The Two-Part Lead Magnet Strategy - Chris Milham

Website: https://chrismilham.com

[00:00:00] Hi, it's Chris here. Hey, what I'm sharing today is a lead magnet strategy that I've recently set up for my own list, but I'm loving it already. It's got so many positives, for both subscribers and for myself. And so as I class it, it's a win-win. So I've not seen anyone do this before on any email list that I've ever signed up for. Maybe I can claim credit for inventing it. I don't know. Although I think the general concept isn't particularly new to the marketing world. In terms of asking for responses. And then giving something valuable in return. Well, first I'm going to briefly explain the strategy. And then we'll show you through some key parts of my lead magnet. So , you can kind of see how it works in practice. And I'll explain things as I go. All right. There's nothing more for it. Let's get moving.

[00:01:00] So what I'm sharing today is my two part lead magnet strategy. I have two PDF guides. The first is called 7 Secrets of Must-Read Emails. You can see it on the screen here. The first guide has seven secrets. And the second has another seven secrets in it. When someone opts into my list, they're sent the first guide. At that point, they don't even know there's a second guide at all. So they do what people do with lead magnet freebies. Some will never click the download link in the first email. Some will download it, but never look at it. Some will tuck it away to read later, and actually look at it sometime in the future. A day, a week, a year later. Some will download and look at it straight away. When they look through it, they'll see that they got the value that I promised when they opted in. Namely the 7

[00:02:00] Secrets of Must-Read Emails. And there's some jolly good secrets in there, even if I say so myself. And good reminders for when we want to grow highly engaged email lists. So when they come to the end of that guide, there's an invitation to get the second guide. Part two, if you will. And I'll call it part two from now on in. But that invitation comes with a request for them to do something  specific. And that's to email me and to tell me their favorite secret from the guide. I asked them this for two reasons. Number one to see if they read the guide. I'm wanting to know more about how people are reacting to it. And two, so they're doing some work to get part two. Like they had to do a little bit of work when they filled in my opt-in form to get part one. So there's a bit of effort to get part two as well. It is

[00:03:00] about setting up an exchange. They give me something, relatively easy to give. They reply with their favorite secret. And I give them back something of relatively higher perceived value. Which is part two of the secrets guide. Now, just an aside, if you are thinking of doing this kind of two part lead magnet, it doesn't need to be a PDF guide like this one. It can be a video training. Or a private podcast. Whatever lead magnet suits you, so long as there's a way in the first part to invite them to email you a reply. And ask for access to the second part. You could even mix things up. Have a guide for the first part, and a video training for the second. That doesn't matter. What matters is the invitation to get something of value that they want. Using the PDF guide, like this works for

[00:04:00] me. But you find the kind of lead magnet and formats that work for you. So back to the main flow of things. The invitation to respond to you must be to reply via email. It's no good to invite them to something like posting in a Facebook group or whatever. Because this is about email marketing. And building your email list. And enhancing the relationships you have with your list. And that reply coming from them is valuable to you for multiple reasons. Number one, they're replying using a platform you own your email. So you are in control of the replies and it's private to you. Number two, the reply is seen by the inbox providers like Google as an indication that you're a real human being. So it reduces your chances of ending up in spam. And may even steer you away from the promotions folder as well.  So replying

[00:05:00] like this helps your overall email deliverability. And number three, it opens a conversation with your subscriber. Now, if you don't want this, if you don't want to talk to your subscribers, then don't do this strategy. It's not for you. But I do want to engage with them. And it's great if you want this kind of interaction for your email list as well. I want to know more about the people on my email list. And what better way than them emailing me and me having a chance to say thanks. And then ask them a little bit about what they do. And how they're email marketing is going. And four, them replying to you is breaking the ice. So it opens a warm conversation. They're the ones who approached you because they want the thing you are offering. And you can take that connection where you want. You may not get past more than giving them a thanks kind of reply right now. But in a

[00:06:00] couple of weeks or a month or however long, the door is open for you to ask how they're doing. How they're getting on with the guides or whatever lead magnets you offer. And if they have any questions and if they're still getting your regular emails. You could ask if they had any questions from things in those. Yes, you could automate replies like this. But they won't continue the thread that was open when they first emailed you. And it's helpful for them to be reminded of your previous conversation. And statistically personal emails tend to get higher engagement. It's like a rule of business. People like messages just for them. From real people. Point is, the warm connection allows gradually getting to know them and help them. In a way that's not pushy. It's about seeing where the relationship leads. It might not be to a sale. Maybe

