Quick answer: Marketing automation means building trigger-based email sequences that run without manual sends every time; Google Analytics tells you whether the traffic behind those emails is actually converting; and A/B split testing tells you which version of a page or email performs better, so decisions are based on data instead of instinct. Together they turn email marketing from a series of one-off blasts into a measured system.
Marketing automation vs. email marketing: not the same thing
These two terms get used interchangeably, but the distinction matters for anyone deciding what to learn first.
Email marketing, in its simplest form, is sending messages to a list — a newsletter, a promotion, an announcement. It’s manual: you decide to send, you write it, you send it, and the process repeats the next time you have something to say.
Marketing automation is broader and structural: pre-built sequences triggered automatically by specific subscriber actions — joining a list, clicking a particular link, abandoning a cart, hitting a certain engagement threshold — that run without you doing anything after the initial setup. Email is usually the delivery mechanism, but the automation layer is what decides who gets what, and when, based on behavior rather than a calendar.
The practical implication: email marketing scales with your time (more sends require more of your attention), while marketing automation scales independently of it (a well-built sequence serves the thousandth new subscriber exactly as well as it served the first, with zero additional manual effort).
Building your first automated sequence
A first automation doesn’t need to be complex. The most common, highest-value starting point is a welcome sequence: three to five emails triggered the moment someone joins your list, spaced a few days apart, that build trust and move the new subscriber toward a first meaningful action — reading key content, replying to build a real connection, or considering a paid offer.
The mechanics differ slightly by platform but follow the same shape. In ConvertKit, this means creating a form or landing page to capture the subscriber, tagging them on signup, and building a sequence of timed emails attached to that tag — ConvertKit’s automation visual builder lets you branch based on whether a subscriber opens or clicks a given email, so the sequence can adapt rather than sending identically to everyone. In AWeber, the equivalent flow is built through campaigns: a list, a signup form, and a series of scheduled emails released on a defined interval after signup.
Neither platform requires advanced technical skill to get a basic sequence running — the skill is less “can I use the software” and more “do I know what should happen at each step,” which is where most beginners actually get stuck.
What the course covers, section by section
| Section | Lectures | Runtime | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Increase Profits With Google Analytics | 23 | 1h 4m | Interface, admin, custom segments, intelligence events |
| Email Marketing | 5 | 32m | Layout and campaign design |
| Marketing Automation | 5 | 36m | Building automation workflows |
| Split Testing | 5 | 23m | Setting up and reading A/B tests |
| Video Animation With Vyond | 21 | 44m | Script to finished animated scene |
| Video Marketing | 5 | 17m | Applying video across channels |
| Pinterest Marketing | 5 | 34m | Platform-specific traffic |
| Sales Webinar | 5 | 16m | Webinar structure and delivery |
| Searched Ad Secrets | 5 | 16m | Paid search fundamentals |
| Strategic Marketing Playbook | 41 | 1h 39m | USPs, customer research, cart systems |
The course runs 17 sections and 170 lectures across 11 hours 20 minutes in total, taught inside ConvertKit, AWeber, Google Analytics, Vyond and ClipChamp directly rather than as slide-based theory.
Google Analytics: measuring what your automation actually does
Automation without measurement is a black box — sequences run, but you have no way to know which ones are actually working. Google Analytics closes that gap, and the skills that matter most for an email marketer specifically are narrower than the full breadth of what Analytics offers.
Custom segments let you isolate a specific slice of traffic — visitors who came from a particular email campaign, for instance — so you can see how they behave differently from your traffic as a whole, rather than looking at aggregated numbers that blur everything together. Intelligence events and annotations let you mark the exact date a new sequence or campaign went live, so a later spike or drop in the data has an obvious explanation rather than becoming a mystery you have to reverse-engineer weeks later. Integration with your website platform is the connective tissue that makes any of this possible — without it, Analytics has no way to see what happens after someone clicks through from an email.
