This tutorial builds upon the Email Marketing with Podio and ConvertKit: The Basic Process tutorial that I recently posted. That tutorial convered the basic setup of Podio, Zapier and ConvertKit to get a basic process for adding new subscribers to an email sequence.
While it is great to have a process that automatically adds a lead to a specific sequence, it is even better to be able to select from a list of sequences. Each lead is different, and should be assigned to an email sequence that better aligns with their needs.
This tutorial will add the following to the process…
- Ability to select from a list of multiple sequences in Podio
- A log field to help keep track of what is happening
Here is a demonstration of what the final process will look like.
What you will Need
Before you get started with this tutorial there are a few things you will need if you don’t have them already. This is a little redundant for those coming from my previous tutorial, but just in case you found this post first I wanted to include this.
Podio Account
You probably already have one of these accounts if you are on my website, but just in case you can signup for one at the link below.
Unfortunately Podio has recently adjusted their free accounts to 500 records or less. You can start out there but I’m certain you will need to get a paid account down the road.
Cost: $9/mo
Get Podio Account
ConvertKit Account
This is the email marketing service that will be sending the email sequences to the leads. The service will cost you about $29/mo which is well worth it.
Cost: $29/mo
Get ConvertKit Account
Zapier Account
This is what allows Podio to communicate and pass information onto ConvertKit and Podio. Zapier has different pay tiers for account types, and for this tutorial you’ll need to signup for the Starter Account.
Sign up is free and gets you into the free trial of their premium features. Once signed up you’ll then have the option to upgrade to one of their Paid Accounts. Again the Starter is fine here.
Cost: $20/mo
Get Zapier Account
Previous Tutorial
This tutorial builds upon a previous post that I published a about a week ago. You won’t technically need to have finished it to implement the ideas in the post. However if you are new to Zapier and ConvertKit it will help your learning curve greatly.
Email Marketing with Podio and ConvertKit: The Basic Process
Podio Fields
In the previous tutorial this field was created with only the Podio – New Lead option. Now we are going to be updating this option with the tag id as well as adding 2 more options with their tag ids.
Field #1: Email Sequence (Category)
This field will list the Tags (and their Ids). These tags will link to the corresponding mailing sequence you want to assign a lead to. Each category option will have 2 bits of info (1) the Tag Name and (2) the Tag’s Id.
Field Label: Choose Email Sequence(s)
Settings: Single Choice; List
Options: <see below>
Podio New Lead – 600411
Response Follow Up – 740168
Sell House Quickly Info – 740169
The tag name is easy to get, however the Tag Id takes a little bit of digging. No worries though, I’ll show you exactly how to get it.
- Go to your ConvertKit Dashboard (click on subscribers if not already there.
- Scroll down until you see the TAGS area on the right side
- Hover your mouse over the tag you want the ID for.
- Look at the Status Bar at the bottom of your browser. The ID will be in this part ?subscribable_id=#########
Now we need to add the 3 options for the 3 Tags that we created for our different Mailing Sequences. What is important here is that the Tag Name does not contain any numbers. The reason for this is that the method we will use to pull the IDs for our selection will pull the numbers. So I like to have my Category Options setup like this…
Field #2: ConvertKit Log (text – multi-lined)
This field is going to be used to record the creation of the subscriber as well as which email sequences it has been added to. In the future this log will be used even more to record things such as unsubscribes and perhaps when emails are being sent.
Field Label: ConvertKit Log
Settings: Multi-Lined
ConvertKit Setup
What we need to do on the ConvertKit side of the process is to add 2 new email sequences and 2 new automations. Basically for each different email sequence you want to setup, you’ll need to have the following things…
- Sequence – The emails to be sent out and schedule
- Tag – This will be applied to the subscriber to trigger the automation
- Automation – This will assign the subscriber to the correct sequence based on the tag that is applied.
- Rules – These will remove a subscriber from a sequence when a tag is removed from a subscriber.
