Hannah has almost 2000 newsletter subscribers. Her open rates are always over 80%.
And yet in 5 years, she’s attracted just 4 paying clients directly from her newsletter readership.
She asked me what she was doing wrong. I suggested, with her permission, that as this is a really common problem, I’d share my answer with you.
Marketing data can mislead you
We’re now able to test and measure our digital marketing with great precision. And it’s causing hard working small business owners to make very expensive marketing mistakes.
For example. Service providers like Hannah, often look at the data for their newsletter’s open rates, clicks or shares, then write certain styles of headline or content, based on what’s popular.
That seems to make sense.
Until we look at the massive difference, between what’s popular with readers… and what generates bankable income for our business.
The key point here is that readers are mostly just that. They’re readers. They read our free stuff. And that’s it. This is especially the case when you provide free business information. The vast majority of people who subscribe have no intention of spending a dime with us. They’re looking for free information. Period.
Oh yeah. It really messes with your marketing data
That’s because the free stuff crowd are also the people most likely to open newsletters and click links.
They especially love sensational headlines. They’re attracted to them because they dabble rather than hire expert help, so their businesses are constantly struggling. Over-hyped headlines give them hope that they’re one ‘killer free idea’ away from solving their latest problem.
It’s not a coincidence that none of the 4 readers who hired Hannah directly from her newsletter, had high open rates or click rates. They almost hired her in spite of being on her list. This is because our ‘prospective client readers’ behave very, very differently from the ‘free stuff readers’.
The same approach that gets opens and clicks from freebie readers, leaves our prospective clients rolling their eyes.
Allow me to explain.
Yes, our prospective clients are certainly looking for great, useful information. And that’s a fact.
The BIG difference, is that they are also looking to provide their businesses with the resources and expertise it needs. This means when they consume our newsletters, podcasts, YouTube videos, whatever, they do so with a prospective need for our services and are building a picture of us.
And unlike the freebie crowd, they’re looking for clues.
For example.
- They’re looking to see how reliable we are over a period of time. They want to know if we regularly show up with ideas or go missing unexpectedly for long periods.
- They’re also looking for clues as to whether we’d work well together or not.
- They want to see if our communication style is consistently clear and easy to understand.
- And they want to see the depth and breadth of our knowledge over a period of time.
Plus a ton of other things they pick up on, which guides their decision to hire us.
In a nutshell: Don’t chase the subscriber data that has little, if any, real-world commercial value. Focus instead on creating for your prospects.