Opt-in rates are important.

They show how many people saw your offer (lead magnet) and thought it looked “juicy” enough to give you their email address.

The higher the opt-in rate, the more visitors you'll turn into subscribers and the faster you'll grow your email list.

• Related Course: How To Optimize Your Sales Funnel

Why Google Analytics?

9 times out of 10, your opt-in form software tracks conversions already.

It will tell you how many people saw your opt-in form and how many filled it out.

This is semi-helpful, but it doesn't share the whole story.

It doesn't show you where the person came from and how they ended up at your opt-in form.

This is where Google Analytics comes into play – it shows you the exact steps someone went through before giving you their email address.

Example

This is just an example of one report. There are several “standard” reports and you can customize your own to get the data you need.

Other Coolness

Google Analytics also helps you track how well your advertising campaigns are doing.

Of course, Google Adwords and Google Analytics go hand-in-hand; however, you can also add UTM Tags to any link in order to see how well it performs.

UTM Tags are beyond the scope of this post; however, if you'd like to read more – here's a great article.

The Whole Story [DISCLAIMER]

I want to clarify something really quickly about opt-in rates.

They are not the “end-all-be-all.”

What really matters is: How Many People Buy.

Let's pretend that you created an opt-in form and got it to a 90% conversion rate – wow! You achieved the impossible!

The problem is, the people subscribing end up not purchasing anything you sell because they don't purchase products online.

It doesn't matter how many people are on your email list, if they don't buy anything.

I'd much rather have a list of 100 people that buy my products than 10,000 people who just want free stuff.

Keep in mind – opt-in rates are an important metric to examine and optimize for; however, the quality of people you're bringing in matters most.

How To Track Your Email Opt-In Rates With Google Analytics

Step 1: Thank You Page

The first thing you will need is a Thank You Page (sometimes called a Confirmation Page).

It's the page someone arrives on after they give you their email address that “thanks” them for joining your email list or asks them to “confirm” their email address by checking their email and clicking a confirmation link.

For example – here's one of my Thank You pages:

Step 2: Connect Thank You Page To Opt-In Form

Depending on your opt-in form software – how to “connect” your thank you page is going to vary, so you may need to do a little bit of research … or, if you get really stuck, ask me.

Here are a few tutorials:

• MailChimp
• ActiveCampaign
• OptinMonster

Step 3: Create Google Analytics Goal

Login to Google Analytics, navigate to the “Admin” tab and select “Goals”

Step 4: Create a New Goal

Click the “New Goal” button:

Under “Engagement” select “Sign up” and then press “Continue”:

Name your goal (ie: New Subscriber), leave “Goal slot ID” alone, unless you know what you're doing with it … in which case, you wouldn't be viewing this tutorial … select “Destination” as “Type” and click “Continue”:

Select “Begins with” and enter the url path to your Thank You Page without including your domain (ie. /thank-you). Assigning a Value or a Funnel is not necessary at this point, unless you really want to; however, I recommend leaving them “Off” for the time being, you can change it later.

Then select “Verify Goal”:

Ideally, you'll have had some traffic to your Thank You Page so you will see a conversion rate and verify that your Goal is setup properly.

If you haven't had any traffic to your Thank You Page – go visit it now and visit it on your phone too … just to get a couple “unique” visits. You'll have to wait a day or so for those visits to “count” … so, be sure to re-verify your goal in a day or two to make sure it's functioning properly.

Click “Save”

Step 5: Track

Now that you're tracking your conversions, it's time to view a few reports!

Select the “Reporting” tab at the top, then on the left select “Conversions”, “Goals”, and “Overview”.

Make sure you have the correct “Goal” selected, view the “Source / Medium” … and checkout what's happening!

It looks like the greatest percent of my conversions for this goal are coming from Google!

The “Reverse Goal Path” is also a great report (it's the one I showed in the first picture of this post).

Conclusion

This is just the beginning.

The point of this post was to get you tracking your opt-in rates with Google Analytics and to show you a few basic views.

Now that you're tracking and recording data, you'll be able to analyze it in order to figure out what traffic converts the best, where it's coming from, etc. – so you'll know where to focus your efforts.

But, that's for later … let's take it one step at a time!

