(AF-1) Creating Targeted Mailing Lists

One of the benefits of having your contact database and event management system combined is that you can very easily create highly targeted mailing lists to increase your sales.

For example, if you run activities at three different levels, then you have the potential to find and invite all those who have attended level 1 to your next level 2 activity, maybe offering them a discount for their loyalty.

All of this is possible with Workshop Angel, and in this lesson we will look at how to create that level of organisation when you define your activities.

Activity Tags and Types

So to achieve these goals, we need a flexible way to label activities to be of a particular kind.

This is done by having two types of labels which you can define to suit how your business works...

Types

A single activity can have just one Type. For this reason, it is best to define Types as labels that are mutually exclusive. The idea of Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 is a good example, as an activity is unlikely to be at two levels at the same time. Another example may be Yoga, Dance, and Meditation if you offer these three different types of activities.

Tags

A single activity can have more than one Tag. For this reason, use tags to label aspects of your activities which may not be mutually exclusive, or several different aspects at the same time.

For example, if you have activity Types of Yoga, Dance, and Meditation, you may have activity Tags of:

• Level 1, Level 2, Level 3

• Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

• Retreat, Couples, Taster

• Teacher Jane, Teacher John, Teacher Julia.

Demonstration Tags and Types

When you create your user account, a set of demonstration activity Types and Tags are created, which are:

• Types: Retreat, Couples, Taster

• Tags: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Activity Regions

You may find that you work in some very different geographical regions, and that attendees of your activities in one region would be very unlikely to attend your activities held elsewhere.

To take this possibility into account, Workshop Angel has the concept of an Activity Region, to label which region and activity was held in.

To demonstrate this possibility, the app comes with two pre-defined demonstration activity Regions, North, South and Spain.

How to Assign Tags, Types and Regions to an Activity

To assign these labels:

• Go to Activities - Define Activities, then select the [Organisation] tab for the activity

To assign an activity type:

• Click in the Activity user defined type field

• Select one of the options

• Click on [Save]

To assign an activity tag: or region:

• Set one or more value you have previously defined in the Activity tags or Activity regions field

• Click on [Save]

To remove an activity tag or region:

• Click on the X part of the listed tag.

• Click on [Save]

How to Define New Types, Tags, Regions

There is a complete lesson on how to define and manage the values for these fields, which is lesson AF-13.

Searching for Contacts Based on Activity Labels

To create and use a list of contacts based on these Types and Tags, follow the instructions we discuss in lesson MC-2.

Sending Your Mailings

There are two ways you can send out your mailings - either from within Workshop Angel, or using an external mailing system such as Mailchimp.

The advantages and disadvantages of these approaches is discussed in lesson MC-5.

Sending From Workshop Angel

This is the easiest method, as everything is integrated here in the app. Once you have created your contact list from your search criteria, all you need to do is click on [Send Message] and follow the instructions in lesson DM-7 to send your mailing.

The disadvantage is that you do not have any of the tracking tools available to see how your mailing has been received, and you have less sophisticated tools for creating the graphic design of the mailing.

Sending From an External Mailing System

This will be your best option if you use an external system already and are familiar with how it works.

To work this way, you will be best to export your email list from Workshop Angel using the [Email List] button in the contacts area. See lesson MC-3 for how to do this.

Summary

We have seen how you can categorise your activities by three types of labels: Types, Tags and Regions. We have pointed you to details of how to use these labels to create highly targeted mailing lists that can help to increase your business.

We've looked at the pros and cons of using Workshop Angel or an external system to send your mailings, and how you are best to manage mailing list permissions.

We also discussed the idea of offering clients a discount in such a mailing. This concept of Discount Codes is what we will now discuss in the next lesson AF-2.