How to Automate Your Email Marketing with Link Triggers

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click a link I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. You can read my full disclosure here.

Imagine having a digital assistant that understands your subscribers’ interests and delivers just what they need, right when they need it. That’s the magic of link triggers, one of of my favorite tools in Kit (formerly known as ConvertKit).

Also known as a trigger link, triggers by link click, or link action – depending on which email marketing software you use – a link trigger allows you to automate actions based on a subscriber’s interaction with a link in your email. When a subscriber clicks a link, it triggers a designated action, such as adding a tag to their profile, enrolling them in another automation, or starting a new email sequence.

While link triggers are one of the simpler tools your email marketing software offers, don’t underestimate their power! They work alongside your email marketing automation strategy so that you can personalize the experience for your subscribers, making your emails more relevant and engaging.

When would you use a link trigger?

When someone clicks a link, it’s like they’re raising their hand to say, “Hey, I’m interested in this!” (Or in same cases, saying “Keep that away from me!”)

They offer a straightforward way for subscribers to self-identify, ensuring you send them only the most relevant information. By using link triggers, you can stop sending emails that aren’t pertinent to a segment of your email community (and avoiding becoming that annoying presence in their inboxes that they ignore.)

For example, in my other business, where I teach jewelry-making, I have an automated email in my welcome sequence that asks subscribers about their skill level: beginner, intermediate, or professional. Each link in the email takes them to a specific page on my website tailored to their experience level, offering them valuable resources.

The best part? Each click tags the subscriber with their skill level. This way, I know exactly who to send beginner course information to and who might be more interested in advanced products, ensuring no one receives irrelevant content.

For my business, Your Personal Tech Fairy, I might use link triggers to find out what email service provider my subscribers use or whether they have a welcome sequence set up yet for their business. This approach helps you to better organize your subscribers so you’re always sending the right emails to the right people.

Other Ways to Use Link Triggers:

• Allowing Opt-Outs for Specific Promotions: Use link triggers to let subscribers opt out of receiving emails for a particular product launch or promotion, helping you manage subscriber preferences efficiently.
• Automatic Enrollment in Offers: Automatically enroll subscribers in a live training or freebie offer without requiring them to fill out another form. This streamlined process improves can increase conversions by making it easier for your subscribers to enroll with just the click of a button.
• Expressing Product or Service Interest: Enroll subscribers in a follow-up sequence when they express interest in a product or service, either immediately or at a scheduled time later.
• Follow-Up After Abandoned Actions: Send a follow-up email to subscribers who click on a product link but don’t complete the purchase, similar to cart recovery emails. The same approach can be used if they click on a link to book a call but then get distracted and forget to do it.

What’s the benefit of using link triggers?

Link triggers automate the process of segmenting your subscribers and personalizing offers. This means your email service provider can automatically tailor your messaging to each subscriber’s interests, making your marketing more personalized and effective.

The alternative would be do look at each subscriber individually after they click on an email and tagging them or removing a tag or enrolling them in an email sequence.

(I’ve been there. It’s tedious and annoying and probably not the best use of your time.)

How do you set up a link trigger in Kit (formerly known as ConvertKit)?

If you’re a Kit user, here’s how to trigger an automation with an email click. (And if you’re not a Kit user, scroll down to find links to help articles for some other ESP’s.)

Note: the images below are from before ConvertKit rebranded to Kit, so things will look a tad different. The basic process is the same.)

Click on the Automate heading and select Rules from the drop-down menu.

Click on the button that says New Rule

Under trigger, choose the option Clicks a Link.

Name the link trigger something that will help you identify it later. For example, since this is a link to trigger to opt out of a promotion, I have named this rule “Opt out of promotional emails”

Select the link that the link trigger will point to. For example, when someone clicks on this link, it will lead to a page that confirms that they have opted out of receiving promotional emails.

On the other side, choose the action that will happen when someone clicks on that link, such as adding or removing a tag, enrolling them in a sequence, or removing them from a sequence. You can as many options as you need. For example, you can have a link trigger both add several tags and remove a tag. Click on Save Rule when you are done.

Your link trigger is ready! Now time to put it to action.

When you want to use that link trigger in an email, whether it’s in an email sequence or a newsletter broadcast, highlight the text that you want to trigger the action.

After you’ve highlighted the text, click on the link (🔗) icon in the menu bar. To the right of the Apply button, click on the link icon with the thunder bolt below it. (At least that’s what I think that is – perhaps it’s my middle-aged eyes that’s making it impossible for me to see clearly.)

That will pull in a drop-down menu, and you should see the one you just created there. Select is and click apply.

Here’s the video walkthrough:

Fun about setting up a link trigger in Kit (formerly known as ConvertKit: you can use the same link for multiple link triggers. For example, I have a general “Your response has been recorded” page on my website that I use to enable subscribers to identify their interests, sign up free offers, or opt out of promotions. Each of their actions are created as their own link trigger, but I use the same link across all of them and give each a different name so that I can easily identify them when creating email broadcasts or sequences.

How do you set up a link trigger in a different email service provider?

Not a Kit user? (Well, why aren’t you yet? Here’s a link to try it out for free.) Here are links to the help docs for some other popular ESPs.

• Trigger by Link Click in MailerLite
• ActiveCampaign (Scroll down to where it says “Clicks a link in an email”
• How to Create Trigger Link in Drip
• How to set up a Link Action in Flodesk

When set up intentionally, link triggers help you build stronger, more meaningful connections with your subscribers, turning your email list into a community of engaged supporters who look forward to hearing from you.