If you’re looking to shift your focus to email marketing, you’ve probably heard of AWeber. With tens of millions of users and an incredibly straightforward and easy-to-use interface, AWeber is one of the most popular solutions for established e-commerce stores that want to get their feet wet with email marketing.
Whether you choose the free version or the premium version, AWeber is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a quick and easy way to get started building their email marketing lists. And if you’ve been using AWeber for a while, it’s the perfect time to transition to a more complex email marketing tool.
But if you’re looking to take your email marketing further than AWeber lets you, you might find yourself stuck without a data file. Luckily, there’s an easy way to transfer your AWeber data to your preferred email marketing platform: Active Campaign. Using the exact same login credentials you’ve been using in AWeber, you can carry over all of your email lists and email campaigns in no time.
What is Active Campaign?
Active Campaign is a robust, all-in-one email marketing suite that can handle all of the technicalities of marketing and sales emails for you. Compatible with all major email platforms, including Gmail, Hotmail, and Outlook.com, Active Campaign lets you create and send emails to customers that match the overall design and branding of your site. In addition to sending out automated emails based on your preferences, you can also create webinars and send out drip emails to remind your audience of upcoming events or releases.
Plus, with the click of a button, you can import all of your AWeber contacts and email lists into Active Campaign. So even if you’ve been using AWeber for years and have thousands of subscribers, moving them to Active Campaign is as easy as clicking a button.
Why Should You Try Active Campaign?
If you’re looking for an all-in-one email marketing solution that can grow with you as you grow, then Active Campaign is the perfect choice. Not only does it come with all of the standard email marketing features you’d expect, but it also offers a robust suite of marketing tools that can help you grow your business.
In addition to the standard features, such as the ability to build and send fully automated email campaigns or webinars, Active Campaign offers a robust analytics tool that tracks opens, clicks, bounce rates, and more. You can also use this tool to get in touch with your audience through automated emails to follow up on interest or to answer questions.
How to Import AWeber Data into Active Campaign
So you’ve decided to make the switch to email marketing and are looking for a tool to help you take your first step. You’ve been using AWeber for years and have thousands of subscribers on your lists. It’s time to bring them all over to your new platform, which can be a bit overwhelming. Luckily for you, we’re here to help with the process of importing your AWeber data into Active Campaign. Let’s get started.
On the Getting Started tab of your Active Campaign account, you’ll want to click on the Get Started button. This will take you to the Import tab, where you can choose to import your AWeber contacts or email lists. Keep in mind: both options require you to have a paid account on AWeber.
If you choose to import your contacts, you’ll see a button below the input box that reads, “I have a list with thousands of contacts. What should I do?”
Simply click on this button and you’ll be taken to a screen that will guide you through the process of creating an Import file.
Go through the process of creating an Import file and when you’re done, a new window will appear with your imported contacts.
Why Should You Use An Import File and Not a SQL Database?
If you’ve decided to go the route of importing your contacts, there’s a good reason why you should: SQL databases are great for storing large amounts of data, but they’re slow and have a lot of restrictions when it comes to importing and exporting data. For instance, if you use SQL to store your contacts, you’ll have to either choose to use SQL’s own CSV import feature or use a third party tool to do the importing for you. While this is possible, it’s generally best to avoid using SQL as a back-end storage if you’re planning on using contacts for your email campaigns.
On the other hand, the Import file can be used to quickly import all of your contacts into your Active Campaign account. Creating an Import file is an easy process and can be done in the same way you would create a CSV file, with the exception of one line of code. Once you’ve done this, you can go back and forth between your SQL database and your Import file as you see fit. When using an Import file, you can also take advantage of Active Campaign’s many features, including A/B testing and list segmentation. Once you’ve started using the Import file, it’s very difficult to go back to SQL as your contact storage solution. Not only is it much faster, but you also have more control over what ends up on your list.
How to Create a Marketing Plan
After you’ve decided to make the switch to email marketing and chosen the tool that is right for you, it’s time to put your plan into action. Before you get started, you’ll want to take a few minutes to think about your strategy and create a rough marketing plan.
The first step in creating your plan is to set a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely) goal. Something that is SMART is easy to define, measure, and achieve. So if you’re looking for a way to quickly get started, choose a goal that can be easily accomplished. For example, if you’re looking to grow your email list, choose a goal such as adding 500 subscribers in the next 30 days.
Now that you have a SMART goal in mind, you can move on to the next step: setting a milestone. A milestone is a specific and measurable part of your plan that you can use to determine whether or not you’ve successfully completed your goal. For example, let’s say your goal is to increase email subscribers by 5% in the next 30 days. Your milestone for this goal would be to add 500 new subscribers in the next 30 days.
Once you’ve set your milestone, it’s time to move on to the last step of your plan: reviewing and evaluating. This is simply a step you’ve got to take before you can determine whether or not you’ve achieved your goal. To start, go back to the previous step and evaluate your goal. Did you achieve it? If not, why not? Looking at your goal objectively, did you meet it? Was it SMART? Evaluating your goal will help you determine where you went right and where you need to improve.
When you’ve finished your review and evaluation of your goal, it’s time to move on to the next step. Where did you go wrong? Were there any adjustments needed? Did you meet your goal? If not, how do you plan on achieving it?
Taking the time to plan out your strategy ahead of starting can help you avoid a lot of turmoil down the road. So take a few minutes today and put a plan in place.