Top 3 Reasons Why Your Free Offer Isn’t Converting Well and How to Fix it

If you’ve created a free offer to grow your email list but people aren’t signing up for it like you expected, it can leave you feeling confused and a bit deflated. Just know there can be some trial and error with any type of offer, even a free one, so we’re sharing 3 common reasons why this can happen and how to fix it.   

Your free offer can be anything from a PDF guide to a free challenge, a webinar or anything you are providing for free in exchange for people giving you their email address.  When we talk about conversions, we’re referring to the number of people who have taken the desired step you want them to take which in this case is entering their email address to receive your free offer.  If you’re promoting your lead magnet to your warm audience – people who are already familiar with you such as your social media followers, podcast listeners, etc.  a good conversion rate to shoot for is at least 50% – that means at least 50% of the people who clicked on the landing page, signed up.  If you’re promoting your lead magnet to a cold audience such as running FB ads, the rate will likely be lower – more like 30% or so.  Those are just ranges to keep in mind, so you have an idea what to expect and what to shoot for. 

We had the opportunity to do lead magnet audits for our Wellness Business Accelerator students a couple of months ago, so the timing for this is good while it’s still fresh in our minds.    

Okay, let’s jump in!   

Reason #1 for a low-converting free offer is that the title and topic are not specific enough.

This is the most common issue we see. When you consider that the title is the first thing people are going to see, and often base their decision on whether to get it or not, it needs to be very obvious right away who it’s for. 

This all starts with your niche.  We see dramatic changes with our Wellness Business Accelerator students when they dial in on their niche, and then create a free offer that addresses a top struggle or challenge they know they have and want fixed.

If you don’t have a niche that speaks to a particular subset of the population, it’s going to be very challenging to not only grow your email list, but also enroll clients in your coaching programs. 

Once you determine your niche and consider the top struggles, questions and challenges your ideal clients have, coming up with a topic and title for a compelling free offer becomes much easier. 

When you have a topic you know your audience will find helpful, you can use ChatGPT to generate title ideas to make this easier.    

Here are 3 title format ideas that can make this easy too:

• 10 Ways to _________
• A beginners guide to ___________
• 10 _____ to Avoid if You _____________

Examples title that are filled in for those could be:

• 10 Ways to Improve Sleep This Week
• A Beginners Guide to Intermittent Fasting
• 10 Common Foods to Avoid if You Have IBS 

Each one of those is very obvious who it’s for and that’s exactly what you want, so you’re growing an email list full of people who are interested in your particular area of specialty or focus.

Reason #2 for a low-converting free offer is that it’s not clear how it will help them (what benefits will they receive?).

This goes even further than just the title and subtitle because you also need to consider what you are going to include on the landing page people visit that tells them about the free resource and where they sign up to get it.  This will also come into place in your social media posts or ads you run that explain who the resource is for and what it will help them do. 

Even though the resource is free, it’s still critical to ‘sell it’ by conveying what’s in it for them.  Once you decide on your topic and title, brainstorm a list of 3-5 ways it will help your ideal clients.  It could be helping them avoid mistakes, save them time, make something easier and/or getting a quick win. 

Let’s take the title example we shared – 10 Common Foods to Avoid if You Have IBS.  One main benefit people could receive might be:   

Discover the most common trigger foods at restaurants, so you aren’t caught off guard.  The benefit there is not only knowing some of the common foods to avoid, but also some that are found at restaurants that could catch the off guard and cause a problem.

Lastly, reason #3 for a low-converting free offer is that the landing page is too busy or asks for too much information.

The landing page is just a single web page that includes the information about the lead magnet and a place where people can enter their email address to get it.

It’s easy to want to include a lot of information on this page, but it’s not a sales page, so you want it to be succinct and to the point and not include anything that isn’t absolutely necessary.

3 common mistakes we see are:

• Too much text on the page
• Images that make the page look too busy and detracts from the action you want people to take
• Asking for first name, last name AND email address.

As far as text on the page, you want to include: 

• The title and subtitle (if you have one)
• Who it’s for and what it will help them do
• 3-5 bullet points about the benefits of the resource
• A box to enter their email address -ideally, email address only. The less information people have to fill out, the higher the conversions tend to be

You want this page to be very easy to scan and read quickly, so the reader can decide in a matter of a few seconds if it’s for them or not. 

One way to make this easier is to use landing page templates that come with your email management system rather than trying to create one from scratch. We also recommend you share your landing page with a colleague or someone else who can give you feedback to let you know if it’s clear who it’s for, how it will help them and if it’s easy to read without looking too busy. 

If you have a free offer that isn’t converting well, don’t feel discouraged – it’s a work in progress. Use this information to do an audit, and you can also ask a couple of people to look at it for you to see if they can tell who it’s for, what it will help them do and if the page is easy to read and visually appealing. The more you get to know your audience and their top pain points, the easier it will be to create irresistible resources for them.

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