A/B split testing as a habit, not a one-off
Split testing gets treated as an advanced, occasional tactic when it’s most valuable as a routine habit. The mechanics are simple: create two versions of something — a subject line, a landing page headline, a call-to-action button — that differ in exactly one variable, send each version to a comparable segment of your audience, and let the results, not your opinion, decide which one continues.
The discipline that actually matters is testing one variable at a time. Changing the headline, the image, and the button color simultaneously might improve results, but you’ll have no idea which change caused it — which means you can’t apply the lesson to your next page. A test that changes only the subject line tells you something specific and reusable; a test that changes everything at once tells you nothing you can generalize.
Where video fits: Vyond and ClipChamp
Video has become a standard part of email and landing-page marketing, and the course treats two distinct tools for two distinct purposes. Vyond is animation software — building explainer-style videos from a script through scenes, transitions and music, including converting an existing article or audio script directly into a video, which is a fast way to repurpose content you’ve already written. ClipChamp covers non-linear video editing with real or stock footage — cutting, adding text and transitions, and assembling a finished video from existing clips rather than animating from scratch.
Knowing which tool fits which job matters: an animated explainer of a concept or process usually works better in Vyond, while a testimonial-style or demonstration video usually works better edited in ClipChamp from real footage.
Who benefits most from learning this toolset together
Email marketers moving from manual sends to automated flows get the clearest immediate payoff, since the shift from one-off sends to trigger-based sequences is exactly what stops marketing from scaling with your own hours. Marketing analysts who need practical Google Analytics and split-testing skills benefit from the applied, inside-the-tool teaching approach rather than abstract analytics theory disconnected from actual campaigns. Solo marketers responsible for an entire funnel — traffic, email, measurement, creative — need the breadth this course covers precisely because there’s no one else on the team to hand off the pieces they don’t personally know. Content creators adding animated or edited video to their marketing get two distinct, immediately usable skills (Vyond and ClipChamp) rather than having to separately research which animation or editing tool to learn. And small business owners who want their marketing tools set up correctly once, rather than rebuilding a messy setup repeatedly, benefit from seeing the platforms taught end-to-end rather than in isolated tips.
Common mistakes when starting with automation and analytics
Building automation before defining the goal. A sequence with no clear objective — “just introduce the brand,” with no specific next action in mind — tends to underperform a shorter sequence built around one clear ask.
Testing too many variables at once, discussed above, which produces results that can’t be trusted or repeated.
Checking analytics without a baseline. A metric in isolation (“open rate: 22%”) tells you little; the same metric compared against your own historical average, or against the specific segment it came from, tells you whether it’s actually good or bad for your situation.
Treating the first version of a sequence as final. The best-performing automated sequences are revised periodically based on what the data shows, not written once and left untouched indefinitely.
FAQ
What is marketing automation and how does it differ from email marketing?
Email marketing is manually sending messages to a list. Marketing automation is pre-built sequences triggered by subscriber behavior that run without manual intervention after setup. Email is usually the delivery mechanism for automation, but automation is the structural layer that decides who receives what and when.
How do you run an A/B split test on a landing page?
Create two versions of the page that differ in exactly one element (a headline, an image, or a call-to-action, for example), split incoming traffic between them, and let the version with the better conversion rate become the new standard. Testing only one variable at a time is what makes the result usable for future decisions.
Is ConvertKit or AWeber better for beginners?
Both are taught in the course and both support forms, sequences and automation. ConvertKit’s automation builder is more visual and branch-based; AWeber’s campaign structure is more linear. Neither is objectively better — the right choice depends on which structure matches how you think about your own funnel.
Where to go from here
Learning Google Analytics, email automation, split testing and marketing video separately usually means piecing together tutorials from five different sources with five different examples. LearnersCare’s Email Marketing Automation, Google Analytics & Split Testing course teaches all of it inside the actual tools — ConvertKit, AWeber, Google Analytics, Vyond and ClipChamp — across 17 sections and 170 lectures. The full Marketing course lineup covers adjacent ground if you’re weighing where to start.
