How to create a lead magnet in 7 easy steps

A lead magnet is an essential part of your online marketing strategy. While email remains the most effective marketing channel, collecting those email addresses becomes more and more difficult every year. In the information era, we often feel overwhelmed with content, so we tend to limit the number of communications we receive. A lead magnet is made to break that barrier and help you turn one-time visitors into loyal clients.

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is a freebie you give to subscribers for joining your email list. The most popular lead magnet you will find is a guide or a report in pdf format. But a lead magnet may also come in the form of an ebook, a white paper, a checklist, an infographic, or another downloadable asset.

A lead magnet is at the very top of your sales funnel. You usually offer your lead magnet on a landing page, to which you drive traffic via paid advertising or social media. Once a page visitor completes a desired action (usually shares their email address) they become a lead. So a lead is someone who expressed an interest in your service or product, shared their information with you, but haven’t yet bought anything.

Once your lead magnet wins new email addresses, you can nurture them by sending them useful content and special offers. This builds trust with the audience and makes it easier to close a sale. The process of converting a lead into a client is called lead nurturing.

Here is how to create a lead magnet that actually grows your email list.

1. Decide on your customer persona and value proposition

2. Choose the type of lead magnet you want

3. Create content and design

4. Think of a catchy name

5. Start offering your lead magnet

6. Create a ‘thank you’ page

7. Set up the lead magnet delivery message

Next: Create email automation for lead nurturing

Let’s get started.

1. Decide on your customer persona and value proposition

A good lead magnet convinces the right people to subscribe to your list. So it is highly important to keep in mind your target audience and your customer persona when creating a lead magnet.

A common mistake is trying to create a one-size-fits-all lead magnet, that could attract a lot of different audiences. In fact, you want to do exactly the opposite. You need a lead magnet specifically designed for your customer persona. Don’t worry too much about choosing the top priority customer persona, eventually, you need a lead magnet for every one of them.

Think of a problem your potential client is facing and offer a solution. This way you will make sure your value proposition is aligned with your client’s needs. Ideally, your lead magnet should offer a quick partial solution to your potential client’s problem. Then, as you nurture your leads, you can offer a full-scale paid solution.

The more specific is the problem that your lead magnet solves, the more your audience can relate to it. Once people relate to it, they are more willing to share their information. This will increase your conversion rate - the number of people who sign up divided by the number of page visitors. In simple words, being specific to your clients’ needs makes your marketing more effective.

2. Choose the type of lead magnet your audience wants

Lead magnets come in many forms, but all of them meet the following criteria. A good lead magnet is:

1. Specific

2. Valuable to your target audience

3. Free

The most popular lead magnets are:

• Ebooks

• White papers

• Checklists

• Infographics

• Toolkit

• Case studies

• How-to guides

Focus on what you are good at. If you are a good writer, offer an ebook. If you are good with a video, offer an exclusive video workshop.

3. Create your lead magnet using lead magnet templates

You can of course build your lead magnet from scratch. But the fastest and the easiest way is to use lead magnet templates. These are great for a number of reasons:

• They are already designed. So you don’t need to spend hours designing it yourself or wait for days for a graphic designer.

• They often have content suggestions. Ditch the writer’s block and simply follow the guidelines of the template.

• They have tried and tested structure. These templates have already been tested by hundreds of entrepreneurs and updated based on feedback. So you get the structure that has proven to work.

I love templates! They save so much time and money! And I have an amazing highly converting email funnel template for you! It will help you make the most of your lead magnet. It includes 5 emails, suggested copy and inviting calls to action. It is fully automatic, so you can nurture your leads on autopilot. It is only $30 and you get a free landing page with it! Contact me at contact@nomaddiva.comto get one today!

