Your Opt-In or Lead Magnet Isn't Working... Here's Why

An opt-in offer is not necessary for you to create a program and make the first $2,000 or more in sales from it.

Not only is it not necessary, but it could also bring you the wrong people - who wouldn’t even be interested in the kind of support that you’re selling.

One time I created an opt-in about managing fear for my Mind-Body Magic Life Coach Training Program, but I didn’t really know that was what would bring people into the program.

I didn’t connect the results that people were getting in that program (pain relief for themselves and their clients and deeper coaching tools that got to the root of their clients’ issues, for example) to the opt-in focus.

I had run the program for years on end, so I knew the results that the program got for people. I just wasn’t thinking about that when I created my opt-in. And, guess what? Six-hundred people signed up for the opt-in, but not a single person bought the program.

This is a perfect example of why it’s not a great idea to spend all sorts of time working on your opt-in and trying to build your email list and social media audience before you are super clear on what results your coaching and your program (or potential program) gets for people.

In my case, I had the clarity, but I didn’t understand the process of connecting my opt-in to my program. I gained six-hundred new people onto my email list who weren’t interested in what I was selling.

While it was a hard lesson to learn, it made me realize that the processes many business coaches teach are backward.

Before you spend all that time on the opt-in and list-building, it’s much wiser to spend time getting clear on who you help, what you help them with, and developing the program you’ll be offering.

It can feel like a chicken-egg situation when it comes to building your program and your list, because how the heck do you sell a program without a big list? Don’t you need an opt-in?

Well, yes… and no.

If you start the whole process with figuring out who you work with, what issue you solve, and the results you want your program to get, then you can build your program and run a test version of it. A test version, or a beta, doesn’t require an opt-in, because you’re simply telling people that you are running a new program and are offering it for a reduced rate at first.

This means reaching out to anyone currently in your audience and even sometimes personally inviting people you think might be interested. You only need two-four participants in your beta.

This is how you can pull in a chunk of cash for your business (the amount will depend on your program pricing, but my clients often bring in $2,000 or more) without an opt-in while you’re gathering the information you need to make a great opt-in!

You don’t need a bunch of people in this program to get a ton of insight around the results you get for people, what they need or don’t need, what you can help them with, and what their biggest concerns are.

Once you know what they really want from you and your program, it’s a million times easier to start thinking of opt-in ideas that will lead people straight into your program, instead of straight onto your email list to sit there and do nothing.

For example, a couple of years after the aforementioned opt-in snafu, I created a beta version of a program for coaches who want to grow their businesses. I ran the test program before I created any sort of opt-in.

I quickly learned several things. I learned what I really wanted to help people with in this program was slightly different than what I’d thought. I learned what people really wanted help with from me. I got very clear on who I wanted to help with this program.

With that clarity, I’ve been able to run multiple opt-ins for this program over the last couple of years, and every time, people end up registering.

This brings up another important point; you’ll be creating more than one opt-in to test out different ideas and see which ones work best. So, again, why waste all that energy making an opt-in when you don’t have the data anyway to make a great one, much less try multiple ideas? (It’s like shooting at a target with a blindfold on, but when you take the blindfold off, you realize the target isn’t even set up yet!)

A recent opt-in I ran was a workshop about how to capitalize on the end-of-year energy and momentum in order to bring clients into your business in January and start the new year off on the right foot. Because this opt-in was aligned with my business building program, it brought people into the program.

Helping you to design your program and sell the first few spots without creating any opt-ins is a big part of what I help with in my group program for heart-centered coaches who really want to make a living from their work.

We work on getting clear on who you help and what you help them with, ending all confusion about what your niche really is.

Then we design the perfect program for you and create a plan for how to talk about it on social media.

I even support you as you run a test version of the program and refine your understanding of what your clients really want from you, as well as what you really want to provide, so you can make appropriate tweaks to your program AND have plenty of the right wording to use for future opt-ins and other marketing!

You can learn more about this program and others here.