If you’re seriously interested in growing your email list, and getting better results, you’ll definitely want to read this entire post.

As a health coach, you probably know that providing freemium offers on your website is a great way to build your email list, and get your foot in the door with your target audience. It allows potential clients to see what you have to offer. After your readers have opted-in, you may feel that you’re as good as gold. They opted-in because they want to purchase your services, right?

Why else would they want to take advantage of the free offer?

In a perfect world, that would be the case. But it is more likely that the people who opt-in to your free offer are there to see if you can offer some sort of solution or make their life easier in some way. The free offer is a great way for you to show them what you can do.

For your free offer to truly make a difference for your subscribers, you will need to implement a system to follow up. Following up is as simple as sending a few automated emails to your subscribers (and then keep in touch on a regular basis via your weekly emails).

Today, let’s look at the reason behind the follow-up, a few of my favorite services to automate follow-ups, and a few script templates you can use in your follow up emails. I’ll also share 5 ways you can promote your free offer to accelerate your efforts.

Why Do You Need To Follow Up?

The internet is full of online opt-ins with a “subscribe and drop it” policy. The main goal of this strategy is to gain as many subscribers or users as possible. They don’t honestly care about their customer’s satisfaction. The all-mighty dollar takes precedence over the true value their product or service provides.

I know this is not the case for wellness professionals – thank goodness!

Following up with your clients creates relationships. Without a meaningful client/provider relationship, you are just another free online offer. Using follow-up emails allows you to create a personal relationship with your clients. It shows that you care about their satisfaction with your product or service.

And believe me, your clients will find this refreshing. As I mentioned above, true customer satisfaction doesn’t seem to always be a priority in the online world. As long as they purchased the product, it’s up to the client to make the most of it. Being a health coach with a heart will put you miles ahead of your competition. The first step in being a health coach with heart is to follow up with your prospective clients.

The first thing to consider is if you are just providing value in your follow-up, or if your free offer will lead to one of your paid programs or services.

Automate Your Follow-Ups

Now you may be thinking, “Wait a minute… Automate my follow ups? Isn’t that exactly the opposite of what you were talking about in the previous paragraphs?”

It is, and it isn’t. Automating your follow-ups is only as robotic as you make it. Automation is a tool. When this tool is used wisely, it can help you kill two birds with one stone. You can reach a much larger audience, and you can reach out to them in a genuine way.

By creating automated follow ups you are allowing your workflow to… well, flow. Without automation, you would be subject to responding to every single person who opted-in to your free offer.

While this might not seem like much now, it will become burdensome to your schedule once your list grows. Automation will save valuable time when it comes to effectively growing your list and your business.

As I mentioned above, automation is only as robotic as you make it. Automated email follow-ups don’t have to be boring or mundane. The opposite is much more fun. Creating thoughtfully curated copy is a wonderful way to keep in touch with your subscribers.

Not only will it help your subscribers to identify your brand, but your subscribers will start to view you as an individual who can solve their problems; not another automated business trying to sell them something.

Automated email services include AWeber, GetResponse, MailerLite and MailChimp. Be aware that the free version of Mailchimp does not include the automation process that we are talking about (and I think the other services mentioned are better).

Any of these automated email services will do the trick. It’s simply a matter of which features appeal to you as a business owner. Each service also hosts a multitude of application integrations to make creating the perfect email a seamless experience. It’s truly a matter of personal choice.

Getting Started & Scripts You Can Use

When creating your follow up emails start with a group of 5 to 7 short messages. These emails should be sent every 2 to 4 days as people become familiar with your free offer.

Sending a short follow up email after they have had a chance to experience your free offer helps them to solidify in their mind whether or not the offer is what they are looking for.

After people receive your follow-up email series, they will receive your regular emails (stay in contact at least once a week).

Your follow-up emails work towards developing the relationship that will solidify your expertise. Here are a few email scripts that will help you to develop the perfect follow up for your opt-ins.

Initial Follow Up (this should be scheduled to go out within a few minutes of people opting in):

Hi it’s (your name), 

Congrats on downloading your free _________ (title of freebie).  I love sharing some of my best tips to help you ______________ (insert what you help clients with).

I help people that struggle with ___________ so they can _____________(benefit) and ____________(benefit).

Share a very brief example of how you overcame a struggle that relates to this topic or why you are focusing on this area (make it personal so you share your human side, and show that you are relatable).  Include a photo of yourself (and or you with your family if you have one).

