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Primoz Bozic

How to Get Over Your Fear of Putting Yourself Out There

By Primoz Bozic 2 Comments

You’re currently reading Chapter 9 of The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your E-mail List.

I still remember when I started my own online business. I was a 20-year-old writing articles on the internet, and often felt like I had no idea what I was doing and wondered why anyone would ever listen to me.

I was afraid to put myself out there.

I remember countless situations where this fear overcame me and completely paralyzed me.

I would get an introduction to someone who I admired, only to never follow up on it because I didn’t feel good enough to accept it.

I got introduced to a conference host only to never reach out to them because I felt like I had nothing important to say.

Deep down, I knew I had something valuable to offer though. I was just afraid to put myself out there and see what people would think of me.

I was afraid of what my friends and family would say or think of me. I was afraid of what my clients or peers would think of me. Even my mentors that supported me in my journey.

Often times, I wanted to just crawl away and hide, rather than stand behind my work and let it reach as many people as possible.

It took me years to get over this fear, and way too much trial and error and missed opportunities.

That’s why today, I’m excited to share with you what works – so you don’t have to go through the same hell I did.

5 Strategies for Overcoming Your Fear of Putting Yourself Out There

As you build an online business, you’ll have to start putting yourself out there and promote your content, lead magnets, products, and services to reach as many people as possible.

This means that you’ll open yourself to mean comments, negative feedback, criticism, haters, internet trolls, comments from your friends and family, and more.

It’s natural to feel nervous at this step, and I see many upcoming entrepreneurs completely freeze up when they get to this stage of starting their online business.

Writing an Epic Lead Magnet and setting up your e-mail list in the background is easy, because you can’t get hurt.

But putting your best work out into the world to be judged? Or shouting it from the rooftops and letting everyone you know know about it? Even the thought of that can make you puke.

Unfortunately you can’t help people without putting yourself out there, just like you couldn’t open a restaurant and hope for people to magically find it, without telling anyone about it. You need to talk about your work in order for people to be able to find it.

In this chapter, I’ll teach you how to do that in the most authentic way possible – but before I do that, I want to help you conquer your fear of self-promotion to help you confidently put yourself out there.

I asked the entrepreneurs I interviewed for this guide how they handled their fear of putting themselves out there and will share their 5 best strategies below:

Strategy #1: Don’t put yourself out there – solve problems instead

Sara Kirsch from Marketing is Not Selling said:

“I’m an extreme introvert, I don’t like putting myself out there, even doing this interview is out of my comfort zone. But if you want to build a business, you need profit, otherwise it’s an expensive hobby. If you want to make that, you have to put yourself out there.

The benefit is that nobody really knows you online, you can just say “I know how to solve this”, help people and answer their questions. Are you really up to the task of being a business owner? If you’re so introverted that you can’t meet 2 people, you don’t NEED to be a business owner. I have to put my face there, I’m the face of the business.

My intention with joining Facebook groups isn’t to promote myself, it’s helping people solve problems. It’s customer research. This research helps me develop new products, services, and test out concepts (“is laptop life worth pursuing?”). Helps me validate my ideas, see how problems align, gives me good ideas and helps me get to know and help other people.”

When you’re putting your Epic Lead Magnet and World-Class Content out into the world, focus on helping people, not promoting yourself. It’s not about YOU, it’s about THEM.

I discovered this lesson when I read Steven Pressfield’s phenomenal book War of Art, which helped me internalize why my writing and running business isn’t about me – it’s about genuinely helping others.

Strategy #2: “People are too busy to care about you”

When I interviewed Olivia Angelescu for this guide, she was afraid of what her friends and co-workers would think of her when she started publishing her work online.

Here’s what happened:

“I thought everyone would read my blog posts, but the truth is that people are just too busy to read a marketing blog I’m writing in English.”

Often times, our FEAR of what would happen is a lot worse than what actually happens. We think all of these people around us will judge us as soon as we put ourselves out there.

And while that might happen to some extent, it will never be nearly as bad as we imagine.

I know I too worried what my friends and family would think about me running my business, and while my mom did cry when I let her know I’ll drop out of university to run my business full time, she eventually came around to support me when she saw how happy I was doing what I loved.

The truth is that people are so busy and focused on their own lives that they don’t really care about what you do as much as you care about what you do – so don’t let what other people MIGHT think stop you from helping the people you want to help.

And even if some people DO react to you negatively, they’ll either come around, or they might not be the kind of people you will want to spend as much time with as you build your business.

At the end of the day, what’s more important to you – what the people you want to help think, or others?

Strategy #3: Write Content You’re Proud to Talk About

When I talked to Ryan Hildebrandt about putting yourself out there, he had an interesting take on the issue:

“When you’re afraid to put your content out there, sometimes your content just isn’t that good / unique. The solution isn’t to work on your mental game, it’s to write better content.”

Karen Dudek-Brannan said a similar thing:

“I know my content. If you are confident in your solution, you can say “I know my stuff, this works, I validated it myself”, if I know what I have is what people needed.”

If you wrote an Epic Lead Magnet you’re not very confident in and you feel is “ok, but nothing special”, you’ll have a hard time putting yourself out there. Of course you won’t want to share your work with others if you don’t believe in it yourself.

If you’re feeling this way, make your Epic Lead Magnet better. Make it the absolute best thing out there. Spend another week or two on it, or as long as you need it.

Once you have something that you can point at and say “I made this, and it’s incredible”, you’ll notice you’ll have A LOT less resistance towards sharing your work with others.

You’ll know how much your Epic Lead Magnet can help others, and you’ll be happy to share it with them.

For myself, I noticed that when I spent months and tens or hundreds of hours creating something, it’s 100x easier for me to talk about it and share it with others than when I put something together in an hour or two.

As I shifted my focus to putting my absolute best work into the world, promoting it all of a sudden became a lot easier as well.

Strategy #4: Read the Starfish Story

When Vickie Gould feels afraid of putting herself out there, she remembers the Starfish Story by Lauren Eiseley:

“One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked “What are you doing?” The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son”, the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and thousands of starfish?” “You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said… “I made a difference for that one.”

When you’re spreading the word about your Epic Lead Magnet, Remarkable Content or your Online Course, think about the one starfish. If you could only make a difference in the life of ONE person, would it be worth it to share your work with them?

Strategy #5: Would I rather promote myself for 2 hours or work in a job I hate for 40-70h/week?

Finally, Karen Dudek-Brannan shared this philosophy around doing things that scare her:

“I’m very impatient, and often there was something I really wanted. Impatience to get this out there outweighed the fear.

Every time I do something (FB Live, webinar), the fear is still there, but it’s the game of “what is the alternative?”

The alternative is that all the stuff I’ve done is unused, and I’ll be in a job, but I knew that there is something more. I wanted to evolve. I would have to go back to something you don’t want, OR suck this up for an hour.

I don’t want to spend YEARS wondering what could have been. Wanna be doing something you don’t want to be doing for 40-70h/week, or do this one thing that is scary and get over it?”

This is a great philosophy to adopt whenever you’re doing something that scares you. At the end of the day, doing it will likely only take a few hours (or even a few minutes!). Would you rather do something scary for a few hours, or spend 40h/week working in a job you hate?

All of a sudden, putting yourself out there doesn’t seem so bad any more.

Summary: How to Conquer Your Fear of Self-Promotion and Putting Yourself Out There

In this chapter, we went over 5 simple strategies for overcoming your fear of self-promotion and putting yourself out there:

  • Don’t put yourself out there. Solve problems instead!
  • People are too busy to care about you
  • Write content you’re proud to talk about
  • Read the Starfish Story
  • Would I rather promote myself for 2 hours or work in a job I hate for 40-70h/week?

Pick any one of these 5 strategies whenever you feel like you’re paralyzed and afraid to put yourself out there to take the key steps in building your online business!

In the next chapter of this Ultimate Guide, we’ll talk about how to authentically promote your content, get it in front of thousands of people who need to hear about it and grow your e-mail list by hundreds of e-mail subscribers.

Continue to Chapter 10: How to Promote Your Content

Your turn: What helped YOU overcome your fear of putting yourself out there (and what never really worked)? Share your experiences with me in the comments below!

Are you ready to build an e-mail list of 1,000+ BUYERS?

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My 3 Favorite E-mail Providers For Your Online Business

By Primoz Bozic 2 Comments

You’re currently reading Chapter 8 of The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your E-mail List.

If you want to build an e-mail list of thousands of e-mail subscribers, you’ll need the right software to support you along the way.

In this post, I’ll share:

  • Which E-mail Provider you should use to set up your e-mail list
  • The only Landing Page software you’ll ever need
  • How to set up your e-mail list in 5 easy steps (your e-mail list, landing page, thank you page, incentive e-mail and welcome e-mail)
  • How to start a conversation with your new e-mail subscribers

Going through these steps will be more than enough to build an e-mail list of 500-1,000 people, without even setting up a website.

You’ll be able to move beyond manually collecting e-mail subscribers and:

  • Use your Epic Lead Magnet and Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy to create a Landing Page and to automatically build your e-mail list
  • Automatically send your Epic Lead Magnet to your new e-mail subscribers
  • Start sending out e-mails to your new subscribers

Let’s dive in!

Which E-mail Provider Should You Use?

Based on my own experience and the recommendations I got from others, here are 3 e-mail providers I can recommend.

Best e-mail provider for 0-1,000 e-mail subscribers: MailChimp

If you’re just starting out with growing your e-mail list and don’t want to make a huge financial investment in your business yet, Mailchimp is a great option to start with.

Mailchimp has a free plan for up until 2,000 e-mail subscribers, and while it does have some limitations, the free plan will provide you with everything you need to get to your first few thousand e-mail subscribers.

It’s also simple and intuitive enough to use, so you won’t have to spend a ton of time learning the ropes of it.

“What about the recent changes to Mailchimp plans?”

As I published this chapter of the guide, a few of my readers let me know that there have been some changes to the Mailchimp Pricing Plans, where the free plan isn’t as lucrative as it was any-more.

Specifically, there are now some new limitations to how many e-mails you can send (only 10,000 e-mails/month) and to creating multiple e-mail lists.

Given those limitations, would I still recommend Mailchimp?

YES.

I do believe that Mailchimp is the best “entry-level” software for growing your e-mail list UNTIL you earn your first dollar with your online business (plus it teaches you the ropes of running an e-mail software really well).

I would recommend using the Mailchimp Free Plan until you begin to feel limited by it, and then switching to either one of the Mailchimp’s paid plans (or ConvertKit).

Alternatively, if you’re more tech-savvy, want to save yourself the hassle of switching e-mail providers, you’ve already seen enough traction with your business idea to know that there’s something there, and you don’t mind spending $29/month on an e-mail provider, starting out with ConvertKit might be a good alternative.

Best e-mail provider for 1,000-10,000+ e-mail subscribers: ConvertKit

ConvertKit is the e-mail provider I’ve personally used for years, and I’ve been extremely happy with it.

I switched my e-mail provider to ConvertKit when I had a few thousand e-mail subscribers because I wanted more robust functionalities like having different Lead Magnets, simple landing pages, analytics and automations.

ConvertKit definitely delivered and I’ve had practically no issues with it over the past few years. If you’re looking for a more robust e-mail provider, ConvertKit is a great option, even far beyond 10,000 e-mail subscribers (I know quite a few entrepreneurs with e-mail lists of 30,000+ e-mail subscribers that still happily use it).

ConvertKit is pricier than Mailchimp (it starts at $29/month, and you’ll pay somewhere between $79/month-$119/month for 5,000-10,000 e-mail subscribers), but I find that it’s well worth it, especially once you’re already running a profitable online business.

You can try out ConvertKit via my affiliate link, or just Google it and set up an account (I almost never share affiliate links, but ConverKit and Leadpages are the two softwares I’ve been using for years and really love, so I included the links in this guide).

Best e-mail provider for 10,000+ e-mail subscribers: ActiveCampaign

While you can do a lot with ConvertKit, there MIGHT be a point when you outgrow it. That will happen if you want to sell multiple online courses through evergreen funnels or set up some really robust automations, tags or list segmentations. You’ll know it when you’re pushing ConvertKit to the limits.

At that point, it might make sense to switch to ActiveCampaign. I’ve heard great things about it from entrepreneurs with e-mail lists of 20,000-40,000 e-mail subscribers, and while it’s pricier than ConvertKit ($199/month for 10,000 subscribers), it does deliver a lot of bang for the buck.

Leadpages: The only landing page software you’ll ever need

While e-mail providers like Mailchimp and ConvertKit offer landing pages that you can use to grow your e-mail list, I also use Leadpages (affiliate link) to set up my landing pages.

Leadpages is a software that I use to create more professional looking landing pages for Lead Magnets like this one:

And pop-ups that you see on my website (like this one):

Both of which help tremendously with maximizing the “opt-in rate” (the number of website visitors that turn into e-mail subscribers).

As a bonus, I also use Leadpages for creating professional looking sales pages for my online courses:

Leadpages starts off at $25/month so you’ll want to invest into it when you have a few thousands e-mail subscribers / when your business is bringing in revenue, and I’ve found that it’s well worth it at that price point.

