by Amber Miller | Feb 6, 2018 | Infusionsoft
Infusionsoft is one of the top marketing automation software programs, and we love it! We’ve been working with Infusionsoft for years to help our clients leverage it to make a big difference in their businesses. So, we know all of Infusionsoft’s hidden features, inside and out.
But…we’ve also discovered that many of the new clients are not using even half of the features that Infusionsoft offers. That makes us sad. ☹
It would be like going to Thanksgiving dinner and only eating turkey. How could you miss out on the stuffing and mashed potatoes?!
Today we thought we’d share just a few of Infusionsoft’s hidden features to save you time.
Feature #1: Expiring Credit Card Automation
If you have any type of payment plans or recurring subscriptions, this feature will save you a lot of time chasing failed payments.
Simply head over to the Ecommerce, Settings, and then select Billing Automation. From there you can select the trigger: “When a credit card is going to expire.” Then you can set up an email that will automatically be sent to someone BEFORE their credit card expires. You can set up several reminders too. A lot of our clients like to send reminders out 30 days, 14 days, and 7 days in advance. If you like a more personal touch, set up a task for you (or a team member) to call your client to collect their new credit card.
.For step-by-step directions, go here, or delegate it to the Smart to Finish Team.
Feature #2: Lead Sources
This may just be the most underutilized feature in Infusionsoft, but it’s also one of the most valuable. Don’t you want to know where your new leads and clients come from? If so, then you need to start using Lead Sources. You can use Lead Sources on your opt-in forms and then use different forms based on where you are promoting the opt-in. For example, you can have a Facebook opt-in, an email opt-in, etc. Then, you can review your lead source results to see exactly what source is providing you with the best results. Now you’ll know what channels are working best for you and your business.
Read more and learn how to set up lead sources here, or contact us and we’ll do it for you.
Feature #3: Note Templates & Internal Forms
If you are serious about automation, these are two features that can really free up your time. You can use Note Templates to take care of repetitive tasks. For example, set up a Note Template after a strategy call with a prospective client you want to remember to call back in a week or send them a particular email. Then when you’re ready, select the template, and all the actions will be done for you. You can do this for questions your customer service team gets asked over and over again, and that can save you time and money.
Internal forms work in a similar way, but they also can update contact details for you. They update contacts with new information or even decisions your contacts need to make, like attending an event or scheduling a phone call with you. This is also a great tool for adding new contacts and making sure they get the right tags and follow-up emails. Just a few clicks, and your records are all updated quickly and easily.
Learn more about Note Templates here and internal forms here, but since we’re talking about automation, the best way is to get the Smart to Finish Team to implement these time-savers for you.
If you’re ready to use Infusionsoft’s hidden features to make a big difference in your business and your life (by saving you time), contact us, and we’ll help you get started.
by Amber Miller | Jan 5, 2018 | Infusionsoft
Are you ready to start 2018 off with more time and more money? The Infusionsoft mobile app will help you achieve these New Years’ resolutions easily, all without being tethered to your desk. How cool is that?
I know, you’re probably thinking, another app – ugh! I get it! You have a million software programs and apps, but this one will do the work of many for you.
The Infusionsoft mobile app will help you stay organized, connected with your community, make more sales and…it’s FREE for 12 months! Amazing! It’s still in beta version, so grab it now while you can and benefit from all the future updates.
All you have to do is sign up, connect your business email accounts, and you’re off and running.
The key feature of this new app is that is makes contact follow-up a breeze. This app makes it easy to:
- Get back to someone about a coaching call or a speaking opportunity
- See if they’re ready to make that purchase
- Answer a general question
I know what you’re thinking – doesn’t email do that already? Nope, not like this.
The Infusionsoft mobile app identifies all of the interactions you have with clients or new leads from all of the apps you use, such as your Gmail accounts, Yahoo email, Mac email, QuickBooks, and organizes them all in ONE place!