There is nothing complicated here, we are building off what we setup in the previous tutorial. So it is just duplicated what we already have 2 times and then making a tweak. The only part that isn’t quick or fun is coming up with the wording in the new emails.
The Email Sequences
In this tutorial we are going to have 3 email sequences that we can assign to a lead/subscriber. You can add as many as you like, you will just have to duplicate the steps for each sequence. Here are the 3 email sequence we will end up with.
Podio – New Lead. This is the sequence we already have from the previous tutorial. It’s designed to send out to new leads that are motivated and looking to get an offer on their house.
Podio – Sell House Quickly Info. This sequence is designed to be sent out to those prospects that kinda motivated but are kicking the tires. We want to send them information about selling quickly and the best ways to do it.
- 3 Advantages to Sell House Fast in New Jersey
- How does a cash home purchase work?
- 5 core questions to ask a cash home buyer
- Selling a House? What you need to know
Podio – Not Motivated. We want to use this sequence when we get someone who is not motivated at all just yet. Say they have 6 months or a year before they have to sell. These emails will be designed to help them with ways they can sell their house.
- Selling a House? What you need to know
- We Buy Houses Companies. Learn how to find an honest one
- How Costly Home Repairs are like a School Bully
- Here are 3 qualities to an honest home buyer
Adding Tags
Next thing we need to add are the 2 tags for the new sequences. Here are the steps to add the new tags.
Nothing special here, just go to the Subscribers dashboard, scroll down till you see the tag area.
- Navigate to Subscribers Dashboard
- Scroll down to the Tags area (it’s on the right)
- Click Add Tag and add Podio – Sell House Quickly Info
- Click Add Tag and Add Podio – Not Motivated
The Automations
These are simple two step automations that are triggered when you add one of the above tags to a subscriber. When setup correctly, they will look exactly like the image below.
Trigger Step: When Tag Sell House Quickly Info gets added to a subscriber
Action Step: Add subscriber to Sell House Quickly Info Email Sequence.
Rules
These rules are for removing a subscriber from an email sequence. They are triggered by the removal of a corresponding tag from that subscriber. Rules are the older version of Convert Kit’s Visual Automations that we used in the previous step. However we must use them because the feature we need doesn’t exist for visual automations just yet.
Zapier Setup
In the prior tutorial, the Zapier Zap that we create was fairly straight forward. This Zap however is going to be more complicated. The main culprit is the use of some Zapier Code Action steps that we must take advantage of. We will be using those to access the ConvertKit API to add and delete the appropriate tags.
We will need to create 2 Zaps for this process, (1) for when a new lead is created in Podio and (2) for when we update the selected sequence.
Zap #1: New Lead/Subscription
1.Trigger Step: When Lead gets added to Podio App (Starts at: 00:00:00)
We want this Zap to run when a new item gets added to your Podio leads app. In this step we will do the following.
- Select: Podio
- Select: New Action
- Connect Your Podio Account
- Select desired Podio Organization, Workspace, Application and Action Type (Item.Create)
- Test Trigger
2. Action: Add subscriber to form (Starts at: 05:23:16)
The first thing the process will do is add a new subscriber to your ConvertKit form.
- Select: ConvertKit
- Select: Add Subscriber to Form
- Connect your ConvertKit account to Zapier
- Assign Podio values to the ConvertKit form
- Test the setup
3. Action: Format Date (Starts at: 09:15:04)
This step simply creates a date variable that is formatted to YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss am/pm. We will use this in the Podio Log field we created as a way of time stamping when an action occurred.
- Select: Formatter
- Select: Date/Time
- Set Transform = Format
- Set Input = {{zap_meta_edt_iso}}
- Set To Format = Use Custom Value (advanced)
- Set Custom Value for To Format = YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss a
- Set To Timezone = <your timezone> I used US/Eastern
- Test this Setup
4. Get Tag Id (Starts at: 12:17:14)
The value of the Choose Email Sequence field will come into Zapier as something like Not Motivate – 783183. What we need to do is strip out the Tag id (ie 783183) from that value.