How to Set Up Your E-mail List in 5 Easy Steps

To set up a functioning e-mail list, you only need 5 things: Your e-mail list, your welcome e-mail, your thank you page, your incentive e-mail and your Lead Magnet Page.

All the email providers that I recommended in the guide have solid “getting started” guides that will walk you through the following 3 steps in detail:

  • Mailchimp Getting Started Guide
  • ConvertKit Getting Started Guide
  • ActiveCampaign Getting Started Guide

You don’t need to worry about things like automations, tagging or list segmenting at this stage yet.

Step #1: Your E-mail List

The first thing you’ll need to set up is an actual e-mail list that you’ll use to send e-mails to your e-mail subscribers.

You don’t need to segment your e-mail list in any way until you have thousands of e-mail subscribers, so you just need to set up one mailing list that you’ll use to deliver your Lead Magnet to your e-mail subscribers and send them future content / engagement e-mails.

If you collected your first 100 e-mail addresses “manually” in a spreadsheet in the TRACTION stage, you can also import your e-mail subscribers into your e-mail list now.

Step #2: Your Lead Magnet Page

Once you set up your e-mail list, you’ll want to create your first landing page: Your Lead Magnet Page.

That will be a page like this one that you can use to talk about your Lead Magnet and collect e-mail addresses:

You can do that in your e-mail software (look for “how to set up a landing page”), or through LeadPages. Note that if you create your Landing Page in Leadpages you’ll have to connect it with a sequence in your e-mail provider.

You can find step-by-step tutorials for that by Googling something like “How to integrate Leadpages with [YOUR E-MAIL PROVIDER]”.

You already have your copy written for this page (from the Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy section of this guide), so you can just copy paste your 3-Bullet Copy into this page.

Step #3: Write Your Incentive Email

As you do that, you’ll usually also need to write an “incentive e-mail” that will automatically send your Lead Magnet to your new e-mail subscribers:

In this e-mail, simply invite your new readers to download your Epic Lead Magnet (and reiterate what they’ll get with it).

Step #4: Create Your Thank You Page

Next, you can create a “thank you page” like this one that will explain to your new e-mail subscribers how they can confirm their subscription to your newsletter and download their Lead Magnet:

Sometimes, you won’t need to create a Thank You Page (as the thank you message will display right after someone enters their e-mail address – if that’s the case, don’t worry, and feel free to skip this step.

If these steps feel hard at first or you ever don’t know what to do, you can always visit the help / faq sections of your e-mail provider – they usually provide detailed articles and video tutorials that will help you work through all of these steps.

Advanced Tip: Multipurpose your Thank You Page

Later down the line, you can repurpose your Thank You page to invite your readers to:

  • Check out some of your most popular / useful content
  • Engage with you on social media
  • Purchase a low-priced product or service from you

Here are some examples of Thank You Pages that you can check out for multipurpusing your Thank You Page:

  • Grow your Instagram Following: Nagina Abdullah
  • Sell a low-priced product: Karen Dudek-Brannan
  • Video Sales Letter: Will Darling
  • Book Sales Page: Vickie Gould
  • Grow Your Social Media accounts + link to low-priced product: Christina Rebuffet
  • Course Discount: Geraldine Lepere
  • Popular Content: Primoz Bozic

This will become handy once you want to sell a low-priced product or service to your brand new e-mail subscribers, once you have some Remarkable Content you want to get more eyeballs on, or when growing your social media will be a key strategy for growing your e-mail list.

Step #5: Your Welcome E-mail

Next, you’ll want to create a Welcome E-mail to welcome your new e-mail subscribers that they’ll receive once they sign up to your e-mail list (after receiving your Epic Resource).

The main goal of this e-mail at this stage of growing your e-mail list is to automatically start a conversation with your new e-mail subcribers, get to know them better, and schedule Welcome Calls with them.

The simplest (and most popular) Welcome E-mail you can use is a short “What are you struggling with?” e-mail that can look something like this:

Subj: Hi NAME! Can I ask you a quick question?

“Hey NAME,

This is Primoz – thanks so much for signing up to my e-mail list and downloading the [EPIC RESOURCE NAME]!

I just wanted to take a few minutes and say hi to you. I’d love to get to know you better, who you are, what you do, and how I can best help you out.

To do that, I’d love to hear from you:

What is the #1 challenge you have when it comes to [MAJOR HEADACHE]? Let me know by responding to this e-mail!

-Primoz”

This is a simple template that you can use, and I encourage you to customize it in your own way, add some personality to it and make it your own.

5 examples of compelling Welcome Emails

To go the Extra Mile for you, I collected a few examples of compelling welcome e-mails from entrepreneurs featured in this guide. Do not copy these, but feel free to use them as inspiration to write your own Thank You E-mail!

Welcome Email Example #1: Rusty Gray

Rusty Gray from Rusty Animator uses a Welcome Survey (rather than “respond to this e-mail) in his Welcome Email – that’s something you might want to do as your e-mail list grows to thousands of e-mail subscribers and you won’t have the time to read and respond to every single e-mail you get in your inbox.

I would not recommend doing this at an early stage of growing your e-mail list (as you do want to have that personal connection), but it might be a good option for you once your e-mail list has grown to thousands of e-mail subscribers.

Hi Primoz,

I’m Rusty, founder of Rusty Animator. And I just wanted to take a second to welcome you to this animation family.

If you’re here, you’ve recently received a video tutorial or insightful guide to help you become a better animator.

Over the next 2 weeks, as a welcome gift you’ll also get some valuable insights so you can keep improving your skills and an exclusive offer – only subscribers get.

If you’re just getting started going after your animation dream job – this will be perfect for you!

If you’re not a beginner, it may still be useful to you, but either way stay tuned for more advanced support after.

Generally, Rusty Animator will bring you a new free animation tutorial, epic guide, blog post, podcast, or live event – at least once a month.

Animators of all skill levels are fans and students – so naturally there’s a wide range of topics!

But Until Tomorrow – 1 Quick Question for you:

What is your #1 challenge in becoming an animator?

And what do you need the most help with?

Click here and let me know.

Its only takes 2 mins.

And to really help you, its really useful to know where you stand and where you want to go with animation.

So I hope you’ll take a second to share your #1 challenge with me: Here

Looking forward to seeing what your need help with!

Welcome Email Example #2: Geraldine Lepere

Geraldine Lepere from Comme un Fraincaise uses by far the longest Welcome Email on this list, and it’s filled with valuable resources for her audience, as well as some advanced list segmentation (the “choose the content that best fits your situation”). This is an advanced example suitable for entrepreneurs with 10,000+ e-mail subscribers.

“Bienvenue!

Bonjour Primoz. C’est moi, Géraldine, founder of Comme une Française. Welcome, and thanks for signing up!

I wanted to take a few minutes to personally welcome you to the community — like a new neighbour in our little “quartier” (that’s how we say “neighborhood” in French). I’m so happy you joined us!

I started Comme une Française to help francophiles like you get a true experience of France. Not just the language and conjugation tables, but also the culture, our customs and traditions.

I want to share some “behind the scenes” popular French knowledge with you: the way we actually speak, the words we use in our everyday lives…

You’ll have a friendly advisor in your pocket!

“Great! So, what do I get from signing up?”

Your 3 welcome gifts:

1. Your 10-day Everyday French Crash Course: a “practical French boot-camp”

I’m going to help you start improving your French immediately. With my in-depth, exclusive, and brand-new Everyday French Crash Course, you’ll move from “random French learner” to “French culture total insider.”

Oh, I won’t lie to you: I won’t teach you all of the French grammar, conjugations, or vocabulary out there… Because you don’t need it! Your textbooks or school lessons are already great for this. Anyway, French people won’t mind if you flub your passé simple.

What you really need are the scripts we actually use, the day-to-day words and expression from the streets and cafés… and a few tips to stop speaking like a book (or like a 5-year-old).

French people will be surprised and impressed by your confidence in our language, and you’ll be able to make friends faster… or at least you’ll sound like one of us when you’re buying a baguette or talking to the waiters!

2. BONUS – Fresh content every Tuesday morning

Every “mardi” you will receive an email from me with the Comme une Française TV episode of the week. You’ll learn about French culture, language and lifestyle – all in 10-minute chunks. It’s fun, it’s fresh, and it’s light. And of course, “c’est gratuit” – it’s free! 🙂

BUT, there’s a catch. Because I always like to double-check, could you please click here to confirm you want to receive these free emails? (No strings attached, I just want to make sure it’s OK with you :).)

3. La cerise sur le gâteau (“the cherry on the cake”)

In the meantime, to get you through the wait until tomorrow, I have something for you: a special Comme une Française episode that will help you get started.

Let’s personalize your learning

To help you out the most on your language journey, I need your help!

Choose the content that best fits your situation:

If you’re an expat, this special content might help you improve your French:

Click here to watch my top content for you

(Even foreigners who’ve been living in France for 10 years go, “Ohhh, I get it now…”)

If you’re visiting France (or are planning to visit soon), you need to see this:

Click here for insights you can use

If you’re a francophile who’s in love with French culture in your own country:

Click here to enjoy the best that French language can offer

If you’re brushing-up your French:

Click here to dive back into grammatical explanations and correct uses

Oh, and one more thing.

To make sure you don’t miss your Everyday French Crash Course or your weekly episode, click here to confirm your subscription then add me to your contacts or drag me to your “main” inbox if I’m not already there 🙂

À bientôt!

Your new friend in France,

Géraldine”

Welcome Email Example #3: Will Darling

This Welcome Email from Will Darling from EDM Tips is quick, simple, and easy – something that you could use as you’re just starting out with growing your e-mail list.

“Hi Primoz,

This is Will from EDMtips.com. Thanks for signing up! I’m excited to have you on board, and can’t wait to share more tips, tricks and tutorials with you to help you turbo-charge your EDM production game 🙂

As promised, here is your copy of my Ultimate EDM Speed Writing Cheat Sheet. Just click on the green button to download, and enjoy!

Oh, as a bonus I thought I’d show you how to use it properly, too 🙂

» Click here to see an example of how to use the cheat sheet.

I have one question that I would LOVE for you to answer: What has been the toughest part of producing for you so far? For example, is it getting to grips with the software (if so, which software), playing the keyboard, coming up with original ideas, getting the last 10% of a track done, etc.?

Thanks again, and happy producing!

Will,

EDMtips.com

P.S. Remember to whitelist my email address so you never miss a free music production tip or gift! Here’s how :P”

Welcome Email Example #4: Luke McIntosh

Here’s another crisp example from Luke McIntosh from Become a Bassist:

“Hey Primoz,

First of all, just let me say:

YOU’RE TOTALLY AWESOME!

Thanks so much for signing up. As a special gift to you for signing up, I’m giving you a mini-series called Bass Chord Pro.

Don’t let the cheesy name fool you – it’s actually kinda cool. You’ll be learning virtually everything you need to know to play beautiful chords on your bass – and it’s totally free.

Over the next few days, I’ll be sending you the whole Bass Chord Pro course.

Here are the first 2 videos:

Lesson 1 – The Major Chord

Lesson 2 – Major Chord “Inversions”

Now apart from the first lesson, they’re all unlisted on YouTube, and aren’t public or searchable on the site. I want to reward subscribers like you by giving you exclusive access to these goodies – my way of welcoming you to the BAB family.

Of course, you’ll get all the latest stuff from Become A Bassist – even the stuff that’s not anywhere else on the Internet!

Thanks again! I really appreciate you letting me into your inbox, and good luck with the first two lessons of Bass Chord Pro.

Cheers,

Luke

P.S. I read every email I get from subscribers like you, and I reply to the majority of emails I get, so don’t hesitate to get in touch – Just click the “Reply” button!

If you’re looking for something specific and it’s not on Become A Bassist yet, just email me with any questions you may have and I’ll answer them as best I can.

If your question has a lot of meat to it, i may even be able to make a video lesson out of it for you!

Welcome Email Example #5: Nagina Abdullah

And a final short example from Nagina Abdullah from Masala Body, with a nice P.S. with a story that helps her connect with her audience.

“Primoz,

I’m happy that we’re connected!

Click here to download your free Recipe Book: 7 Spicy Recipes to Melt Off 7 Lbs as a gift from me to you!

Please hit reply and tell me: What makes it challenging for you to eat healthy? Is it knowing what foods to eat, having easy, tasty recipes, how to meal plan or something else? I want to help you!

One more quick question: Where did you find out about me?

I read every single email. I look forward to getting to know you better!

Warmly,

Nagina

Founder, MasalaBody.com

Ultimate Weight-Loss Coach for Busy, Ambitious Women

P.S. Look out for my next email in about one hour where I’ll start to share the foods I ate to go from overweight to wearing bikinis AFTER 2 kids and WITH a full-time demanding career. You can read more about my story here if you can’t wait!

P.P.S. If you use Gmail, my email may show up in your “Promotions” tab. If so, drag and drop it into your “Primary” tab right now and select all emails from “nagina@masalabody.com” to be delivered into your primary tab, so you won’t miss out on my weight-loss tips!

For other email hosts, allow nagina@masalabody.com to send you emails. I don’t want you to miss my personal story of how I lost 40 pounds in a healthy way, after a lifetime of trying every diet!”

