To really leverage the power of Voodoo, you need high-quality Contacts in your system. In the past, we've explored various sources for contact lists such as LinkedIn and your CRM.  One source of contacts that is easily available to you (but often overlooked) is the group of personal contacts in your address book.  

Every now and then, it's a good idea to reach out this personal list.  Send a campaign to them occasionally to let them know what you and/or your business has been up to.  

This QuickTip will walk you through the easy steps of connecting with your personal contacts.  

Voodoo QuickTip #435 - Reaching Out to Your Personal Contacts

1)  Start by importing your Address Book from your current email contact manager. Voodoo has an easy, time-saving feature that allows you to import directly from the most popular email systems including:  Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, Outlook and Apple Mail. Check out our blog post on how to use this feature: Import Contacts Directly from Your Address Book.  

2) As you import the list into Voodoo, use the check boxes to review and "scrub" the list by removing non-business contacts and contacts who would not be interested in what your business is doing. This allows you to import only the contacts you want.

3)  Next, craft and send a personal email that says hello, catches your contacts up on how you're currently helping your clients, and explaining how your business could possibly help them. Make sure to include a pass-along referral request something like this: "If you know anyone else who might benefit from what I do, please pass this message along. I really appreciate your help, and I'd enjoy helping them."
We've seen simple referral requests like this yield many thousands of dollars in new business. So go ahead and ask!     

Check out our Blog Post, Sources for Your Contact Lists for more ideas on where you can get more contacts for your Voodoo system. 

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Voodoo is excited to announce a new feature for Business Builder users called Workflow Rules. This important automation feature allows campaign owners to add or remove contacts to or from lists based on specific trigger actions.  For example, when a contact opens an email, views a video, clicks a trackable link, they can either be add to or removed from any list. 

Now you can easily automate more campaign actions for effective follow-up with your contacts. And you can easily and automatically segment your lists based on actions that take place. 

Here's how you set up a Workflow Rule: .  

Voodoo QuickTip #832 - Workflow Rules

1)  After you have finished crafting an email template, and you are ready to send a campaign, go into Send Email.  We've added a tab on that page called Workflow Rules.  



2) Click on the Add New Rule button to create a new Workflow Rule. 



3) Give your rule a name. Check what would activate this rule. Choose from the following options (you can select more than one): Email Opened, Survey Link Clicked, Trackable Link Clicked, Video Link Clicked

4) You must save the rule before you can apply the action.  Once you click save, then select the action you want to occur when the contact performs the trigger action(s) above. The options are to add contact to a list or remove contact from a list. 



Once the Workflow rule is saved and enabled, the actions will take place. Below are are two  popular scenarios to use this feature for: 

Scenario 1:  Create Follow-Up Lists
Workflow Rules makes it easy to access contacts that require a call back or need additional follow-up. Set up a Workflow Rule to create a Call Back/Follow-Up List based on a specific Trigger, for example when a contact opens an email and then set an Action to add the contact to a specific list you choose.

Trigger > Opened Email 
Action > Add Matching Contacts to List: Warm Lead List or Email Open List

Scenario 2:  Continue Marketing to a Specific Audience that has Shown Interest
Workflow Rules makes it easier to continue marketing to a specific audience after capturing initial interest. Many times an email is created with text for a specific situation (met at trade show, spoke on phone, etc). If the recipient of that email was to then to view a video, you could put them into a contact list attached to a funnel to follow up with more content related to that video. 

Trigger > Viewed Video 
Action > Add Matching Contacts to List: Nurturing Contact List attached to Funnel 

Of course, there are many other ways to use Workflow Rules. Review your campaigns to see how you can use this feature to save time and automate your follow-up.

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Here's a vital time-saving behind-the-scenes feature now active in all Voodoo user accounts: Automatic Bounceback Handling!

The Old Way

As you know, Voodoo sends emails directly from the address you enter in your Personal Settings. In the past, that meant that when an email “bounced,” you received an "undeliverable mail" message from postmaster@voodooviral.com or directly from the Internet Service Provider (ISP) that rejected the email.

These notifications usually contained system-generated error messages offering more information about why the mail has bounced.  These messages were helpful, but they could clog up your email inbox—especially for large campaigns. Voodoo has always recommended that our users use these bounceback notifications to clean their lists and keep things current. But it was a time-consuming pain!

The New Improved Way

Voodoo now includes Automatic Bounceback Handling, allowing you to:

• keep your lists cleaner
• improve deliverability rates
• protect your sender reputation
• save time!

