How to start collecting subscribers for free with an email course.

The 4-step process of collecting subscribers using an email course

Steps:

1. Decide on your course topic and subtopics
2. Craft your content using the email sequence builder in Kit
3. Create a landing page to collect subscriber details
4. Create an automation in Kit to run your system on autopilot 24/7/365

People love a course - providing it delivers on its promise!

We all have one in us, no matter what we do in our businesses - yours is no different.

An email course can deliver valuable content to your subscribers, drip-feeding it in bite-sized chunks that can be easily digested and acted on.

And, best of all, you can do it for free using Kit's Newsletter plan (by the way, you don't need a newsletter to subscribe to the free plan).

Why create an email course?

A crucial activity you must do every day for your email marketing is adding more good-fit subscribers to your email list.

One of the most effective ways to do this is to create a remedy to a problem that your ideal subscriber has in their business (or their life if you are business-to-consumer) - this is widely referred to as a "lead magnet".

One type of lead magnet is an email course, others to consider include downloadable PDFs, checklists, videos, podcasts, newsletters etc.

State the intended outcome for each subscriber

Every effective course, whether an email course or not, must have a clear objective for the student.

The title of the course should make it obvious what they'll leave with, providing they complete each part of the course.

Below are a few examples of email course titles;

• "Learn email marketing fundamentals in 7 days using Kit"
• "Build your first website with WordPress with no tech skills"
• "Learn how to edit your videos like a pro with Screenflow"
• "How to attract a flow of fresh leads using LinkedIn"
• "Learn how to navigate a P&L like an accountant"

Whatever you call your email course, make sure it describes what the student can expect to leave the course with.

Create and schedule an email for each subtopic

With your course title in place, now break the content down into chunks that can be consumed in isolation - these will become your course subtopics (think 'modules').

Take your students through your content in a meaningful and controlled way using drip-fed emails.

Below is an example of what the subtopics may look like for a course entitled "Build your first website with WordPress with no tech skills";

• Email #1: An introduction to the WordPress platform
• Email #2: How to install and configure WordPress
• Email #3: What web pages you'll want for your website
• Email #4: Which plugins you'll need to install
• Email #5: How to use your website as a lead generator
• Email #6: How to use keywords to help your website be found
• Email #7: Make sure you build your website with a mobile-first mindset
• Email #8: How to maintain a clean and responsive website

With your emails listed (i.e. your subtopics), it's time to craft the content contained in each one.

The simplest way to do this is using Kit's sequence builder and email editor, meaning you can see your entire 'course' in a single window.

To access this, navigate to the menu option 'Send' > 'Sequences';

Then click on the button entitled '+ New sequence';

When you click the '+ New sequence' button, you'll then be asked to choose which email template you wish to use from the list available in Kit.

Once selected, you'll be taken to the email sequence builder screen, which will look similar to the screen below;

Inside the sequence builder, you'll see, down the right-hand side, a list of emails in the sequence. By default, each sequence is created with a single email - to add more emails, click the 'Add Email' button until you have all the emails you need for your course.

Kit sends your sequence emails, starting with the email at the top of the list and moving downwards until the final email has been sent.

You can change the sequence in which your emails are listed by clicking on the 'hamburger' handle of the email and dragging it to wherever you wish it to be, and you'll then need to click the 'Save Order' button that will appear after you reposition an email in the list;

Don't skimp or lessen the value in each email, thinking "It's just an email course" - that'll only disappoint your subscribers.

Treat your email course like one you'd sell - make it that good.

Course companion documents

If it'll help your subscribers, consider creating companion documents that'll give more context or additional help as your students (i.e. subscribers) traverse the content in each email.

It could be something as simple as a downloadable PDF that gives a reference guide to the email course, letting subscribers know in advance what to expect in the coming emails.

Some people like to be signposted as to what's coming and not just wait to see what lands in the next email (i.e. people like me!).

You could also create course companions that will help the subscribers during their implementation of what you teach them - e.g. case studies of how others did it, suggestions of how to do a certain task, or even references to other online resources to check out.

Create a landing page

With your course now crafted and in email form, you're now going to need a web page on which to collect your subscriber details, specifically their email address (as a minimum) and first name - this is commonly referred to as a 'landing page'.

To easily build and publish a landing page using Kit, check out this article below where I walk you through the process, step-by-step, of how to build the page and configure the settings.
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Create a Visual Automation

With your email sequence crafted and your landing page created, you now need to create a Visual Automation so that you can grow your email subscriber list 24/7/365 without you having to do anything.

To create the Visual Automation, navigate to menu option 'Automate' > 'Visual Automations';

To build your automation, you can either choose one of Kit's pre-made templates or start from scratch; in this example, I'll start from scratch.

From the drop-down menu, select your landing page as the starting point for your Visual Automation. This becomes your entry point for your subscribers to join the automation.

Your Visual Automation wil now have a single entry point, followed by an automation exit, as seen below;

Next, click the '+' button below the entry point to add the next step in your automation - to drip-feed your email course (i.e. your email sequence) to every subscriber who joins your list via this opt-in method.

From the drop-down menu, select the relevant email sequence as the next step in your automation;

To enable your automation, you need to slide the button at the top-right of the Visual Automation builder, making it 'Active';

Share your email course with your audiences

Now it's time to start collecting your subscribers. One of the most effective ways to do this is to share the link to your landing page across your social platforms.

For best effect, share a post that gives context around your offering, making your email course the answer to their challenge or problem - I used the WordPress website example in this article, but of course, your email course will be relevant to you and your ideal clients.