Why multi-day experiences beat basic lead magnets every time (and how to create one)
5 steps to create a trust-building experience.
Welcome to issue #010 of The Creator-Educator Club. Every Sunday, I send proven strategies from top creator-educators to help you build a high-impact email course so you can scale your knowledge business faster. Subscribe below so you won’t miss the next issues.
This issue is presented by Email Course Quickstart.
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“I built this awesome lead magnet that led to hundreds of downloads. People were sharing it, commenting how valuable it was, and even sending me thank you messages. But I made no sales. They grabbed my freebie and vanished into thin air.”
Sounds familiar?
Here’s what nobody tells you:
Those downloads aren’t building your business. They’re building a graveyard of missed opportunities.
Every person who grabs your freebie and disappears is a potential customer you could have converted. Instead, you’re stuck with hundreds of inactive names on your list.
The problem isn’t your lead magnet’s content quality.
You’ve probably created something genuinely helpful that solves a real problem for your audience.
But the real problem is deeper than that.
Because if you use lead magnets like swipe files, checklists, or mini guides…
You’re creating transactional relationships, not transformational ones
Here’s the problem with these one-time download lead magnets:
Single interactions are NOT enough to create buying relationships.
The classic Rule of 7 in advertising tells you that prospects need at least seven positive touchpoints before they buy. This kind of lead magnet gives them exactly one touchpoint, then expects a purchase.
You probably think you need better lead magnets. More comprehensive. More practical. More beautiful. But quality isn’t the issue here.
Relationship depth is.
One-time downloads create shallow transactional relationships instead of deep transformational relationships. People grab your resource, file it away, browse through it (if you’re lucky), and move on.
You’ve fed them, but you haven’t connected with them at all.
There’s a gap between capturing attention and earning trust that one-time downloads can never bridge.
So what’s the solution?
You need something that builds trust through multiple days of value delivery, not just a one-time dump.
5 steps to create a trust-building experience
1. Transform your lead magnet into an email course
Start by replacing your one-time download lead magnet with an email course that delivers the same value over five to seven consecutive days.
If your lead magnet is “Digital Product Mastery Guide”, turn it into “Build Your First Digital Product in 5 Days”.
Same core value, action-oriented, completely different delivery mechanism.
When you show up daily in someone’s inbox with valuable lessons that lead to specific results, they start seeing you as a reliable guide, not just another random voice.
Each day should feel like a tiny win that builds towards a larger transformation. By the end of the course, they’ve experienced your teaching style and real results from your unique approach.
That’s how you build trust with email course in a nutshell.
2. Focus each day on one specific outcome
Design each day around solving one specific problem with one lesson.
Something your audience can tackle within 24 hours.
Take my email course, Email Course Blueprint, for example:
Lesson 1 → Choose the right course idea to offer
Lesson 2 → Outline a clear course structure
Lesson 3 → Create engaging email content
Lesson 4 → Build a landing page
Lesson 5 → Set up delivery automation
Each lesson delivers a complete breakthrough while building towards the larger goal of creating a high-converting email course from scratch.
This format works so well because it prevents overwhelm from dumping everything on your audience at once.
3. Get them to implement with clear action steps
Provide a few tasks your audience can complete before the next lesson arrives.
Instead of something vague like “Draft your lesson email”, give them “Write the first draft of your Lesson 1 email using the structure I just provided”.
This specificity is the difference between them experiencing real results from actively implementing what they learn and them just passively consuming.
When they take action and see results, they start to see you as someone who can actually help solve a problem they’ve been struggling with.
That’s how you start building up the trust.
4. Build anticipation between lessons
End each email in a way that makes them excited to open your next one.
The simplest way is to tease your audience about what they’ll achieve with tomorrow’s lesson.
This keeps them mentally engaged between emails. They’re not just consuming your content, but anticipating the next piece of their transformation.
I’ve shared more strategies for ending your emails with momentum here.
The goal is to help them cross the finish line, not just give more information.
How you end today’s lesson directly influences whether they’ll continue with tomorrow’s.
5. Position your offer as the natural next step
Most email courses ignore this crucial final step and end with “Thanks for completing my course. Hope you found it valuable!”.
That’s a huge missed opportunity.
After days of consistent value delivery and visible results, your audience has experienced the full transformation your course promises.
They’re most likely hungry for more results and see you as their trusted guide.
This is the perfect moment to let them know that their journey doesn’t end here and your course only covers the first step in their larger transformation.
Going back to the very first example:
If your email course is “Build Your First Digital Product in 5 Days”, you can now position your paid offer as helping them launch that product to their first paying customers.
See the natural progression here?
Not knowing about digital products → Building one → Successfully launching it
This makes your offer a no-brainer next step instead of a random sales pitch.
Final words
Your audience doesn’t need another resource to download and forget.
They need an experience that proves you can help guide them from where they are now to where they want to be. Something that builds trust over time.
Start this week:
Take your best lead magnet and turn it into an email course that’s delivered over five to seven days. Break it into daily lessons that create momentum towards your paid offer.
Remember, relationships pay the bills, not downloads.
You build transformational relationships through consistent value delivery, not transactional interactions.
If you want to build a high-converting email course but don’t know how, consider joining Email Course Blueprint. It’s a free 5-day email course that walks step-by-step with you so you can build one from scratch.
See you next Sunday,
Beer
Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:
Join Email Course Blueprint, a free 5-day email course that teaches you step-by-step how to build a high-converting email course from scratch
Grab Email Course Quickstart, a comprehensive Notion-based toolkit to help you go from blank page to ready-to-launch email course in hours, not weeks
Book my 1:1 consulting call, where I can give you specific, personalised advice on building an email course that’s tailored to your knowledge business