Voodoo QuickTip #195 - Automatic Bounceback Handling

After sending a campaign, its a good practice to login to Voodoo and check your campaign statistics/reports. 

Business Builder users can access their reports by logging in and clicking the My Reports icon.

eVideo Launcher users can access their reports by logging in and clicking the View Tracking Statistics button.

Bounced Emails are now included in the Failed Count within the Campaign Report as well as the Funnel Statistics (for Business Builder Users). This gives you a more accurate view of  campaign performance.

To access the email addresses for contact records that have failed, simply access the Campaign Report and look at the Failed count located with the Total Contacts, Sent and Opt-Out counts).   Once you locate the Failed count in the report, click it to see each recipient email address that failed or bounced.
In the detail view, you will see specific contact email addresses that bounced. This view also includes an Error Code for each contact record. Hover your mouse over the Error Code for a description of the code.

Business Builder Users: for Funnels, go into the Funnel Report, either via My Reports, or from Funnel Statistics. Click the plus icon next to Failed to see detail on each failed contact. 



An email can bounce for many reasons. The most common is an invalid email address but you will encounter many other reasons, too.  Email bounces fall into two main categories:  soft- and hard-bounces.  

A soft-bounce is usually a temporary failure like a mailbox that is full or temporarily unavailable. When a soft-bounce occurs, Voodoo includes it in the Failed count, but the contact remains active and can keep being used in new campaigns.  

A hard-bounce is usually a permanent failure.  As previously mentioned, invalid email addresses are the most common hard-bounce. In the case of a hard-bounce, the contact record will be noted with an automatic opt-out and will not be sent any future emails. 

This new feature saves you time and frustration by keeping all bounced emails out of your personal inbox. It also helps keep your lists clean and gives you more accurate statistics on how your campaigns are performing! 

Business Builder, Deliverability, eVideo Launcher, New Feature bounceback, non-delivery notifications, bad email addresses, clean contact lists

Voodoo's mission is to help our customers accomplish more with a lot less effort. As your Voodoo Video Library grows, you will have additional opportunities to attract prospects using targeted, interactive content. And it's so important to know that these videos can easily be used for so much more than email...

We are currently hard at work improving our video library but in the meantime you can still easily post your Voodoo videos to your social media accounts, your website and even your email signature. No matter where you choose to use them, your videos will play in your custom-branded, personalized frame with your contact info and response link at the bottom.  If you’re using the full version of Voodoo, your video pages can even include your Digital Business Card and photo.

Read our Voodoo QuickTips Blog post on, How to Post Trackable, Personalized Videos on your Social Media Accounts. 

Why not use your OWN customized videos to engage visitors and generate more leads from your website, read more on Using Customized Videos on Your Website. 

Or simply promote your business by Enhancing Your Email Signature with Voodoo Video. 

Take advantage of this content that is already available to you.  Check out these Voodoo QuickTip Blog posts, and if you have any questions on other ways to leverage video, please just give us a call. 

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Voodoo Business Builder users now you can choose any YouTube video, then frame it, share it and track it.

(Click the image above to see how easy it is.)

Add any YouTube video to your Video Library, then use your branded, personalized Voodoo version for prospecting and customer nurturing.

You can even record a video on your smartphone, then instantly frame it with your logo and contact information.

Say it in a video and stop repeating yourself.

If you have a Voodoo Business Builder account, this feature is live right now. Just visit your Video Library and click Add YouTube Video. 

For a limited time, individual eVideo Launcher users can get a discount upgrade to a Basic Business Builder account to have access to this new feature.* Contact support@voodooviral.com to explore your options.

*offer subject to change without notice.

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Once you have created customized emails and added contacts to your Voodoo account, your next step is to start sending campaigns.  Voodoo Business Builder accounts offer a choice of how to send campaigns.  In this QuickTip we will review which ones are best for the scenarios you face.  

Voodoo QuickTip #173 - When to use Quick Sends, Campaigns and Funnels

	Quick Send: This is a great tool to reach new contacts and build your contact lists every day. Use this when you want to reach out quickly to one person or a small group and you want to add them to a Contact List at the same time.
	Send Email: Lets you send a single-stage personalized campaign (email template) to any group with a few simple clicks. You can choose automated notifications for when your emails get opened and videos are viewed, plus auto-response emails to follow-up for you.  From the Send Email page, you can also launch the Campaign Wizard to be guided step-by-step through the process. For more detailed information, download and read our How to Voodoo Guide.
	Funnels & Forms: Here's where you'll find the real magic of Voodoo for automated and multi-stage outreach. This area is full of features for power users, allowing you to create drip marketing campaigns, capture forms and automated triggers. For more information on Funnels and Forms be sure to check out Forms and Funnels and Success Automation 101.

