5 Biggest List-Building Secrets to Get AWESOME Clients
Have you tried to build a list, but the results were… less than stellar?
No surprise. While the technology to build a list has gotten easier and more accessible, there are still big mistakes that can interfere with your list-building efforts.
Here are 5 secrets to build a list of AWESOME potential clients, specifically for coaches & healers:
Secret #1: Make a super-specific offer
You need to make some kind of offer in order to entice people to join your list. It used to be ‘join my email newsletter.’ (That’s SO last decade now!)
Now the secret is to make an offer for a juicy freebie of some kind – an eBook, video, etc. But if your offer is too vague, it’s not exciting.
“Meditation Methods” is a vague title.
“5 Ways to Meditate in 5 Minutes” is much more specific.
Make your offer super-specific.
Secret #2: The tech is necessary, but not sufficient
Just because you CAN set up a list-building system using some of the latest technology, doesn’t mean that people will flock to your list.
You absolutely have to have good tech, which means one of the common email management systems. There are hundreds of them, and dozens of good ones, with new ones being added all the time.
Get a system to start your list that is inexpensive, or free. Many are free up to a certain number of email addresses. You also want a system that allows you to segment people based on what they click. Most systems call this process ‘tagging’.
However, It’s not the system that’s important (although you need one) – it’s the strategy behind your super-specific offer and how it blends with your brand and your high-ticket offer that makes list-building work.
Secret #3: Being willing to tweak your offer.
Sometimes, because we have an in-depth knowledge of the problems that our clients face, we don’t actually speak their language.
For example, a doctor will often use technical jargon when describing a medical issue, which doesn’t aid comprehension.
If people aren’t taking your offer and joining your list, there might be something wrong with the offer no matter how good the information inside your offer is. You may not need to create an entirely new offer – you may just need to change the title or the subtitle of your offer, to make it something that your clients are craving.
When you’re willing to tweak your offer, you can create something that’s irresistible. With the ease of design that’s available now, through a DIY program like Canva or hiring someone through Fiverr or Upwork, tweaks are easy. Figuring out what to tweak… that takes more effort.
Secret #4: Nurture your list after you build it.
A list isn’t just built. It’s maintained.
People may opt-in to your list for your juicy freebie, but if you only send them one email with the offer, you haven’t sufficiently served them.
You’ll want to plan the list nurture for them, or they’ll leave your list. Emailing them once every month or two won’t cut it. An old list is an (almost) dead list, and it takes just as much energy to re-invigorate them as it did to bring them in the first time.
Plan your nurture at least once a week. This could be an ezine, an article, or a blog. It’s something that provides great value, so your list continually expects to get great info from your emails and will open them.
Secret #5: Practice good list hygiene.
When you build your list, you have to expect people to fall off.
Some will unsubscribe and some will simply stop engaging which means over time you’ll want to stop emailing them. When you email a significant number of people whose emails ‘bounce’, the rest of your emails aren’t delivered as effectively.
A good open rate on emails is anything over 20%. If someone hasn’t opened an email from you in more than 90 days, you should ‘scrub’ your list and stop emailing them.
This means that your email list size won’t be the total number of “all the people who opted in for my freebie” or “everyone who’s subscribed.” Your total email list will be that number (your total number of opted in or subscribed contacts) minus the number of contacts who have opted out, or minus the people you have stopped emailing because they aren’t opening.
How many can you expect? As many as 50% or more of your list may leave before the year is over, which means that list-building needs to be a constant activity.
Want to know more about how to build an awesome list and book clients from it?
Join me for a LIVE workshop, ‘3 Simple Ways to Build a List and Get AWESOME Clients from It,’ to get the inside scoop on list building to get clients!