The 6 Mistakes to Avoid When Creating Your Lead Magnet
First, let’s start off with what a lead magnet is and why your coaching business needs one.
A lead magnet (aka freebie, opt-in, or free gift) is a free, valuable resource offered by a business in exchange for a potential customer's name and email address.
The purpose of a lead magnet is to capture the attention of potential clients, give them some quick wins to solve the challenge the lead magnet solves, and convert them into subscribers or leads.
Additionally, a lead magnet allows a coach to demonstrate his/her expertise and provide value to potential c even before they become paying clients. This can help to build trust and establish the coach as a thought leader within his/her niche.
Common lead magnets include a free checklist, guide, e-book, video series, quiz, or any other type of resource that offers value to your target audience.
While there’s specific strategies you need to use to create a WOW worthy lead magnet (Check out my blog, “20 Tips to Create a WOW Worthy Email Welcome Sequence”), I’m focusing on the common mistakes I see my health coaching clients make when creating their lead magnet and the way to fix each mistake.
The 6 DONT’S
of a Lead Magnet:
1. DON’T Give the Subscriber What YOU Think They Need
I commonly see coaches create a lead magnet based on what they know their prospect needs, but it’s not actually what the prospect wants. For example, let’s say you’re a wellness coach who helps balance your clients’ hormones. So you create a lead magnet that gives 5 strategies to balance hormones naturally.
The problem is, your clients aren’t interested in balancing their hormones. They may not even know their hormones are out of balance. They just know they’re suffering from chronic fatigue and weight gain.
Instead, your lead magnet should focus on 1 of those things. The way you focus on it may be through balancing hormones, but you want to be specific about the content and the title especially so it speaks to what your ideal prospect is most challenged by and looking to solve.
THE FIX: Get hyper clear around the problem that your ideal client has and how you solve that. You can learn how to do that with strategy #5. Then develop a freebie around what the problem is they believe they have and meet them right where they are. So after they consume your lead magnet, they’ll feel they’ve experienced a win.
2. DON’T Make Your Lead Magnet Too Long
What I often see happen is coaches make their lead magnet way too long. They’ll use a two-hour masterclass or a 50-page ebook as their freebie and it simply overwhelms the prospect. I’ve also seen people use their free facebook group as their lead magnet. The problem with these strategies is they typically can’t be consumed in 1 sitting so they start consuming it, but never finish.
If your prospect never consumes it, then you won’t be able to achieve the purpose of the lead magnet (such as building your know, like, and trust factor and gaining a win).
Essentially, you lose them at the beginning of a relationship, which is when they’re your hottest leads.
THE FIX: Stick to a lead magnet focused on quick, specific wins that can be consumed in under 45 minutes; ideally in just 5-15 minutes.
3. DON’T Ask For Too Much Information
I hate it when I want to grab someone’s freebie, and I have to fill out all kinds of information, like my phone number, date of birth, address, and/or my billing information. When you are at the start of a relationship with a potential new email subscriber, don’t try to collect too much information.
THE FIX: Typically, name and email address is all you need. You can potentially try and get the phone number to do text message marketing, reminders, or find out their interest. If you are asking for a phone number, I would make that optional, as it could deter someone from signing up.
4. DON’T Use Jargon or Complicated Language
When you use language that is too technical, jargony, or ‘expert-like,’ your prospect is going to feel disconnected, confused, and overwhelmed.
When people feel those things, they don’t take action and they’ll go looking for another solution.
THE FIX: When you are creating your freebie, be sure to use the language that your ideal client would use. Use the words, examples, and experiences of your ideal client. Write simply (at a 7th grade level) and avoid technical jargon.
5. DON’T forget to Test Your Lead Magnet
Many entrepreneurs never test out their lead magnet. They don’t do market research or ask their audience what they want. They often don’t test their title, headline, your sub-headline, and the copy they’re using in their lead magnet.
Ultimately you want your ideal prospects to be thinking, “Wow, how did she/ he know? I gotta work with her/him!” You don’t want them to wonder, “Is this for me?”You want them immediately entering their name and email address thinking, “I gotta have this!”
THE FIX: Ask your audience what they actually want! You can do this in the form of client interviews, polls, surveys, and market research. Test out different subject lines using sites like Headline Analyzer. You can also split test your lead magnet titles by sending half your audience 1 subject line/title and the remaining half another subject line/title and see which one performs better (aka gets more subscribers).
6. DON’T Forget the Email Welcome Sequence & Continual Nurturance
It’s very common for a coach to have a lead magnet, but then no automated way to welcome and nurture their new subscribers. The problem with not having that in place is you won’t be able to establish trust or build that relationship. And when someone signs up for you lead magnet, that’s when they’ll be your hottest lead, so don’t miss this prime opportunity to welcome them and continue to nurture them.
THE FIX: Take the time to get an email welcome sequence (EWS) set up. An EWS typically involves 3-6 emails that welcomes your new subscriber, lets them know what to expect from you, provides value, and further connects you with them. It is worth the effort, you do it once and it’s typically something that you can use for years to come. Wanna learn how to create a WOW worthy email welcome sequence? Check out my blog, “20 Tips to Create a WOW Worthy Email Welcome Sequence.”
There you have it, 6 mistakes to avoid when creating your lead magnet and how to fix them. Comment below: Which tip was most helpful for you?
If you’d like to get your WOW worthy lead magnet and email welcome sequence created FOR you, then grab my FREE Copywriting Discovery Call and we’ll discuss your project, how I can help, and decide if it’s a fit to work together.
