Are you struggling to get people to download your email opt-in or lead magnet?

Or is your lead magnet attracting the wrong type of clients (who you don’t really want to work with)?

Getting your lead magnet to work well is quite a common barrier for new small business owners who haven’t had to market a business before…

And it feels so frustrating, right?

You’re doing everything you think you should be doing to grow your email list.

But no matter how hard you try, you can’t quite get the results you were hoping for…

And building an email list of qualified leads feels like it’s virtually impossible!

So, what can you do to get your lead magnet working better for you?

And start growing your email list with dream clients who you’d love to work with?

Well, in the blog post below, I’ve outlined seven of the most common reasons why your lead magnet isn’t working.

Plus, I’ve also provided some marketing tips for how to fix these lead magnet mistakes.

1. Your opt-in is missing a title

If you want your email opt-in or lead magnet downloaded, then it needs to sound like one.

Yet, I often see lead magnets or landing pages that only describe what’s inside and have no title.

So, if your opt-in doesn’t have a specific title, then you need to create one.

The process for creating an opt-in title is like what you would do when you write a blog post.

It needs to include emotive or sales trigger words, and adding a description of your target market and who the opt-in is for, is also quite effective.

2. Your opt-in title isn’t click-worthy enough

This is probably the most common mistake that I see service business owners make with their opt-ins and lead magnets.

A catchy opt-in title is essential if you want people to download your lead magnet because there is so much content out there online these days.

I recommend using sales words and triggers that will catch the eye of your target market as they are scrolling away through their online feed.

There are a few standard techniques you can use to enhance your title and make it more click-worthy, including:

• Using numbers
• Adding more emotive words
• Including words to describe your target market

Online marketing tools like CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer will also analyse and give your existing title a score. Then, make suggestions for how you could improve your title.

RELATED: 30 Marketing tools every service business owner should know about

3. Your landing page has too much copy on it

A landing page is an online web page that people will land on and enter their email addresses.

It usually has a headline, some copy, an opt-in form, and a button to subscribe.

However, I’ve seen many ineffective landing pages that have way too much copy on them.

By the time someone has read through everything on the page, they are often distracted and move off the page before opting in.

To fix this issue, review your landing page content and trim it back to just the essential information which needs to be on the page.

I’ve tested many different formats with my lead magnets and my client’s lead magnets, and one template that works very well is to limit your landing page to a headline, an image/mock-up of the opt-in, one sentence describing the benefit, and a button.

I also recommend adding a link to your privacy policy on your landing page to show people you treat their privacy seriously, and they won’t receive spam from you.

RELATED: How to create an effective email marketing strategy

4. Your website pop-up is appearing too early

There’s nothing more annoying than a website pop-up that appears as soon as you land on someone’s website.

You haven’t even had enough time to read who the business is and what they offer.

Instead, I recommend putting a 45-second delay on any website pop-up technology that you use.

Also, please test it out on mobile and desktop as the pop-up may not work so well on a mobile device.

If this is the case, you may be able to turn off the pop-up for mobile visitors.

Or select a banner or drop-down rather than a pop-up (depending on the technology on your site).

Despite what you may think about pop-up’s being annoying, the truth is they still work very well for building an email list for your service business.

RELATED: Why your email list is not growing (And 10 ways to fix it)

5. Your opt-in topic doesn’t help to solve a pain point

If you want people to download your lead magnet, it needs to be relevant and valuable.

And one of the most effective types of lead magnets addresses a pain point or problem that your target market commonly has.

It needs to be a specific pain point and one that can be solved relatively quickly and give your potential client a quick win.

When you help your potential client, it will assist you with building trust and credibility, which is a critical part of the sales journey.

If you’re unsure what type of lead magnet to create, I can help with that!

Please check out my blog – 3 Types of lead magnets that are perfect for service businesses

6. Your opt-in is attracting the wrong people

If you are getting people downloading your opt-in or lead magnet, but they aren’t converting to enquires or sales, then you may have a mismatch between what you are promoting and selling.

Your lead magnet must address the most pressing and common pain point that your dream client has, and it needs to be clear who the lead magnet is for.

A couple of simple ways to fix this issue is to add ‘For [your target market]’ to the end of your lead magnet title, so you attract more of those types of people and deter others.

Alternatively, you may need to go back and create a lead magnet that is more relevant to the type of people you’re trying to attract.

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: 

7. Your lead magnet is too broad or complicated

When people opt-in to download a lead magnet, they’re looking for quick wins and fixes.

They aren’t looking for information that will solve all the pain points in their entire life or business.

Sometimes we feel like we must give lots and lots of information to make something feel more valuable.

But the reality is that it’s making things more confusing, overwhelming, and complicated for our clients.

So, what should you do instead? Focus on creating a specific lead magnet or email opt-in.

If you have a pain point in mind that you are creating a lead magnet to help someone address, consider the first step in solving that pain point.

That’s where you’ll want to focus when it comes to your lead magnet content.

If you give your potential client a quick win with something specific and easy, then you will stand out from your competition.

So, there you have seven common reasons why your opt-in or lead magnet isn’t working and what you can do to fix it.

While it can take a bit of time to set up a lead magnet and get it working well for you, I can tell you from experience it is time well spent.

When you have a growing email list of qualified leads, you’ll have a brilliant asset for your business that you can use to convert more sales and grow well into the future.

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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