The app lets you know when you need to follow up AND even provides recommended responses for you. It’s like having one of the Smart to Finish Team on your phone. 😉
If you know you want to check back with someone at a later time, you can schedule an email for a later time and date. If you need to change the reply later, you can do that too. This app is great because it lets you stay on top of everything and will help your community feel the love.
You can also set reminders about important dates, track invoice due dates, payments received (or not – yuck!), and set up automated follow-ups about these items. It’s just another way to automate your business and your life.
The Infusionsoft app is still in beta test mode, so you may see a glitch or two. But it’s free and totally worth a look. We love Infusionsoft because they are constantly innovating and releasing new and better ways to help you make the most of marketing automation.
Another piece of Infusionsoft news – no user conference this year. Some folks were disappointed, but I think it’s GREAT news because they’ve committed to focus all of their resources on improving their flagship Infusionsoft product. They also want to build out more resources like the new Infusionsoft app to ensure they are truly focused, like the Smart to Finish Team is on helping small businesses succeed.
Ready to learn more about the new Infusionsoft app, or need help with your Infusionsoft account? My team of experts is standing by to help you make the most of your Infusionsoft account in 2018 – contact us to get started.
by Amber Miller | Dec 7, 2017 | Infusionsoft, Marketing
Did that get your attention? I hope so because keeping your email list clean is a very important topic related to Infusionsoft. However, the tips below also apply to ANY email marketing software.
What is throttling anyway? If you use Infusionsoft and upload a new contact list, the system will place a temporary hold (aka throttle) those new emails when you send your first message.
In a nutshell, Infusionsoft will send out your emails slowly to minimize SPAM complaints against their email servers. You may have been emailing these contacts from another system, but they are new to Infusionsoft. So any time you import a new contact list, throttling will occur. Throttling also happens if you haven’t emailed your list in 4 months or longer – see more on this below.
Infusionsoft will send your email to a portion of your list during a 16-hour throttling period. If the complaint level stays below the .1% rate (or 1 spam complaints out of 1000 for cold emails per email/internet service provider) during the throttle, the rest of the emails in the batch will be sent. Once the cold emails are sent, a full 24 hours is needed after the end time on the email for the list to be considered warm. For example, you send an email at 5 PM EST to cold emails, the list will be considered warm after 5 PM EST the following day. You can read more about Infusionsoft’s cold email throttling policy here.
We hear a lot of people complain about the throttling practice, but it really is designed to protect the sender reputation for you, Infusionsoft and other Infusionsoft clients too. Think about it this way, if another Infusionsoft user uploaded a list that they didn’t have permission to email and sent out thousands of emails to people who all view the message as spam, this not only affects them, it affects how all of those email systems view emails coming from Infusionsoft. For example, Gmail could see that thousands of people are marking emails coming from Infusionsoft as Spam and put a negative rating on Infusionsoft. What does that mean for you? Well, it could cause you to have your emails to be rejected by Gmail in the future – OUCH!
That’s why cold email throttling matters.
So, what do you do about it?
1. Email Your List Regularly!
A key component of digital marketing is to establish a relationship with your customers and leads. You can only do that by regularly communicating with them. Don’t wait until you want to sell something to email your list, keep in touch regularly. Send out a weekly update, set up nurturing sequences to keep people engaged after they opt-in for one of your products, share your thoughts on current events and how they relate to your niche, just keep in touch! This will help you avoid email throttling and ensure that when you have your next product launch your list is primed to buy.
Also, if you are using another email system and importing those contacts into Infusionsoft, they will be much less likely to mark your emails as Spam because they are use to seeing updates from you.
2. Keep Your List Clean:
No matter where your list is housed, you need to regularly perform list hygiene. You should ensure that your list is current, engaged, and deliverable. Do a regular cleanup and remove hard bounces, put people who haven’t opened an email in the past 6-months through a re-engagement campaign, and consider either removing or segmenting people out who haven’t opened in an email in 12 months or longer. I know it’s tough to delete contacts, but the number of contacts means nothing if people aren’t reading your emails. Engagement is the metric to look at, not the number of people on the list. If you keep your email list clean, if you move to a new email provider (like Infusionsoft!), you’ll have a much easier time importing your list and a less likely chance of having any issues.
