1.2. Grow your email lists with a double opt-in acquisition strategy

In this lesson, you’ll learn about and implement the second part of the workflow containing the acquisition strategy for your newsletter with double opt-in subscription. 

Double opt-in is the optimal subscription model for your email lists, which will help give you have a solid and refined database. With Connectif you can create a contact acquisition workflow with double confirmation of the subscription, to grow and improve your email lists with a single strategy. 

 

Before we begin: recap

In the previous lesson we established the first part of this strategy, which shows a popup on your website inviting your visitors to subscribe to your newsletter. 

 

Lesson summary 

In this lesson, you’ll learn about:

• The “On form submission” node, to respond when a contact registers on your website.
• The "Set field" node, to modify your contact fields via a workflow.
• The "Send email" node, to send a transactional email.
• How to create an email in Connectif using the email editor.
• How to create and add variables to your content.
• How to use the predefined links in an email.

At the end of the lesson, you will have created in your account:

Part two of the acquisition strategy, through which you’ll update the contact file and respond to your subscription form popping up (created in the previous lesson) in two ways:

1. With a reminder popup in which you’ll ask the contact to confirm their subscription via email.
2. With the email itself, which will contain the subscription confirmation link. 

 

Strategy configuration

Access the workflow where you created the first part of this strategy. Click Workflows and find the workflow you created with the name "Double opt-in" (or whatever name you chose).

STEP 6. “On form submission” node

How the “On form submission” node works

This node is used to respond when a contact confirms their submission of a completed form.

In the node interface, you can configure if it will be triggered when any form is sent, or a specific one. In addition, you can filter by the URL where the form is located.

How to configure the “On form submission” node for this strategy

(This node will detect the moment at which a contact submits the subscription popup form and lead on to the next action, which will be the "Set field" node).

37. In the node selection menu, go to Triggers > Web" and drag the "On form submission” node into the editor so that it connects to the "Start" node.

38. In the  “On form submission” node, click (Edit node settings).

39. Click One specific form. 

40. Next, select the form shown in the newsletter subscription popup that you created in the previous lesson.

41. In the Limitations tab, uncheck the "Deactivate after triggering" box.

42. Click  Update.

STEP 7. “Set field” node

How the "Set field" node works

This node is used to save or modify information in the contact file.

In the node interface, the new information obtained during the workflow (left column) is linked to the existing contact fields (right column). This node also allows you to assign literal values to add or update the field information with a fixed value defined by the user (for example, assign a specific score to all contacts in a workflow).

How to configure the "Set field" node for this strategy

(This node will record the information obtained in the popup form).

43. In the node selection menu, go to "Actions > Contact" and drag the "Set field" node into the editor so that it connects to the “On form submission” node.

44. Click  (Edit node settings) for the “Set field” node.

45. Drag the "Name" field, with the data source being the "On form submission" node, from the left column to the middle block, so that it matches the "Name" field in the right column. You can find it through the list of fields or enter it in the search engine to locate it, as shown in the example. Under Operator, select "Assign". 

46. Click  Update.

STEP 8. “Send email” node

How the "Send email" node works

This node is used to send an email to contacts that arrive at that part of the workflow. In the node interface, all aspects of the message to be sent and its recipients are configured in steps:

• Email template configuration. To select a previously created email or configure a new one in the email editor.
• Node configuration. To configure how it will be sent:
  • Send to. To choose among Contacts, and send that email to users whose "Email status" is "Active", or select Specific email and manually indicate which email addresses will receive all the emails to be sent.
  • o Selecting the type of email. To choose if the email will be Transactional and sent to all contacts, or Newsletterand sent to users whose "Newsletter status" is "Subscribed".
  • Parameters. To set the Email subject, the Source name, the Source email and the Reply email.
• Configuration of fields and values. To assign or modify the values of the email variables.
• Google Analytics. To establish the tracking parameters of Google Analytics in the email.

 

How the email editor works 

Connectif’s Email editor enables you to responsively personalize the email content you send to clients from your account, using workflows.

The email editor has a drag-and-drop design to give you a quick, easy and very visual way to build your emails.

How to configure the email for this strategy

(In this step, you will create the email so that contacts can confirm their subscription to the newsletter).

47. In the node selection menu, go to "Actions > Email" and drag the "Send email" node to the editor, connecting it to the "Set field" node.

48. Click on   (Edit node configuration). Click on  Create new content to create a new email.

49. When creating a new email, in the Tools panel, click on the General tab to edit the general appearance parameters of your email.

• In Name, identify the name of your email.
• In Colors, define the background color of the content and general background color.
• In Text, define the default font for the email text.
• In Summary, indicate what will appear to the customer in the email preview after the subject.