- Action Type: Formatter by Zapier
- Select Formatter: Text
- Select Transformer: Use a Custom Value (advanced)
- Select Custom Value for Transform Key: string.number_extract
- Set Values Input: <[podio field for choose email sequence>
- Test this step
5. Action: Add Tag to Subscriber (Starts at: 13:40:26)
We can only add tags once a subscriber has been created. We will use a ConvertKit Action here to simply add the tag to the subscriber.
- Action Type: ConvertKit
- Select: Add Tag to Subscriber
- Select: <your ConvertKit connection>
- Template value for Tag: Use a Custom Value (advanced)
- Template value for Custom Value for Tag Id: <output from action #4>
- Template value for Email: <podio field for email>
- Test this step
6. Action: Update Podio Item (Starts at: 15:14:15)
Lastly we need to update the Podio App Item that triggered this process. We will but sending back the ConvertKit subscriber id as well as the entries for the Log.
- Select: Podio
- Select: Update Item
- Select: Your Podio Account
- Select Organization: <your Podio org>
- Select Workspace: <to your workspace>
- Select Application: <to your application>
- Select Item to be Updated: Use a Custom Value (advanced)
- Set Custom Value for Item to be Updated Item Id: <Item Id field token>
- Set any fields marked required to the value from the triggering item (step #1)
- Set ConvertKit Log: code below
<span style="color:lightgray;font-style: italic;">{{52822202__output}}:</span> Subscriber Created in <span style="font-weight:bold;">Podio - New Leads</span><br><span style="color:lightgray;font-style: italic;">{{52822202__output}}:</span> Subscriber added to email sequence <span style="font-weight:bold; font-style:italic;"> {{52821736__fields__choose-email-sequence-2__value__text}}</span>- Set ConvertKit Id/Subscriber Id: <the subscriber_id from step #2>
- Test this step
Name the Zap and Activate
The only things left to do is give this Zap a name and to turn it on. I’m going to name mine Add Subscriber and Tag. Hopefully you didn’t have any trouble with this tutorial, if so please feel free to email me at scott@strugglinginvestor.com or post a comment below.
Zap #2: Update Subscriber Tag
This Zap will be used to update or change the email sequence for a lead/subscriber. It is triggered on the change of the Choose Email Sequence Podio field value. When that happens the subscriber’s currently assigned sequence will be ended and they will be added to the new sequence.
Note: Once a subscriber’s sequence has been changed, it can not be changed back. ConvertKit does not allow for restarting of a sequence once unsubscribed from it.
1. Trigger: Podio Item Update (Starts at: 00:00:00)
We want this Zap to run when an existing Podio item is updated by changing the value of the Choose Email Sequence field. We do not want this Zap to run for every type of update, just this one field.
- Trigger App: Podio
- Select Type: New Action
- Connection: <your podio connection>
- Select desired Podio Organization, Workspace, Application
- Set Field: Choose Email Sequence
- Set Action Type: Item.Update
2. Action: Remove Existing Tags (Starts at: 02:00:13)
The first step in changing a tag is to remove the existing one. We could do a blanket “remove all” type command, but we might remove a tag placed for another reason. So we are going to hard code in 3 commands to remove only the 3 Email Sequence tags that we created (New Lead, Not Motivated and Sell House Quickly Info).
- Action App: Code by Zapier
- Selet Type: Run Python
- Template value for Input data variable name: email
- Template value for Input data value: <podio field for email>
- Template value for Code: <copy and paste code below and insert your api secret and tag_ids>
import requests
headers = {}
payload = {'api_secret': '<your convertkit api secret>','email':input.get('email')}
r1=requests.post("https://api.convertkit.com/v3/tags/<tag_id_1>/unsubscribe", data=payload, headers=headers)
r1=requests.post("https://api.convertkit.com/v3/tags/<tag_id_2>/unsubscribe", data=payload, headers=headers)
r1=requests.post("https://api.convertkit.com/v3/tags/<tag_id_3>/unsubscribe", data=payload, headers=headers)
output = [{'result':'yes'}]- Test this step
3. Get Tag Id (Starts at: 05:36:22)
The value of the Choose Email Sequence field will come into Zapier as something like Not Motivate – 783183. What we need to do is strip out the Tag id (ie 783183) from that value.
