By now, we all know how important it is to build an email list, but no one mentions that it’s even more important to utilize the methods within your email service provider to properly track the interests and interactions of each person subscribed to your list..

So, I’m going to break down the core features of ConvertKit – some of these features can also be applied to other email service providers such as MailerLite and MailChimp.

Let’s start with the most basic feature – tags and segments.

You probably have a vague understanding of what these are, but are lost on how to create and implement them into your strategy from the get-go. And I’m sure you’d like to learn the power of using them before you start seeing high unsubscribe rates on what you thought would be the perfect piece of content to send your audience.

The two main ways to keep your list organized and know exactly where each subscriber stands is by using tags and segments.

Grow Your Business with Tags and Segments

Growing an online business doesn’t happen overnight.

And it definitely won’t happen if your walls are covered in sticky notes while you’re trying to keep track of who got what and what goes where.

You need to create an organized system in the beginning to keep you on track.

If you want to effectively market your business to keep the dollar bills rolling in, you need a system that allows you to keep track of your potential clients, current clients, general leads, and product customers all in a single location.

This is the core aspect of having a successful business.

And you can do all of this rather easily with the tags and segments option provided in ConvertKit.

This also means you can see higher conversion rates with smaller lists and build your business #likeaboss without having to send out generic email blasts that no one opens anyways.

How to Use Tags

Personally, I like to use tags to track individual actions.

For instance, let’s say someone books a discovery call – I’ll use a tag to track them on my list to see if they move towards becoming a paying client.

You can also create tag labels that are interest-based. If you offer multiple categories or products on your site, you’ll want to track who’s interested in what.

Let’s say I offer a freebie about designing graphics for social media posts and someone downloads the free graphic – they’ll be tagged as interested in graphic design and social media.

It probably wouldn’t make much sense to send them anything specific to web design since they’re most likely not doing their own web design and probably aren’t interested in it.

In order to really get the most out of your tags, you’ll have to think about your end game – your big paid product or service.

You’ll want to tag those that purchase these, so that you’re not still flooding them with promotional emails about them. It makes you seem unprofessional and could make them unsubscribe if they’re constantly getting emails about something they’ve already purchased.

You’ll also want to track anyone that is downloading your freebies that are directly related to your big ticket items, so you can monitor if they’re getting closer to becoming a paid client.

If they are, you can put them into an email sequence that will send out promotional pushes to move them towards becoming a paying customer. And if they’re not, you’ll be able to tell at what point you lost their interest or activity.

Even if you haven’t created your paid product yet, you’ll now have a list of those that are very interested in it and will be ready to purchase when you launch.

The simplest way to implement it is to use tags for single actions.

How to Use Segments

You probably have quite a few tags building up – and now you can group them together to quickly select a section of people at once using segments.

I put all of my paying clients and customers into a segment.

I know they’re more likely to open their wallets again, so they’re the first group that I go to when launching a new product – depending on the tags, of course.

I can grab a whole segment and then narrow it down more specifically with tags.

Now that I’ve zeroed in on a particular group of people, that email will see a much higher open and conversion rate than one that I just send out to a warm (or cold) audience.

If you’re managing multiple businesses and sequences with ConvertKit, segments can be used to keep them separate and organized. A major reason that I switched from MailChimp and MailerLite was the robust organizational system.

No matter how many lists, tags, segments, or whatever you want to call it, that I have – the subscriber only counts once.

How to Get the Most Out of ConvertKit

At this point, you could be wondering how you can get the most out of ConvertKit’s tag and segment system.

To keep it simple – use tags for single actions and segments for groups of actions.

For example, if you were a web designer and business coach, you’re offering two different services.

But there could be some overlap in clients, so you want to be sure that you’re not sending web design pitch emails to those that already have gorgeous sites and are looking to uplevel their business.

It helps to create a segment for each group. So, even if they have some of the same tags – such as interest in streamlining their creative business – you can be sure when you’re sending pitch emails to the right group.

You can also create content that’s more customized to their individual needs.

There’s no hard rule about selling the same product to different groups, but if you take the time to market to each specific group, you’ll see a higher conversion on that product rather than flooding their inboxes with cliche email blasts that aren’t relevant to the majority on your list.

To get the most out of the tags and segments, it does require starting with a system in place and managing everything before it gets too out of hand.

If you have a general idea of where your business is heading, plan out a roadmap, and create everything ahead of time to help you funnel subscribers in the right direction.

This is going to save you tons of time down the road when you’re trying to figure out why your unsubscribe and unopened rates are so high.