Why your email lead magnet isn’t working

April 20, 2022

Find out why your email lead magnet isn’t attract many subscribers – and what you can do about it.

Janet Murray Courageous Content Podcast Headshot

Have you created an email lead magnet but are struggling to attract new email subscribers?

Or finding your email list growth painfully slow?

In this episode of the Courageous Content Podcast, I share three common reasons for slow email list growth (some of which might surprise you).

Here’s what I’ll cover:

If you’re struggling to get sign ups for your email lead magnet, you may think you need new list building strategies.

Actually the opposite is often true – it’s typically because you haven’t nailed the basics.

One or more of these three things may be responsible for low sign ups for your email lead magnet.

You’re not promoting your lead magnet enough (or in enough places)

Most business owners don’t promote their email lead magnet enough. They typically add it to their website, send a few social media posts and/or email their list when they first launch a new lead magnet – then rarely ever mention it again.

But if you’re serious about growing your email list, you need to promote your lead magnet every single day.
There are multiple ways to promote your lead magnet, but here’s a some things you can implement today to increase sign ups:

Beginner/low/tech strategies

  • Add a link to your lead magnet in your email signature
  • Create a promotional image for your social media headers
  • Add a link to your social media bios
  • Regular social media posts (3 per week)
  • Publish an article about your lead magnet on LinkedIn
  • Pitch yourself as a guest speaker (e.g. podcasts/Facebook Lives) and send people to your lead magnet

More advanced strategies

  • Email your list and invite them to sign up for your lead magnet
  • Add a pop up to your website
  • Create a promo banner for your website ‘about’ page
  • Use Pinterest to drive traffic to your lead magnet
  • Invest in Facebook advertising

If you’re struggling to get sign ups for your email lead magnet, increase your marketing efforts for 30 days and see what happens. This will provide you with data that will help you work out whether your lead magnet is the problem – or you’re just not promoting it enough.

Poor user experience for prospective email subscribers

If sign ups for your email lead magnet are low, set aside 30 minutes to walk through the sign up experience again – both on mobile and desktop.

How easy/difficult is it for someone to sign up to your lead magnet. How likely are they to get bored/distracted partway through the process? Things to look out for:

  • Text too small/large to read
  • Too much text
  • No pics on page
  • Pictures are blurry/pixelated
  • Sign up box too far down the page
  • Sign up box doesn’t work
  • Call-to-action is confusing

Your lead magnet isn’t very compelling

A compelling lead magnet:

  1. Solves a specific problem
  2. Delivers a quick win

The biggest mistake people make with lead magnets is making them too broad e.g. ‘5 self-care tips’ or ‘workout ideas for women over 50’.

And something you think is niche e.g. workout ideas for women over 50 is actually freely available all over the internet.

Focusing on a specific problem for specific type of person is much more likely to appeal e.g. ‘Workout ideas for women over 50 with osteoarthritis’.

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