What to do once your e-mail subscribers respond to your Welcome Email

You can expect roughly 10% of your new e-mail subscribers to respond to your question in the Welcome Email.

As they do, start a casual conversation with them. Ask them more about them. Invite them to a Welcome Call with you. You already know how to do this from the earlier chapter of this guide on connecting with your First 100 Fans.

You can keep going through this process until you’ve grown your e-mail list to your first few thousand e-mail subscribers. It’s important to build those relationships early on in the process, and you’ll also get a lot of great research done that will help you write Remarkable Content and create your Flagship Products & Services in the future.

You’ll also be building an e-mail list of Raving Fans (and not just random numbers) along the way.

When I interviewed Jenni Waldrop, she summarized this stage of your business really well:

“Don’t rush to build a big list. People underestimate how well small lists convert. I know people who have 150 people on their e-mail lists that make a lot of money. You’ll get the HIGHEST engagement & conversion rates in the first 1-2k subscribers. How can I knock their socks off and impress them when I have the HIGHEST conversion rates in my business? Don’t rush to X number at max speed. Make sure you are SERVING people, and care about them, not just looking at them as a number.”

So don’t look at your subscribers as just a number – take the time to know them, connect with them, and learn how you can best serve them. It will pay off in the future!

A quick recap of the sign-up process

Wow, that was a lot of information and examples – but actually, the sign up process for your new e-mail subscribers will be pretty simple (and you’ve already experienced it if you signed up to my e-mail list).

  • Your readers will find your Lead Magnet Page
  • They’ll enter their e-mail address and get redirected to the Thank You Page (where you’ll explain how they can get access to their Lead Magnet)
  • They’ll receive the Incentive Email where they’ll download their Epic Lead Magnet and confirm their subscription
  • After they confirm their subscription, they’ll receive the Welcome Email where you’ll start a conversation with them
  • Once they respond to your Welcome E-mail, you’ll start a Casual Conversation with them and later invite them to a Welcome Call.

Once you’ve set up your Lead Magnet Page, your Thank You Page, your Incentive E-mail and Welcome E-mail, you’ll be able to move on to the next step of Promoting Your Lead Magnet.

If you wish to, you can also set up your High-Converting Website (also discussed later in this guide), though from my experience, you don’t really need more than a Lead Magnet Page to get your first few hundred e-mail subscribers.

Here’s what I mean:

  • You could only set up an Lead Magnet Page and your E-mail List, and grow your e-mail list by sharing an Lead Magnet Page like this with your potential readers.
  • Or, you could go ahead and set up a High-Converting Website, write some Remarkable Content and THEN share your website and content with your potential readers.

The first approach will be a lot quicker, and especially if you already have people in online communities that are waiting for your Lead Magnet, you won’t really need more than an Lead Magnet Page to turn them into e-mail subscribers.

The second approach is something you’ll have to do next anyway, but can take more time (as you’ll have to set up a whole website AND start creating some Remarkable Content, which can take more time than it needs to to get 500+ E-mail Subscribers).

That’s why my recommendation would be:

  • Create your Lead Magnet Page
  • Promote Your Lead Magnet (to get to a few hundred e-mail subscribers)
  • Create Your High-Converting Website
  • Create & Promote Remarkable Content to drive more visitors to your website

Some entrepreneurs I interviewed for this guide (like Olivia Angelescu) got to 400+ e-mail subscribers through only an Lead Magnet Page, while others set up their High-Converting Website before they got to 500 e-mail subscribers.

Either approach works – choose the one that works better for you!

Summary: The Best E-mail Software & Tools For Your Online Business

In this chapter, we covered the best e-mail software and tools for your online business:

  • The best e-mail provider for 0-2,000 e-mail subscribers: Mailchimp
  • The best e-mail provider for 2,000-10,000 e-mail subscribers: ConvertKit
  • The best e-mail provider for 10,000+ e-mail subscribers: ActiveCampaign
  • The best landing page software: Leadpages

We also talked about how to set up your e-mail list in 5 easy steps:

  • Your E-mail List
  • Your Lead Magnet Page
  • Your Incentive E-mail
  • Your Thank You Page
  • Your Welcome E-mail

We looked over specific examples of Thank You Pages and Welcome E-mails, and talked about what to do once your e-mail subscribers respond to your welcome e-mails.

If you followed all the steps from this chapter of the guide, you should now have a functioning e-mail list that will automatically collect (and welcome) your e-mail subscribers and send them your Epic Lead Magnet.

Continue to Chapter 9: How to Overcome Your Fear of Putting Yourself Out There

Did I miss something? Let me know about any other tech-related questions about setting up your e-mail list in the comments below!

Are you ready to build an e-mail list of 1,000+ BUYERS?

Download the full 393-page PDF version of this EPIC list-building guide, to print it out or read it on the go!

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I promise I won't send you any spam - I hate it as much as you do! Powered by Kit

The Ultimate Guide to Writing Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy

By Primoz Bozic Leave a Comment

You’re currently reading Chapter 7 of The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your E-mail List.

Once you have an Epic Lead Magnet, how do you use it to convert your website visitors into e-mail subscribers (and get as many people as possible to download it)?

By writing Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

  • What is Opt-in Copy and how it can help you convert your website visitors into e-mail subscribers
  • Why writing Opt-in Copy is one of the crucial skills for growing your e-mail list
  • The only 3 types of Opt-in Copy you’ll ever need to write
  • The 3 basic strategies for writing Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy
  • 12 advanced Opt-in Copy writing techniques
  • 16 examples of Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy
  • Opt-in Rate: The metric for measuring the effectiveness of your Opt-in Copy
  • How to write your first Opt-in Copy
  • An advanced Opt-in Copy strategy for established entrepreneurs

What is Opt-in Copy?

Opt-in Copy are the words you use to describe what your Lead Magnet is and how your readers will benefit from it, so they’ll subscribe to your e-mail list and get download your Lead Magnet.

Every word on a landing page would be considered opt-in copy:

And every word of an opt-in pop up would be considered opt-in copy:

All the words, the headlines and the bullet points would count as opt-in copy.

Why Writing Opt-in Copy is One of The Crucial Skills for Growing Your E-mail List

Writing Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy is one of the most important skills (along with creating World-Class Content which we’ll cover in the next chapter of this guide and creating an Epic Lead Magnet, which we’ve already covered) that will help you grow your e-mail list.

That’s because the quality of your opt-in copy will determine your opt-in rate (the percentage of your website visitors that subscribe to your e-mail list).

Your opt-in copy can make a difference between getting 50 vs 200 e-mail subscribers from 1,000 website visitors. The more compelling your opt-in copy, the more e-mail subscribers you’ll get every day.

Take it from Jenni Waldrop:

“My opt-in copy was converting at 1-2%, so if 20k people visited my website I only got 1k email subscribers. When I fixed it, it went to 30%+. This was a big thing that helped me go from 150 to 4,000+ e-mail subscribers over a few months”.

You could be getting all the traffic in the world to your website, but without an Epic Lead Magnet and Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy, very few of those website visitors will become your e-mail subscribers.

Writing Opt-In Copy is a crucial skill that you’ll use to write:

  • Your Website Homepage
  • Landing Pages for Your Lead Magnets
  • Opt-in Boxes on Your Website

You’ll use this skill every time you write a Guest Post or are a guest on a podcast. You’ll use it every time you write a blog post or record a YouTube video. You’ll use it every time you create a new Lead Magnet.

And in this chapter, I’ll show you exactly how to write Opt-In Copy that will help you get thousands of e-mail subscribers over the next few months and years.

The Only 3 Types of Opt-in Copy You’ll Ever Need to Write

There are only 3 types of Opt-in Copy you’ll need to learn how to write.

#1: Long-Form Copy

You’ll write long opt-in copy in places like your homepage or landing pages.

Here is a great example of long opt-in copy for Jenni Waldrop’s Ultimate Guide to Selling on Etsy:

If you take a look at this page, you’ll notice that it’s a LONG page with multiple headlines, bullet points, calls to action, images and opt-in boxes. It also converts 50%+ of the page visitors into e-mail subscribers.

Most entrepreneurs don’t use Long-Form Opt-in Copy as it can be hard and time-consuming to nail (and requires a lot of iteration and testing), but once you get enough copywriting experience, writing Long-Form copy can definitely be something you can try out to maximize your opt-in rates.

#2: 3-Bullet Copy

3-Bullet Copy is the most common Opt-In Copy you’ll see on the internet, the copy you’ll most commonly use, and the most important type of Opt-In Copy you need to learn how to write.

Here’s an example of 3-Bullet Copy for the Ultimate Spring Style Guide from Peter Nguyen:

If you take a closer look, you’ll notice that the 3-Bullet Copy consists of 3 elements:

  • A Catchy Headline: The headline at the very top of the page
  • Mouthwatering Bullets: 3 bullet points that make your Epic Resource look awesome
  • Wrapper Copy: All the other words in-between (the subheadline, what The Ultimate Guide is…)

You can use these elements to write any type of Opt-in Copy.

To write Long-Form Copy, you can then simply add more headlines, bullets and wrapper copy, and to write Minimalist Copy, you can remove some of the bullets or wrapper copy.

You’ll use different variations of 3-Bullet Copy to write Opt-in Copy for your Lead Magnet Page and opt-in boxes on your High-Converting Website.

#3: Minimalist Copy

Finally, there’s the Minimalist Copy. You’ll use Minimalist Copy in places like pop-ups where you want to get to the point quickly, like I do on my Ultimate Guide to Creating Content That Sticks:

As you can see, there’s just the headline, a brief explanation, and a call to action to download my Lead Magnet.

Despite it being super simple, this pop-up converts at a whopping 39% (which means that for every 1,000 people that see it, 390 of them will become e-mail subscribers).

The Minimalist Copy can often be pretty simple to write, especially if you created a compelling Lead Magnet that solves a Problem Worth Solving of your audience.

“Which type of Opt-in Copy should I use?”

One of my readers, Martin, had a question about this section of the guide, so I thought I’d clarify things a bit:

“One thing I’m a little confused about is the Opt-in copy.

I noticed that some people (like Peter Nguyen) have the homepage set up as a landing page with just Catchy headline, 3 Bulletpoints, and CTA.

But others ( like
https://blog.fuzzyandbirch.com/ ) have a different opt-in copy on homepage and the landing page with her UG (https://blog.fuzzyandbirch.com/ultimate-guide-to-etsy/ ).

I’m not sure which approach is better for me and if there are any guidelines that would help me decide.”

This is a great question.

When you’re just starting out with your online business, I recommend going with the 3-Bullet Copy (similar to Peter’s example), which you’ll also learn how to write in this chapter of the guide.

That’s the safest option and should help you convert 10-20% of the people that visit the homepage of your website into e-mail subscribers.

Once you get there, feel free to slowly expand your copy into Long-Form Copy (like Jenni), while paying close attention to any changes in your opt-in rate.

If, like Martin, you paid close attention to Jenni’s Homepage, you’ll also notice that she leads her audience to different Lead Magnets. That’s because she serves different audiences (beginners and established Etsy entrepreneurs), and has different Lead Magnets created for them.

She created a Portfolio Homepage that links to different Lead Magnets in her Lead Magnet Portfolio. I would not recommend using this advanced strategy until you have 5,000+ e-mail subscribers, but once you get there, it’s a viable strategy to pursue.

And as far as where to use different types of Opt-in Copy on your website (including Minimalist Copy), we’ll cover that in the chapter of this guide about creating your High-Converting Website :).

The Basics of Writing Opt-in Copy

Writing Opt-in Copy is a craft that takes minutes to learn, and years to master. In this guide, I’ll cover the basics, formulas and templates that will help you write Opt-In Copy that will be “good enough” to get to thousands of e-mail subscribers.

I’ll also share with you a few advanced techniques and strategies that you can practice to further master the art of writing Opt-in Copy and maximize your opt-in rates if you choose to do so.

The 3-Part Opt-in Copy Formula

The great news about writing Opt-In Copy is that if you’ve taken the time to identify a Problem Worth Solving of your audience, created your Epic Lead Magnet that solves that Problem Worth Solving and talked to at least a few of your First 100 Fans via e-mail or Skype, you have everything you need to write Opt-in Copy that will help you get to your first 500-1,000 e-mail subscribers.

You already have all the elements that you can “plug and play” into this Simple 3-part Opt-in Copy Formula:

  • A Catchy Headline: Talk about the Problem Worth Solving of your audience
  • Mouthwatering Bullets: Talk about 3 Building Blocks of your Epic Lead Magnet, and the Tangible Results you can expect from them
  • Wrapper Copy: Talk about what the Epic Lead Magnet actually is, and invite people to download it

If you’ve done the work from previous chapters, writing Opt-in Copy with this 3-Part Formula will be pretty easy.

If we look at the example of 3-Bullet Copy for the Ultimate Spring Style Guide from Peter Nguyen:

We can very easily identify the elements of the 3-Part Formula:

The Catchy Headline:

“Be the best-dressed guy in the office” is a Problem Worth Solving for Peter’s target audience (tech guys who want to dress well).

The Mouthwatering Bullets:

The 7 ultra-versatile pieces all guys should have this spring, how to add more colors and prints to your wardrobe and exact outfit recipes are all Building Blocks of Peter’s Ultimate Guide.

