#157 - 3 of the nerdiest hacks

I have got three extra nerdy little hacks for you that are going to make your online life so much easier.

This is the Doing It Online podcast with your host, serial entrepreneur 6 and 7 figure funnel strategist and super nerd Kate McKibben. Where every week we're here talking nerdy and sharing the things that actually work to help you do what you do online. But better, easier and with a ton more profit too. Are you ready? Let's do it.

Hey everybody, it is Kate here from hello funnels and welcome back to the Doing It Online podcast. Now today I am getting extra nerdy with you guys. This is a special episode for my fellow software funnel loving marketing service preneur kind of geeks because I have got three extra nerdy little hacks for you that are going to make your online life so much easier. So let's dive right on in. Alrighty guys, let's start off with the first one and this one is, it's actually something that I'm almost embarrassed I didn't realize or didn't learn about till sort of about a year ago and apparently it's been around forever. But this is a not super commonly known hack for when you need to be testing things like opt in order automations, funnels, all of that stuff purchases and you need to be able to test it like a new person each time, right? Because obviously if you're going through as the same email address every time, there's going to be tags, there's going to be, you know, things on your account that might pull you out or mean it behaves differently to what it behave like as a person who is either brand new or has a certain other scenario that you're wanting to test. So what do you do? Do you just have like a thousand email addresses which is painful or you can use this hack. So this hack I'm calling the plus email address hack and it's really, really quite simple. And what it allows you to do is actually be able to do infinite tests as a completely, as far as your software is concerned, completely new person every single time, but only using one email address. So all you need to do is when you are, you know, filling in the opt in form or purchasing, doing the test, purchase whatever it is, and it asks for your email address. What you do is you follow this template. So let's just say your email address was my emailmail.com okay? Just say that's your normal email address or let's just say it's katemail.com just for simplicity that's not my email address. My gosh would imagine if I had been in that early and gotten that one. But just say that it was katemail.com was what your normal email address is. So to be able to kind of trick the software into thinking this is a brand new email address every single time. What you would put in instead is Kate and then the plus symbol and then after that anything really you want, just something that's unique and meaningful to you. So what we normally do is we'll put maybe the date and what's. And it's sort of like a little acronym for what's being tested. So we might say it might be Kate plus, you know, product, the initials of the product name. So for us if it was equals Empire it would be EC and then the date maybe do April 23rd, something like that. And then you do the normal like@gmail.com so it becomes kate+ec april 23mail.com so the part before the plus is normal. That's kate. Like it was kate gmail and now she's kate+somethinguniquemail.com and that will actually come through to your email address. Like the email knows to send that to you, but the software doesn't know and it thinks that it's brand new email address and will treat you like a unique email address every single time. The only time this can get a bit confusing and doesn't work quite as perfectly is with things like your countdown timers and stuff that might be cookie tracking as well. So obviously bear that in mind. But if you were trying to test purely like how a contact moves through a sequence, then this is a game changer. And it also means I would recommend that you do this, that periodically you want to go and do a bit of a clean out. So you're not getting your own email 36 times every time you send it because you've got so many test emails in there, makes it really easy to do that search inside your email system to find those email addresses that are yours and then be able to delete them and unsubscribe from them so that you, you don't have to be your own worst nightmare in your inbox. So that is little nerd hack number one, nerd hack number two. And this one comes in handy for anyone who is working with multiple clients or has, you know, basically you want to be able to log into your computer and have your computer like have your, the rights, the right toolbars, the right logins. Like you don't have to Want to have that nightmare thing of trying to go and switch back and forth between 12 different LastPass accounts and all that kind of stuff. So this is my tip for you. If that is you, if you have multiple clients. Now this is really for particularly when you have multiple clients that you work with regularly, right? So that you might have long term clients. And it'd be super handy to just log into your computer and it knows that you're working on that client. And so therefore the bookmarks are for that client, the log the things that are pre logged in for that client and you know, again just makes your life a lot easier. So what you're going to do is actually you can create multiple Gmail profiles or multiple Google profiles. Again you do need to have different Google email addresses for this. So maybe chat to your client if they are able to provide you with an email address if you are working with them regularly. If not, you know, you might have to set up a couple of separate ones. But for each email address that you have, therefore each Google account that you have, you can actually if you're using Google Chrome have completely different setups, completely different bookmarks. If you're using things like other extensions like LastPass and Stuff, each of those can be logged in to different accounts. And all you need to do is rather than going in and logging in and logging out of the different things is just switch the Google profiles. So makes a huge difference. And one like little bonus tip on that while we're speaking of Google and Google Chrome that I really love is to use your folders on your bookmarks bar like dropdowns, like a dropdown menu so you can have again great if you're using multiple clients and there's things that you need to be able to log into. Like they're the backend of certain things and you want to be able to quickly click on them. Create a client for, you know, create a folder for each client and have those common links you need to be able to hit. Maybe they've got FAQ docs you need to be able to check or maybe there's, you know, whatever the things you, they've got meeting notes that you need to be able to quickly find. So have all those shortcuts under and add them to a folder, have the folder visible on your bookmarks bar and then when you hover over that folder it drops down just like a normal dropdown menu. And all of a sudden you've just made it so much easier and a huge time saver. So your clients will be really thankful for that as well. Okay, on to tip number three and this one your clients will love. And if you're doing anything for anyone listening who is geeking out for their own businesses, you will love this as well. This is one I recommend with all of our clients that they do whenever they're creating opt ins or you know, front end funnels or anything like this. It really helps.

