6 Subtle Freebie Mistakes That Even 7-Figure Course Creators Still Make

Even high-earning course creators can still uplevel their lead generation strategy. Trust me, I get it. There are so many other things to worry about from upcoming launches to content creation and customer service concerns.

You’ll want to listen in on this one: when you make these subtle refinements, your freebies can convert even more of your audience, translating into surpassing your wildest income goals 🙌🏻

Let’s jump right into some mistakes to avoid and ways to give a little refresh to your lead magnets:

1. Attracting the Wrong Stage of Buyer
2. Misalignment with Current Funnel
3. Too Complex & Creates Overwhelm
4. Teaching without Leading
5. Clunky Tech Systems Translating to Revenue Loss
6. Outdated Designs Unintentionally Creating Doubt

Attracting the Wrong Stage of Buyer

You’ve done the research eons ago and can confirm that your audience finds your opt-in valuable. I mean, you freebie gets an amazing number of emails added to your list and you’re getting an impressive, wealth-building amount of course participants. But let’s sit down and analyze - what is the ratio of email signups to course sign-ups? Is it as good as it could be?

A first consideration for you to assess is if your freebie is targeting the right stage of buyer. Your freebie might be attracting people who are absolute beginners, which WORKED when you were first starting out. As your course and offerings have grown, your freebie should now be targeting those who are actually ready to begin their transformational journey. This will help ensure that you are segmenting your market to those who are most likely to progress through your sales funnel.

Ideas for solving:

• Modify your current freebie to more accurately target the portion of your audience who is ready to invest in transformation
• Solve a strategic issue with your freebie, attracting those who are ready to take action
• Create additional lead magnets to cover multiple stages of the buyer journey

Misalignment with Current Funnel

How long have you been in the course creation realm? I’m betting that your funnel has morphed and shaped over the years and might look wildly different than it did when you first started. Maybe you’ve even fine-tuned your flagship offer to help a specific subset of your target audience.

My next question for you is: Have you updated your lead magnet to precisely match your current funnel? A possible reason your lead magnet isn’t converting into as many course sales is because it doesn’t directly relate to your updated offer and sales funnel.

Ideas for solving:

• Update your freebie to ensure it is a part of the clear pathway to your upgraded course
• End your freebie with a prompt of what the next step should be

Too Complex & Creates Overwhelm

As experts in our fields, we tend to over-deliver, and this can certainly apply with our lead generation tools. Something like an in-depth, mini-course is a high level of commitment and can slow momentum. Even worse - your audience might assume that all they need is the freebie and that you’ve already given them all information they need.

Opt-ins that provide a simple, clear pathway to solving a specific and small problem make it easy for your target audience to get a quick win and build momentum. The more you remove the complexities and create a shortcut to their path to transformation, the more likely someone is going to progress further in your sales funnel.

Ideas for solving:

• Break your current freebie into smaller, more digestible and action-inducing lead magnets
• Position your freebie as a clear, simple action point
• Make sure every element of the freebie builds toward taking action - if it doesn’t, save it for the full-blown course

Teaching without Leading

Let’s face it, content can be replicated. With research, anyone can teach a course on how to train a dog (or whatever your specialty happens to be). Your unique approach, philosophy, perspective, and story are all ingredients to your secret sauce - aka what makes YOUR course a better fit than someone else’s similar course.

Does your opt-in have your unique flavor added to it? Do people get a sense of your personality and style of leading? These small elements build trust and loyalty, turning casual followers into loyal, paying customers & clients.

Ideas for solving:

• Edit the copy in your freebie to accurately portray your unique voice, especially if you’ve been in the business for a couple of years because your voice has likely evolved
• Have a short excerpt in your freebie telling a condensed version of your story and your “why”
• Reference your bespoke methodology and frameworks by name so people attribute your ideas to you and not the industry in general

Clunky Tech Systems Translating to Revenue Loss

Ever clicked a button or link that didn’t go anywhere? YIKES. I know, I know, it happens! But these small mistakes in your user experience can result in huge loss, even when they are at the beginning of your sales funnel.

Have you been receiving an up-tick in the amount of support requests related to your opt-in? Is the ratio of sign-ups to downloads way off? These can be signs that something along your opt-in sequence is amiss.

Ideas for solving:

• Streamline your opt-in sequence to make it as simple as possible and provide a premium experience
• Assess the time between email submission and opt-in delivery - optimize for instant gratification
• Test your opt-in sequence to make sure all links, confirmation emails, tagging logics, and flow steps are functioning as intended
• Poll or reach out to recent email subscribers asking about their opt-in experience and adjust as necessary

Outdated Designs Unintentionally Creating Doubt

Does your freebie match your current design aesthetics? Maybe you’ve gone through a rebrand (or a few) since you originally created your freebie. If so, it’s time to update the design.

If your freebie looks and feels like it was created with PowerPoint circa 2010, people won’t think your $3K course is legit, no matter how high quality the information is. It’s not only about creating a visually pleasing design, it’s about laying the foundation for a sophisticated, intentional, and premium course.

Ideas for solving:

• Update your freebie to reflect your current branding
• If you haven’t updated your branding since elevating your course offers, it’s time! Old, DIY branding can unintentionally lower trust in your expertise.

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Running a successful 7-figure course business is no feat for the weary, and ensuring all steps of your sales funnel are up-to-date is a huge task in itself! Following these steps to update your lead generation tools will help set you on the path for converting even more of your leads into happy, thriving, raving students.

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More Blog Posts About Lead Generation:

Grow Your Email List: 8 Lead Generation Freebies for Course Creators

How to Create a Freebie - A Tutorial for Course Creators