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Spent 3 months manually tracking email opens before realizing Mailchimp does it for free
So I run a small online store selling handmade candles in Austin and I thought I was being clever by tracking every email open with a spreadsheet and timestamps. I was copying links from my personal Gmail into a doc just to see who clicked. Took me about 3 months of doing this for every newsletter I sent out. Then a friend who does marketing for a bigger brand saw my setup and laughed for a solid minute. She showed me how Mailchimp already tracks opens and clicks automatically with the free tier. I felt like an idiot but also relieved because I was wasting about 4 hours every week on something that takes 10 seconds. Has anyone else found a simple tool that replaced a bunch of manual work you were doing?
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dixon.james8d ago
Hold up, wait. You were copying links from your personal Gmail into a doc? For three months? That is absolutely wild to me, man. I would have lost my mind after the first week doing that for every single newsletter. It's like you were trying to build a car engine with a hammer and a screwdriver while the store down the street sells the whole thing ready to go. I'm glad you got that sorted out though, because that sounds like a special kind of torture you put yourself through for no reason.
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nancyjones8d ago
Man, @dixon.james you nailed it. That was a special kind of torture alright, looking back I feel like a total goofball. I was SO determined to keep those links organized and I just defaulted to the first clunky method that popped into my head. Honestly I think I was just stubborn and didn't want to admit there was an easier way. It took way too long before a friend finally slapped me upside the head and showed me a proper tool. At least now I can laugh about how ridiculous it was, but my sanity definitely took a hit for those three months. Lesson learned the HARD way, I guess.
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