Excuse me, it really helps to. When you are trying to do tracking down the line like this one thing I would recommend you get set as soon as you can because it's going to make it much more easy, much more transparent for you to be able to see what is and what isn't working in the most reliable way possible. So what I'm talking about here, so I'm talking around it in circles a little bit, is I'm talking about just a really simple thing you can do to be able to see which of your opt ins which are one of your list building activities actually is leading to next steps or to sales, things like that. And this is a big problem I see for a lot of people because they're using multiple platforms or these next steps might happen 60 days, 90 days a year later. Like someone might opt into your email list and then they buy from you two years down the track and you kind of like where did that person come from? And you look in their account and they've got all these different tags and you're like well which was the first tag, which was the last tag like without having to manually dig through it or pay for you know, a high end program like a high roast or something like that, which ends up being quite expensive. How do you know and therefore know? Okay, well these are the things I need to be doing more of and being able to see that sort of those bigger trends, right? So this is a really simple thing you can do. I would recommend you go do it right now, go add it into all of your opt in automations and that is you want to go into your email service. So whether using ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, whatever it is you're using, you need to add in two custom fields, one we call first opt in and one we call last opt in or you can name it whatever you are, whatever you want, it needs to make sense to you. But basically there's one field that's going to capture the name and details of the very first thing they've opted in for and there's one that is going to capture the name the details of the most recent thing or most Recent activity, whether it's they jumped in on a challenge or they've registered for a webinar like one that's going to be overwritten again and again with the most recent thing that they've done. So then all you need to do is make sure any opt in automation that you have. So this is why we recommend when you are actually creating any kind of lead gen, any kind of opt in bribe, whatever it is that you have, it have its own little delivery automation that gets triggered by the form being filled out. Whatever it is comes through, sends them that hey, here's your freebie, here's the link kind of email and then it adds the tags, adds to email lists and all that stuff sort of within that. But you want to also have it come down, it should have a if else split. So hopefully you have a software that allows you to do that and the split is based on is there anything in that first opt in field. So if that first opt in field is blank, then you're going to come down and you're going to put the name of this current opt in into it. If it's not blank, then you just, you continue on. And then the second step which you do for all of them is for the latest or the most recent opt in is you update it to that opt in. So you only update the first opt in if that is blank and then you go through and you always update the most recent opt in. So that will always be showing the most recent step, the most recent activity they've done. I mean you can call, you can even have like if you want to get complicated, you can have one that's for opt ins and one that's for other activities. Again up to you. You're kind of like the sky's the limit and you really, I love to err on the side of over reporting especially when it's data that you know is going to be collected for years and years, is going to be potentially useful later and can be done in an automated way, which this is so up to you. But just, you know, have that set up in whatever your opt in delivery automation is use as a template. Every time you do an opt in duplicate it, just update it. So it's the right thing. So one more bonus tip of what you need to do if you are going to be adding this and hopefully haven't just melted your brain if you are going to be adding this in in is that you will need to do once these fields are created to go through and for put basically create Easiest thing to do is either select all of everyone who's currently on your list or put them through a super short automation which will update it. But basically you need to just put some kind of little note that says that you know, they were already on your list when you started this system. So you might just put something so existing subscriber or something like that or first opt in not know or something so that, that way when you are running these reports in a year's time, six months time, three years time, whatever it is, and they come up, you don't have false data because if they have, they're already on your list then you know, if you don't do that, if you don't go put something in there, whenever they, whatever the next action is they take, it will be added in and it will look like that was the first thing they did and that will be inaccurate. So you want to make sure that yes it sucks that you don't have this historical data, but that you do just pop that little note in so that anything going forward is accurate. So I hope you liked geeking out. I love this stuff. This is the kind of stuff that we love to do and share, particularly inside our Funnel Pro program, guys. So if you were sort of like nodding along going, yep, this is my jam, I love all these nerdy little hacks and tricks, then you should come along and jump into our next intake of Funnel Pro. We kick off on the 2nd of June so that you've got a couple of weeks to get your application in. We've got a special little BO bonus happening at the moment for everyone who applies is accepted and joins before June 2nd. So make sure you come in and join us. So if you are a marketing service, Preneur, if you're an obm, a tech va, a copywriter, a web designer, Facebook ads manager, or anything else that serves the online crew like our online course creators, our coaches, our experts, helps them to get their businesses out there. And you want to go from being that, you know, hourly rate, working around the clock, not, no consistency, super stressed, everything sucks kind of business model to a business model that is sustainable. That means you get to charge premium prices and feel really good about it. That means you have this confidence to show up in a much higher value, more elevated way with your clients. That means you get to cherry pick the best of the clients, work with just a handful of them, but in a super impactful way. Then you want to come and join us inside the final Pro certification. We are going to make sure you have the knowledge, the confidence. You know how to price and package yourself. You know how to market yourself. You know how to go out and get those amazing clients. And we're going to set you up for your most amazing year ever once you are a certified Funnel probe. As I said, next Cohort kicks off June 2, so head on over to FunnelPro Co or grab the link out of the show notes apply and hopefully we'll see you inside. So that's it for me this week guys. Hope you have an amazing week. Hope you geek out. If you have any other geeky tips, please DM us at HelloFunnels. Let us know. And otherwise guys, I'll see you same time next week with some more nerdy goodness. See you then.

Thanks so much for listening to the Doing It Online podcast. If you love this episode, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review. And if you're ready to take your online course sales to the next level with your own six or seven figure funnel, let Kate show you exactly how to today@Stealmyfunnel.com.