How (and Why) You Need to Optimize Your Lead Magnet Today
Lead magnets are an important part of your digital marketing funnel.
A strong lead magnet can help you attract the right audience, show value to more potential customers or clients, and ultimately increase your revenue.
But given how important lead magnets are, it’s surprising how often we see businesses that either:
Don’t have lead magnets
Think they have a lead magnet when they actually don’t, or
Have a lead magnet that’s just doesn’t work
Here at Lumen Digital Marketing, we know how important lead magnets are for optimizing your conversion rates. And we’re going to share everything we know about how to use them to help your business more healthy financially and make a bigger impact on the world.
So what exactly is a “Lead Magnet?”
A lead magnet is an incentive that successful brands offer, inviting potential clients to exchange some information (like an email address) for something of value.
It’s a low barrier to entry offering that gets potential customers to take the next step with your brand, converting someone who was engaging with your business online to someone who is a subscriber.
In the customer value journey, it’s a perfect way to help people transition from the Engagement phase to the Subscriber phase.
… or in other examples of human relationships, this is the guy that asks his crush for her number so he can invite her to coffee later.
Maybe this has happened to you…
You are looking for the perfect gift for your sweetie for their birthday and open 10 new tabs of different ideas from a few of your favorite blogs or news platforms. You start going through one by one and you’re seeing some good options…
… but then a friend texts you and you respond and then you remember that you have that thing you have to finish for work, and then notice the dog needs to go out and…
All the potential gift options are lost. The tabs get closed. And even though you could have loved that one business and it would become your go-to gift for years to come… they didn’t stick and you moved on.
But what if their website had offered a 10% off coupon that you had to give your email for? Or a video or guide that would have genuinely helped you figure out what to pick?
They would’ve gotten your contact info and been able to follow up with you, giving even more value, and it wouldn’t be a lost opportunity, totally forgotten through a single closed Chrome tab.
Lead magnets are an essential part of creating an audience of awesome customers who’ll want to return again and again.
Here are the best tips we’ve learned to help you create a powerful lead magnet…
Tip #1: Lead Magnets Must Provide Real Value
Lead magnets are incredibly useful because they allow your clients or customers to ease into a relationship with you.
In the digital age, this is more important than ever. It’s so easy to browse products and services online, and your potential customers are inundated every day with new items that appeal to them.
In some ways, this is great. But it also means that your customers are facing some confusion. (And a confused brain doesn’t buy).
How do they know which products or services actually work and which businesses are all talk? How can they tell which brand has a better product, or who will be most useful to their customers?
Here’s how: By receiving a piece of value from your brand that addresses a specific question your customer has, your company stands out among the rest as being the real deal. A business with integrity that does what it says it’s gonna do (and more).
But wait! This sounds like I’m giving away valuable stuff for free.
You are. That’s the point!
Lead magnets need to deliver value in advance.
You want to show your customers why they should buy from you by proving to them that you can address their specific questions, concerns, and desires… all before they spend a dime. You want to show them that you get it. That you know them.
While it might seem counterintuitive to give away actual things of value for free, we promise that this is the best way to convert interested leads into customers.
This is your first opportunity to give your ideal customers a taste of your brand. Don’t let it be your last opportunity.
Tip #2: Specificity is Everything
Specificity is, hands down, the most important thing about your lead magnet.
When we talked about providing value above, you might’ve noticed that we used to word “specific” a lot. That’s because, unless you’re specific about your product, your market, and your ideal audience, your lead magnet won’t demonstrate to your ideal customers that your brand can give them something valuable.
If your lead magnet is vague or people aren’t sure what they’ll get out of it, they’re not going to opt-in to receive content from you. They’re going to find another brand that can tell them more specifically what results they’ll get after purchasing from them.
I mean… which one ebook sounds more enticing to you?
How to live a happy life
The 3 habits you can start today to boost happiness
Perhaps it goes without saying, but you need to know your product-market fit before you even consider what your lead magnet can be. What market demands is your product satisfying?
Once you know that, you’ll be able to ask yourself the most important question when developing a lead magnet:
What specific question is my lead magnet answering for the market?
Essentially, you want to address a question or concern that your ideal customer has been wondering about.
There are a lot of different ways brands can answer this question. After all, there are many different types of lead magnets.
You can successfully answer this question by doing one of the following:
Make a specific promise
Give a specific example
Provide a specific shortcut
Answer a specific question
Deliver a specific discount
Each of these different approaches speaks to a desired end result for your desired customers or clients.
By being super specific in whichever approach you take, you’ll also narrow down your audience to the people who are actually interested in your product or service.
That being said, never be afraid of getting too specific. Remember, specificity can only serve to strengthen your lead magnet.
The goal isn’t to appeal to the highest number of people, but to appeal to the people who are most likely to buy your product. The people who you most want to serve. And they’ll be even more likely to buy it if they feel like your brand engages with their particular needs and concerns.
Tip #3: Not Everything is a Lead Magnet
One of the most common mistakes we see is brands that mistakenly try to make a lead magnet out of something that either doesn’t provide value, isn’t specific, or both.
