When someone lands on your personal trainer website, they aren’t necessarily ready to invest money in personal training services right there and then. Your personal trainer website is part of your “funnel” which takes people who are aware of you and what you do and turns them into paying clients.
Their readiness to buy from you is dependent on where they are in that funnel. Many visitors may already be aware they’ve got a problem they need to solve and they’re looking for information. There will be the people that know you can help with that specific problem and are considering your services. The third group are much warmer leads that are looking for very specific information, such as how much it costs to work with you.
Getting more email subscribers is a part of that funnel. Your emails are another touchpoint that you can use to warm up your prospects and stay at the forefront of their mind. The purpose of the email list is to provide even more valuable content so that people on your list come to see you as a trusted authority. The goal is when they’re eventually ready to buy, they choose to buy from you.
Remember, the purpose of growing your email list is to eventually convert those people into clients that you directly support with your personal training services. Growing your email list is the method to reach that overarching goal. Here are 5 tips to help you grow your email list.
1. Create A Lead Magnet
You could simply have a form on your website inviting people to become an email subscriber, but it’s more effective to provide a lead magnet. A lead magnet is some kind of digital product that you give someone visiting your website for free in exchange for their email address.
Don’t make the mistake that this is something low value that you’ve thrown together. This is the first opportunity you have to make an incredible impression, so give away something genuinely useful that helps to partially solve a problem that your ideal client is having.
The lead magnet should be easy to digest, in no more than a few minutes. Too long and it will just sit unused on someone’s hard drive. Ideally, someone will consume your lead magnet, feel incredibly impressed at the free value they’ve had, and think, “wow, if this is what they give away for free, imagine what I’d get as a paying client!”
Don’t make the mistake that this is something low value that you’ve thrown together. This is the first opportunity you have to make an incredible impression, so give away something genuinely useful that helps to partially solve a problem that your ideal client is having.
The lead magnet should be easy to digest, in no more than a few minutes. Too long and it will just sit unused on someone’s hard drive. Ideally, someone will consume your lead magnet, feel incredibly impressed at the free value they’ve had, and think, “wow, if this is what they give away for free, imagine what I’d get as a paying client!”
Lead magnets are short, useful, digital content that creates interest and provides value. Examples of lead magnets could include a short e-book, a video tutorial, a downloadable checklist, a fun quiz, or a useful cheat sheet that they can keep on their phones. The right lead magnet is useful for your specific target audience.
2. Put The Lead Magnet Above The Fold
“Above the fold” refers to the part of your personal trainer website that someone sees when they visit your site before they scroll or navigate around the site.
The lead magnet should be above the fold of a relevant page, like your Blog, of your fitness website so that before the visitor has even looked around you’ve given them something that’s solved one of their main problems.
The lead magnet should be above the fold of a relevant page, like your Blog, of your fitness website so that before the visitor has even looked around you’ve given them something that’s solved one of their main problems.
Collecting their email address and name in exchange for the free download will give you a chance to nurture this lead through regular (2 or 3 times a week) emails in which you provide even more value and deepen your relationship.
The information collected from this landing page is linked to your email software, like Mailerlite or MailChimp. The software automatically adds people to your email list so that the admin of adding email addresses is taken care of.
The information collected from this landing page is linked to your email software, like Mailerlite or MailChimp. The software automatically adds people to your email list so that the admin of adding email addresses is taken care of.
3. Use Exit-Intent Pop-ups
These pop ups appear when your visitor is about to navigate away from the page, and detect specific mouse movements of the visitor. Using this style of pop up makes it less likely that you’ll lose this visitor forever.
You can create these with software like Opt-In Monster. Use pop-ups with caution though, as some users find them intrusive as they navigate around your website. Ensure they are relevant to the page and only appear when your visitor had enough chance to look around without distraction.
4. Promote The Lead Magnet On Social Media
Once the lead magnet is ready for consumption, think of how you'll let people know that it exists. That could involve specifically posting about it on social media, talking about it on your stories, mentioning it in comments, and even giving it away to your existing clients and asking them to trial it and provide a review.
Making sure that you’re regularly starting conversations with the types of followers on social media that would make ideal clients and mentioning to them that you have this lead magnet will generate plenty of interest and potentially some sales calls.
Making sure that you’re regularly starting conversations with the types of followers on social media that would make ideal clients and mentioning to them that you have this lead magnet will generate plenty of interest and potentially some sales calls.
5. Provide Value In Your Emails
Once people are on your email list, your first job is to properly acclimatise them. Send them the lead magnet, and some follow up emails through the automatic sequence you’ve set up through your email software. These initial emails may direct people to other articles on your website which are related to the lead magnet that they may also find useful.
At the end of the sequence, they should then be moved (which can be done automatically) into your main email list. You can send out campaigns two or three times a week to the main list to deliver even more useful content and nurture a relationship with your subscribers.
From time to time, it’s a good idea to include a call to action, inviting people to forward the email and share it with someone that they think would enjoy it. This is a very soft, quite private call to action. In that email, include a way for the recipient of the email to get on your list, perhaps by also downloading the lead magnet.
This way the email subscribers start to invite people onto your email list that they feel would be a good fit for your personal training programme. It’s a little like a referral, but as an even lower cost of entry.
At the end of the sequence, they should then be moved (which can be done automatically) into your main email list. You can send out campaigns two or three times a week to the main list to deliver even more useful content and nurture a relationship with your subscribers.
From time to time, it’s a good idea to include a call to action, inviting people to forward the email and share it with someone that they think would enjoy it. This is a very soft, quite private call to action. In that email, include a way for the recipient of the email to get on your list, perhaps by also downloading the lead magnet.
This way the email subscribers start to invite people onto your email list that they feel would be a good fit for your personal training programme. It’s a little like a referral, but as an even lower cost of entry.