• Related Course: How To Optimize Your Sales Funnel

I'm sure you've probably heard about email segmentation before and that you “should” be doing it. But, how do you get started and what do you segment for?

There are a lot of options, and when you're just trying to get started – it becomes overwhelming very quickly.

This post will give you a framework that simplifies the segmentation process and delivers the results you want!

• Related Course: The ActiveCampaign & Interest Driven Sales Funnels Course

What is email segmentation?

Email segmentation occurs when you separate individuals on your list by certain aspects or characteristics – for example:

• Demographics: age, gender, race, location, occupation, marital status, income, religion, etc.
• Date: signup date, birth date, retirement date, etc.
• Interests: hobbies, passions, etc.
• Activity: what they click, what they read, what they purchase, etc.

Why it's so powerful

It keeps things relevant to your subscribers.

Think about yourself for a second. When things are relevant to you – don't you pay more attention?

For example, if you live on the East Coast and there's a hurricane in the Atlantic – you pay attention. You read news and weather reports, you run to the store and stock up on water and non-perishable foods, and you make sure your insurance is up-to-date. Whereas, people on the West Coast probably don't care as much – it's not because they're insensitive, it's just not relevant to them.

Of course, this is an example of segmentation based on location and with this information you'd be able to better relate to your subscribers and sell more product.

Why it can become overwhelming

Given that you can segment subscribers a million different ways, it can become incredibly overwhelming very quickly.

For example; you may decide you want to segment males, age 18-34, who live in the US, and play basketball. But, you also cater to females, age 18-34, who live in the US, and play basketball. And, you know what? Some people in Canada also play basketball that you can cater to as well. And, what about older people who play basketball?!?!

Before you know it, you have 30 segments that you want to send “relevant” content to.

And, instead of writing out all these emails, you just say, “Screw it, I'll send the same one to everyone.”

I know I've done that.

Keep It Simple: Segment Based On Activity

Instead of worrying about age, gender, location, interests, etc. – I want you to only concentrate on two things:

1. Activity
2. Angles

Activity

Subscribers' activity with your emails, on your site, and with your products/services encompasses nearly all segmentation conditions. You can begin sending relevant information, based upon the links and pages the subscriber clicks and visits and the products/services they buy.

Angles

People are different. (shocking!)

Which is why angles are important.

Some people are very features driven. They want to know all the things a particular product/service can do before they make a decision. (Share: reports, testing information, dimensions, speeds, material, etc)

Some people are very benefits driven. They want to know the types of results they can expect from a particular product/service before they make a decision. (Share: testimonials, case studies, reviews, etc)

Some people want social proof. They want to make sure they're not the only one buying a particular product/service and that it's “legit”. (Share: “as seen on”, influencer use, number of people using, etc)

While there are tons of other angles, we're going to stick with these three:

1. Features
2. Benefits
3. Social Proof

Putting Activity and Angles Together

Let's pretend that you run an eCommerce store selling men's ski clothing (ski pants and ski jackets).

You send an email to your list that shows your top selling pair of ski pants and your top selling ski jacket.

The subscriber clicks on the top selling ski jacket.

Based on that activity, you know they're looking for a ski jacket and you can begin sending relevant emails from different angles.

• Email 1 describes how the jacket is made with 100% Gore-Tex and can withstand 20 mph tumbles down a mountain
• Email 2 shows how the jacket will keep you warm in sub zero temperatures so you can enjoy your whole day skiing
• Email 3 shows the jacket was featured in Ski Magazine and Shaun White wears it

Now, it doesn't matter if the subscriber is male, female, young, old, lives in the US, or lives in Canada. What matters is that they're interested in a men's ski jacket and depending on what type of person it is – one of the 3 angles will hopefully connect with them and result in a sale.

How To Track Subscriber Activity

Every decent email autoresponder service comes with the ability to track subscriber activity on your website. For this example I'll be using ActiveCampaign, but if you use another tag based service – the concept will remain the same.

Note: there are many, many, many different ways to track how people act and engage with your content. I've simply outlined one way below, and if it doesn't “fit” what you're trying to do, try and figure out another way! (there's always a way)

• Related Course: The ActiveCampaign & Interest Driven Sales Funnels Course

Steps:

1. Ensure Site Tracking is installed. [learn more]
2. Login to ActiveCampaign.
3. Create a New Automation.
   1. Start from Scratch.
4. Select “Web page is visited”.