[00:07:00] it's to a referral. Maybe it helps you to get to know their needs better, so you can create products and services to help. Or if you've been on my list for any length of time, you'll know that conversations are one of my favorite sources for email ideas.  So if you are chatting and they say something insightful or share something interesting, then it's an idea for an email. You can't lose. Right, now I'm gonna show you through how I've put my lead magnets together to facilitate all this. I'll be showing you select parts so there's no sneaky glimpses of the secrets inside. Hey, I want you to download and read it for yourself. So go do that after this video if you've not done it already. So here we are on the cover page of Part one. I have a simple lead magnet. There's a single image for the front cover, and apart from a headshot with my signature further down in the document, the rest is

[00:08:00] text. It's just a single Google Doc. So it's easy to update and easy to download as a PDF. This works nicely for me. I like simple and clear things like this. The hamster thing is something I'm running with in my business. It's a bit random at present. But I like it 'cause it's fun. And who doesn't like hamsters? The first text page that we see here is typical of a lead magnet. And guides them into what's inside. It gets them hopefully excited about the valuable things they're about to discover. My intro also ends by telling them about the extra bonus of the checklist that I give them at the end. This is all just typical intro stuff. Then it goes into the core content, and I'm gonna skip over that and show you what comes at the end. So here's the end. And it says, with these seven secrets in hand, you now have the power to build a highly

[00:09:00] engaged email list. And as soon as it's finished saying they've just got some really good stuff here, it virtually says: but wait, there's more. And it teases another guide with another seven secrets. So if they liked these ones, they can enjoy even more. Well, that page is simply telling them about it, explaining what's inside, showing them the cover. So they, they see it's a real thing. And the image with a couple of pages showing, it's a little bit of a tease as well.  The last page of the conclusion now gives them a reason why I'm offering this part two to them for free. I tell them it's a reward for taking time to learn the seven secrets from this first guide. And then it shows them the simple steps they have to take to get their hands on part two. Then it signs off from me. And wishes them well. The second guide is totally optional.

[00:10:00] And it's important. I point out that they don't need to have both of them to get massive value from part one. It's not meant to be a trick, where we say they'll get it all in the first guide. But then we pull the rug at the last moment. And they're forced to get the second guide. No, no, no. They're both valuable guides in their own right. And one doesn't depend on the other, although there's certainly an increase in the impact when the secrets inside are all used together. But part one has great impact when used all by itself. In fact, I originally only planned for the first guide. The second one, and the idea for this two part lead magnet, only sprung up when I saw that I had so many secrets that I could fit in. But it was too much for one lead magnet that's meant to be relatively quick for them to digest. Now, only a percentage of people will

[00:11:00] take that invitation. And that's fine. Those who are more in tune with what I'm writing, and those who are motivated to act now, are the ones most likely to take the invitation up. Others may trickle in later if they read the guide at a future date. And that's fine too. The next step is I'll get an email from someone telling me their favorite secret. Sometimes they'll give me literally all I asked for, which is one sentence saying the secret they liked. And that's all they write. But often I'll get a longer reply, which is great because it's a signal of engagement. And I'll share one such reply just as an example. And this person said, hi there, Mr. Hamster. My favorite secret is number four. That's so important. And I sometimes forget just because there are so many exciting things to talk about, regards . And there's when they signed off.  Yes, they called me Mr. Hamster. And that's

[00:12:00] cool. I love it when they make me laugh. And, you know, I've got this hamstery thing going on as well. Then I'll just reply and say, thanks for letting me know. And we'll also take the opportunity to ask them how their email marketing is going. Just to continue the conversation. At that same time, I'll set a tag for them in my email service provider software. And they'll automatically get an email with the link to the second guide. The part two. Now, I do it like that so I can be consistent with the wording and not have to think about pasting links into my reply to them. So that I won't give them some broken link and then not actually get the the guide. And that leads me on to mention some things about the second guide. Well, here we are looking at the second guide. It has the most creative title ever, right? This one's called Seven More Secrets of Must Read Emails. Well, at least it's clear what it's about. And yep, that's

[00:13:00] another hamster. So, the intro to this one starts off by referring to the first guide. And talking it up. And specifically encourages them to take notice of the first three secrets. From the first guide. Because they are in fact super important. It talks a bit about email engagement. And I share how fun it is getting fan mail. The point is, this guide flows seamlessly from the first one. And shows it adds to what's in the first one. It refers back to the value of the first and is not trying to supersede it. But to add more value. Then it gets into secrets number eight through 14. Which is the core value of the guide. And it follows the same pattern as the first guide. So it's nice and familiar territory for the reader. Well, I've skipped over the pages with the secrets on them. And here we are at the end pages

