Lead Magnet: How To Create A High Converting Lead Magnet
Did you know that your email list is one of the most valuable assets in your entire business? And in order to grow your email list, you need to learn how to create a high-converting lead magnet.
But if you’re new in business and copywriting, getting your lead magnet to work well can become quite a huge barrier. And it feels so frustrating, right?
So in this article, we will go over the most common lead magnet mistakes and how to fix them to help you attract more leads and dream clients. And in the end, you’ll get your hands on the exact 3-step formula I follow to attract highly qualified leads and turn those leads into sales.
What is a Lead Magnet?
A Lead Magnet is some form of content or information that you offer for free to attract qualified leads. Qualified leads are people who are actually interested in what you do, this is the group of people that is most likely to buy from you at some point in the future).
For example, lead magnets can be trial subscriptions, samples, white papers, e-newsletters, free consultations, or…
So what is it used for?
Well, when your customers want to access the lead magnet, they need to provide the information to you. This information is what your company needs to be able to attract potential customers. However, your lead magnet should be useful enough for your potential customers to exchange their information.
By doing this correctly, doesn’t just help you grow your email list, it also creates trust, builds authority, and gets you new customers!
With that being said, here is the first common mistake people make with lead magnets:
Your lead magnet isn’t clickable
Do you know what information overload is? Information overload is something you’ve likely felt or dealt with at least once.
It is the feeling you get when, after hours of searching the web, you realize there’s so much data in your head that you can no longer think clearly. These days there is so much content on the internet, that brains are designed to focus on what’s most important for them and forget the rest.
So, your content must stand out or capture your audience’s attention right away in order for them to pause and click.
What is the first thing that draws them to an article or a post? Of course, it is its headline. A catchy opt-in title is essential if you want people to download your lead magnet. Here are a few techniques you can use to enhance your title and make it more click-worthy, including:
- Using specificity (numbers like: 57%)
- Adding more power words
- Including words to describe your target market
You already start selling
What a lot of entrepreneurs and marketers do wrong is the following. They already start selling their products in their lead magnet. But from a content strategy perspective; its a best practice to avoid publishing too many explicit promotional content and ads to potential customers. And here’s why…
When people opt in to download a lead magnet, they’re looking for quick wins and fixes. They aren’t looking for information to solve all the pain points in their life or business.
Sometimes we feel like we must overdeliver to stand out. But the harsh reality is that it’s making things more confusing, overwhelming, and complicated for your clients.
That’s why your lead magnet should be simple and gives the recipient the feeling they want more in the future.
Give your potential client a quick win with something specific and easy, then you will stand out from your competition. And they are more willing to give their personal information in trade for signing up for your email list.
Your Lead Magnet doesn’t provide any value at all
Let me tell you what you should NEVER do!
“Hey! subscribe to my email list, so I can send you more emails?!”
This one is similar to immediately starting to sell your products, no one will ever join your email list if you won’t give them something valuable back first.
That’s why the purpose of creating high-valuable content is to satisfy the needs and solve the problems your customers are looking for about a certain area that they are interested in.
So one of the most effective types of lead magnets addresses a pain point or problem that your target market commonly has. It needs to be a specific pain point and one that can be solved relatively quickly and give your potential client a quick win.
Here’s how to do that:
3-step process on how to create a high-converting lead magnet:
The overall BEST strategy to build and grow your email list is by offering help. Your lead magnet is the bridge to offer help to prospects for FREE in exchange for their name and email address.
In order to create a high-converting lead magnet, you should include the following 3 steps:
Disclaimer: The following framework is inspired by industry-leading copywriter and marketeer Alex Cattoni. So some parts may overlap, this is because it is insanely valuable information. For reference article + YouTube video, click this link.
#1. Your Lead Magnet MUST Solve an Immediate Need
Just like I’ve mentioned earlier, the most effective lead magnets address a pain point or problem that your target market commonly has and solve it. But a good lead magnet can also helping people moving a step closer to their dream.
When creating a lead magnet, your main focus should be providing massive value. While some think giving your best content away makes you weaker, your target audience will not. Imagine their response, if they get so much value for free, what will happen if they become an actual customer?
Again, give your potential clients a quick win with something specific and easy. And if you don’t know how to do this, the best way to make sure you’re giving your audience something valuable is to literally ask them what they want.
So always make sure that your Lead Magnet is valuable and solves an immediate need or challenge for your audience.