He makes the mouthwatering by asking himself “why does my audience care about these Building Blocks”, and uses the Tangible Results that he found through talking to his e-mail subscribers (you can wear these in the office and on the weekend, don’t look like an easter egg, from casual meetings to your best friend’s wedding).

The Wrapper Copy:

This is where he talks about his Lead Magnet (the Ultimate Guide), as well as some additional Problems Worth Solving and Tangible Results (look better than ever without having to scroll through endless style blogs or wasting money on wrong clothes).

He finishes off with a simple call to action to enter the e-mail address in the box below.

Simple, right? You’ll be able to notice this very formula in many of the Opt-in Copy examples we’ll look at, as well as to write your own Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy.

How to Write Your Catchy Headline

Your Catchy Headline is the most important part of your Opt-in Copy. It either catches the attention of your reader and it doesn’t.

If your Catchy Headline is strong enough, your reader might want to subscribe to your e-mail list regardless of the other copy (or lack of it). If it isn’t that strong, your reader might just close the page and move on with browsing the internet.

Catchy Headlines can be the trickiest part of Opt-in Copy to write and can take some practice to truly master, but they can also be the most fun part of Opt-in Copy to write.

While copywriters would usually break down headlines into 6 types of different headlines (Great Leads is a great book that dives into that in more detail), we’ll simplify the Catchy Headlines into just 2 main categories for the purposes of this guide:

  • The Problem/Solution Headline: This headline talks about the Problem Worth Solving (or a Tangible Result) that your Epic Lead Magnet provides a solution to.
  • The Offer Headline: This headline talks about your Epic Lead Magnet

Both of these types of headlines can work equally well, especially if you named your Lead Magnet clearly, and in line with a Problem Worth Solving of your audience.

The Problem/Solution Headline is usually a bit more creative, while the Offer Headline is more formulaic (as you can just mention what your Lead Magnet is).

With the Offer Headline, it’s harder to “go wrong”, but the Problem/Solution Headline can convert higher if you get it right. Think of the Offer Headline as the safer approach, and of the Problem/Solution Headline as a riskier approach with bigger potential benefits.

Here are some examples of Problem/Solution Headlines:

  • Are Your Etsy Sales All Clogged Up?
  • Can’t get an animation job?
  • Immediately understand 12 fast, everyday expressions in American English
  • Look Stylish This Summer WITHOUT Breaking a Sweat
  • Do You Want to Finish More Music, More Quickly?
  • Get The Traffic Your Etsy Shop Deserves
  • Get the best hacks I’ve used to make over $100,000 freelancing on Upwork in just 12 months
  • Lose your first 7 pounds naturally and never feel deprived!
  • What if you could get more traffic, more e-mail subscribers and more paying customers to your business by doing just one thing?
  • 5 Secret Strategies to Write Your Book Quickly

And here are some examples of Offer Headlines:

  • Don’t Do Another Coding Interview… Until You’ve Mastered These 50 Interview Questions
  • What if There Was an Ultimate Guide to All Things Etsy?
  • “Double Your Frenchness” Crash Course
  • FREE – Download The Tabs to These 5 Songs
  • The Ultimate Guide to Sentence Structure

In terms of writing your Catchy Headline, the Offer Headline is super straightforward. Just mention what your Lead Magnet is and you’ll be good to go!

For example, your headline could look something like:

  • Download The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your E-mail List!
  • FREE E-BOOK: How to get invited to speak at a TEDx event
  • FREE COURSE: Learn my Top 5 Photoshop Editing Hacks

Or, you could get more creative and write some Problem/Solution Headlines.

To do that, you can pull some of the quotes from your Welcome Calls and conversations with your First 100 Fans that best describe the Problem Worth Solving (or the Tangible Result they want to achieve).

Since this part is more creative, I suggest:

  • Sitting down to brainstorm 50 different options
  • Creating a short-list of your best 3-5 options
  • Sharing your 3-5 options with your First 100 Fans and asking them which option they like best

Then, you might come up with headlines like:

  • Psst! Can I tell you the secret to getting invited to speak at a TEDx event?
  • Want to FINALLY get to your first 1,000 e-mail subscribers (and never worry about growing your e-mail list again)?
  • How to effortlessly edit photos in Photoshop in under 15 minutes

These aren’t amazing (as I came up with them on the spot), but you can see how they’re different from the Offer Headlines.

The more REAL the Problem/Solution Headlines you come up with are, the more likely they are to hook your readers.

Here are some examples I love:

  • Lose your first 7 pounds naturally and never feel deprived! – I love the addition of “not feeling deprived”. That’s really exciting for Nagina Abdullah’s audience.
  • Look Stylish This Summer WITHOUT Breaking a Sweat – I love the Major Headache of sweating that Peter Nguyen talks about – we all know how annoying it is.
  • Get the best hacks I’ve used to make over $100,000 freelancing on Upwork in just 12 months – I love the specificity from Danny Margulies – instead of saying “make more money on upwork”, he shares a specific revenue number and time frame that makes the headline a lot more compelling.

How to know if your Catchy Headlines are “any good”

A great way to check if your headlines are good or not by “gut feeling” is to see if they trigger an emotion of you or your readers.

We usually don’t act on logic, we act on emotion.

If I read a headline about making $100,000 in 12 months, I get excited about it (and I’m more likely to subscribe to your e-mail list).

If I read a headline about feeling deprived, I feel the pain of feeling deprived, and the relief of not feeling deprived. I want to know how to get that relief, so I’ll download the free e-book.

If I read a headline about breaking a sweat, I can imagine how embarrassed or uncomfortable I would feel if I arrived to a conference with big sweat pits under my arms, and I want to know how to avoid that embarrassment.

If I read a headline and I feel an emotion, it’s a better headline than if I read it and I’m indifferent about it (feel nothing). The more emotion I feel, the better the headline.

I’ll share more advanced strategies for writing Catchy Headlines later on in this chapter of this guide, but before I do that, let’s look at the other 2 elements of writing Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy.

How to Write Mouthwatering Bullets

You can write your Mouthwatering Bullets in a similar way as your Catchy Headlines. You can talk about what your Building Blocks are, and/or how they solve a Problem Worth Solving.

For example:

  • “How to finally “get” what Dynamic Programming really is – no Ph.D required” talks about the Problem Worth Solving of understanding Dynamic Programming.
  • “50 real-world interview questions that were asked in actual interviews… no more studying random concepts and hoping it translates to your interviewing” talks about the Building Block (50 interview questions), and about a Problem Worth Solving (studying random concepts).
  • “The only 10% of information you need to know to ace your interview – forget all the useless fluff” focuses mainly on the Building Block of 10% of information you need to know to ace your interview.

To write your Mouthwatering Bullets, simply follow these 2 steps:

  • Identify the 3 most compelling Building Blocks or Problems Worth Solving
  • Turn them into Mouthwatering Bullets

Here’s what I mean.

Let’s say my 3 Building Blocks that I’ll use in a resource for people who want to speak at a TEDx event are:

  • Show them what the process for getting invited to speak at a TEDx event looks like
  • Mistakes most candidates make (that they’ll want to avoid)
  • Specific strategies they can use to “pitch themselves” to a TEDx event

And that my Catchy Headline (from previous step of this guide is):

  • Psst! Can I tell you the secret to getting invited to speak at a TEDx event?

This is what the Opt-in Copy could look like using the above Building Blocks (i added some Wrapper Copy as well, to make the copy flow better).

“Psst! Can I tell you the 3 biggest secrets to becoming a TEDx speaker?

Download my FREE 20-page guide and get access to…

-The SECRET process TEDx organizers use to pick and invite speakers to TEDx events
-The 5 common mistakes most speaking candidates make (and how to avoid them)
-The simple, proven script you can use to pitch yourself to your local TEDx event (without being pushy)

Just enter your name and e-mail address below and I’ll send you my free guide!”

Not bad, right? If I wanted to speak at a TEDx event, I know I’d give my e-mail address away without thinking twice.

Just like Catchy Headlines, Mouthwatering Bullets can take some practice. I encourage you to brainstorm 50 different bullets for your Epic Lead Magnets, create a shortlist of 5-10 bullets using your gut emotional response, and ask your First 100 Fans which bullets resonate with them.

You could do that by sending them a quick e-mail like this:

“Hey guys,

I’m happy to announce that I finished my [EPIC LEAD MAGNET] and that I’ll be publishing it next week. I can’t wait to share it with you!

Now before I release it, I’d love your help with wording the way I describe the resource.

Can you let me know which 3 of these bullet points you love the most?

[INSERT 5-10 BULLETS]

Just respond to this e-mail and let me know :).

Thank you so much!!

-YOUR NAME”

P.S. Don’t worry if the first bullets you come up with aren’t all that compelling. That’s why you’re brainstorming 50 of them, short-listing them, and choosing the best ones.

Even if they’re not perfect, they’ll likely be more than good enough to collect hundreds of e-mail subscribers (and if not, you can always tweak them later!).

How to Write Wrapper Copy

Wrapper Copy is the copy that you “wrap” around your main Opt-in Cop elements (the Catchy Headline and Mouthwatering Bullets).

In the example below, Wrapper Copy would consist of “Download my free guide to learn:” and “Enter your email below and get instant access to your free Dynamic Programming guide”:

This is the most straightforward part of your Opt-in Copy to write, and can be as simple as including:

  • “Download my [EPIC LEAD MAGNET] to learn” (before the bullets)
  • “Enter your e-mail below and download your free [EPIC LEAD MAGNET]” (after the bullets)

No need to reinvent the wheel here – just follow this template and make your Wrapper Copy simple and clear!

“What about Subheadlines?”

You’ll notice that some examples of opt-in copy include subheadlines, like my example below:

You can definitely include a subheadline if your landing page allows it and you feel like you have more to say, though it’s definitely not a requirement for writing HIgh-Converting Opt-in Copy.

I usually focus my subheadlines around 3 Problems Worth Solving or Tangible Results of my audience (in this case, I talk about traffic, e-mail subscribers and revenue, all of which are compelling to my readers),  and use one of the following templates:

  • Learn how I got [TANGIBLE RESULT #1], [TANGIBLE RESULT #2], [TANGIBLE RESULT #3]
  • Learn how to achieve [TANGIBLE RESULT #1], [TANGIBLE RESULT #2], [TANGIBLE RESULT #3] in [TIME PERIOD]

If you can write Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy without a subheadline, go for it. If you feel like a subheadline would make it even more compelling, add it in.

12 Advanced Opt-in Copy Writing Techniques

Ok, now that we’ve covered the bare-bone basics, templates and formulas for writing your opt-in copy, let’s look at the fun and creative part: Advanced Opt-in Copy Writing Techniques.

These techniques will help you step away from templates and formulas and write Opt-in Copy in your own unique voice that will maximize your opt-in rates.

They’ll also take more time to practice and master, but provide dividends for years to come if you choose to master them.

Technique #1: Use the exact words of your audience

One simple way to write Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy is to use the exact words of your audience that you noted down during Welcome Calls and conversations with your First 100 Fans in your Catchy Headlines and Mouthwatering Bullets.

For example, when I was doing research for one of my online courses, one of my readers said to me:

“I’m sick and tired of having a graveyard of unfinished blog posts”

And it instantly caught my attention. It’s a real phrase, clear, and easy to visualize. It’s sticky as well. That could become a great Mouthwatering Bullet for an Epic Lead Magnet about creating more content.

Another example would be something like “I’m so close to giving up on my business”. That’s a phrase I’ve heard over and over again in my business, and I could use it as a strong headline for one of my Epic Lead Magnets, if I wanted to attract more entrepreneurs who are on the verge of giving up.

Here’s one final example from Peter Nguyen’s Opt-in Copy:

“How to add more colors and prints to your wardrobe, without looking like an Easter Egg”

The “looking like an Easter Egg” is the exact phrase that one of his readers used to describe his fear of adding too many colors into his wardrobe.

When you’re writing Opt-in Copy, your research notes from your Welcome Calls will become your best friends.

Technique #2: Why should I care?

If you notice that your Mouthwatering Bullets are falling a bit flat and aren’t triggering the emotion you want to trigger by reading them, it’s likely that you’re focusing too much on the Building Blocks, and too little on the benefits or results from those Building Blocks.

A great way to combat that is to ask yourself “Why should I care?” as you write each of the Mouthwatering Bullets.

Think about why the Building Block is important to your readers and how it will change their life. Think of a Problem Worth Solving or a Tangible Result that it’s related to, and attach it to the bullet.

For example, if you currently say something like…

“In this e-book, you’ll get access to…

-The 5-minute Photoshop editing technique
-3 real-world editing examples
-My 3 favorite editing tools

Download the free e-book below!”

You’ll notice that the copy isn’t all that emotional. You’re telling your readers WHAT they are getting, but you’re not telling them WHY they should care.

Let’s improve this copy by attaching some Tangible Results and Problems Worth Solving to the bullets:

“In this e-book, you’ll get access to…

-The 5-minute Photoshop editing technique that will save you HOURS of editing time every day
-3 real-world editing examples that you can follow to learn how to create magazine-quality photos
-The ONLY 3 editing tools you need to create beautiful photos, that you can master in under 15 minutes

Download the free e-book below!”

Just by asking yourself “Why should I care?”, you can instantly make your Opt-in Copy more compelling.

Technique #3: Include specific details

Another reason why your Opt-in Copy might be falling flat is that it might be vague and general.

For example, if Danny Margulies said this in his opt-in copy:

“Get the best hacks to make more money with freelancing”

It wouldn’t be all that exciting.

However, because he made his Catchy Headline ultra-specific:

“Get the best hacks I’ve used to make over $100,000 freelancing on Upwork in just 12 months”

His copy is instantly more interesting, and I want to learn more.

In this example, Danny mentioned:

  • A specific revenue number ($100,000)
  • A specific freelancing platform (Upwork)
  • A specific time frame for earning the $100,000 (12 months)

Which makes his copy more specific and compelling.

As you’re writing Opt-in Copy, try to be specific whenever you can be:

  • How long is your Epic Lead Magnet that you’re giving away? How many words or pages does it have? (“download this 16,000+ word e-book”, “get my free one-page cheat sheet”, “watch this 2-hour master class”)
  • Include specific numbers whenever you can (“learn how I attracted 6,150 e-mail subscribers to my website”, “the secret strategy I used to get a 4.0 GPA score”, “how I went from 0-$157k with my business in a year”
  • Include a specific time frame (“the 5-minute editing technique”, “declutter your closet in 20 minutes”, “how I went from 0-2,200 e-mail subscribers in less than a year”)

Danny is a master of using this technique, as you can see from this example:

He uses it almost in almost every element of his Opt-in Copy, from his Catchy Headline to his Mouthwatering Bullets.

If your copy is vague and general right now, adding in some specificity can instantly make it a lot more compelling.

Technique #4: Add an Unexpected Twist

A great way to get the attention of your readers is to throw an Unexpected Twist at them.

When you share (or hint) at something unexpected, your readers will instantly want to know more.

Here’s a great example from Peter Nguyen:

“How wearing LESS clothes can make you FEEL HOTTER! (and what to do instead)”

I don’t expect that wearing more clothes could make me feel cooler in the summer (or vice-versa), so I instantly want to learn more about this.

Try to think about how to apply an Unexpected Twist to your opt-in copy. If there’s something unexpected about your Building Blocks, strategies and frameworks, try to work it into the copy.

Here are some additional examples, from the top of my head.

  • Why writing MORE content can result in LESS website visitors
  • Why eating LESS carbohydrates can make you GAIN weight
  • Why applying to TOO MANY jobs can KILL your chances of getting your Dream Job

These “cliffhangers” are a great way to get your readers interested and make them want to find more by subscribing to your e-mail list.

Technique #5: Hint at a “secret”

We love hearing about “secrets” that others don’t know about – so use that to your advantage as you’re writing Opt-in Copy.

Here are some examples of using secrets in your copy:

  • 5 Secret Strategies to Write Your Book Quickly
  • What opportunities open up for you with a book (and what you’re missing without one)
  • Pro secrets to creating content for your book in less time
  • The hidden culprit behind unexplained “processing” problems that’s often overlooked.
  • Psst! Can I tell you the 3 biggest secrets to becoming a TEDx speaker?

If there is something secret about your approach (that most people don’t know about), work it into your copy as “secrets” your readers will get to learn about with your Epic Lead Magnet.

Technique #6: The 80/20 rule

You can also include a variation of “the 80/20 rule” in your copy:

  • The only 10% information you need to ace your interview
  • What you REALLY need to do to succeed on Etsy
  • The most important element to include to turn readers into clients

We love the idea of not having to do everything, but just focusing on 1-2 key things (as it makes us feel relieved).

For example, if you told me that “I only need these 3 clothing items to look amazing this summer, rather than spending hours and hours reading style blogs”, I’m hooked.

If you told me that I only needed to do ONE thing to go from 0-1,000 e-mail subscribers, I’d be excited to learn what it is.

If you told me that I only need to use ONE editing tool in Photoshop (rather than learning the whole library), I’d feel relieved.

If there’s something “essential” about your approach, work it into the copy!

Technique #7: Paint a clear picture

The more visual you can make your copy, the better it will trigger the emotions of your readers.

For example, if you say “learn how to play your guitar better”, that’s not very visual. But if you said “learn how to jam like Slash from Guns’n’Roses”, that’s a lot easier for me to imagine and get excited about.

Great copy paints a clear picture in our minds when we read it (whether we want it to or not). And pictures automatically trigger emotions in us.

Here are some great examples from Peter Nguyen of copy that paints a clear picture:

  • “Be the best dressed guy in your office”
  • “How to add more colors and prints to your wardrobe, without looking like an Easter Egg”
  • “How wearing LESS clothes can make you FEEL HOTTER!”

Technique #8: See the reaction of your readers

Remember when we talked about the technique of “gut-checking” your Opt-in Copy to see if triggers an emotion in you as you read it?

Well, you can do the same thing with your readers.

As you’re doing Welcome Calls with your readers, you can ask them to “read something for you”.

Share a document with your Opt-in Copy with them, and watch them as they read it. Do their eyes light up? Do they say something? Do they get really excited?

If they have a strong, emotional reaction, you’re nailing your copy. If they say “ok, I read it” and are pretty indifferent about it, your copy needs work.

NOTE: As you go through this technique, don’t ask your readers to give you feedback on your copy. Just ask them to read it.

That’s because when people go into “feedback mode”, they sometimes put on their walls and block out their emotions as they focus on every word in the copy, which isn’t what the experience of a reader would look like when they read your copy on your website.

Instead, you want your readers to be as relaxed as possible as they read through your copy to replicate the experience and give you accurate data.

Technique #9: Think of Katie

Here’s a technique that Jenni Waldrop uses to convert over 50% of her readers into e-mail subscribers:

“I make friends with Katie – I have one of my readers in my head I’m really connected with, and I picture her in my head. Wwhat does Katie need to know? What’s she worried about? I take THOSE things and turn them into something my readers love, addressing THEIR problems”

To make your copy more casual, personal and conversational, simply picture one of your First 100 Fans in your mind as you write your copy.

If you were talking to them about your Epic Lead Magnet, what would you say? What is it? How will it help them? Why should they read it now?

Use whatever words come to mind in your Opt-in Copy.

This technique will be especially useful once you start writing the Long-Form Copy, as you’ll get to really use your language in the narrative on your page.

Read through some of Jenni’s Long-Form Copy, and see how this technique works in action:

  • Ultimate Guide To Selling on Etsy: Ultimate Guide by Jenni Waldrop
  • Etsy Shop Critique Challenge: Challenge by Jenni Waldrop
  • SEO Bootcamp: Bootcamp by Jenni Waldrop

I also highly recommend checking out her Homepage and About Page to see more examples of friendly, conversational copy that converts like crazy.

Technique #10: Iterate to perfection

Another thing Jenni Waldrop does that helps her come up with Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy is that she iterates her copy to perfection.

She comes up with a draft, and tests it how it does. Then, after a week, she’ll tweak it and compare numbers. After another week, she’ll tweak it again – and ultimately iterate her copy to perfection.

Then, she chooses her best Epic Lead Magnets and puts them on her Homepage, knowing that they’re the most likely to convert new readers into e-mail subscribers.

There are 2 ways of using this technique in your online business.

  • When you’re just starting out, come up with copy that’s “good enough” and test it in the real world as soon as you can. Don’t spend 2 weeks writing Opt-in Copy! Put it together in a day or two, share it with your target audience, and see how it resonates – THEN tweak it a week or two later, once at least 100 people have seen it.
  • When you’re already getting hundreds of website visitors every day, you can systematically tweak your opt-in copy week by week (and play close attention to your opt-in rates) to gradually maximize your opt-in rates.

Once you get to a number you’re happy with or hit the point of diminishing returns (which we’ll discuss in the opt-in rate chapter of this guide), don’t make any further changes and move on.

Technique #11: Master the 6 Great Leads

If you want to get REALLY good at writing Opt-in Copy, I have 2 more copywriting techniques you can use.

The first is to master the 6 types of leads from the book Great Leads. Read the book, the practice writing the following leads and using them as your Catchy Headlines:

  • Offer lead
  • Promise lead
  • Problem-solution lead
  • Big Secret lead
  • Proclamation lead
  • Story lead

We didn’t cover these in great detail to keep this guide as simple as possible (though you’ll notice that we do talk about the Offer Lead and the Problem-Solution Lead in this guide).

As you read the book, work through some of the opt-in copy examples in this guide, and you’ll easily be able to identify the other leads in the Catchy Headline examples as well.

Technique #12: Rewrite great copy

I learned this technique from one of my mentors, Ramit Sethi, who’s one of the best copywriters I know.

One of the ways in which Ramit learned to write great copy was by reading great sales pages from other copywriters and rewriting the same sales pages by tailoring them to his products or services he was trying to sell.

He never ended up using those sales pages (as that would be considered copying / plagiarism), but he did begin to understand how masterful copywriters wrote their copy.

You can do the same thing to write better Opt-in Copy. Take the 16 examples of Opt-in Copy that we cover in this guide and try to rewrite them for your Epic Resource, just to see all the different ways you could write copy for it.

Then, step away from writing Opt-in Copy, come back with a fresh set of eyes, and write your own!

16 Examples of Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy

To help you immerse yourself in the world of writing Opt-in Copy, I put together 16 examples of Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy that you can study and use as inspiration to write your own copy:


Dynamic Programming for Non-Geniuses: E-book by Sam Gavis-Hughson

50 Practice Questions For Your Coding Interview: E-book by Sam Gavis-Hughson

Ultimate Guide To Selling on Etsy: Ultimate Guide by Jenni Waldrop

Etsy Shop Critique Challenge: Challenge by Jenni Waldrop

SEO Bootcamp: Bootcamp by Jenni Waldrop

Double Your Frenchness Crash Course: 10-day course by Geraldine Lepere

American Accent Survival Kit: Resource Pack by Christina Rebuffet

5 Secrets to Writing Your Book Quickly: Cheatsheet by Vickie Gould

The Essential Summer Style Guide: Ultimate Guide by Peter Nguyen

5 Beginner Basslines: Resource Pack by Luke McIntosh

Ultimate EDM Speed-Writing Cheat Sheet: Cheat Sheet by Will Darling

Best Hacks for Making Money on Upwork: E-book by Danny Margulies

The Ultimate Guide to Sentence Structure: E-book by Karen Dudek-Brannan

7 Spicy Recipes to Melt Off 7lbs: Recipe book by Nagina Abdullah

Top 3 Mistakes That Crush Your Chances With a Studio: E-book from Rusty Gray

Ultimate Guide Checklist: E-book by Primoz Bozic

Opt-in Rate: The key metric for measuring the success of opt-in copy (and key benchmarks you need to know)

How do you know if your Opt-in Copy is good or not?

You share your Landing Page (which we’ll create later in this guide) with your potential readers, and see how many of them subscribe to your e-mail list.

The metric you’ll get by doing that is called the “Opt-in Rate”, and works like this:

You divide the number of e-mail subscribers over a certain period of time (i.e. 50) by the number of people who visit your website (i.e. 1,000) to get the opt-in rate (i,e, 5%).

E-mail Subscriber (50) / Traffic (1,000) = Opt-in Rate (5%)

This tells you that 5% of all of your readers become e-mail subscribers.

When we talk about Opt-in Copy, we usually have 2 key things we measure:

  • Site-wide Opt-in Rate: This is the Opt-in Rate of your WHOLE website, which means you can take the number of all e-mail subscribers you got over a set time period (let’s say the last 7 days) and divide it by the number of all unique website visitors you got over that same time period.
  • Specific Opt-in Rate: This is the Opt-in Rate of specific forms or pages that you’ll usually calculate in specific landing pages, blog posts, etc.

Here are some useful benchmarks for these 2 metrics:

  • A good site-wide opt-in rate is roughly 5-10%
  • A good opt-in rate for a landing page is roughly 20-40%
  • A good blog post opt-in rate is roughly 2-5%
  • A good pop-up opt-in rate is roughly 10-20%

If your Opt-in Rate is less than that over the course of a month, you need to further tweak your Opt-in Copy (or get a better source of new readers).

If you hit those benchmarks, you can focus on simply attracting more people to your website.

These are great starting numbers to focus on, and even though it is possible to get higher numbers than that, you won’t really need them to grow your e-mail list to thousands of e-mail subscribers.

In case you’re wondering where to find those benchmarks:

  • You’ll find the number of your new e-mail subscribers in your e-mail provider
  • You’ll find the traffic in a tool like Google Analytics or Jetpack (they’re both free)
  • You’ll find specific opt-in rates for landing pages, pop ups, etc. in a tool like Leadpages or your e-mail provider

Your Turn: Write your 3-Bullet Copy!

Wow, we covered a lot in this section! Now it’s time for you to write your Opt-in Copy.

Even though we covered Long-Form Opt-in Copy, 3-Bullet Copy and Minimalist Copy, you only need to write your 3-Bullet Copy right now.

Use this chapter to write your own copy, and try to come up with something like this:

“Psst! Can I tell you the 3 biggest secrets to becoming a TEDx speaker?

