Why is it so HARD to grow my email list? (part 2)
“Amy” is a frustrated single mom who wants to know:
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Why is it so hard to get others to opt in? I’ve tried freebies, download free guides, list… virtually nothing has helped. I don’t have time to waste in growing my business and as a divorced mom this is essential to figure out.
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Well, Amy, you didn’t give me a lot of details about your business.
But usually, this problem is caused by one of two things.
Here they are:
- Your “lead magnet” is… lousy.
My first boss, Sam, used to tell this story:
A guy sits down for lunch at the local burger joint.
When the waitress brings out his meal, he can’t believe what he sees. The fries are charred to a crisp.
“Excuse me,” he says. “I’m not happy here. Did you see these fries?”
“OK, I’ll be right back,” says the waitress. A minute later she returns with a second plate—overflowing with more burned fries.
The customer stares in disbelief.
Finally he mutters, “Well, if there’s one thing I like more than burned fries, it’s plenty of ’em.”
This is an easy mistake to make with your opt-in bribe.
You fall prey to the idea that all you have to do is offer up some “free” content, and people will sign up in droves to get it.
But if all you’re offering is more “burnt fries,” no one is going to opt in.
(I’ll talk more about ways to pick a great lead magnet in a day or two—stay tuned.)
- You’re not getting their attention.
Ever have one of those days where you feel like you’re just getting dragged behind a truck barreling down the freeway at 90 mph?
Here’s a little secret:
Your audience has those days too.
MOST people are harried, stressed out and overworked.
When your brain is in overload like this, it copes by shutting out distractions.
And unfortunately for you, your email newsletter form usually falls in the “distraction” bucket.
That’s why persistence is the key here.
Chances are good that people will ignore you the first couple of times you offer your free “better sleep” guide.
Eventually though, you pierce the shield they automatically put up, and they realize that, come to think of it, they actually WOULD like to get more than 3 hours of sleep a night…
One signup form in the sidebar doesn’t cut it.
Neither does a link at the bottom of your blog posts.
You MUST give them multiple chances to opt in.
And those chances must be so obvious they can’t miss them.
My go-to tool for this is an app called SumoMe.
SumoMe makes it super easy to add multiple opt-ins to your site.
It works with all of the major email software out there.
And best of all, you can use it as long as you want for free.
I’ll have more to say about how to use this tool to finally get your email list growing…
But the first step is installing it on your site.
To do that, just go here: