The 3 Most Important Metrics for a Coach’s Bottom Line

Why Open Rates, Clicks and Conversions Matter to Your Bank Account

"Hey Alan! What does my email open rate have to do with my business’s bottom line? And sure, click-throughs on my links are important, but hardly seem a factor in my monthly income.”

Well, if you write a blog, post to social media, put out a podcast or videos, then you are a content marketer. And opens, clicks and conversions are the primary metrics in the business of content marketing – and therefore, in improving the bottom line of your coaching business.

Because a properly functioning content marketing machine maximizes the number of people who SEE your content (opens), ENGAGE in it (clicks), and TAKE ACTION on it (conversions).

And in this process, your content is building your 'like and trust' factor, grabbing an ever-larger space in her brain for your personal brand, and ultimately predisposing her to work with or buy from you.

More Eyeballs = More Like & Trust = More Coaching Business

Think about this: You’re putting out a value-packed blog -- or video or podcast -- each week (ideally weekly, but hopefully at least regularly), and announcing it to your followers via your email list and social media channels.

Your intention of course is to have as many of those followers as possible come back to your website to consume your content, get that dose of value, and further build your like and trust factor – perhaps even convert on some call-to-action (CTA).

Now, let’s say your email open rate averages 20%, which ain’t bad. But if better subject lines could get that open rate up to 30% on a regular basis, then you’d improve the number of people who regularly see your content by 50%.

Over time that will translate into a 50% boost in your like and trust, and ultimately, your income – and that's with your click and conversion rates staying the same!

This is just one example of why these metrics are so key. But there’s so much more to these main metrics of content marketing and your business.

The Real Definition of "Open Rate"

Importantly, we need to better define opens, clicks and conversions – because in content marketing, they have broad meanings that go beyond just email opens and clicks. And re-defining these metrics can power up your messages and your bank account. To wit…

Open rate is not just about email opens. It’s also about capturing attention with the first line of text in your post, the image of your post, or the title of your blog! You score an “open,” therefore, when the reader decides, “Yep. I’m gonna read this thing.” And the better your subject line, headline, or first line of copy, the higher that open rate.
Clicks are not only about the CTR (click-through rate) on the link in your email or social media post to your blog/podcast/video. It’s a successful response to any CTA requiring a click – whether a click to subscribe, or to like or follow, or to navigate to an important page on your website; a click to share or to comment or to vote, or otherwise engage by way of that physical effort using a mouse, trackpad or thumb.

So, calls-to-action are not just about asking for the sale! They are about prompting an ACTION that takes them to the next location; sometimes to where there is an opportunity for the conversion. But…

Conversions are also not just about sales, but about getting whatever final consumer action you seek with a particular piece of communication that “converts” the status of the consumer – whether a sign-up form that converts a reader into a subscriber; a purchase that converts a prospect into a customer or client; or converts a webinar registrant into a member of your paid group.

The Recipe for Conversions

It’s also important to understand the two main ingredients to any conversion: nurturing and closing.

Nurturing tees up the close. Without good nurturing, your closing will be harder. This is why you must have a consistent stream of value-bomb content via your emails and social media posts.

And why a sign-up to your freemium lead magnet shouldn’t just generate a single email, but should trigger an automation series that ensues over some days and weeks, eventually asking for some kind of conversion to a sale or other sign-up.

This is also why having an “evergreen” course available for purchase on your website will convert at a fraction of what you’d get with a nurturing launch made up of consistent outbound content related to the course content...leading to a free webinar...that ends in a pitch to close the sale of the course.

And why your website’s homepage is NOT a stand-alone conversion tool for new clients or major sales. For a freemium, YES. For a quick-win, low-cost digital product, MAYBE. But for a bigger conversion, we need our content marketing machine to drive prospects repeatedly to our website and its value-bomb content. Too many coaches ignore this reality and can’t understand why their website isn’t “closing” new clients.

[Speaking of which, read on to learn how to get my free checklist, the Top 10 Mistakes Coaches Make on Their Home Page.]

In sum: the more you nurture – building like and trust over time – the easier it will be to close.

Closing the conversion is of course driven by the desirability of the offer, but also the quality of the copy that pitches it and the venue where you’re trying to close.

So the copy around the conversion CTA has to be as well-crafted as a subject line or headline.

And never try to close a sale with an email – a terrible closing venue. Email is a nurturing tool. It educates and inspires to further action. Only a consult, a sales page or an ad or other purpose-build content should be tasked with closing.

Don't Be the Weak Link!

Finally, let’s look briefly at why you need to think about ALL three of these together.

A great subject line is critical on every single email, because it drives the metric without which all others would be zero – open rate. Without open, there is no click, and no convert.
Ditto for other “opens”: headlines in your posts, titles of your blogs.
You can have a killer sales page, but if the lead-in to entice the click is lame, it won’t have a chance to work its magic.
Or, you can have great CTR, but lousy conversion. And at the end of the day, “Conversions are ultimately what pay the bills!” – as online marketing guru Amy Porterfield puts it.

So they’re all key – to your content marketing and to your bank account.

"OK, Alan. So how exactly can I boost these metrics?"

Well, the short and kind of obvious answer is by increasing INTEREST.

And in my next blog post, I share some simple best practices for boosting all three of these critical metrics – by creating greater interest…

Meantime, CLICK HERE to grab my complimentary checklist: The 10 Biggest Mistakes Coaches Make on Their Homepage. It’s likely you’re making one or more of these (very fixable) mistakes that impact your business.

What are your thoughts on this topic? I'd love to know. Shoot me an email at [email protected] or DM me on Instagram @alanpbrown.

And remember: Whatever’s in your way…is yours to CRUSH!

Bless!

APB