Download my FREE 20-page guide and get access to…

-The SECRET process TEDx organizers use to pick and invite speakers to TEDx events
-The 5 common mistakes most speaking candidates make (and how to avoid them)
-The simple, proven script you can use to pitch yourself to your local TEDx event (without being pushy)

Just enter your name and e-mail address below and I’ll send you my free guide!”

You’ll then be able to use this copy as you create your Landing Page and your High-Converting Website.

Advanced Tip: Include Your Lead Magnet Portfolio on Your Homepage

Once you already have a few thousand e-mail subscribers and create your Lead Magnet Portfolio, you might want to tweak your Homepage to lead to multiple Landing Pages, like this example from Jenni Walrdop’s Homepage:

In this example, Jenni points the beginners into The Ultimate Guide to Selling on Etsy, while she leads existing Etsy entrepreneurs to the Etsy Shop Critique Challenge.

This helps her give her readers the best possible Epic Lead Magnets for the stages of their journeys, as well as segment her e-mail list of tens of thousands of e-mail subscribers into different segments.

I wouldn’t worry about this until you have 5,000+ e-mail subscribers, but when the time comes, a simple tweak like this can make your homepage connect with different groups of readers a lot better.

Summary: How to Write Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy

Congratulations on making it to the end of this chapter of Ultimate Guide to Growing Your E-mail List!

Today, you learned about what Opt-in Copy is, and why it’s one of the crucial skills for growing your e-mail list.

You learned about the only 3 types of Opt-in Copy you’ll ever need to write (Long-Form Copy, 3-Bullet Copy and Minimalist Copy) and how to write each type of copy.

We covered the 3 basic elements of Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy (Catchy Headline, Mouthwatering Bullets and Wrapper Copy), looked over examples for writing each of them and how to “gut-check” if your Opt-in Copy is any good.

We also looked at 12 advanced Opt-in Copy Writing Techniques:

  • #1: Use the exact words of your audience
  • #2: Why should I care?
  • #3: Include specific details
  • #4: Add an Unexpected Twist
  • #5: Hint at a “secret”
  • #6: The 80/20 rule
  • #7: Paint a clear picture
  • #8: See the reaction of your readers
  • #9: Think of Katie
  • #10: Iterate to perfection
  • #11: Master the 6 Great Leads
  • #12: Rewrite Great Copy

We then looked at 16 real-world examples of Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy and covered the “Opt-in Rate” (the benchmark for measuring the effectiveness of your opt-in copy).

Finally, you wrote your first version of the 3-Bullet Opt-in Copy and learned about the advanced “Lead Magnet Portfolio” technique.

Not bad for a single article, right?

In the next chapter of this guide, we’ll take a technical detour and talk about the best software & tools for growing your e-mail list (and put all the pieces together so you can start collecting hundreds of e-mail subcribers through your e-mail list).

Continue to Chapter 8: The Best E-mail Software & Tools For Your Online Business

Your Turn: What was your #1 insight from this article? Share it with me in the comments below!

Are you ready to build an e-mail list of 1,000+ BUYERS?

Download the full 393-page PDF version of this EPIC list-building guide, to print it out or read it on the go!

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The Step-by-Step Guide to Creating an EPIC Lead Magnet

By Primoz Bozic Leave a Comment

You’re currently reading Chapter 6 of The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your E-mail List.

Your Epic Lead Magnet: The Solution to The Problem Worth Solving

Once you’ve identified the Problem Worth Solving, you’ll want to create an Epic Lead Magnet that solves that problem for your audience better than anyone else on the internet.

You’ll then share your resource with your First 100 Fans and spread the word about it across the internet to grow your e-mail list to 500-1,000 e-mail subscribers.

This Lead Magnet will become the first thing any new e-mail subscriber sees and gets as a gift once they sign up to your e-mail list (some people like to call this an “opt-in offer” or a “freebie”), which will help you turn your website visitors into Raving Fans.

You’ll use your lead magnet every time you publish a piece of Remarkable Content to convert your readers into e-mail subscribers.

You can also use your Lead Magnet whenever you pursue Win-Win Partnerships like Guest Posting or Podcast interviews to give as a gift to your new readers (and maximize the number of new e-mail subscribers you get through these opportunities).

Having an Epic Lead Magnet will also be the key element of creating a High-Converting Website (that will help you make sure as many of your website visitors as possible become your e-mail subscribers).

In this post, you’ll find:

  • The 3 Crucial Rules for Creating an Epic Lead Magnet
  • 16 Epic Lead Magnet Examples
  • How to Create Your Epic Lead Magnet in 9 Easy Steps

Plus two advanced tips for creating Epic Lead Magnets.

Let’s dive in!

What is an Epic Lead Magnet?

The Epic Lead Magnet is a resource you can share with your e-mail subscribers in exchange for their e-mail address. It could be an e-book, a free online course, or something else (we’ll cover many different examples later on in this post).

For example, when you visit my website, you’ll be able to get a free copy of my Ultimate Guide Checklist, which shows you how to grow your blog audience with Ultimate Guides like this one.

You’ll want to offer an Epic Lead Magnet to your website visitors because a lot more people will subscribe to your e-mail list if you give them something tangible in exchange for their e-mail address (rather than just asking them to “subscribe to your newsletter”.

The “opt-in rate” (the metric that you use to measure how well your Lead Magnet is working) of “subscribing for updates” is usually less than 1-2%, which means that for every 1,000 website visitors, you’d get 10-20 new e-mail subscribers.

On the flip side, having an Epic Lead Magnet can result in opt-in rates of 5-20%, though I’ve seen rates as high as 50%. This means that for every 1,000 website visitors, you’d get 50-200 e-mail subscribers (which would mean that your e-mail list will grow a lot faster).

Another benefit of creating an Epic Lead Magnet is that if you make it REALLY good, your e-mail subscribers will share it with other people, bringing more e-mail subscribers your way via word of mouth.

What Should You Give Away as Your Epic Lead Magnet?

As you might have noticed, my favorite Epic Lead Magnets to give away are Ultimate Guides (like this one), because I’ve found that they work extremely well for converting website visitors into e-mail subscribers and blowing them away with the quality of my content.

I’ve seen others give away free courses, webinars, checklists, tools, calculators, and more.

There are no set rules for what format your Epic Lead Magnet should have.

It could be an e-book, a video, audio, a resource that your e-mail subscribers can “plug and play” to use… It doesn’t really matter.

3 Crucial Rules For Creating Your Epic Lead Magnet

There are 3 things that matter A LOT more than the actual format of the resource. I call these the 3 crucial rules for creating your Epic Lead Magnet.

Rule #1: Your Lead Magnet MUST Solve a Problem Worth Solving

After I published my Ultimate Guide to Creating Bulletproof Habits which helped me get from 0-600 e-mail subscribers in under 2 months, I had an idea to create a “Time Management Workshop”, because I thought my readers would find that more valuable.

I was wrong. When I started offering the workshop on my website instead of the habits guide, a lot less people subscribed to my website, losing me hundreds of e-mail subscribers over the next month.

The mistake that I made was that I created something that I thought was important, rather than solving a Problem Worth Solving for my audience.

If you create an Epic Lead Magnet that isn’t based on the research you’ve done around a Problem Worth Solving, it’s likely that your opt-in rate will tank and you’ll struggle with converting your website visitors into e-mail subscribers.

Luckily, you already know how to do that from the previous chapter of this guide.

Rule #2: Your Epic Lead Magnet Should be The Logical Next Step for The Content You Plan on Creating

Once you create your Epic Lead Magnet, you’ll use it to bring in more e-mail subscribers through your future content (blog posts, YouTube videos, Guest Posts, Podcast interviews, or whatever other method you’ll use to bring in new website visitors).

As you’ll do that, you’ll want your Epic Lead Magnet to be congruent with the content you create.

Here’s what I mean.

Right now, I’m writing this Ultimate Guide to Growing Your E-mail List, and once it’s finished, I’ll create a PDF version of it to use as an Epic Lead Magnet on my website.

Every time I write an article related to growing your e-mail list in the future (like “how often should you e-mail your e-mail list?”), I’ll offer this guide to the readers as the logical next step in their journeys.

If you’re reading about how often you should be emailing your e-mail list, you’ll likely want to know how to grow your e-mail list as well, so my opt-in rate from those articles should be pretty high.

On the other hand, if I wrote a guide on Mental Toughness for online entrepreneurs, it wouldn’t really be as relevant to the readers of the article, which is why my opt-in rate would be lower.

That’s why it’s important to do a bit of planning in advance and make your resource broad enough that it can be related to the future content you create.

Rule #3: Your Epic Lead Magnet Should be so Good You Could Charge for it

Some people say that your “lead magnet” can be super simple, like a simple one-page checklist.

I disagree.

I’ve found that while you CAN convert readers into e-mail subscribers with a simple checklist, it’s not the best idea to do that, especially when you’re just starting out with growing your e-mail list.

Instead, I believe that your Epic Lead Magnet should be so good you could charge for it.

Here’s why:

  • When you’re still “unknown” in your industry, creating a really outstanding Epic Lead Magnet can help you get noticed and “known for something”
  • If your “over-deliver” with your Epic Lead Magnet, your readers and e-mail subscribers will spread the word about it for you and share it with their friends
  • If your new e-mail subscribers are blown away by your Epic Lead Magnet when they subscribe to your e-mail list, they’re a lot more likely to stay subscribed and buy your products and services because they’ll think to themselves, “wow, if his free content is so good, then the paid content must be even better!”
  • Now that the online business space is more and more competitive, you want your content to stand out as the best content out there, to have a competitive advantage
  • When it comes to spreading the word about your Epic Lead Magnet, you’ll be A LOT more confident in talking about it if you know it’s your best work (and overcome your fear of self-promotion and putting yourself out there)

You’ll notice that many of the entrepreneurs I interviewed for this guide share the same mentality as we look over their Epic Lead Magnets, and for many of them going that extra mile really paid off.

One extreme example that comes to mind is an entrepreneur that created a full 30-hour online course, and gave it away to his e-mail subscribers for free (even though he could easily charge $500 for an online course like that). He did what nobody else would do.

Because this free course was unlike anything else out there, the people who went through it shared it with their friends, and in a bit over a year, he went from 0-3,500 e-mail subscribers.

Another great example is Jenni Waldrop, who went from 150 to 4,000+ e-mail subscribers in just a few months by creating an amazing Epic Lead Magnet for her website visitors. During our interview, Jenni said that your opt-in shouldn’t be a crappy checklist – it should be the best thing you’ve ever done.

Another example is Sam Gavis-Hughson, who spent 4-5 months creating his Epic Lead Magnet (a free e-book on mastering coding interviews) on the side of a full time job. As he published it, he went from 400 e-mail subscribers to 1,200 e-mail subscribers practically overnight, and kept adding 200+ new e-mail subscribers to his e-mail list every month since.

Creating an outstanding Epic Lead Magnet takes time, but it’s well worth the effort in the long-run.

16 Epic Lead Magnet Examples

To give you an idea what kind of Epic Lead Magnets you could create, I put together a list of 16 resources that you can study and analyze.

Here they are, in no particular order:

  • Dynamic Programming for Non-Geniuses: E-book by Sam Gavis-Hughson
  • 50 Practice Questions For Your Coding Interview: E-book by Sam Gavis-Hughson
  • Ultimate Guide To Selling on Etsy: Ultimate Guide by Jenni Waldrop
  • Etsy Shop Critique Challenge: Challenge by Jenni Waldrop
  • SEO Bootcamp: Bootcamp by Jenni Waldrop
  • Double Your Frenchness Crash Course: 10-day course by Geraldine Lepere
  • American Accent Survival Kit: Resource Pack by Christina Rebuffet
  • 5 Secrets to Writing Your Book Quickly: Cheatsheet by Vickie Gould
  • The Essential Summer Style Guide: Ultimate Guide by Peter Nguyen
  • 5 Beginner Basslines: Resource Pack by Luke McIntosh
  • Ultimate EDM Speed-Writing Cheat Sheet: Cheat Sheet by Will Darling
  • Best Hacks for Making Money on Upwork: E-book by Danny Margulies
  • The Ultimate Guide to Sentence Structure: E-book by Karen Dudek-Brannan
  • 7 Spicy Recipes to Melt Off 7lbs: Recipe book by Nagina Abdullah
  • Top 3 Mistakes That Crush Your Chances With a Studio: E-book from Rusty Gray
  • Ultimate Guide Checklist: Checklist by Primoz Bozic

As you can see, there is a variety of resources, though the most popular Epic Lead Magnets seem to be guides and e-books.

How to create your Epic Lead Magnet in 9 easy steps

Now that we looked at why you need an Epic Lead Magnet to make your Big Entrance and grow your e-mail list to 500-1,000 e-mail subscribers, let’s talk about how to actually create one, step by step.

Step #1: Identify a Problem Worth Solving

You already know how to do this from the previous chapter of this guide :). Talk to your First 100 Fans, see what challenges they’re having, and pick a common challenge that you’d love to solve for them.

Problems Worth Solving could be:

  • Getting invited to speak at a TEDx event
  • Growing your e-mail list
  • Learning how to edit photos in photoshop

I’ll use these as examples to show you how to turn these Problems Worth Solving into Epic Lead Magnets.