You can configure each feature to meet your needs in many ways.  Here are some examples of how to use each type of campaign: 

• To send a one-off email (to one or two people) that you just met at a networking event, use Quick Send. 
• To send a one-time campaign like an end of the month promotion (to one contact list, one time), use Send Campaign (once and done).
• To send a recurring campaign that reminds customers to register for an event using the same email template, use Send Email with Auto-Scheduler (same email template/sent at certain intervals). The auto scheduler will look for the assigned list and new contacts added since the last send will get the next email. 
• To run a perpetual campaign (where you add new contacts to the list over time) you should set up a Funnel and set wait time to “0” - knowing that anytime a contact is added they will get the email (this is a “once and done” option). 
• To send recurring messages like expiration notices, set up a Funnel and configure the funnel set-up to trigger off of expiration dates or any dated custom field (not wait time or calendar dates). 

Business Builder users: consider how you want to use these features in your account. You can use available PowerPack time for us to help you with setup.  eVideo Launcher users: let us know if you're considering an upgrade to the full-featured version of Voodoo so you can have access to these advanced features (and much more). It's all about saving time and making you more successful.

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One of the most powerful features of Voodoo is how it notifies Sales Reps about prospect and customer interest so they can follow up with hot leads quickly.

How fast you connect with interested leads is a key to your sales success. In fact, the Lead Response Management Study shows that responding to web-generated leads within 5 minutes increases contact rates by 900%!  

Companies using the Voodoo Viral Marketing system have numerous options on how to broadcast campaigns. In many cases, the Marketing team sends personalized eVideo campaigns on behalf of Sales reps like you.  These campaigns are personalized so they appear to be sent from a specific Sales rep (you), but they're actually sent by a Marketing team member using Voodoo. When a campaign gets launched on your behalf, it’s important for you to be ready for incoming lead notifications.

Lead notifications (also known as Automated Action Alerts) gives you an automated way to know which prospects or customers are showing interest in a campaign right NOW.

Depending on the content of the campaign and how Marketing chose to set it up, there are three types of Automated Action Alerts that notify you in real-time each time a recipient:

1. Opens your email — used mostly on campaigns to very small groups
2. Views the video — used on campaigns of any size, and an excellent indicator of real interest from a person who is now better informed about your product or service
3. Clicks a trackable link — usually to download a PDF brochure or take a survey, etc. Another good indicator of genuine interest. 

If any or all of these options were enabled in the campaign setup, you'll receive a real-time Action Alert telling you who took action and what action they took. Here's what they look like:





You can imagine the power of this info...  Now you know immediately when someone opens, watches or clicks and is ripe for a follow up email or phone call.  You know exactly who they are, including their email address and other contact info.  You can reach out within minutes of their response to your campaign - right when your company and offer are fresh on their mind.

Video Viewers and Trackable Link Clickers are leads now showing interest in your product and/or service. For most campaigns, the faster you follow up, the more likely you are to have a substantive conversation with a receptive audience. 

What you can do to prepare: All Voodoo Automate Action Alerts are sent from support@voodooviral.com. It's a great idea to add this email address to your safe sender list so your notifications don't get trapped in junk or spam. See our post on Adding Voodoo to Safe Sender List for more information.

Voodoo Automated Action Alerts contain the exact information you need to follow up, based on the specific data your Marketing team originally imported for each contact. These lead notifications are like finding needles in the haystack. They often help you schedule appointments and load up your sales pipeline for much greater success over time.

Keep in mind that no prospect or customer likes to be pounced on after interacting with an eVideo campaign. When you follow up with your leads, we suggest a subtle approach, not showing them that you KNOW they intereacted with your campaign, but instead, gently opening the door, like this:

"Hi, [NAME]. Did you have a chance to check out the information I sent about [TOPIC]?
I thought it would be relevant to you."

Usually, your customer or prospect will respond by saying something like, "wow...that's weird, I just watched it!" Which lets you follow up by saying:

That's great! What did you think? Any questions I can answer?"

The idea is to get a conversation started, then leverage your skills as a trusted advisor to provide guidance and insight...and ultimately, to make a sale to someone who becomes a long-term customer. Good luck and happy selling!

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