3. Your first message should not be time sensitive.
If you are importing a new email list into Infusionsoft, plan ahead so that the first email you send out is not time sensitive. You may want to just send an email out letting your list know you’ve moved to a new system, give them a free gift, and let them know about any other changes you made, too (like rebranding). That way they won’t be surprised to see a different email from you and be less likely to mark it as spam.
If you keep your email list up to date, regularly communicate with them, and your first email from Infusionsoft is not time sensitive, you’ll avoid all of the cold email throttling pitfalls. There are workarounds out there to avoid the throttling or lessen its impact. However, like with any work-around they are not ideal methods. Following the above steps will ensure your sender reputation remains pristine.
For more advice on list maintenance, setting up your Infusionsoft account or for ongoing Infusionsoft support, contact the Smart to Finish Team. Our Infusionsoft experts are standing by to help.
by Amber Miller | Nov 22, 2017 | Infusionsoft
You did it – you up-leveled your email marketing software, and have your shiny new Infusionsoft account. Or…you’ve had your Infusionsoft account for a while, and you’re ready to really get it working for you. So, what’s next? Do you jump in and start setting up products, creating campaigns, building landing pages, designing email templates and go for it? The short answer – NO!
Like anything else in business, you need to PLAN AHEAD and set up Infusionsoft so it works for YOUR business. If you don’t think about how you want to maintain your Infusionsoft account and how you will actually use the data, you could wind up with a mess later on.
Consider these 3 tips to avoid an Infusionsoft catastrophe:
1. Think about the future.
It’s time to change your mindset from working with your old CRM. Infusionsoft isn’t just about entering data today –i t’s about how to use the data collected today for ongoing marketing and automation. This means taking a look at your entire marketing process, or as Infusionsoft calls it — Lifecycle Marketing. You want to map out what this looks like for your business, see if you have any gaps and then you’ll know what you really need.
2. Be methodical with your setup.
An organized Infusionsoft account makes for a happy Infusionsoft user. Take time before you start importing lists and building out campaigns to consider how you want to organize your tags, your campaigns, what product categories you want, etc. The time you spend in the beginning will be so helpful down the road.
For example, if you use tags to kick-off any type of automation, you’ll want a way to easily see this. You may not remember in 6 months that if you apply the tag: “New Prospect” the person automatically receives a welcome email. So when you or your assistant run a report later and see some contacts without the tag, you apply it. But…they aren’t really new and don’t need the welcome email. Uh-oh….now you have a few hundred confused contacts.
PRO TIP: Use “Automation” as a tag category, and you’ll be able to see at-a-glance which tags make stuff happen. The effort to organize is worth it – you’ll thank me later.
3. Ask for help.
Infusionsoft has a User Forum, Help Center, Facebook Group, and more that you can access for free to get support when you’re stuck. You can also work with a team (like us!) that can guide you through setting up your new Infusionsoft account, organizing your existing account or even doing an audit to recommend ways you can improve how you’re using Infusionsoft. Don’t be afraid to ask for support. We were all new once and love to help. Asking for advice now can save you a lot of time later.
Create your Infusionsoft strategy now to save yourself frustration and a potential catastrophe later. Use the tips above and check out other Infusionsoft articles and resource from the blog to guide you along the way, and reach out for expert support.
![Create Amazing Infusionsoft Landing Pages [VIDEO]](https://smarttofinish.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/rsz_1923389-2-1080x675.jpg)
by Amber Miller | Oct 26, 2017 | Infusionsoft, Infusionsoft training
It’s here! The new Infusionsoft Landing Page Builder is here, and I think you’re going to LOVE it. There are templates, stock images, a ton of customization options, and so much more. Watch the video below to learn how to create Infusionsoft landing pages and see some of the options in actions.
