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Six Proven Reasons to Increase Freebies in Your eCommerce Store

Take Your Lead Generation to the Next-Level with these Game-Changing Strategies
Six Proven Reasons to Increase Freebies in Your eCommerce Store

We often see business owners take a piecemeal approach to lead generation. The result is always piecemeal. Let’s flip lead generation on its head. Here are six reasons to increase freebies in your eCommerce store.

As Stephen Covey teaches, “start with the end in mind” to achieve the best outcomes. Your goal is to grow your email subscriber list. The more qualified prospects on your list, the lower your advertising spend.

So, how do you grow your list?

Nobody wants to sign up to “stay in the loop,” because this kind of offer doesn’t promise anything of value. The only thing it implies is spam.

Donald Miller, author of “Building a Story Brand”

Donald Miller makes it plain. No one is going to volunteer for your email newsletter. Offer your audience something to solve their problems to solve your list problem.

We call this free offer a lead magnet or a freebie. Lead magnets can be eBooks, spreadsheet templates, coaching appointments, infographic posters, free trials, or process recipes. Your offer must have real value in solving your audience’s problem, or it’s not worthwhile. 

The Trouble with Lead Magnets

Software trials and booking appointments are easy to deliver as lead magnets. The problem lies with document-based lead magnets. Business owners that rush to put their PDF presentations online get unintended consequences.

How you do something is just as important as what you do. Let’s build your know-how for generating leads through your eCommerce platform. Each step builds on the previous to create momentum for building your prospect lists.

1) Stop Using Your Cloud Storage for Lead Magnets

Are you guilty of using your cloud drive as a public download site for your lead magnets? Stop doing that! Cloud storage services are perfect for collaboration and mobility, not lead generation. It doesn’t help build your brand or grow your audience. Keep reading to understand why.

First, cloud storage services grow subscribers by fostering document collaboration. Conversely, you need to grow your subscriber list. That only works if you’re able to capture an email address every time someone downloads your lead magnet. Your audience growth goals don’t align with cloud storage providers.  

So, let’s find a better way.

2) Don’t Publish Your Lead Magnets to Your Website.

Wait, what? Yes. Search engines can search your site and expose your documents to the public. That means anyone who knows a little about your content can find it through a search.

PDFs and Office documents are easily findable from search engines. Your audience can bypass your customer experience journey from search. That defeats the purpose of creating a compelling lead magnet.

Where can we put your lead magnets where they can help you grow your audience? The answer is simple. Put your freebie offers in your online store to increase your lead generation!

3) Put a price tag on it. Someone might pay you for it.

Make your lead magnet a genuine product offer in your store. Assign an actual price to your lead magnet. Just because you’re offering it at no cost doesn’t mean it has no value. 

Give your audience a choice: they can pay for it or get it free with a valid email address. Your offers don’t need to sound like a late-night infomercial with a fabricated value. Tell people what your lead magnet costs so that you present a strong incentive when you offer it for free.

There are other benefits to placing a price on your lead magnets:

  1. You create an authentic A/B test for your offer. Is it more compelling as a freebie, or does your audience perceive real value?
  2. You can make it a free offer for a limited time only. Limited availability creates scarcity, so your audience will take action now.
  3. Create revenue-generating upgrades to boost your free product. For example, get the strategy guide at no charge and charge a fee for the spreadsheet to implement.

4) Add more subscribers to your email list with your freebie.

Now that you have created a compelling offer, you don’t have to try so hard to get an email address. This insight is a no-brainer. Your audience will automatically join your list at checkout.

It’s not complicated. Your customers know how to shop online. Create a simple shopping experience that fulfills their need instantly.

5) Use your freebie as a funnel to your paid services.

The beauty of using an online store is cross-selling. You can create multiple paths to other products in your business to build follow-on sales revenue. Sometimes it’s better to use discounts for lead magnets instead of freebies.

This approach requires upfront planning. Use your free eBook to give early-bird discounts for attendees to your live workshop. Offer your workshop presentation with an incentive to sign up for your coaching. Create breadcrumbs for your audience to follow.

6) Strategically promote your freebies with related content.

We build WooCommerce stores because our clients love the integration with WordPress CMS. That integration allows you to place products alongside your content.

You can place your lead magnet next to all of your content types. Imagine your podcast with your freebies embedded. Place direct links in your Web Stories to your free offers. Your call-to-actions will be more compelling with your freebies as products.

7)Increase your lead magnet’s reach with search and social.

Your lead magnet is a digital product. Digital products have options that standard files don’t for organic reach. It will help if you start by optimizing your product offer for search

Create videos with links to your product page for YouTube. Update your Google My Business Profile with your lead offer to drive traffic. Another tactic is to feature your freebie in your podcast show notes.

Connect your online store directly to your social media page. Your audience can access your product page from your profile. You can create social images to present every time your product is shared online or through messaging. Maximize your offer’s reach so that it’s working for you.

Marketing Automation Experts

Start creating more engagement with your audience with automation. Schedule your consultation with our Marketing Automation Experts to make your growth automatic.

Closing Thoughts for Increasing Freebies in Your Digital Store

Separate your lead generation from your traffic-generating content. It’s wise to provide ungated content to increase your website traffic. Make it easy to find with a quick search. 

Allow your audience to get to know your craft. When prospects see that your ungated freebies are high-quality, it increases their desire to get your product downloads.

The last word on increasing freebies in your eCommerce store is automation. Create a nurture campaign to help them get the most out of your free offering. Nurturing creates goodwill. Your audience will know that the free experience previews the client experience. Use your automation engine to blow their minds.

 

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