Here is where you can find free lead magnet templates

Ebook templates

Convertful offers 16 easy-to-edit templates for 4 most converting types of eBooks:

1. 101 lifehacks that…

2. The Ultimate Guide to …

3. How to …

4. Case Study /

5. Success Story

All these templates can be easily edited in PowerPoint. Also, you will find inside a detailed instruction on what and how to write in these eBooks, so you don’t have to spend your time trying to structure your content.

White Paper templates

Visme has a big collection of white paper templates even on their free plan. You can edit your own text, graphics, and images.

Infographic templates

People love infographics because it is an attractive and digestible way to present information. Infographics are also extremely shareable. Canva has a big selection of infographic templates that are easy to edit.

Checklist templates

Checklists are very popular because they help people to get organized. These checklist templates from Canva are extremely easy to use and customize.

There is also a huge selection of lead magnet templates on Beacon. Browse their collection.

5. Think of a catchy headline

Remember all page visitors see when they decide whether to give you their email or not, is the title. It must immediately grab their attention. At the same time, it needs to be clear and concise. The best idea is to create a title, and perhaps subtitle, based on your value proposition. So page visitors understand exactly what they are going to get.

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6. Start offering your lead magnet

You can offer your lead magnet on any relevant platform. Here are a few examples.

A dedicated landing page

You can create a dedicated landing page for your lead magnet. This will increase your conversion rate. Here is a good example of a dedicated landing page. And it is highly converting.

Another landing page

If you don’t have a website yet, and you simply rely on landing pages in your marketing strategy, you can add your lead magnet promo there. This will help you start growing your email list.

Keep in mind, that adding two calls to action on one landing page may be tricky. It is usually not the best marketing practice. However, if the primary call to action requires a lot of commitment, like scheduling a call on this landing page template, signing up for a lead magnet can be a good compromise for those who are not yet ready to e-meet you.

Don’t have a landing page yet? Grab one here for FREE and start collecting emails in 24 hours.

Blog post

Add your lead magnet offer to the relevant blog posts like I just did in the paragraph above. When a lead magnet supports relevant quality content, the conversion rate usually grows a lot.

Website pages

You can also add your lead magnet promo to any page of your website. A good way to do that is using a pop-over and lightbox. These forms appear over the content of your website. You can decide when they appear. For example a few seconds after entry or when a visitor attempts to exit. Both of these forms are available on AWeber, so it is compatible with the FREE landing page that I am offering.

A less disturbing way to promote your lead magnet is a floating form, also known as a sticky or a smart form. It is a small form in the bottom corner of your website that moves down as you scroll. Unfortunately, Aweber doesn’t currently have this function but it is available with other fantastic email tools like GetResponse and ConstantContact. These email tools don’t work with templates, but they have their own library. So you can design your email assets yourself, or I will happily do it for you. Let me know if you need support with email marketing.

6. Create a thank you page

For many people sharing their personal data is an important transaction. Let them know you appreciate it. A thank you page also serves as a success message. It communicates that everything worked and their information is submitted. You can also tell your subscribers what are the next steps. For example, tell them to check their email address and confirm their subscription. You can even add a short video to establish a personal connection with your audience.

7. Set up lead magnet delivery

A lead magnet must arrive immediately after a page visitor signed up. This is an automatic process. So you need to go to your email tool, create a message for your lead magnet, and add a download link. You also need to set a rule that this message is sent automatically once someone fills out a particular form or joins a particular email list.

All my preferred email marketing software, AWeber, GetResponse, and ConstantContact.

If you are using AWeber, grab my automated nurturing sequence template at the end of this post). It already includes the lead magnet delivery message - both design and suggested copy. It also has all the necessary settings.

If you prefer GetResponse or ConstantContact, I will happily set it up for you. Contact me for additional details!

What is next? Create a lead nurturing sequence to convert your subscribers into paying clients.

Grab this amazing highly converting email funnel template that will help you make the most of your lead magnet. It includes 5 emails, suggested copy and inviting calls to action. It is fully automatic, so you can nurture your leads on autopilot. It is only $30 and you get a free landing page with it!

Buy now