- Action Type: Formatter by Zapier
- Select Formatter: Text
- Select Transformer: Use a Custom Value (advanced)
- Select Custom Value for Transform Key: string.number_extract
- Set Values Input: <podio field for choose email sequence>
- Test this step
4. Action: Add Tag to Subscriber (Starts at: 06:35:13)
We can only add tags once a subscriber has been created. We will use a ConvertKit Action here to simply add the tag to the subscriber.
- Action Type: ConvertKit
- Select: Add Tag to Subscriber
- Select: <your ConvertKit connection>
- Template value for Tag: Use a Custom Value (advanced)
- Template value for Custom Value for Tag Id: <output from action #3>
- Template value for Email: <podio field for email>
- Test this step
5. Action: Format Date (Starts at: 07:55:03)
This step simply creates a date variable that is formatted to YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss am/pm. We will use this in the Podio Log field we created as a way of time stamping when an action occurred.
- Select: Formatter
- Select: Date/Time
- Set Transform = Format
- Set Input = {{zap_meta_edt_iso}}
- Set To Format = Use Custom Value (advanced)
- Set Custom Value for To Format = YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss a
- Set To Timezone = <your timezone> I used US/Eastern
- Test this Setup
6. Action: Update Podio Item (Starts at: 09:29:11)
Lastly we need to update the Podio App Item that triggered this process. We will but sending back the ConvertKit subscriber id as well as the entries for the Log.
- Select: Podio
- Select: Update Item
- Select: Your Podio Account
- Select Organization: <your Podio org>
- Select Workspace: <to your workspace>
- Select Application: <to your application>
- Select Item to be Updated: Use a Custom Value (advanced)
- Set Custom Value for Item to be Updated Item Id: <Item Id field token>
- Set any fields marked required to the value from the triggering item (step #1)
- Set Email: <podio field for email>
- Set ConvertKit Log: code below
{{52823686__fields__convertkit-log__value}}<br>
<span style="color:lightgray;font-style:italic;">{{52829285__output}}: </span> Changed Email Sequence to <span style="font-weight:bold; font-style:italic"> {{52823686__fields__choose-email-sequence-2__value__text}}</span>- Test this step
Name the Zap and Activate
The only things left to do is give this Zap a name and to turn it on. I’m going to name mine Update Subscriber Tag. Hopefully you didn’t have any trouble with this tutorial, if so please feel free to email me at scott@strugglinginvestor.com or post a comment below.
Summary
If you have implemented this tutorial as an add on to the previous one, you now have a pretty solid integration between Podio and ConvertKit. You’ll be able to pull in a lead and select which email sequence that will go out. You will also be able to update the email sequence in the future.
The only major thing missing is the ability to see if a recipient decides to stop receiving these emails (opts out). This is a fairly easy addition by creating a zap.
Final Thoughts and Findings
This is an updated version of the tutorial. My original process allowed you to assign multiple email sequences at once. In order to make it work I used a calculation field in Podio to store the selections, which were then passed onto Zapier.
This calculation field was needed because Zapier will only ever pull in the first value in a multi-select Podio category field. VERY FRUSTRATING! So i needed a work around.
The issue with the calculation field, where I put the Sequence Selections into a comma separated string (ie: 8484733,2029282,0292929), is that it does not get calculated fast enough by Podio. Sometimes this caused the Zap to run before the calculation happened. Meaning the Zap does not get the Tag Ids and thus doesn’t add the tags to the new subscriber. BUMMER!
Next Tutorial: Dealing with Unsubscribers