How to Collect Emails Like Crazy

Mar 8, 2017

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Think about the last time you entered your email into someone's website.

It could've been anything.

An eBook. PDF. Maybe even an email course, or free webinar.

How did you feel?

Chances are there was a little thrill. The taste of anticipation and the excitement of getting your hands on that freebie made it effortless to type in your name and email.

You didn't even think about it.

We're all subscribed to someone's list, and if you're like me, you can't help but remember the juicy little freebie that you got out of the deal.

We've all experienced an irresistible lead magnet.

But have you ever taken the time to stop and analyze just why it was so appealing to you?

Today we are going to look a little deeper into what makes a successful lead magnet.

I'm going to peel back every layer, so you can make your own irresistible lead magnet. One that will have people more than happy to give you their emails.

What is a lead magnet?

A Lead Magnet is an offering of free, valuable content in exchange for a prospects' contact information. The goal of the Lead Magnet is to collect leads and begin the process of nurturing a prospect into a customer.

Unless you live in a cave, you have experienced several lead magnets in your lifetime.

You may not have known what they were at the time, but if you're trying to make it as an online entrepreneur, you know how important it is.

Simply put: A lead magnet is a freebie that you give people in exchange for their emails.

Emails are the lifeline of any online business. And even brick-and-mortar businesses are catching on and learning how powerful a list is to growing a business.

If you don't have a list, you don't have an audience.

If you don't have an audience, then you have no one to sell your products or services to.

If you don't sell your products or services...

You don't have a viable business.

So many entrepreneurs make this harder than it needs to be. Convincing someone to give you their email seems like a daunting task.

"Why would anyone give me your email?"

"Do I really have something valuable to offer?"

We over analyze these questions. We think ourselves into a corner and stall out. That's why our lists aren't growing, and our businesses flatline.

But once you know what goes into it, creating an irresistible lead magnet isn't that hard.

Once you understand what makes a lead magnet so irresistible, you will build your list quicker than you ever have before.

There're several ways you can go about it. I'll cover some of the most common lead magnets you can use for your business to give you some ideas, but the most important part of a lead magnet isn't about you.

Know your audience: see the world through the eyes of someone else.

Take a step back from your business for a little bit. Try clear your mind, and think about who your ideal customer is.

Go ahead and grab some paper, or open up your favorite note-taking app, this is something you don't want to forget.

I want you to create a profile of your perfect customer or client.

How old are they?
Male or female?
Do they have a family or are they single?
What are their hobbies?
What do they want to change about their life now?
What problems do they face?
What frustrates them?

People give their emails to you for the same reasons they buy courses people have created with Kajabi.

There is a gap that they need to fill.

If you learn how to fill those gaps well, and build relationships, you have what it takes to build any size list you need.

Problem Solving Creates Value

Know your audience. Know what problem they want to solve. Know how you're going to solve it.

People need incentive.

If your lead magnet doesn't tell them specifically what valuable content or information they get from giving you their email, you'll never get their address.

Know your audience, and you will know what's valuable to them.

Now step back into your own shoes. You know your ideal customer. You know what their problems, and frustrations are.

Now that you've got to come up with a way to solve a specific problem.

Let's say you're in the gardening niche.

Your ideal customers are people who want to learn how to grow their own food in a limited amount of space.

You may have a course on how to do this, but your list is nonexistent, so sales are not where you want them to be.

I know for me, I kill just about every plant that I touch.

If I were to research gardening and stumble on your website, the most valuable thing to me would be a solution to my plant murdering problem.

If I don't see a solution to my specific problem, chances are I would click off your site and find someone else who I knew could help me.

In this case, a valuable lead magnet could be a free PDF cheat sheet on caring for vegetable plants even if you don't have a green thumb.

Something like that would catch my interest.

I would fork over my email in a hurry, to save my poor innocent plants from suffering any longer.

If you're selling a course on how to get out of debt:

You could do a lead magnet that walks people through an efficient budgeting process to get control of their money.

If you have a personal fitness course:

You could create an email course with five days worth of fun workouts that will help people feel better, have more energy, and enjoy exercise.

Your lead magnet is the appetizer. Your product or service is the main course.

If no one wants the appetizer, chances are, they won't buy the main event.

Your lead magnet should be so valuable; people would pay for it.

If you recoil at the thought of pouring your heart and soul into something just to give it away for free, I understand.

Time is precious. Why would you put so much time into something that isn't going to make any money?

Hate to break it to you, but you're thinking backward.

If you pull together a sub par lead magnet, your audience will assume that your course is sub par too and it will discourage them from buying.