If you’re ready to implement Infusionsoft Landing Pages for your business, contact the Smart to Finish Team.
Need more Infusionsoft tips? You might also like these articles:
by Amber Miller | Oct 12, 2017 | Infusionsoft
If you are using Infusionsoft to automate your marketing, you may know that there is a huge assortment of add-ons and tools that can make Infusionsoft work even better for your business. Our clients ask for our recommendations all the time, and I’m sharing my five top Infusionsoft apps with you today:
If you want to customize the look and feel of your Infusionsoft order forms without having to write any code, Spiffy is the solution. Here are some of my favorite features:
- It works with your existing Infusionsoft order forms.
- It has a ton of customization options.
- You don’t have to worry about any hard-to-implement integrations.
All forms are mobile-ready, and if you can copy/paste a hyperlink, that’s all it takes to get your forms looking great. Some of the options include: a mobile-friendly keypad for entering card numbers quickly and easily, ability to customize your browser icon and meta title, an option to add a link to your Terms & Conditions without having to use any code(!), an easy way to change the size of your payment buttons making them big and sleek, and so much more.
Infusionsoft has a free plugin that connects WordPress directly to Infusionsoft. With the plugin, anytime a user fills out your opt-in form on WordPress, they’ll automatically be added into Infusionsoft. Then, any automation campaigns you’ve set up will run. You can install the plugin directly inside of WordPress with just a few clicks. The plugin makes it easy to kick-off sequences like thank you emails, triggered phone calls, newsletter delivery, and drip nurture campaigns. You can read our full review and see a step-by-step guide here.
With Zapier you can create powerful, automated workflows without writing or even understanding any code. Zapier connects the other software systems you use and updates your Infusionsoft contacts so you don’t have to waste time copying/pasting data from one system to another. It’s easy to set-up a “zap” and sync data between your systems.
You can connect hundreds of other software sites using a zap such as:
- GoToWebinar
- Google Calendar
- DropBox
- Slack
- QuickBooks
- Facebook ads
- ZenDesk
- SurveyMonkey
And there are many more, too. Imagine entering data on a Google Sheet and having that data automatically update an Infusionsoft contact, apply a tag to that record, and then kick-off a campaign! That’s just one example; the possibilities to streamline your workflow are endless.
Similar to Zapier, MyFusion Helper is a collection of 50+ Helper applets to extend the capabilities of Infusionsoft. They integrate with systems like DropBox, Trello, Excel (plus many others!) and have some really cool date and formatting functions you can use. A great example of this is related to product refunds. If you have a 30-day refund policy, you can add a date helper that will calculate when the 30-day refund time period is over. Then, it will set up internal practices on how to handle refunds outside of this time period.
Another helper that I absolutely love is Email Validate It. Today more than ever, email deliverability is vitally important. The Email Validate It Helper makes sure that the email the user typed in is valid. Many times people make small typos that cause emails to bounce. The Email Validate It Helper finds those mistakes, flags them, and even finds other root issues or potential problems with the email itself.
There are also helpers that integrate with Vimeo and Wistia that allow you apply a tag based on how long someone watches you video. What’s great is that with one small monthly fee, you get access to ALL of the helpers – with no limits! Not sure if it’s right for you? There’s a FREE 30-day trial!
Wicked Reports transforms your Infusionsoft data into clear, actionable information. You can easily see the following information:
- Which emails make sales
- The best time to send your emails
- Which Facebook ads provide leads that turn into your best customers
- The entire click journey of a customer in an easy to read display
In addition to showing you Infusionsoft data, Wicked Reports syncs data between Facebook ads, Google Adwords, Google Analytics, and Infusionsoft so everything is in one place. There’s no need to create Excel reports and manually enter data. Understanding how your marketing is actually working is the first step to taking your business to the next level, and Wicked Reports makes that easy.
If you’re ready to take get the most out of your Infusionsoft app, or even get started with marketing automation, contact the Smart to Finish Team. Our Infusionsoft experts are standing by to help!
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