When it comes to email list building, you’ve likely heard advice such as…

Quiz lead magnets work the best… sign up for a quiz-building tool to grow your email list faster.

You need to optimise conversions… create a separate landing page, and you’ll capture more leads.

And make sure you tag or group your subscribers… so you can segment your list and send more targeted emails.

Let’s be honest… there’s so much advice and confusing terminology out there.

It’s enough to make your head spin!

Now, while these list-building activities can work when implemented well AND at the right time for your stage of business…

Sometimes it’s more important not to focus on what you *should* be doing…

But instead, what you’re doing right NOW that’s stopping you from growing your email list.

And what quick fixes you can make to boost your email list-building success.

As a Marketing Coach and Business Mentor, I see service business owners make common list-building mistakes.

They don’t even realise they’re making them most of the time.

Or that these mistakes are holding them back from filling their email list with the dream clients they’d love to work with.

But the good news is, these mistakes are easy to fix!

In the blog post below, I outline the five most common email list-building mistakes I see service business owners make.

And what quick fixes you can implement to start growing your email list faster.

Mistake #1 Creating a lead magnet that’s not specific

While it can feel like you’ll miss out on leads, you must create a lead magnet specific to your niche.

Because when you do, it will stand out more prominently to the people you’re trying to attract.

And they will see more value in it and be more inclined to opt in.

If no one is downloading your lead magnet, or you’re filling your email list with the wrong type of leads, then this could be an issue you need to address.

Quick Fix 1:

Consider how you can adapt your lead magnet to make it more specific for the niche you are trying to target.

Could you add a description of who your lead magnet is for to the title or messaging you’re using?

Or do you need to create a new lead magnet that specifically targets the niche you’ve selected?

If you haven’t selected a niche, I recommend prioritising this to boost your list-building and marketing effectiveness.

RELATED: How to define a target market for your service business

RELATED: 5 Common target market mistakes you’ll want to avoid

Mistake #2 Choosing a topic that doesn’t correctly qualify leads

One of the things that a well-designed lead magnet will do is qualify your leads.

Because only the people who have the specific pain point or problem your lead magnet solves, will choose to opt in.

However, one of the biggest mistakes I see service businesses make is choosing a pain point or problem that doesn’t directly relate and link to the services they sell.

It may be a pain point or problem that their ideal clients have, but it’s not actually one they can help people solve.

This mistake often happens because business owners lack clarity about their services and the pain points they help their clients solve.

And as such, create lead magnets around topics that don’t correctly qualify leads for their specific services.

Quick Fix 2:

Review your services and focus on the specific pain points your offerings solve.

If you’re struggling to define these pain points, you may need to step back further and review your marketing strategy to ensure your service design is effective

Consider how you could adapt your existing lead magnet (or create a new one) to solve a problem your ideal clients have and fill your email list with better-qualified leads.

RELATED: What is a lead magnet? And how to create one that works

Mistake # 3 Using titles and messages that don’t resonate

There’s so much noise out there online, so it’s essential to use messaging that cuts through and stands out.

And a big mistake that I see service businesses make is not giving their lead magnet an eye-catching title that people will be drawn to and want to sign up for.

So, what makes a lead magnet title catchy?

Well, your audience needs to understand that it’s been designed for them, so one option is to include a description of them in the title.

For example, is your lead magnet for mothers, small businesses, or homeowners?

Another way to make a lead magnet title catchy is to use persuasive and emotive language like magic, beautiful, ultimate, freedom and essential as just some examples.

You could also focus on the benefits of your solution, such as simple, fast, easy, and affordable.

Or use a sales technique such as adding numbers to your titles to attract more attention.

Quick Fix 3:

Update your lead magnet title to something more eye-catching and appealing than what you use today.

Consider adding a description of your target market to the title and using more emotive language to encourage more opt-ins.

If you’re struggling to find the right words, review your target market’s language from when you researched and developed your marketing strategy.

RELATED: 10 Simple ways to research your target market

Not sure where to start when it comes to marketing your service-based small business? That’s where I can help. Get started by downloading my free Ultimate Marketing Checklist by clicking the button below: 

Mistake #4 Designing forms and landing pages that aren’t optimised

Getting people to see your website sign-up form or landing page is just the first step when it comes to email list building.

You also need people to enter their first name and email address.

And this is the step where it can go wrong for many small business owners because they haven’t optimised their forms and landing pages for conversions.

The biggest list-building mistake I see service businesses make is putting too much information on their pop-up or opt-in website forms.

It’s distracting and makes the site visitor stop to read it all rather than just quickly and instinctively signing up for your email list.

Another big mistake is collecting too much information about the person opting in.

These days people are very wary of giving others their personal information and often won’t opt in if asked for their name, email address, phone number, and a heap of other details.

Quick Fix 4:

On your lead magnet landing page, include the title of your lead magnet, a picture of your lead magnet (which you can create using the templates in Canva), a short description of what’s included, and either a button or form to opt-in.  

Check out this landing page example – it’s among my highest-converting lead magnets.

With a website form or pop-up, you’ll also want to keep it simple and just use the title and an even shorter description of what the lead magnet includes.

Also, I recommend streamlining your opt-in fields to include first name and email address.

RELATED: How to build an email list when you’re first starting out

Mistake #5 Relying on manual processes to save money

Lastly, I see many service business owners putting off building an email list because they don’t want to invest in online tools before working with clients.

Or because they don’t feel comfortable using online technology and automation tools.

And I get it. It can be very uncomfortable to start spending money before you have revenue coming in.

However, if you don’t invest in the right tools and technology to grow your email list, generating leads and making money will take much longer.

And you’ll be putting your business at risk of breaching privacy laws because the online tools have built-in capabilities to automate and manage your opt-in and unsubscribe processes.

When you start using the right tools and automation technology, you’ll also see a boost in your list-building success because they are optimised for conversions.

Quick Fix 5:

You don’t need many tools to get started, as most automated email systems have integrated everything into one system these days.

I recommend and use Convertkit for my email system. If you want a free trial to see how it works, click my affiliate link here to sign up and check it out.

I also recommend ActiveCampaign, or for those on a low budget, I recommend MailerLite.

RELATED: 30 Marketing tools every service business should know about

Not sure where to start when it comes to marketing your service-based small business? That’s where I can help. Get started by downloading my free Ultimate Marketing Checklist by clicking the button below: 

So, there are five quick fixes you can make to boost your email list building success.

When you develop a lead magnet that’s specific to your target market and the pain points and problems they have, and combine it with messaging that stands out, then you’ll grow an email list filled with qualified leads.

Your target market, services, and messaging are the elements that make up your marketing strategy.

Tired of trying to figure out what you’re missing when it comes to finding clients and making sales in your service business?

Break through the barriers that are holding you back with the support of an MBA-qualified Marketing Coach and Business Mentor who will tailor a 1:1 program specifically for you.

BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH is a 3 or 6-month 1:1 Coaching Program for service-based business owners who want to develop the strategy, systems, and structure they need to find clients and make sales, so they can stop feeling stuck and start gaining massive momentum in their business.

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