#2. Plant a seed of desire
Great, you know what it takes to create interest with your lead magnet. But in order to achieve our ultimate goal – transform leads into customers – we’ve to create a sense of desire.
Why would someone stay around if your quick fix helped them with their problem, but they don’t know they have a bigger issue to tackle? So while you want your lead magnet to be insanely valuable and solve an immediate need, you also want to create the desire for your leads to go deeper and learn more from you.
This is how to turn your leads into brand advocates. Lifelong customers that are engaged and active in your email list. More on this in a minute…
But first, I want to talk about the third thing every Lead Magnet must do…
#3. Reap the fruits
Congratulations, you’ve got your audience attention. Then you’ve created the desire for them to learn more, now it’s your last job to convert this desire into action.
This is the part you’re literally telling your prospects HOW they can go deeper with you and “make them an offer they can’t refuse.”
This can be done in the lead magnet itself, more on this in a second, or you can follow up via email with an invitation to take that next step. Or, of course, you can do both!
4 ways to create a high converting lead magnet:
As promised, let’s talk a bit more about the ways you can create desire with useful but incomplete information… because this is where most people get it wrong.
It’s easy enough to share valuable information and to make an offer…
But, like most sales tools or copy assets, the hard part is bridging the gap between the two by creating DESIRE.
So there are four ways that I like to do this…
#1: Solve an immediate need and leave them wanting more
This is inspired by Frank Kern’s “Results in Advance” method. The ultimate goal here is to give away just a part of the solution. You want your Lead Magnet to provide information that will genuinely help your prospect, but leave them wanting more.
This is how you can do it too:
First, identify your prospect’ most-desired end result. Then educate them by breaking it down into actionable, achievable steps. The first step in this process will be your lead magnet. As a result they will not only trust you more, but they’ll also be excited and primed to keep the momentum going.
By doing this, you are adding value and providing fast results, but also creating the desire for your prospect to go deeper to solve step 2, 3, and so on (leading to the sale).
#2: Diagnose the Problem
Did you know that a lot of the times people don’t even know they had a problem? This group of people is called an unaware audience.
With this type of lead magnet, you can educate your prospects on a problem they didn’t even know they had. In addition, this is also a great tool to collect customer data.
Yess, I’m talking about quizzes.
Quizzes are awesome Lead Magnets for two reasons…
- They are engaging and fun for the audience.
- The quiz itself gives you the valuable information you need to best help your audience.
So it’s quite literally a win-win.
By doing this you help them identify or diagnose a core problem and give them an immediate fix. Then if they want the remedy for more long-term results, they have to become a customer.
Karmen Kendrick Creative
In this example, this brand, which offers WordPress maintenance services, tests its audience with their WordPress knowledge.
After answering a few questions, they must enter their email address to view the full results. Then, you land on a landing page with your knowledge level and the option to share your results on social media
As a maintenance service, having a quiz is a great lead magnet strategy. It can serve as a signal to users who are considering outsourcing this service that they may not have the knowledge to manage their site on their own. And it’s interactive, which is already a win.
#3: Give the WHAT, Not the HOW
The third lead magnet is all about educating your prospect on WHAT they need to do to solve their core problem or achieve their most-desired end result and WHY it’s so important.
For example, you give them the action steps, framework, secrets, or formula for them to follow, which they could implement on their own and see immediate results.
Masterclasses and webinars are incredibly powerful tools to give them the ‘what’ for free. Because here you can position your product as the how – the comprehensive action plan that will more easily, quickly, and effectively get them to where they want to go.
#4: Offer A Free Sample, Trial, or Giveaway
Last but not least, probably the most simple type of lead magnet out there. A free sample, Trial, or Giveaway.
You simply offer your audience a free taste of what you offer and are ultimately trying to sell. Getting an early commitment to receive something for free makes it easier to then ask for the sale.
This type works incredibly well in ecommerce and subscription-based products for example Canva:
Attract your target customers with proper lead magnet
Don’t get frustrated if your lead magnets aren’t working yet! Whatever the issue, know that it can be fixed. The key is to figure out what is causing your lead magnet to fail and then address the issue at the root of the problem.
Then focus on creating content that your target customers are interested in and that provides massive value to them. You are now armed with 4 different ways to add value, create desire, and boost sales.
So when you’re offering them to subscribe or sign up for your newsletter, it’s a no-brainer!
Interested in creating a lead magnet for yourself, but you don’t know where to start…
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