One of the most impactful lead magnets that I've ever experienced was a five-day email course.

I remember eagerly waiting for that email to hit my inbox every day. And at the end, the free course delivered some great results.

I remember reading the emails thinking, "Man, this is so helpful. I can't imagine what the paid course is like."

Needless to say when this person launched their paid course I bought it without hesitating. And it blew me away.

Don't be afraid to give too much of yourself.

Give until it feels like you're giving TOO MUCH.

Deliver in a big way. Because if you hold back when it comes to your lead magnet, it won't give you the results you are looking for.

A good lead magnet delivers instant gratification

Especially when you're leading up to a launch, it's so important that your lead magnet is available instantly.

This narrow window of time is so important because if you don't deliver fast most likely, they're not going open any more of your emails. You lose trust.

Since we've covered the heart of what makes an irresistible lead magnet, it's time to go over some specific ideas you can use for your marketing strategy.

You know your audience.

You know what problem they want to solve.

And you know how you're going to solve it.

How do take all of this information, and you put your lead magnet together?

Free Email Courses

Since this is one of my favorites will start here.

An email course is a series of emails set up on an autoresponder that go out every day you're running the course. A good timeline is five days. It's doable for anyone without being overwhelming.

One of the huge perks of an email course is that it conditions people to open your emails.

We're all guilty; I can't tell you how many times I put in my email to get something for free then ignored the rest of the emails from that business.

Email courses create a positive association in the minds of your audience.

They know that when they open your emails, they're going to get something valuable out of it. So even after the email courses over they know that if they open your emails, good things happen.

It also builds trust.

An email course gives people a tidbit of what they can expect from you as a whole. And if you create a quality email course your audience will trust that the main dish will be even better.

( As a side note, you can create the autoresponders and email courses all in Kajabi )...ok now lets move on ;)

Checklists

You may be thinking: "How in the world is a checklist going to get me emails?"

If you've never stumbled across a quality checklist, then I can understand your skepticism.

But the thing is:

Checklists should not be boring or bland.

The best way to find ideas for a checklist is to make a list of your most popular posts. You can find this information in your analytics.

Once you find your best posts, create a checklist based on your content.

For example, let's say your niche has to do with home organizing and your biggest post is about how to organize your kitchen in a day.

You can take all the information and steps in the post and put it into a well-thought-out handy checklist for your audience. Being able to print out your tips for your audience to follow along is a huge incentive.

You already know that particular content is highly valuable to your audience. Attaching a relevant lead magnet makes your content work for you even more. You'll land more leads, without a whole lot of extra work.

Free Videos

Why do you think so many marketers out there are using the power of Facebook live for their business?

Because it works.

Videos can show people who you are and what you're about a way that a blog post can't.

You can convey so many emotions with your tone of voice, your body language, and facial expressions that don't come across when your audience is reading your words alone.

That's why videos as a lead magnet are so enticing.

If you create a highly valuable, informative video, people won't think twice about giving you their email to gain access to it.

You can even do this in the form of a webinar, or combine videos with the email courses we talked about earlier in a quality free video email course.

A Lead Magnet For Any Niche

There are so many different types of lead magnets out there.

Some other good examples that might work for business your business are:

Access to private Facebook group

MP3 downloads
Worksheets
E-books
Coupon codes
Free trials
Sneak peeks into your course
Exclusive content
Cheat sheets
Even downloadable PDFs of your existing blog content

The sky's the limit.

But the thing is, you can sit there and read about different types of lead magnets until you could write a book on it. But you will not grow your list until you put that knowledge into practice.

I can't tell you which you lead magnet to use.

All of these lead magnets work.

So don't waste time trying to find the perfect lead magnet.

As long as you know your audience, and you can provide them with valuable tools or knowledge that they need, you have the fundamentals of what it takes to create an irresistible lead magnet.

Finding the perfect lead magnet for your niche doesn't have to be complicated. Pick one and go for it.

If it works, great! Keep building on and perfecting that process.

If it doesn't, move on to something else and try that out. The internet is so forgiving. You're allowed to try different things out to see what works best for you.

So instead of wasting time researching the perfect lead magnet, stop procrastinating.

Pick one that appeals to you and go make it.

Research isn't going to build your list. You have to create and implement your lead magnet before you can start collecting emails.

Want to collect emails like crazy?

Get out there and build your irresistible lead magnet today. You got this!

Let me know in the comments below which lead magnet you are going to use in your marketing strategy. Make it a goal to create your irresistible lead magnet this week!