Getting Started with Email Marketing: Emails & Automations

We often get questions from people wanting to know how emails work within the ShinePages platform or how to "Connect" their email to ShinePages.

As a starting point: See this article where we cover the 4 primary ways or "Categories" you may work with Emails within ShinePages: Email 101 - How Emailing Works Within ShinePages

The "Emails & Automations" function within ShinePages is similar to other 3rd-party Email Marketing platforms (such as MailChimp, MailerLite, ActiveCampaign, etc.) in that it is used to send mass emails as "Campaigns" (one-time emails such as Newsletters or Email blasts) as well as set up "Automations" which are used to automate emails and have them running in the background. 

"Automations" are great for delivering Lead Magnets or Opt-in Freebies, send automated Welcome emails or put together full "drip sequences" of many emails with timed delays between each email. 

Important note: 

"Emails & Automations" is an add-on service and does have a monthly cost. Each ShinePages plan comes with a set amount of email "Subscribers"* for free, and you would be able to add-on additional "Subscribers" as your List grows.  See Email Pricing HERE

*"Subscribers" are "Contacts" within your system who have opted-in to an Email List and are thus eligible to receive emails. There is a cost for "Subscribers". "Contacts" on the other hand are free and you get an unlimited number of Contacts.  See this article to understand the difference between the two.

Please note that ShinePages.com does not provide nor sell actual business email addresses (ie: yourname@yourdomainname.com) nor email inboxes (ie: the place where you actually access, send and receive one-to-one emails).

If you haven't as yet, and you'd like to purchase a business email address, you can do so from your Domain Registrar - ie: Namecheap, GoDaddy, Domain.com, Google Domains/Workspace etc.

GETTING STARTED: 

STEP ONE: Get your Email domain "Verified" for sending

You will need to use a "business email" (NOT a free gmail, yahoo, prontomail etc. email address) that matches your website domain in order to send emails. 

To get your business email "verified" for sending emails: Follow the instructions HERE 

Note that you'll also need to fill out the "Brand Details" tab under the Email Settings area as well. 

STEP TWO: Set Up Your Form Widgets/Checkout Widgets/Booking Widgets etc. to "Tag" and "Subscribe" your Contacts

Anytime a visitor to your site enters their name and email into a Form on your page (or makes a purchase or books an appointment, or signs up for a membership, or takes a quiz, etc.) - you have the ability to TAG them and also ADD THEM TO A LIST - thus turning them into not only a "Contact" but also a "Subscriber".  

See here for full information on Setting up your Forms (and other lead generation/sales widgets) to capture the information correctly so that you can start to email these people. 

STEP THREE: (Optional) Upload any clean, opted-in Subscriber Lists you may already have

If you are transferring from another email marketing platform and have a list of Subscribers that you have express permission to email with marketing messages, you may import them by following these instructions. 

Please note that we take spam rules and laws seriously.  Please do NOT import old lists, purchased lists or any other list that has not been vetted as having given you permission to email them. Even if you think you have a clean list - if it is not updated you may experience a high bounce rate which can cause your account to get flagged. 

It also is to your benefit to only have those "Subscribers" in your system who truly want to be on your email list - as Subscribers come with a fee. As stated above, while you get unlimited "Contacts" for free, you do pay for any "Subscribers" above and beyond the included "free Subscribers" that come with your plan. 

Please see this article for tips on keeping your emails out of Spam and Promotional folders

Please see this article on why we review and may limit emails 

STEP FOUR: Create your Email Templates 

Create a master email template with your branding, logo and footer - then go ahead and duplicate and edit for your different campaigns and automations.

Please see this article on Creating Email Templates

STEP FIVE: Set up your Campaigns or Automations

Now it's time to set up your Campaigns or your Automation Sequences! 

See this article on Setting up Campaigns

See this article on Setting up Automations

STEP SIX: Send your First Emails!

Please note that we do have a limit on initial email sends but once you've successfully generated your email score, you'll be able to email to a larger group. :)  

See this article on Limits on First Email Sends