Testing a free intro workshop as a path into the paid course

I run an eight-week author business course and conversion from my email list has been flat for months, so I wondered if people just couldn't see what they were buying. Ran a free 90-minute workshop on protecting your book rights, then pitched the course at the end. Sold six seats from forty-one attendees, which is roughly what I get from the plain email sequence anyway. So price or visibility wasn't the thing holding people back.