5. Enter the Web page URL you have designated to “mark” a particular interest. This URL is typically a sales page; however, it may also be a page on a specific topic or interest.

6. Add as many other “Starts” as makes sense. For example, if you have multiple pages on your site that signal interest in the same topic, product, or service – make sure you have all of them as starting points for this automation.
7. Select the little + icon, then “Contacts” and “Add tag”.

8. Enter in the name of your tag. I typically name mine “Interested In [X]” where [X] is the product/service name or topic.

9. Create a new automation with the “Start” being the tag you added while following steps 1-8. Make the automation do whatever you want, ie. send emails from different angles.

10. Make sure you make your automations active!

Conclusion

As you're well aware, email segmentation is incredibly powerful when it comes to increasing conversions and it should be implemented; however, it can become overwhelming very quickly if you don't have a strategy or plan to follow.

This is why I recommend focusing solely on Activity and Angles. Don't mess with demographics, dates, interests, etc. All that “stuff” can be summed up by the actions subscribers take.

By addressing what people look at and show an interest in, and then relating to those people based on how they think, research, and buy, you'll be able to convert more people into buyers than ever before!

Are you ready to start building sales funnels? Checkout The Sales Funnel Training Vault!

You hear it all the time now, “Text ‘Join' to 12345 to join our email list and get your free bonus!”

Sure, it sounds cool … a listener is driving along, listening to a podcast, when they hear the “text to join” spiel. All they have to do is grab their phone, create a new text to someone that's not a contact already, remember the word to text, remember the number to text, text it, get a reply asking for the email address, then text their email address.

Super, duper cool.

I think it's stupid.

Here are a few other reasons why I think this way:

1. It's 2 to 3 steps

As previously stated – the new subscriber has to send at least 2 texts to subscribe to the list. The first text is the keyword and the second one is their email address.

A 3rd step can enter the scene if the list is double opt-in.

That's a lot of steps you're asking of someone while they're listening to a podcast.

2. It's 2 different mediums

Texting is one form of communication while email is another. When you want someone to join your email list … why in the world would they also have to text you?

When you ask people to switch between mediums – some people aren't going to make the jump.

3. It costs more money

You're already spending money on an autoresponder service, now you have to spend money on a “text to join” plan … roughly $20/mo average.

Sure, it makes sense if it pays for itself; however … what if it doesn't?

4. You're stuck with the keyword you pick

Let's say you have the keyword ‘Join'. That's the word people text to the number of your “text to join” service. What happens if you decide you don't like that word. Or, maybe you want another word for a different email list.

Too bad. It's going to cost you extra – or, you won't be able to do it.

A Better Way

Yup, there is a better way! And it …

• Is one step
• Is all the same medium
• Is free
• Allows you to connect as many keywords to as many lists as you want

I'm about to show you one way to do it – if this way does not match your setup – still read through it to understand the concept … because no matter what your setup is, you'll be able to implement this if you understand the concept.

What You'll Need

• A domain registar (I'll be using NameCheap, but all registrars have something similar)
• An autoresponder service (I'll be using Aweber, but all autoresponder services have something similar)

Step 1: Get List's Email Address

The first thing you'll need to find is the email list you want people to subscribe to's private email address.

Aweber uses the “Unique List ID” and it looks like this:

Find it, copy it, open your domain registar.

Step 2: Setup Email Forward

I'm using NameCheap; however, all registrars allow you to forward emails – you just need to figure out where those features are.

All you need to do is setup your email forward with whatever keyword you want (ie. join) and add the Aweber List Email Address as the Destination Email.

Save Changes and test it out.

Step 3: Test

Send a blank email to the email forwarding address you just setup (ie. join@bodybynate.com).

Make sure you get your Welcome Email:

It works!

That's literally all you have to do.

Advertise It!

Now, instead of saying, “Text ‘Join' to 12345 to join our email list and get your free bonus!” all you'll have to say is “Send a blank email to join@bodybynate.com for your free bonus”.

Much easier for subscribers to remember, less steps, same medium, and it's free … do you now see why I say, “Texting to join an email list is stupid”?