[00:14:00] of the second guide. And I'm not gonna  go into these other than to say, they give a big thumbs up and congrats for completing the two guides. Mine also says they've now got access to a supersized checklist at the end of this guide with all 14 secrets listed in one place. Well, for me, this end section leads onto promoting a guide from my Low-Stress Email Toolkit as a next step. And it's a rather long four pages. Probably too big. Which I may trim down at some stage. I'm even toying with having a third part to the lead magnet. A part three guide, rather than moving straight to a paid offer. But you can do whatever you want at the step. Whether it's promoting a product, inviting to a community, booking a call, or whatever makes sense for your business. I will just flick through. And there's the end of my

[00:15:00] invitation. Well, some things I want to emphasize. Splitting the guide into two wasn't a trick. It started with a seven secrets guide. Then I realized that I could add more. But it's fine if you do have a heap of points to make to split them up. Because you're making it easier to digest them. Particularly for a lead magnet. Which is better to be a bit shorter. Well, there's some things I want to emphasize. Splitting the guide into two wasn't a trick. It started with a seven secrets guide. Then I realized I could add more. But it's fine if you do have a heap of points to make to split them up. Because you're making it easier to digest them. Particularly for a lead magnet, which is better to be a bit shorter. Than a full on PDF guide or report. It doesn't need to be a PDF guide or PDF guides like I've got. It can be whatever lead magnet formats make sense for you. The key is

[00:16:00] giving the invitation at the end of the first part to reply to you via email. And then you promise to give them something for doing so. It also doesn't have to be a list of things either. It is not about splitting a list in two. But it is about having a logical connection from the first part of the lead magnet to the second. And the second part, offering your subscribers enough value that they're motivated to send you their email reply, so that they can get it.  The beauty of the two part lead magnet are the benefits for you and for your subscribers. I love the way it allows new subscribers to gently come into my world. And begin to interact with me. It's an opportunity to ask your subscribers to reply to you. This is fantastic for signaling to Google and others that there's real people on your list. So it helps with deliverability of your emails. Less chance will end up in places like the promotions tab or worse in

[00:17:00] spam. Well, they emailed me first, so it's a warm connection. I'm not invading their inbox unexpectedly when I reply. Which means it's great for opening conversations. I can ask more about them, more about their business, what they're looking for. If anything develops, like they need help with email marketing, then great. But if not, no worries. We've still had a great conversation. A possible negative is that it could be hard to keep up if there's a high volume of replies. Well, that's unlikely for my business. But is something to look at if the issue arises for you. Perhaps automating the replies that go out when they reply to a specific address, could help with that. But that does lose the personal touch of being able to adapt your replies to whatever message they send you first. But reality is, many people won't even get the part two of the lead magnet. Because they've probably filed the first part away in their "read later" folder.

[00:18:00] And may not even realize there's this offer to get part two. But that's okay. They can contact me if they get to reading it in a month or two or two years time. When they're ready. So replies to ask for the second part are an indicator of how motivated people are at present. And whether they're bothered to open the first one. And at least skim read it to discover that they can ask for part two. Well that, my friend, is the gist of my two part lead magnet. To summarize, it's an opportunity to give extra value to new subscribers without jumping straight to selling them something. So they have a more relaxed introduction to your world. But they are interacting with you.  They're responding to your invitation. And there's a chance to talk to them on a platform you control. Which is email. Their replies, including any back and forward conversation you have as well, it contributes towards better email deliverability. It's also

[00:19:00] a chance for them to get to know you better personally and check out if you're a real person. And get a feel for interacting with you. The conversation can open doors. Maybe it's now. Maybe you follow up in a couple of weeks or a month. And just ask them how it's going. And if they're putting things into place that they learned from your lead magnet. It's great to do this with a personal reply to the conversation they first opened when they replied. So they can reconnect with that. But it could be automated too, if you must. Overall, it gives them a different kind of experience as they come into your world. It offers conversation early on. Compared to the more impersonal process they find with most email lists. Where everything is automated. So it can help you stand apart. And show you care about interacting with your subscribers. And helping them personally. You are also not asking them to do things for free. So there's a

[00:20:00] higher level of motivation for them to respond. Well, there you go. Hope that's offered you some food for thought. Maybe sparking some ideas for your own lead magnets. And how you deliver them. Well, thanks for watching. And all the very best with your email marketing!