. By default, the first name field will be included in the audience along with the email address field. To include the first name of the subscriber in emails, you'll insert the following merge tag: *|FNAME|*
Here's how it would appear when editing: Hey *|FNAME|*!
Here's how it would appear for your subscribers: Hey Sarah!
While you wouldn't be able to view the merge tag live within a test send as audience data isn't technically linked until after a send is completed, you can navigate to the email and in the upper right hand corner select Preview> Enter Preview Mode> toggle the "Enable live merge tag info" button. Once enabled, all merge tags in the email will be active and display how each subscriber will receive their email with the data that is being referenced from their profiles.
Conditional merge tags
If you're wanting to use merge tags but include or exclude certain content based on your subscribers data, Conditional Merge Tags would be the best way to achieve this as opposed to creating separate emails. Let's say your subscriber joined the list but didn't include their first name and you want to acknowledge them in a personalized way. Below, is an example of how you can use conditional merge tags to show certain data to subscribers that meet the conditions you set.
Hey *|IF:FNAME|*
*|FNAME|*,
*|ELSE:|*
Hey Friend,
*|END:IF|*
You can also use conditional merge tags to do things like show certain content based on age, translate content, present certain offers to different customer types (frequent purchaser or recent purchases over a certain amount, etc.), show content to those within a specific group and so much more. This option is so helpful because the opportunities are endless for customizing and reduces the amount of emails you'll need to send out.
MailChimp Knowledge-base Guides:
All the Merge Tags Cheat Sheet: https://eepurl.com/dyikM5
Getting Started with Merge Tags for Email: https://eepurl.com/dyilOL
Manage Audience and Signup Form Fields: https://eepurl.com/gIcdf5
Preview and Test Your Email Campaign: https://eepurl.com/dyimoP
Use Conditional Merge Tags: https://eepurl.com/dyim7n
Driving Traffic to Mailing List
There are many ways to drive traffic to your mailing list. Below, I've included options that you can do today!
1. Share the url to your landing page in email campaigns via CTA(Call to Action) button, Image, or Text.
2. Social Media Posts/Stories/Groups
3. Facebook or Instagram Ads
4. Blog posts
MailChimp Knowledge-base Guide:
Create a Facebook or Instagram Ad with Mailchimp: https://eepurl.com/dyik-H
Create Your First Email Campaign!
Mailchimp offers 3 types of Campaigns: Regular, Automated and Plain Text.
The 2 most popular are Regular and Automated. Regular emails include html so you can include things like clickable links, images, gifs, etc. Automated campaigns can be edited at anytime, paused and restarted as they are ongoing. Regular campaigns, however cannot be edited only duplicated as they are single emails that are sent out to an existing audience or subscriber at that time. Plain text emails only include text, no hyperlinks, images, and are pretty simple to create if you're wanting to send a quick email without the added template structure. Below, is a helpful guide that walks through how to create a regular email campaign that you may find helpful.
MailChimp Knowledge-base Guide:
Create a Regular Email: https://eepurl.com/dyilc1
I hope these past 3 days have been insightful to get started with your email marketing. Let me know if there is anything that I can clarify for you and keep a lookout for more email challenges in the future along with weekly tips to your inbox!