• In HTML Options, configure the general style based on CSS and HTML styles.

50. Click on the Components tab to access the options for creating and designing your email.

• In Structure, choose the layout that best suits your needs. If not included, a single-column structure will be used by default.

• In Elements, add the functional content pieces to build your email design. The available elements are: "Text", "Image", "Button", "Social", "Divider", "Space", "Product", "HTML", "View in browser", and "Footer". In this example, we will add an introductory text field for our form.

51. Once the elements are added, edit them to configure your email: 

• In "Text", write your text with rich formatting (bold, italics, links…), insert dynamic variables or modify their placement in the inserted block.
• In "Image", paste the image URL to include it in your email if it is already published on the Internet. To upload it from your device, click on  Upload image and select the file in the pop-up window. When uploaded, the image URL will be set automatically.

• In "Button", define the text that will appear on your button, the ‘title’ attribute, select the text and background colors and adjust the placement within the block. To add the subscription confirmation link to the newsletter, click on   (Predefined link) and select the option "Confirm newsletter subscription", so that it includes the predefined link that will update the newsletter subscription status, both in Connectif and in the eCommerce.

• (Optional). In "Social", choose the social networks you want to include and modify the link URL, as well as the placement within the block.
• In "View in browser", insert predefined text to add a link that allows viewing the email content in a browser window. The link is always “#__cn_view_in_browser” and is set by default. You can access its configuration through the  Insert/Edit link option in the editor.

• In "Footer", insert a footer in your email, where you can specify your company's information and provide the customer with the option to unsubscribe or forward an email. The “Unsubscribe” link must always be present in newsletter-type emails and must always be “#__cn_unsubscribe”.

52. (Optional). If you have added variables, review and edit them to ensure how the content is displayed to your contacts:

• Add or select in your design the component where you want to create a new variable and click on  (Edit element). In this example, we will add the variable to the text field to personalize the email with the contact's name.
• In the editor, click on Variables.

• Assign an identifier to the variable to distinguish it. In this example, we will assign the identifier "Name".
• In Default value, add the value you want the variable to acquire when there is no data stored in the corresponding field. In this example, we will assign the default value "Hello".
• Click on  Accept to save the changes to the variable.

53. Click on   (Preview) to review and save the final result of your email in desktop and/or mobile versions.

54. (Optional). Click on  (Send preview email) to receive a test email at the selected address and review how the client will receive it.

55. Click on  Save to save the changes to the design and on   to finish configuring the node.

 

How to configure the "Send email" node for this strategy

(This node will send the email you just created to the contact to confirm their newsletter subscription).

56. Once you’ve selected the email you just created, click Next .

57. In the Send to section, select "Contact". 

58. Indicate the "Transactional" type of email.

59. Configure the "Send to contact" parameters section with the sender and the reply email information.

60. Under Google Analytics, click "Enable Google Analytics" then Next  .

61. (Optional). If you’ve created variables for your content, link them to the Connectif fields by selecting the corresponding field from the left column and assigning it to the variable. In this example, the "Name" field will be the one that gives value to the "Name" variable, which is used in both the subject and the body of the email. 

62. Under Limitations, uncheck the "Limit per contact".

63. Click Update .

STEP 9. Second “Send web content” node

How to create the popup for this strategy

(In this step you’ll create the popup that will confirm submission of the form that you created in the previous lesson).

64. In the node selection menu, go to "Actions > Web" and drag the  "Send web content" node into the editor so that it connects to the "On form submission" node.

65. Click  (Edit node settings) of the "Send web content" node and  Create new content to generate new content.

66. When creating new web content, select Popup as the type, give it a name, and click    Create web content.

67. In the Generaltab, edit the parameters of the general appearance of your popup.

68. On the Components tab, set up the layout and add the elements you want to your popup by clicking and dragging them into the editor.

69. Once created, click  Save and   Back to selector to finish configuring the node.

How to configure the "Send web content" node for this strategy

(This node will show the popup you’ve just created to contacts who have submitted the form).

70. Once you’ve selected the popup you just created, click Next   twice.

71. Click Update .

Result

After completing these steps, you will have established the second part of this strategy – a popup confirming submission of the form will be shown on your website to contacts who have filled it out, in addition to them receiving the email to validate their subscription. Remember that this is one part of the strategy, so you’ll need to move on to the next lesson to complete it.

 

Continue your tour

Now that you've completed this lesson, finish setting up this strategy in your account by completing the steps in the next article. 

 

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Related reading

If you want to dive deeper into any of the topics covered in this lesson, you can access the guide documentation:

• Email editor, to learn more about how to create your emails in Connectif.
• What are variables and how to use them, to make the most of these when you create your content.