The Fundamentals of Lead Magnets Explained
- By Frank Morrison
- May 30, 2021
- 11:00 pm
- No Comments
If you’re running an online business, you already realized the importance of building an email list. You designed forms, you created email campaigns, and your automated workflows are ready to launch – but your visitors aren’t signing up. Why not, you may ask?
In today’s world, a free newsletter isn’t enough. You need to offer something valuable if you want to grow your subscriber base.
And that’s when lead magnets come into play: they are incentives marketers give away for free in exchange for an email address and other information such as name or phone number. Lead magnets are a simple way to attract new leads, and email subscribers – all of whom you can convert into paying customers.
It is the solution you’re looking for. In today’s article, you’ll learn about the purpose of lead magnets, how they can help you, and how to create your own.
Types of Lead Magnets
Guides
Elite Blog Academy’s WordPress Blog Guide
Guides are a little less lengthy than ebooks, and that makes them a great way to educate your audience and move them through your funnel.
eBooks
Making Sense Of Cents eBook
eBooks are a less effective form of lead magnets. They are rather long, detailed, and harder to consume – the opposite of an easy-to-skim checklist.
It takes more time to create and design them as well. If you’re considering making an ebook and giving it away as a lead magnet, you should first do research and find out if that’s what your audience needs.
In many cases, a checklist or a workbook will do just as fine.
Discount Codes
Quick Sprout Discount Code
Discount codes are probably the most widely used form of lead magnets.
We see them primarily on e-commerce stores and sites that offer some products.
They are beneficial for both parties: you collect an email address that you can add to your email list and the consumer gets a coupon, which increases the likelihood of conversion – a win for the marketer, and a win for the consumer.
Templates
Ebook Template by The She Approach
The form you see above offers 32+ pages worth of pre-made ebook templates: it contains 2 covers, a table of contents page, 30 content pages, and an additional workbook section – all of them are completely customizable.
Those who subscribe and download the template pack can customize the templates and make them their own in just a few clicks.
That is the main purpose of templates – marketers give them away to provide a kickstart, where their audience can get started.
Video Tutorials
Video Marketing Guide by Nextinymarket
Video formatted content is becoming more and more widespread – they are informative, easy to digest, and have lots of value.
Companies are taking advantage of it: Biteable says 60% of businesses employ video as a marketing tool.
Videos allow you to present your products professionally and show your audience what value will they get out of them.
Email Courses
Millenial Money’s 7 Day Blogging Course
Email courses are a collection of email lessons that are sent out to subscribers each day. Typically, they are week-long and the reason visitors sign up for them is because they go in-depth and they explain the topic in detail.
They are often scheduled in advance and sent out to the subscribers automatically.
The emails themselves are shorter than a standard blog post, but they are still informative and capture the attention of the readers.
As an example, we chose Millenial Money’s course that walks you through blogging.
Checklists
Website Accessibility Checklist by HubSpot
Checklists are short, typically one-page long documents that explain how to accomplish a certain task from start to finish.
They perform and convert quite well because they are easy-to-skim and they provide an instant solution by laying out a step-by-step process.
Plus, you can create them easily by using a drag-and-drop tool such as Canva.
Cheatsheets
Moz’s Web Developer SEO Cheatsheet
Cheatsheets are almost identical to checklists. The only difference is that a cheatsheet gives tips and shortcuts to achieve a certain task instead of showcasing step-by-step instructions.
Above, there is a cheat sheet by Moz that covers the fundamentals of SEO and provides some useful suggestions.
The reason it is an effective lead magnet is simplicity: it’s straightforward and it offers some simple techniques that can be applied immediately.
Free Trials
CoSchedule Free Trial
Among online platforms and SaaS companies, it’s not uncommon to see a free trial utilized as a lead magnet.
Users don’t even need to get their credit card, all they got to do is just sign up and they’ll be able to test and out product or service.
Trials are designed to make the user upgrade at the end of the period – they are already spent time experimenting with the product, and that makes them more tempted to buy.
