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Hi there friend,

Have you ever experienced this - you’re talking about something near your phone and some time later you’re scrolling through your Facebook feed and an ad for what you were talking about appears?

Happens to me and my wife all the time. The first couple of times it happened we thought it was just a coincidence. But then it started to happen with obscure topics.

The first time we really noticed it was when I was having a conversation with my wife about a TV show I used to watch in the early 2000s - Smallville. Next thing I knew I was getting ads for Comic Con and the cast of Smallville was going to be there. This was weird especially since this TV show last aired in 2011.

Now my wife and I have fun with it. We talk about off the wall topics to see if we start getting ads for something related.

The thing with these ads - they’re effective. Why? Because marketing is all about personalization and timing. If I’m talking to my wife about where to go out to dinner, then an ad pops up for a local restaurant - right time, right place.

Whether you believe Facebook is listening to your conversation or not is up for debate, but what's not is the impact personalization can have on different marketing strategies like your email.

How can you leverage this type of personalization in your emails? It’s not like your emails can listen to your audience, then send a relevant offer.

While emails can’t be used as a listening device, there are powerful ways you can use emails to learn about your audience. Then you can use that information to send a much more targeted and personalized email.

Segment based on what they click

Click automation is a way you can add a tag based on a link in your email.   

Setting up click automations is so easy.

Step 1: When you go to schedule your email, click the Add Automation button.

Step 2: In the drop down select “Clicks a link”. Then all the links in your email will appear.

Step 3: Choose the links you want to apply a tag to, then add the tag in the “Add these tags” box

Follow these steps for each tag you want to apply.

How can you use this?

Let’s say you’re a fitness instructor and your newsletter has a link to your blog on losing weight and another link to putting on muscle. If you tag your audience based on what they click, you can now personalize future emails based on content they’re interested in.

You can also set up click automation in your automated emails. Add relevant content to your welcome email and use that information to build a stronger relationship with your audience.

Ask with a survey

Be direct in your emails, ask what they want. 

For example, let’s say you sell pet products specifically for cats and dogs on an Etsy shop, but you don’t know if your customers are cat owners or dog owners.

Add a link in your email asking. The link could send them to a dedicated page with products and content specifically geared towards the type of pet owner they are.

You can apply the click automation, now you’re ready to send offers specifically geared towards what they want to receive. No more guessing or sending all encompassing emails.

Website page visits

What’s your audience doing once they’re on your website? What content are they reading?

With email web analytics, you can learn what pages your audience is visiting and what products they’re purchasing. This information is pulled into your AWeber account. You can even have tags automatically applied based on the specific landing page they visited.

If you don’t have email web analytics set up, you’ll need to do so by following a few simple steps.

Once applied you can add tags based on specific landing pages.

Step 1: Click the "Automations" tab in your account and click "List Automation."

Step 2: Go to “Page Hit”

Step 3: Go to “Add automation”

Step 4: Add your URL and tag you’d like to apply. 

Go create better experiences

Now it’s your turn. Think about what you want to learn about your customers and apply the tools to track how they’re interacting with your emails and website.

Once you start personalizing your emails based on content and offers you know your customers want to receive, you’ll start seeing higher email engagement and more sales.

What to learn more about email personalization, check out my blog article: From vanilla to wow: Using personalized emails to speak to your audience. Click on this and MAYBE I send you more content on personalizing your emails.

What did you think of this email?

❤️❤️❤️ Loved it. Can't wait to get the next one.

💔 I didn't really care for it.

Make it easier to send personalized emails

Now that you’re going to be using tags to personalize your emails, make it easier to find and send dedicated emails by setting up a segment for each tag.

A segment is an organized way to group your audience based on a specific set of criteria. It's a great way to organize and talk to different groups of subscribers in your list.

Creating a segment is really easy in your AWeber account.

Go to subscribers:

Then start adding your criteria.

Here’s what I recommend:

• Any Opens, since, type in “1 year ago”. I would not recommend sending to anyone who has not opened in over a year. 
• Stop Status, is, Subscribed. This will exclude anyone who has opted out of your email list.
• Tag, is. Apply your tag. If you have multiple tags you want to add in one segment, choose “is any of these” in the drop down.

Save your segment. Make the name related to your criteria. For example “Cat Lovers”.

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