Your followers belong to LinkedIn, but your subscribers belong to you.
Founders often get thousands of impressions and assume they've built an audience. But that audience belongs to LinkedIn, so what they've really got is rented attention.
When followers aren't turning into email subscribers, the cause is often one of 3 things.
1. Your CTA doesn't give people a reason to subscribe
People won't subscribe until they understand what they're getting, and "subscribe to my newsletter" doesn't tell them.
One client had 20,000 followers on LinkedIn and over 100 likes and comments on every post, yet less than 1% of that engagement became email subscribers. The CTA on their posts was "subscribe to my newsletter", and that gave readers little reason to take the next step.
The fix was a lead magnet built around one specific problem the client's ideal reader had, a problem that reader couldn't ignore. A lead magnet behind an email signup can convert better than a plain "join my newsletter" page, because it gives people a reason to sign up today.
2. Readers have nowhere to go after your LinkedIn post
Even with a strong lead magnet, readers need a clear next step once they've finished your post, and if there's nowhere obvious, they read it, nod and keep scrolling.
Pin the lead magnet to your featured section so profile visitors can find it easily, and put the CTA in the comments so the post itself stays clean.
Then watch how often you ask. When the same CTA shows up on every post, people can learn to scroll straight past it. For that client, the CTA appeared on at least 4 out of 7 posts a week.
3. Your email opt in rate matters more than your likes
Likes and comments feel good, so it's tempting to read them as proof that LinkedIn is working. The number that shows whether your followers are becoming subscribers, though, is your opt in rate: how many of the people who visit your landing page actually subscribe.
If 1,000 people visit and 10% sign up, you get 100 subscribers. Raise that to 20%, and the same traffic gives you 200.
As a working guide when reviewing your landing page:
- 50% or more: amazing.
- 20% to under 50%: working very well.
- 10% to under 20%: room for improvement.
- Under 10%: something's not landing.
These figures are a starting point, since results depend on the offer and the people visiting the page.
After all 3 were fixed for that client, their newsletter grew by over 1,000 subscribers within 6 months, and inbound enquiries for their services tripled.
LinkedIn content sits at the top of your funnel, but your email list is the foundation your business is built on.
If your followers aren't joining your email list, start with the reason you're giving them to subscribe, the next step after each post and the landing page where they sign up.