Basically, when a brand creates a lead magnet that isn’t actually a lead magnet.
So how does that happen, exactly?
Lead magnets need to answer a specific question your ideal customers are facing.
You want your lead magnet to be able to address something that is already occupying space in that person’s mind. You should be joining in on a conversation that is already happening in the marketplace.
For example: Someone who wants to become more knowledgeable about astrology might wake up one day thinking, “I want to learn how to read my chart but it’s like reading a new language… Where do I even start?”
Or, someone who is planning a vacation on Oahu might be wrestling with another concept: “I love travel, but I’m concerned about my carbon footprint. Can I be environmentally conscious and see the world at the same time?”
Here’s something that wouldn’t be helpful for either person: more emails.
Yup — while it would be great if these people subscribed to your newsletter, doing so isn’t going to give them a significant chunk of value. It’s mostly going to annoy them when they have to clean out their inbox. And that’s not going to get them to buy your amazing product or service.
And you see this again & again… “Get my weekly newsletter” as the offering on so many websites, so they can convert that person into a subscriber.
But who goes around with the thought “If only I could find a cool newsletter to join?”
So, no, newsletter subscriptions aren’t lead magnets. This is the most common faulty lead magnet we see. While you do want potential customers or clients signing up for your newsletter, they’ll need more value than that to make the leap and give away their precious email inbox space.
That being said, newsletters are great, and you should definitely have one in addition to your lead magnet — just not in place of it.
Okay, so what exactly do you give your ideal audience? What can a company do to convince potential customers to trust them?
Now that you know what to avoid, it’s easier than you think to set up a successful lead magnet.
In the next section, we’ll give you more tips and examples to get those creative juices flowing and help you choose a magnet of your own.
Examples of Lead Magnets that will Help You Reach Your Business Goals
Luckily, there are tons of lead magnet ideas that can get businesses more leads and help convert those leads into paying customers (who keep coming back!).
As you read through these examples, keep in mind the 5 formats we recommend following to create a successful lead magnet: make a promise, give an example, provide a shortcut, answer a question, or deliver a discount.
Free Case Study. Your free case study should be an example of one specific situation in which your company did something awesome. Something awesome in the sense that you produced the desired transformation for your client or customer. This is a great way to prove that your product or service really works. Don't forget to include plenty of photos and make it fun to read — the more exciting it looks, and the less it looks like an academic paper, the better.
For example: If your business fights to end poverty, your lead magnet could be a case study on how you helped decrease homelessness. An example title might read, “How Our Crisis Response Team Helped to Decrease Homelessness by 12% in Newark.” Notice how specific places and percentages are included here. This will grant you authority as you tell your story, and make the promise of what your business can deliver more believable.
Free List or Handout. This is one of the best types of lead magnets because it’s inherently specific. Lists and handouts offer a shortcut to solve a particular problem — and people love shortcuts.
For example: If you run a meditation school, you could provide a handout that reads, “Download our FREE list of our favorite resources for dropping into meditation quickly.” On this handout, you’ll want to include the most important things you’ve learned after years of working with people who are new to meditation.
Free FAQ. An FAQ should specifically address the most common questions you get from prospective customers. Especially if your product or service is new or different on the market, FAQs are a great way to get out ahead of questions or concerns, and answer them before people even have a chance to ask. People will be much more likely to invest in your product or service when the answers to their questions are right in front of their faces — and they’ll be much less likely to do so if they have to search around, call, or email the company to find out.
For example: If you’re an eco-tourism company that gives environmentally and culturally-conscious tours in Bali, you might feature a downloadable FAQ on your website where you answer the most popular questions you get about how tourists can travel ethically in Indonesia.
Alternatively, If you’re a public speaker who inspires high school students to follow their dreams, your FAQ could be directed at high school principals who are considering booking your services. “Curious about what my motivational presentations are like? Click here for the answers to common questions I get from school administrators.”
Offer a New Customer Discount. This one is pretty straightforward. And it’s great, because in this example the value your potential customers are getting is actually quantifiable. If you offer a 25% off coupon to new customers, they know exactly how that will help them!
These are some of the most successful lead magnets you can use today, but there are plenty of other awesome ideas out there. This is a great opportunity to get creative with your brand, and to figure out what it is your customers and clients really want from you.
Want a Powerful Lead Magnet that Actually Works?
By this point, you understand the importance of lead magnets in targeting your ideal audience and persuading them to trust your brand, so that they buy your products or book your services.
And you know the best ways to do that: through value and specificity.
Here at Lumen Digital Marketing, we know how important it is — and how challenging it can be — to create an effective lead market.
More importantly, we know how to get it right. We’ve spent nearly a decade helping businesses improve their marketing strategies, including by optimizing their lead magnets.
If you aren’t sure where to start with your lead magnet, you’re wondering why your current one isn’t working, or you’re doing pretty well but you think your company has the capacity to double its impact, reach, and revenue, let’s talk.
We’ll help you create a custom digital marketing strategy that looks at your entire customer value journey (including your lead magnet).