Your content attracts visitors but not buyers
Blog posts attract strangers. An email course builds a relationship over days and converts 5-10% to paying customers—way more than any landing page.
When to use
You have expertise your audience wants and a product that solves a problem related to that expertise. Works best for SaaS, courses, and knowledge products.
Hypothesis template
If we create a [X]-day free email course about [topic], we'll convert [X]% of subscribers to paid users because drip content builds trust and demonstrates expertise over time.
Method
The problem: You're getting traffic—blog posts, social media, maybe even some SEO. But visitors read one article and leave. Your landing page converts at 2%. You have attention but can't turn it into customers.
What ConvertKit did: Created free email courses like "Mastering ConvertKit in 7 Days" that teach creators email marketing while naturally showcasing the product. Brennan Dunn's "Charge What You're Worth" course converts 5-10% of subscribers to his paid products.
The result: ConvertKit grew to $2.5M+ MRR. Email courses became their primary lead nurture tool. Subscribers who complete the course convert at 5-10x the rate of cold landing page visitors because they've already invested time and built trust.
How to do it:
- Pick a topic your target audience wants to learn that's adjacent to your product (not "how to use [your tool]"—that's a tutorial, not a course)
- Plan 5-7 daily emails, each teaching one actionable concept
- Each email should be valuable standalone—no "wait until tomorrow" filler
- Naturally reference your product where relevant (day 3-4, not day 1)
- End with a soft sell: "If you want to keep going, [product] does this automatically"
- Promote the course on your blog, social media, and as a lead magnet
Course structure that works:
- Day 1: The big picture / mindset shift
- Day 2-3: Core concepts with exercises
- Day 4-5: Advanced tactics (mention your product naturally)
- Day 6: Common mistakes and how to avoid them
- Day 7: Next steps + soft pitch
Key insight: An email course isn't content marketing—it's relationship marketing. By day 7, subscribers feel like they know you. That trust converts way better than any landing page.
Success metrics
- •Email course signups
- •Completion rate (who opens all emails)
- •Conversion to paid from course subscribers
- •Revenue attributed to email course
- •Course referral rate (forwards)
Prerequisites
- Email marketing tool (ConvertKit, Mailchimp, etc.)
- Expertise worth teaching in 5-7 emails
- A product that naturally ties into the course topic
- Time to write 5-7 high-quality emails
Common pitfalls
- •Making it too salesy too early (build trust first)
- •Emails that aren't valuable standalone
- •Not promoting the course (building it isn't enough)
- •Too many emails (5-7 is the sweet spot)
- •Teaching how to use your product instead of solving their problem
Source: ConvertKit/Brennan Dunn. Email courses convert 5-10% of subscribers to paid.
Suggested ICE scores
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