Step #2: Define a Tangible Result

Once you know what the Problem Worth Solving is, think of a tangible result you want to help your e-mail subscribers achieve after they work through your Epic Lead Magnet:

  • If the Problem Worth Solving is getting invited to speak at a TEDx event… The Tangible Result could be actually getting invited to speak at a TEDx event
  • If the Problem Worth solving is growing your e-mail list, the Tangible Result could be getting to your first 1,000 e-mail subscribers
  • If the Problem Worth Solving is learning how to edit photos in photoshop, the Tangible Result could be learning how to beautifully edit a photo in under 15 minutes

Defining a Tangible Result will help you write Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy, as well as get clear on what your Epic Lead Magnet should actually include.

“What about Intangible Results?”

One of my readers had an interesting follow up chapter to this section of the guide, so I decided to include it here:

The thing is the blog I’m thinking to open would be around the more psychological side of the business (like motivation, self-doubt, courage, why and how we make choices, etc.) and I’m having a harder time coming up with actionable tactics I can package in a catchy lead magnet.

You can absolutely create a Lead Magnet around Intangible Results!

Here’s a great example from Mark Manson (a guide to happiness):

I can instantly think of:

  • The Ultimate Guide to Motivation
  • The Quick Guide to Overcoming Self-Doubt
  • The 80/20 Guide to Becoming More Courageous

(I like to think in guides, but your Lead Magnets could be of a different format as well).

As far as Building Blocks go, you can think of tactics that provide an instant effect in being more motivated, happier, more courageous, etc.

You could also read a few books on these topics and see how they do it (the best books on any topic are usually full of sticky ideas).

Step #3: Brainstorm the Building Blocks

Once you have clearly defined a Tangible Result, you can plan out which Building Blocks you’ll need to create an Epic Lead Magnet that will help your e-mail subscribers get the result you’re promising them:

  • What do you need to teach them?
  • What do they have to do?
  • What resources will be helpful for them?

You’ll want to think of the BEST possible way that you can help your e-mail subscribers get to the outcome that you want to help them achieve.

If I want to help someone get invited to speak at a TEDx event, I might want to:

  • Show them what the process for getting invited to speak at a TEDx event looks like
  • Tell them which mistakes most candidates make (that they’ll want to avoid)
  • Give them specific strategies they can use to “pitch themselves” to a TEDx event

If I want to help someone grow their e-mail list to 1,000 e-mail subscribers, I might want to:

  • Tell them what’s the “high-level strategy” to get there
  • Give them specific list-building tactics and strategies they can implement today
  • Include specific templates and resources to help them along the way

If I want to help someone edit photos in photoshop, I might want to:

  • Show them the 3 beginner editing tools that they should learn how to use
  • Teach them how to use each of the 3 tools
  • Explain the basic process for editing your photos, and how to go through each step of the process

(Note that I have no experience with photoshop so I’m making these up, but you get the point).

33 Real-World Examples of Building Blocks

Here are 33 additional examples of “Building Blocks” you can use as inspiration (I pulled these from real Epic Lead Magnets of entrepreneurs I interviewed for this guide).

Your Building Blocks could be…

Tricks or hacks:

  • The tricks all top sellers know to keep sales flowing (tricks)
  • THE ONE SIMPLE TRICK to wearing more color (even if you’re “not a color guy”) (trick)
  • The one hack that earned me over $30,000 over the course of a couple of years (and takes just 3 minutes to execute) (hack)
  • A profile trick that’s scientifically proven to help you win more jobs (at higher prices) (trick)
  • The deeply psychological hack I used to raise my rates by $50 per hour overnight (hack)
  • How to make a few simple changes that will bring you more views and customers (quick changes)

Lessons, tutorials, explanations or walkthroughs:

  • The exact strategies to approach each problem (and others like them) with step-by-step video walkthroughs (video walkthroughs)
  • Pronounce the expressions correctly, thanks to my explanations in the complete video lesson (video lesson)
  • How to finally “get” what Dynamic Programming really is (explanation of a difficult concept)

Examples (Questions, Recipes, Clothing Items, Outfits, Expressions, Mistakes, Common Problems, Myths, Misconceptions…):

  • 50 real-world interview questions that were asked in actual interviews (interview questions)
  • Recognize 12 everyday expressions when Americans say them fast…without translating in your head (expressions)
  • 13 MUST HAVE ESSENTIALS every man needs in his summer wardrobe (specific clothing items)
  • 7 ULTRA-VERSATILE pieces all guys should have this Spring that you can wear to the office and on the weekend (specific clothing items)
  • EXACT outfit “recipes” for all your important events – from business casual meetings to your best friend’s wedding (outfits)
  • 7 Spicy Recipes to Melt Off 7lbs (recipes)
  • Discover “the top 3 mistakes that crush your chances with a studio” and make your dream job happen. (mistakes)
  • The 4 sentence types often behind comprehension and expression issues and why they’re so difficult. (sentence types)
  • The most common problems that hold most all sellers back (and how to fix them!) (common problems)

Crucial Information:

  • The only 10% information you need to ace your interview (the 80/20 rule)
  • What you REALLY need to do to succeed on Etsy (the 80/20 rule)
  • The most important element to include to turn readers into clients (80/20 rule)

Techniques, Formulas, Strategies or Tactics:

  • The not-so-obvious way you can solve any dynamic programming interview fast (counterintuitive technique)
  • My 5-step formula for acing each and every whiteboard interview (formula)
  • What you need to add into your book to make it a page-turner (key strategy)
  • How to add more colors and prints to your wardrobe, without looking like an Easter Egg (technique)
  • The deceptively simple way to write language goals; so you’re not spending hours on paperwork (goal bank included). (technique, goal bank)
  • An easy-to-implement “low-prep” strategy proven to boost sentence structure, comprehension, and written language (conjunctions flashcards included). (strategy)

Tests, Quizzes, Cheat Sheets or Worksheets:

  • Train your ear to instantly catch the fast sounds, with the audio test and worksheets (test + worksheets)
  • Download my free Ultimate EDM Speed Writing Cheat Sheet below, and get your track finished TODAY! (cheat sheet)

Hidden Opportunities, Secrets or Counterintuitive Advice:

  • What opportunities open up for you with a book (and what you’re missing without one) (hidden opportunities)
  • Pro secrets to creating content for your book in less time (secret)
  • The hidden culprit behind unexplained “processing” problems that’s often overlooked. (secret issue)
  • How wearing LESS clothes can make you FEEL HOTTER! (And what to do instead) (counterintuitive advice)

Step #4: Choose the Format

Once you have your Building Blocks ready, you can decide on the format of your Epic Lead Magnet.

This could be:

  • An e-book or a guide
  • An e-mail course
  • A video course
  • A video workshop / masterclass
  • A collection of scripts / examples
  • …or something else

You should pick a resource format that best suits what you’re trying to teach:

  • An e-book would be great for teaching someone how to get invited to speak at a TEDx event
  • An Ultimate Guide would be great for helping someone grow an e-mail list
  • A 5-day course with video tutorials would be great for teaching someone how to edit photos in Photoshop

Chances are that you could pick different formats for the same Epic Lead Magnet (for example, if you could write an e-book about something, you could also create a video course about it).

I suggest picking the option that is:

  • Easier to implement and set up (creating a PDF e-book might be easier than creating a 5-day video course)
  • The most exciting (you want to be excited about creating your Epic Lead Magnet)
  • Plays to your strengths (if you love writing, write an e-book; if you love talking, record a video workshop)

Remember, the format isn’t as important as nailing the other steps of this process. Pick a format that will work and move on!

Step #5: Create an Outline

Once you’ve selected the format of your Epic Lead Magnet, you can create a simple outline for your Epic Lead Magnet.

During the outlining stage, you can simply organize all of your Building Blocks into an order/flow that makes the most sense, so that you can move forward with creating the resource.

Here’s an example from such an outline from my Ultimate Guide to Creating Content That Sticks:

lead magnet outline

As you can see, the outline is simple and to the point – don’t overcomplicate this step!

Step #6: Go the Extra Mile

Once you have a simple outline in place, take some time to think about how you can go the Extra Mile for your e-mail subscribers and really make your Lead Magnet Epic and one-of-a-kind.

This is one of the most important steps in this process (right after finding a Problem Worth Solving), as this step will make your resource really stand out from everything else out there (and lead to your readers loving it and sharing it with their friends).

For this guide, I went the Extra Mile by actually interviewing 20 entrepreneurs about how they grew their e-mail lists, rather than just summarizing my own personal experiences.

I’m also going the Extra Mile by pulling real-world examples for things like Finding Profitable Business Ideas, Epic Lead Magnets, Writing Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy, etc.

For a guide on TEDx talk, I might:

  • Interview a few TEDx event organizers and ask them what makes the best candidates
  • Interview past TEDx speakers and ask them how they got invited to events
  • Break down “good” and “bad” approaches or pitches
  • Record and share an actual interview with a TEDx organizer
  • Figure out if there are different “tiers” of TEDx events and break down what you need to land a speaking opportunity at each of the different tiers

And for a Photoshop editing video course, I might:

  • Record 5 example videos for each editing tool where I use the tool on 5 different images
  • Talk about common exceptions / edge cases (like having an extremely bright/dark photo) and how to handle them
  • Create an “editing checklist” or “cheat sheet” that my readers can keep in front of them as they edit their photos for easy reference

Think about what going the Extra Mile would look like for your readers, and make it happen!

And if you don’t know what going the Extra Mile would look like, you could just e-mail them and ask them:

“Hey NAME,

I’m working on a resource that will help you get a speaking gig at a local TEDx event. To make this resource as valuable as possible to you, could you let me know what’s one thing I could include in the resource that would make it insanely valuable to you?

Thanks,

-YOUR NAME”

Step #7: Create the Lead Magnet

This is the step where you “buckle down and make it happen”.

When you’re creating your first Epic Lead Magnet, I suggest spending roughly 10-20 hours on it (you should be able to create it within a few days or 1-2 weeks at most).

That will be plenty of time to make it Epic while still keeping it manageable.

If you want to learn more about how to create an amazing Epic Lead Magnet, you can read two of my Epic Resources that will help you create one:

  • The Ultimate Guide Checklist: Ultimate Guides are some of the best Epic Lead Magnets you can create – and I wrote a detailed guide that covers the exact steps for writing an Ultimate Guide
  • The Ultimate Guide to Creating Content That Sticks: Your Epic Lead Magnets are amazing opportunities for creating your own Sticky Ideas and Frameworks that you can become known for (and that will get you even more e-mail subscribers). I wrote a detailed guide on how you can up with those and make your Epic Lead Magnets even better.

Step #8: Pick a Sticky Name

Once you’ve written your Lead Magnet (or as you’re writing or planning it), give it a sticky name!

Calling your resource something (like Jenni Waldrop’s SEO Bootcamp or Christina Rebuffet’s American Accent Survival Kit) will make it more tangible, compelling, stickier and shareable.

While a name won’t make or break your Epic Lead Magnet, coming up with a sticky name can definitely pay dividends in the long run.

Here are some short guidelines for coming up with a sticky name for your Epic Lead Magnet:

  • Make it CLEAR: When someone hears the name of your resource, they should instantly know what it’s about. Clear names tend to perform better than fancy names, especially when not many people know you yet.
  • Keep it SIMPLE: You should be able to say the name of your Epic Lead Magnet in one breath of air. If your name is confusing, a lot less people will remember it.
  • Make it STICKY: If you want to go the extra mile, make your name sticky and memorable. This means that someone should only hear the name of your Epic Lead Magnet once in order to remember it for years.

If you’re not sure how to come up with a great name for your Epic Lead Magnet, definitely read my Ultimate Guide to Creating Content That Sticks – it will give you plenty of ideas plus a specific framework for making your name sticky and memorable.

Step #9: Design it

Unless you’re a designer or want to serve an audience that really values visually appealing e-books, you definitely don’t need to spend any money (or too much time) designing your e-books at an early stage of your business.

Later on when you’re running your business full time and making a decent living off it, you can definitely consider hiring a designer to design your e-books, but until then it likely won’t be necessary.

I personally write and “design” my e-books (by design, I mean that I create a cover and some headings) in Google Documents, then simply export them as a PDF. I stuck with that simple and proven process for years, and it was more than enough to build a 6-figure online business.

If you really wanted to design a nice cover for your Epic Lead Magnet, the only other tool I’d recommend is Canva – there’s a free version and it’s pretty intuitive to use.

Advanced Tip: Create an Epic Lead Magnet Portfolio

As you might have noticed, a lot of established entrepreneurs have more than one Epic Lead Magnet – they have an Epic Lead Magnet Portfolio.

Here’s an example from Peter Nguyen:

As you e-mail list grows, you might want to create one yourself as well.

The idea behind an Epic Lead Magnet Portfolio is simple – you can create a portfolio of different Epic Lead Magnet for different topics (or audiences).

You will usually want to do that when you start a new Content Season (a concept we’ll talk about in the next chapter of this guide), or in other words, when you start talking about a new topic that you haven’t talked about before.