Speaking of which… (share a tip about that topic – link to a blog post about it, if possible).

Be on the lookout for my next email where I’ll be sharing one of my favorite hacks for _______________.  (Info on a solution to a common problem or struggle).

I know you’re going to love it! See you in a few days. 

In the meantime, be sure to join my private Facebook group where we (explain what your group is about, if you have one, and include a hyper link so they can request to join).

Sign off

Secondary Follow Up:

Hey ______ (insert subscriber’s name). How are you enjoying the (insert name of free guide or other offer) so far?

On page __, I mention (mention an interesting fact, concept – something to pique their curiosity because you want them to consume the content). Expand a little on this topic and how it will help them to reach their goals.

Long-term change is all about baby steps, so decide on one thing you can work on this week.

If you think you might need a little help, check out this blog post on _____________ (Ideally, link to a blog post on your website, and tell them why they will want to read it – what’s in it for them?).

I’ll check back in with you in a few days, so be sure to look for my next email where I’ll be sharing a simple solution to one of the most common struggles you may be dealing with right now.

Sign off

Tertiary Follow Up:

Hello from ____________ (insert wherever you are located)! lt’s (your name) again, checking in to see how you’re doing.

Did you know that (insert statistic here that relates back to the information in your free offer)?   Example: Did you know that some sources estimate that 80% of people that go on ‘diets’ gain the weight back again?  It’s no wonder really since restrictive diets are only a short-term fix, not a solution any of us can live with as part of a lifestyle we enjoy.

(Offer helpful information to solve this problem, or share information about one of your programs or invite to an initial consultation).

Sign off

If your free offer ties in to one of your paid programs or services, think about including a special incentive or bonus when people take action on what you are promoting.

These are just a few examples of how you can follow up with your clients. Remember to personalize your automated emails. No one wants another boring, salesy email in their inbox! Be creative, and most importantly, be true to yourself

How to promote your free offer to drive traffic to your website and get subscribers

Since people aren’t going to know about your awesome free offer unless you tell them about it, here are 5 ideas to get you started.

1. Promote your opt-in on social media on a regular basis (frequency depends on the platform you use. You would post on Twitter more frequently than you would anywhere else).  Consider posting 3 times a week on platforms like Facebook. Just make sure you post other helpful tips and content on the other days. Include text that explains how people can benefit from your awesome freebie, and why they will want to grab it now. Make this easy by scheduling your posts in advance with Hootsuite, Buffer or MeetEdgar.

2.  Include a link to your free offer inside any blog posts that relate to that topic (scroll down to see how I’m doing this inside this post at  the end), and promote your blog posts on social media consistently (this is where social media scheduling tools like Hootuite, Buffer, Postplanner or Edgar come in super handy).

3.  Make sure your opt-in is prominent and easily visible on your website home page (above the fold). Include your opt-in on your side bar too (so it’s visible when people go to pages like your about page, and your blog posts), and at the bottom of your “About” page.   Your ‘freemium’ should be one of the first things people see when they visit your site. Assume people are never coming back to your website again – grab their attention (and their email address) while they’re there.  To increase opt-ins from website visitors, you can add a pop-up opt-in on your site (I use PopUp Ally, but there are others).

4. Run Facebook ads to your free offer. This can work amazingly well when you target your ads to the audience that would love to have your freebie. You can start with as little as $10 – $20 a week until you see that you are getting good results, and then increase your budget accordingly. You can also run Facebook ads to your blog posts (this is usually a less-expensive way to go). Just make sure the blog posts your running as for have an opt-in that relates to the blog topic somehow. An advanced tip is to set up a Facebook retargeting pixel on your website, so you can run ads to people that have visited your website.  For more information on setting up a Facebook retargeting pixel, CLICK HERE

5. If you have a chance to do guest blog posts, check to see if it’s okay to include a link to your free offer in your bio.

I know I’m throwing a lot of information at you today, but I hope it’s a huge help for you to make sure you have a good strategy in place. These are some of the strategies I use, and find very effective. I totally geek out on all things online marketing, so I love passing along helpful tips like these.

6. Use Facebook Live. When you cover a topic on your live stream that you can relate back to something in your free offer, let people know how they can get it. You would do this at the end of your broadcast after you provided helpful information.

Go ahead and read through this post again and decide which strategies you want to start implementing today.  Just start with one thing, and go from there.