Why I stopped using Opt-Ins, Freebies and Lead Magnets

My guiding word for 2021 is Expansive. I am not sure what this expansion is all about or where it wants to lead me – the word very much found me! – but I do know that making space plays a big role in whatever it is.

In my business this has manifested itself as a formidable exercise in streamlining and simplifying – my website, my processes, the software I use, how I work.

As part of this I am doing something rather radical:

I am abolishing free opt-ins, freebies, lead magnets! Again.

Why radical? Why again?

Well, I did this once before, in the aftermath of the GDPR in 2018, I decided to stop offering lead magnets. I was seriously dispirited with the whole opt-in experience, especially when I realized how often I had downloaded freebies myself only for them to collect dust in my drawer (there is a pic of that in the post!)

However, at the beginning of 2020 I changed my mind and created the Free Resources Library because I wanted to accelerate the growth of my mailing list. It worked. I more than doubled my list in 2020, from 1,100 to 2,700. I was very happy about that – until last week when I tried to import my list from 7.0 to 7.1, and Campaigns kept refusing the import because of too much ‘bad data’. I did manage to import the bulk of it in the end, but this sure made me pause.

It is no secret that we gather a lot of duds in our lists, especially with our lead magnets. While Campaigns does do some cleaning of email addresses, it’s currently not possible to cull our lists or do any kind of validation. I did consider moving to a different email marketing service, I know others offer more functionality in this regard. But I love Campaigns and how it ties in with all other areas of my website, like Commerce, Member Areas, or my blog. I know Squarespace is continuously working to make Campaigns better, and I’m confident we’ll see more features in the future.

But this really made me think about the quality of my list and the perceived need for opt-ins to grow it.

Which brings me to the radical part.

It is widely accepted that freebies are the road to rapid growth, and my experience last year confirms this, right? So why would I abolish my freebies, even with the duds? They surely are still worth it. Something just didn’t sit right with me after the import experience, and after a restless night I finally realized that I wanted to do away with the free opt-ins! Again.

Here is why:

1. Freebies are a product of the hustle culture.

I don’t like the person I become when I apply hustle culture methods. For instance, when someone joined my Free Resources Library and then immediately unsubscribed from my newsletter, I felt resentful. I mean, here I am offering this great resource for free, and you won’t even give me the chance to earn your trust and, potentially, business? Something about this has always irked me. Is it because it feels somewhat disrespectful? Kinda cheeky? I’m not sure. I think I am just generally weary of a concept that has never felt entirely honest, because…

2. … Freebies are not free.

The truth is: freebies are not really free. We do want something in exchange: your email address, your trust, your custom. Which, by the way, is also how the GDPR sees it and why most of us are not GDPR compliant. So many people give away lead magnets and add subscribers to their lists without getting explicit consent, or - worse - they force them into consent and don’t give them access to the freebie unless they check that box. That’s so not compliant, and I see it all the time.

3. Substance over fluff.

In the end, for me, it comes down to quality over quantity. Substance in both what I offer and the kind of audience I attract. I want subscribers to be on my list because they want to be there and because they are interested in what I share and offer, not because I more or less lured them in with a lead magnet. If you download one of my free resources and like it, and if that makes you want to get to know me more, then I’ll be very happy if you come back and sign up to Studio Notes. And if you don’t want to do that, that’s fine, too, because I gave you the free resource without expectations. More on that below.

Will I still promote my Studio Notes newsletter?

Yes, of course! It will just be running on its own strength and I will keep promoting it in strategic places throughout my website. I want people to feel like they have a real choice while I continue to focus on the quality of my newsletter and providing the best possible value for my subscribers. After doing this for a few years now I can say that I’ve definitely found my strive with it, I have an average 47-65% opening rate and the feedback I always get is absolutely wonderful. I am pretty candid in my newsletter and share a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff, my readers really appreciate that.

Subscribe below to check my Studio Notes newsletter! You can of course unsubscribe at any time and there will never be any hard feelings.