Infusionsoft Users: Introducing The Power of the “Anti-Goal”

In my short stint here at AutomationClinic, I've managed to coin a few original terms and philosophies of thinking as it relates to marketing automation. And they've really resonated with folks, so they tell me.

Some include: "Scaling Personal Attention," "The Orbit," "Triangle Stack," "Follow-Up Pyramid," "Ideal Purchase Path,"  and quotes like "The sale doesn't start until they say No."

Today, I want to share something specifically for Infusionsoft customers using the newly updated Campaign Builder. It's what I've coined "Anti-Goals."

As you may know, one of the core ideas of Campaign Builder is the "Goal" and being able to have a sequence lead towards a goal, that when satisfied, stops all remaining actions in the prior sequence(s). Not only does it make visualization of your sales funnel easy and intuitive, but combines two steps (visualizing, then executing) into one.

In this campaign, the prospect is requesting a free report, which puts them on a sequence that delivers the report and offers "product A" through a series of follow up communications. At any time when product A is bought, it satisfies the next goal, which stops the sequence from running.

Since I have no control over the customer buying "Jazz 101" or "Drums 102" in any order they want (because I use the catalog site model and it only makes sense for a multi-genre, multi-instrument teaching company), how can I ensure they receive promotions and exposure to the very "next" program in line (or the best suited program for them based on what I know), while not ignoring the future need to bring around promotions for other programs they've skipped? Or how do I stop them from being on a million sequences and campaigns when they buy multiple products out of order --- but still come back to those sequences they never saw or completed later?

In essence, how can I put them in ONE, and only ONE sequence designed to sell them the very next best solution for them? And when that sequence is done or cut short by a successful purchase, how do I do it again, picking the very next best sequence and skipping all others standing in its way?

In a classic "sequence - goal" campaign, if a goal occurs, everything BEFORE it stops and can never be repeated (without tweaks). This means any product promotions set up in the campaign before the most recently purchased product would unfortunately never execute. If you've set up 5 products and their corresponding promotions in a row and they buy the 5th and final program out of order, your entire campaign prior to the 5th product is now stopped. Attempting to solve that problem, if you put each of the products in its own campaign, the customer could potentially get in all 5 of them at once. These are things I've thought about a lot.

Until now.

This is what I call "The Orbit" and it relies on the "Anti-Goal" just as much as the "Goal."

"The Orbit" - The ultimate way to always execute a "next step," regardless of what product is purchased and in what order. The orbit is a self-repeating, self-sustaining organism that serves up the best "next action" while simultaneously skipping or postponing certain untimely or unqualified "next actions," finally reconciling the problem of following up adequately when you have many products.

Every product follow-up sequence has TWO goals:

The "Anti Goal" allows you to simply skip a sequence the prospect or customer doesn't qualify for yet. But because "The Orbit" is self-repeating and self-sustaining, the sequence is only really "postponed" and not lost forever.

The "Anti-Goal"  involves conditionally applying a tag at the BEGINNING of a newly launched sequence that causes a goal to be satisfied right away. The goal is satisfied so quickly the remaining steps in the sequence are never ran. The end result is a "skipped" sequence.

It relies on a legacy action set that only exists to check whether the prospect or client should stay in the sequence. If they should stay in the sequence, the legacy action set simply does nothing because the disqualifying conditions would have failed. If they shouldn't remain in the sequence, the legacy action set applies a tag that immediately causes the "Anti-Goal" to be satisfied. Since goals stop everything before them, the sequence would stop and the customer would move on to the next sequence in the campaign.

Because not all prospects and clients will be suited for all steps in your campaign. And even when you use the decision diamond, you decide between two or more sequences. What if they don't qualify for either? That means your campaign comes to a screeching halt unbeknownst to you. And if you try to use a decision diamond to send them one of 12 ways (or directly to future steps), they could end up on multiple sequences all at the same time!

This idea of simply skipping a sequence or a series of them in a row is so basic but not easy until now. So now, I'm able to predetermine an "Ideal Purchase Path" and be assured that they will only get promotions they're inclined to buy. If they've never clicked on a link pertaining to the next product in line, why offer it now? Wouldn't it be better to offer something they've shown interest in, NEXT?

Anti-Goals allow you to do that. The campaign builder will keep skipping sequences until it lands on one that qualifies. And it gets better --- because I teach you in my Home Study Course how to make it a self-repeating, self-sustaining process, it will repeat itself once it gets to the end. And guess what happens when it gets back to one of the sequences it skipped the last time around only to find out the person is now interested (i.e. - has clicked something indicating interest, has watched video samples, etc)? It will keep them in the sequence this time rather than satisfy the anti-goal.

Make sense?

Now, there is some ninjary needed when it comes to setting it up but it's very easy (mainly involves timing and when to remove tags that were used as past goals)... but once you understand it, you can apply it in so many ways.

For example, coupled with my plugins that determine customer behavior (total spent, buying cycles, last activity, click score, etc), you could have sequences in your campaign that do nothing more than check to see if the customer has passed a particular threshold. If they've passed, say, 3 purchases, it could keep them in the sequence. If the legacy action set determines they haven't passed 3 purchases, tag is applied, anti-goal is satisfied, and they are on to the next sequence.

In the past, there was only ONE way out of a sequence. Once in a sequence, the only way out was through the satisfaction of a positive, intended result. Adding the anti-goal gives you flexibility to do almost anything you want.

Note: Every advanced setup I've developed, including the "Anti Goal," "The Orbit," and "Follow-Up Pyramid," is covered in the upcoming home study course.

Click here to receive more information on my home study course.

Hope you enjoyed.