For example, the reasons why I’m creating this very Ultimate Guide are:

  • I want to establish myself as an expert in list-building
  • I want to give my readers an amazing resource on list-building, as I know that that is a Problem Worth Solving for them
  • I want to create an Epic Lead Magnet that I can use as a logical next step (or a “content upgrade”) for all the future content I create

Peter Nguyen does this exceptionally well. He has dedicated Epic Lead Magnets for spring and summer style and fall and winter style, which he can then offer to his readers whenever he talks about specific clothing items in different seasons.

Jenni Waldrop also created an Epic Lead Magnet Portfolio for her readers, and she did it by simply collecting the top 5 questions from her audience, and then creating an Epic Resource for each of them (for example, since a lot of her readers had questions about SEO, she created the SEO bootcamp).

You probably won’t need to create an Epic Lead Magnet Portfolio until you have thousands of e-mail subscribers, but once it makes sense for you to do it, you can just use the exact steps from this chapter to create another Epic Resource that your readers will love.

Advanced Tip: Create a Content Ladder

Another advanced tip for when you start creating products and services in your online business is to create a Content Ladder for each of the topics that you talk about in your online business where each of your Content Layers builds on a previous layer.

The Content Ladder will look like this:

World Class Content -> Epic Lead Magnet -> Flagship Product or Service

Your new readers will find your content, subscribe to your e-mail list to get an Epic Lead Magnet, and have the opportunity to join your flagship product or service (all related to the same topic).

Here’s a practical example from Christina Rebuffet:

“Every month is dedicated to a different program we are selling in our business. Every YouTube video we create is on a subject related to the program we’re selling, and so are out lead magnets. The subjects we talk about always correlate to the big programs we are selling.”

For example, this is what Christina’s Content Ladder could look like:

  • World-Class Content: 6 Secrets to Understanding Fast-Talking Americans
  • Epic Lead Magnet: American English Survival Kit
  • Flagship Product: Master Real American English

Structuring your content and Epic Lead Magnets you create in this way will help you maximize the amount of paying customers you attract to your business, create a great immersive experience for your readers, and become way more strategic with everything you do in your business.

Summary

Once you’ve identified the Problem Worth Solving, the next logical step is to create a Lead Magnet that you’ll give away to your new e-mail subscribers.

Make sure your Epic Lead Magnet follows the following rules:

  • Rule #1: It MUST solve a Problem Worth Solving
  • Rule #2: It should be the logical next step for the content you plan on creating
  • Rule #3: It should be so good you could charge for it

You can then create the Epic Lead Magnet in 9 easy steps (and use the 16 Epic Lead Magnet examples in this post for guidance):

  • Step #1: Identify a Problem Worth Solving
  • Step #2: Define a Tangible Result
  • Step #3: Brainstorm the Building Blocks
  • Step #4: Choose the Format
  • Step #5: Create an Outline
  • Step #6: Go the Extra Mile
  • Step #7: Create the Lead Magnet
  • Step #8: Pick a Sticky Name
  • Step #9: Design it

To guide you in creating your Epic Lead Magnet, you can read my Ultimate Guide Checklist and The Ultimate Guide to Creating Content That Sticks.

As your e-mail list grows to a few thousands of e-mail subscribers, you can create an Epic Lead Magnet Portfolio to serve different audiences.

And once you start selling online products or services, make sure your Epic Lead Magnets fall correctly into the Content Ladder:

World Class Content -> Epic Lead Magnet -> Flagship Product or Service

That’s it!

Now you know everything you need to know to create an Epic Lead Magnet. Stay tuned for the next chapter, in which we’ll cover how to write Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy for your Lead Magnet.

Continue to Chapter 7: How to Write Mouthwatering Opt-in Copy

Your Turn: What will be the Epic Lead Magnet that you’ll create?

Are you ready to build an e-mail list of 1,000+ BUYERS?

Download the full 393-page PDF version of this EPIC list-building guide, to print it out or read it on the go!

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Customer Research 101: How to Find The Problems of Your Audience

By Primoz Bozic 2 Comments

You’re currently reading Chapter 5 of The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your E-mail List.

When I first started primozbozic.com, I went from 0-600 e-mail subscribers in less than two months. A month later, I successfully launched my first online course (a 2-hour productivity workshop), and got 7 sales to make my first $350 with this online business.

A few months later, I improved that online course and had my first $1,000 launch. Then a $2,000 launch. Then a $5,000 launch. Within the first year of starting my website, I made over $30,000 through online courses and coaching services that I sold through my website.

The engine behind the exponential growth of my online business was my e-mail list, which grew from 0 to 2,200 e-mail subscribers within the first year of my business:

list building

The key to building the initial momentum and getting to 600 e-mail subscribers was finding a problem worth solving.

With only two articles written on my website, I created The Ultimate Guide to Creating Bulletproof Habits:

ultimate guide to creating bulletproof habits

Back in 2014, not many people talked about how to create habits that stick, and when I wrote this guide, it created a lot of buzz. People talked about it, used it to form better habits, and shared it with their friends.

That was my problem worth solving.

I created something remarkable about a problem many people had but nobody solver, and became known for it. I was no longer a “no-one”, I was someone worth paying attention to.

I’ve seen a similar pattern in many online entrepreneurs I interviewed to create this guide:

  • Sam Gavis-Hughson published an e-book about coding interviews that helped him double his e-mail list overnight, attracting 500+ new e-mail subscribers
  • Olivia Angelescu created a database of websites and publications that bloggers could pitch, together with exact guidelines to pitch them, to get to 400+ e-mail subscribers
  • Rusty Gray wrote a guest post for a major animation website and got 400+ e-mail subscribers from it
  • Peter Nguyen wrote a guest post for a popular style blog and attracted 1,000+ e-mail subscribers from it

If we break down the process for how they did it, it’s pretty simple:

  • They found a Problem Worth Solving that their audience has
  • They created a Lead Magnet to solve that Problem
  • They promoted the Lead Magnet to grow their e-mail list to 500-1,000 e-mail subscribers

In this chapter, I’ll teach you how you can find your Problem Worth Solving, and in the future chapters, I’ll teach you how you can create and promote an EPIC Lead Magnet to solve that problem.

Why You Need a Problem Worth Solving

Before we talk about how to create a Lead Magnet, we need to find a Problem Worth Solving that our Lead Magnet will help with.

You might have heard other entrepreneurs say that “building a business boils down to solving problems of your audience”.

That’s exactly true – in order to get people’s attention (whether it’s to read a blog post, subscribe to your e-mail list, hire you as a coach or join your online course), you need to solve a problem they have.

The bigger the problem, the more likely you are to get their attention.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to solve the problems of our audience in the most effective possible way to stand out in your industries and stand out from everyone else, while creating your own following of Raving Fans.

But to do that, your first need to FIND a Problem Worth Solving.

What is a Problem Worth Solving?

A Problem Worth Solving is a problem that your audience complains about over and over again.

A Problem Worth Solving is a problem that your audience spends hours and hours Googling about to find the solution.

A Problem Worth Solving is a problem that keeps your audience up at night.

Here are some examples:

  • Let’s say you have a job interview for Google coming up in 2 weeks, and you have no idea how to prepare for it. That’s a Problem Worth Solving, and Sam can help you solve it.
  • Let’s say you want to buy a new leather jacket and are willing to spend $500-$1,000 on it, but have no idea what to look for in a leather jacket and don’t want to waste your money. That’s a Problem Worth Solving, and Peter can help you solve it.
  • Let’s say you have a TEDx talk coming up in a month and you have no idea how to put together a great talk. That’s a Problem Worth Solving, and Ryan can help you solve it.

You can spot a Problem Worth Solving when you see people complaining about a problem with a lot of emotion.

Let’s say you’re looking at a reddit thread. If you find a thread that hundreds of people are commenting on and they’re writing long, detailed responses, it means that you’ve discovered a Problem Worth Solving.

If people take the time to complain or talk about a problem at length, it’s likely a Problem Worth Solving.

How to Find a Problem Worth Solving: Talk to Your First 100 Fans!

In an earlier chapter of this guide, I taught you how to collect your first 100 e-mail subscribers (Your First 100 Fans).

If you haven’t read that chapter yet, give it a read, as it will make Problem Worth Solving and answering questions like “where can I find people to talk to?” SO much easier.

Once you already have a list of 100 e-mail subscribers, you don’t have to look far to find a Problem Worth Solving. You can just talk to them and ask them what it is!

Gabriela Pereira did exactly that when she started growing her e-mail list. She reached out to her e-mail subscribers and invited them to jump on a Skype call with her.

She talked to them about what they were up to and what challenges they faced when it came to writing. She made a lot of great connections that way and got a lot of research done for her business as well.

When you attract your first 100 e-mail subscribers, don’t rush to get to thousands of e-mail subscribers as soon as possible.

Appreciate the fact that there are 100 people out there who are eager to listen to what you have to say. It’s as if you spoke at a conference in front of 100 people.

How to Start a Casual Conversation With Your E-mail Subscribers to Discover Their Problems

Don’t treat these people as just numbers. Instead, start Casual Conversations with them.

Treat them as real people. Take the time to talk to them. Email them. Message them on Facebook. Invite them to a Skype call with you. Be curious about what they are up to, and what challenges they are facing. Ask them a lot of questions. Get to know them better, like you would get to know a friend.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. It could be as simple as saying:

“Hey, I know you said you wanted to speak at TEDx, can you tell me more about why you want to do that?”

And then naturally evolving the conversation from there.

Talk to them as if you met them in person (or as if you were talking to a friend). Ask them what they do for a living. Ask them about what they want. Ask them about their struggles.

You’ll soon start seeing hints of Problems Worth Solving.

The BEST Way to Find Problems Worth Solving: Welcome Calls

The most valuable thing you can do at this stage is to invite your e-mail subscribers to a Skype call with you. Think of it as a Welcome Call for signing up to your e-mail list.

This will help you get to meet them face to face and as real people, and help you really understand and get to know them a lot better than you would if you just exchanged e-mails with them.

You can invite them to a Welcome Call in a very casual way:

“Hey, I’d love to talk to you more about this subject – would you be open to talking on Skype with me for 30 minutes some time this week so we can officially “meet” each other face to face?”

During the Welcome Call, you can have a casual conversation around things like:

  • Who they are, and what they do for a living
  • Why they are interested in learning more about [TOPIC]
  • What are the biggest challenges they have
  • What’s the most painful around those challenges
  • What they want to achieve
  • Why they want to achieve it
  • What are the biggest obstacles in their way
  • What they tired doing before, what worked and what didn’t
  • What annoys them the most about advice that’s already out there
  • What’s missing for them? What’s something that nobody talks about?

Don’t go through these questions like a formal interview. That won’t make people open up to you.

Instead, use these questions as things you can talk about if you run out of things to say, as icebreakers or as follow up questions.

Use natural follow up questions like “ooh, that’s interesting, tell me more!” as a way to naturally evolve the conversation, and if you end up talking about something completely unrelated, that’s ok! You’re trying to get to know your e-mails subscribers as people, not just as customer research subjects.

Your goal at this stage should be to build real, meaningful connections with your first 100 e-mail subscribers and turn them into your First 100 Fans.

These fans will then:

  • Tell you the problems they’re struggling with (so you can help them solve them)
  • Help you promote your Remarkable Content and Lead Magnets as you publish them
  • Become your first customers

And they’ll also help you come up with an idea for your Epic Lead Magnet that will help you attract more people just like them.

Best of all, they’ll be the people that “get you” that you can talk to about things that excite you, and they’ll be the first people that you can start helping in your online business journey.

Talk to your First 100 Fans. Note down the challenges they share with you. Sooner or later, you’ll see a pattern emerging.

Maybe there will be a common problem that everyone has. Maybe there will be a problem that people get really emotional about. Maybe there will be a problem that people can’t stop talking about.

What to do if You Find More Than One Problem Worth Solving

If you find more than one Problem Worth Solving, that’s great news! It means you’ll have plenty of ideas for future Remarkable Content or Lead Magnets that you can create.

If you’re not sure which topic you should create your Epic Lead Magnet about, you can either pick the topic you’re the most excited to talk about, or ask your e-mail subscribers which idea they’d like for you to talk about.

For example, you could write an e-mail like this to your e-mail subscribers:

SUBJ: Quick question about speaking at TEDx events

“Hey guys, I talked to a lot of you over the past week, and I’m thinking about creating an amazing resource that will help you [speak at a TEDx event].

I’m torn on what I should create this resource about though.

I’m thinking about one of the following:

-How to find a great idea for a TEDx talk
-How to find the best TEDx event to speak at
-How to prepare for a TEDx talk in under 30 days

Can you let me know which resource you like the most by replying to this e-mail? I’ll then create the resource that gets the most votes.

-YOUR NAME

This will help you find a “winning” Problem Worth Solving. And if the votes are tied, choose a problem that either (1) gets the biggest emotional response from your audience, or (2) you’re the most excited to solve.

Either works!

Continue to Chapter 6: How to Create an EPIC Lead Magnet

Your Turn: What’s a Problem Worth Solving you’ve successfully identified? Share it with us in the comments below!

Are you ready to build an e-mail list of 1,000+ BUYERS?

Download the full 393-page PDF version of this EPIC list-building guide, to print it out or read it on the go!

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