Additional Lead Magnet Examples
- Interviews
- Infographics
- Transcripts
- Surveys
- Personal Assessments
- Calendars / Planners
- Printable Files
- Webinars
- Presentations
- Roundup Posts
- Members
- Quizzes
- Case Studies
The Process of Making A Lead Magnet
Identify Your Target Audience
HubSpot’s Free Buyer Persona Templates
Marketing to everyone isn’t an effective strategy. If you’re not sure who’re you trying to target, your lead magnet won’t be effective. You won’t get any signups and conversions, because you’re talking to the wrong audience.
Before doing anything, identify your base: find out who are you trying to reach and collect as much information about them as possible.
HubSpot’s buyer persona templates make it clear what questions to look for.
Come Up With A Solution That Solves Their Problem
What are the obstacles my customers are facing and how can you how I provide a helpful solution? Ask yourself that question and begin doing the research. You can start by asking questions on social media, creating surveys, or spending time on forums.
When you have the list of problems, decide which ones are the most important and give a solution to those. Keep in mind, that immediacy and instant gratification is the key.
Pick The Correct Format and Craft The Content
Determining the right format is just as important as knowing your audience. There are dozens of options to choose from, and finding the right one can be quite difficult.
Maybe your audience likes a one-hour webinar, or maybe they looking for a simple checklist.
Make simplicity your number one goal.
Chances are, a long ebook with complex instructions won’t be helpful at all. Your customers should be able to discover the value of your lead magnet right away and go through the steps without being confused.
Create Popup Forms
A Simple Opt-In Form Created in ConvertKit for Free
Your lead magnet is finished. It’s time to present it to your web visitors and that means opt-in forms and landing pages.
When someone visits your website, they should see a little window popping up asking for their email address.
Redirecting them to a landing page where you explain the value of the product is also an option.
Set-Up An Automated Lead Magnet Workflow
Your lead magnet should be delivered to your subscriber’s inbox the moment they signed up.
Making that process entirely automated will save you time along the way and it’ll make sure that everything runs in the background requiring no intervention on your part.
If you’re on a budget and you’re looking for a tool with advanced automation features, we recommend Sendinblue.
Their free plan lets you create automated workflows up to 2 000 contacts and you’ll get access to powerful features such as advanced segmentation and a full-fledged sales CRM.
Where to Promote Lead Magnets
Lead magnets can be promoted:
- On Your Website
- On Social Media Platforms
- Through Targeted Email Campaigns
- In Text-Link and Banner Ads
- On SlideShare
- Through Guest Posting
- In Groups And Online Forums
- In Webinars
- On Live Events and Digital Conferences
Tools for Lead Generation
Unbounce
A landing page builder platform that’s used by 15 000+ companies. Its user-friendly interface enables you, to create high-converting landing pages with the easy-to use drag-and-drop editor.
Kartra
An all-in-one platform that lets you build pages, create memberships, funnels, affiliate programs, opt-in forms, and a lot more. If you want to manage all aspects of your online business from one place, Kartra is a perfect choice.
OutGrow
A content optimization tool that lets you create personalized quizzes, calculators, polls, chatbots, and surveys – so you can ensure that qualified leads are coming your way.
Elementor
Aside from its webpage building features, Elementor offers a designated, design-oriented popup builder that was introduced last year.
It comes with 100+ pre-built templates giving marketers a simpler way to target and increase conversions.
Plus, it integrates with popular email marketing tools such as Active Campaign or ConvertKit.
Side Note: The Popup Builder Feature is only available for Elementor Pro users.
HelloBar
A popular lead generation tool that allows you to convert customers into visitors, reduce cart abandonment and build your following by displaying engaging opt-in forms on the top of your website.
Plugins
Conclusion
Lead magnets are all about value. If you can’t fulfill the promises you’ve made on your landing page and your lead magnet contains no relevant information, your customers will notice it and they will go elsewhere.
Finding the best option might take some research and testing, but eventually, you’ll create a lead magnet that works for your audience.
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Canva
A beginner-friendly, drag-and-drop tool that makes graphic design a piece of cake - plus, it's completely free.
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Create complex visual layouts and professional websites in seconds using the Elementor webpage builder plugin.
ConvertKit
A complex email marketing tool that allows you to create unlimited opt-in forms and landing pages for free.
CoSchedule
A marketing calendar and a social media scheduling tool combined. Try CoSchedule risk-free for 14 days.