Ever wondered if your freebies are helping people buy—or just taking up digital space? In this episode, I’m sharing how a single podcast (shoutout to Jenn Green!) made me rethink everything I’ve ever created. I ran my freebies through her mini/medium/large framework, pulled in ChatGPT to help, and uncovered a few surprising gaps—and a lot of hidden potential.
If you’ve got a few too many opt-ins floating around… this one’s for you.
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[00:00] Something strange started happening with my freebies… 👀
[01:07] What does it really mean when someone downloads three freebies at once?
[01:56] Did my “everything” page work a little too well?
[02:43] Multiple freebies, multiple formats… but where’s the journey?
[03:51] A single podcast episode flipped how I think about every freebie I’ve made
[05:18] Do you have a strategy beyond opt-ins?
[05:46] So I fed ChatGPT the podcast transcript and said: analyze this for me
[06:57] The moment I realized I wasn’t repurposing my best content
[07:58] When AI told me I had no large lead magnets 😅
[08:39] What actually is a high-value freebie?
[10:09] Can a 20-minute video be considered “in-depth”?
[10:53] Spoiler: I don’t want to teach anything for 90 minutes
[12:41] Revisiting my “email guide” freebie
[13:29] Will turning one training into two formats = a better experience?
[14:48] My new non-negotiable: every freebie must lead to a win
[15:35] Want to clean up your own freebie graveyard? Start here
[16:23] It’s not about more content. It’s about making it all work together
Mentioned in this Episode
Systems Saved Me Podcast (Guest Host Jenn Green)
Review the Transcript:
Hello. Hello y’all, and welcome back to another solo episode of The Business First Creatives podcast. Today I wanna keep it short, sharp, and strategic. How’s that for some alliteration? Today I’m gonna break down three things that every single email inside of your client experience should have, whether it’s automated or not.
If your emails are missing, even one of these elements, your communication is likely falling flat. Because trust me, you can sound like a human and still be efficient. All right, let’s jump into it. The first is purpose. I want every single email that you send to be sent for a reason. We are not in the business of sending emails just to send emails.
That is actually the quickest way to get your clients and customers to stop reading your emails is if your emails don’t have a purpose and every time they open it and it’s just like, Hey, if you’ve got questions, let me know. They’re going to start ignoring those emails. Okay, so what is the purpose of your email?
Are you confirming something? Are you asking a question? Are you delivering a resource? Are you following up on a step that they should have taken and haven’t yet done? If you don’t know why you’re sending an email, your client won’t know either.
Now, this is when I wanna give you one of my little tips When you are writing your client experience email templates inside of your CRM, the purpose, should be your title. So every time you are putting an email in, I personally like to number my emails in the order that they are sent within the client experience, but the title itself should be an indication of what the purpose is. So if you are sending the proposal, the title should be Send Proposal.
If you are asking them to confirm a location, the title of that email should be Confirm Location. Now, keep in mind, your clients cannot see titles. Those are on the backend, they are not client facing. I.
Okay? So number two, personality. You see where we’re going? First we had purpose. Now we have personality. This is where your emails are gonna go from basic to brilliant.
This is when the emails are very subtly reminding them of why they hired you in the first place. Your emails should sound like you. This means write like you talk. Skip the formalities. Unless you’re like an accountant. If you’re an accountant and you wanna be like really stiff because that’s part of your brand, then hey, go for it.
Now the last thing is I want you to add in all of those things that make your brand memorable. Gifs, jokes, emojis, y’all. I love a good emoji and I love a gif. Even more than that, I should probably go count how many of my emails include either a Schitt’s Creek GIF or a GIF of me at Disney. And that’s the, that’s my bonus tip for this particular session.
So that’s my bonus tip for this particular section. If you are not creating gifts of yourself, you are really missing out. It can be as easy as you clapping your hands, shaking your hands in the air, um, opening your computer, waving. Hello. All of these are gifts that I’ve personally made of myself and that my clients have made, but making them is so easy.
You just turn on your phone. Record six to 10 seconds worth of video, and then you can go online or use Canva to make it into a GIF so that you can put it directly into your emails. Okay, so. Personality is also how you’re going to get people to remember the emails and also remember to take that step. Um, it’s kind of funny, I’ve, I talk a lot about the automated lead response email, but one of my automated lead response emails says something to the effect of.
I’m gonna get back to you in about 48 hours. I’m being vague just in case. I’m currently at Disneyland writing. Dumbo, you have no idea how many people respond to that email and be like, Hey, Cooley, are you actually at Disneyland right now? I mean, it’s a totally automated email, but they make it seem like I wrote it just to them because it is so personal to me.
All right, so first we had purpose. Then we had personality. The last one was actually the hardest for me to come up with in this whole alliteration of peas, but it’s preview. Nothing drives me more bananas than vague emails that don’t give the next step. When your client reads the email, they should know exactly what is coming next, whether you are going to send them a form in two days.
You are going to send them a text message two weeks before their session. You are gonna send them locations in the next email in order to choose one and confirm one. You should have mapped out your entire client experience so you know what’s coming next. This is the part where you make sure that you and your clients are both on the same page, and that they know exactly what is coming next.
Because if you don’t inform or give your clients a preview of what’s coming next, this is when they ask you a gazillion questions. Like, Hey, are my photos ready? This is when they just sit there confused and maybe they are going through rereading all of your previous emails, rereading all the forms so that they can see if they can answer the question for themselves first before they bother you.
So even if that preview is sit tight, I’ll follow up next week. Say that clients want clarity. Give them a plan and you’ll instantly feel and come across as more professional, organized, and trustworthy. Alright, so let’s recap. First, every email, whether it’s automated or not, needs a clear purpose,
your personality and a preview of the next step in the client experience.
And so here’s my challenge or my homework for you. I want you to go pick one email inside your CRM. Maybe it’s your automated lead response. Maybe it’s your booking confirmation email. Maybe it’s the email when you send your client questionnaire, and I want you to check it against this list.
Do you give yourself a 10 out of 10 for identifying what the purpose of that email is and clearly communicating that to the client. Does it show your personality if it doesn’t take another stab at it? And third, did you tell them what comes next? If it’s missing any of these three, I want you to edit.
Once you do it to one email, I want you to set aside 30 minutes and then I want you to tackle another until you have gone through every single email in your client experience and made sure that these three elements appear in every single email. All right. If you need any additional help on writing creative client communication, I have a free video training for you. Please go to coley james.com/ccc and pick up that free email video training. All right. That’s it for this episode. See you next time.
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