20 Lead Magnet Design Ideas To Hook Subscribers
The best lead magnets offer so much value to your audience that they can’t pass them up. The more you refine your lead magnets and offer exactly what people need at the right time, the more qualified leads you can attract. That’s why learning how to choose the right lead magnet design and type can allow you to get more audience interest with less work, in less time. In this article, we discuss:
- What Is a Lead Magnet?
- Why Do Lead Magnets Matter?
- Are There Criteria for the Best Lead Magnets?
- 20 Lead Magnet Design Ideas
What Is a Lead Magnet?
Image via iStock by @vchal
A lead magnet is a resource or valuable item a business provides to collect leads. The company provides this resource in exchange for contact information, such as a name, company name, email address, or phone number. Lead magnets are useful for all audiences, whether you’re a business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) company. Typically, lead magnets work through the following steps:
- A potential customer visits your website or social media profile
- You present a lead magnet offer
- The visitor accepts and provides their contact information
- You communicate with your new lead
Why Do Lead Magnets Matter?
How many emails do you get in your personal or business account each day? Chances are the number is high. The average business person receives around 120 emails per day, every day. So what can your company provide people that makes it worth it for them to add one more email to that pile? Lead magnets help you collect contact information and build your email list. But they can only do that if someone finds the content you provide worth the trade.
Lead magnets can also work as teaser content. They show people just what your company offers. It can leave people seeing something they like and saying, “yes, I want more of that.” It’s common to use lead magnets to get people to subscribe to your email newsletter. You may also use them within emails to keep your current subscribers interested and find value in the content you sent. You can see these tactics in action when you sign up for CopyPress’s email newsletter.
“CopyPress gives us the ability to work with more dealership groups. We are able to provide unique and fresh content for an ever growing customer base. We know that when we need an influx of content to keep our clients ahead of the game in the automotive landscape, CopyPress can handle these requests with ease.”
Kevin Doory
Director of SEO at Auto Revo
Are There Criteria for the Best Lead Magnets?
The number of lead magnets you have isn’t as important as their quality. The goal isn’t to spam people with content, it’s to provide them with something they want and that they’re willing to go through the extra step of providing contact information to get. Therefore, the best lead magnets are:
- Relevant: Lead magnets are something your audience is already interested in and looking for online.
- Valuable: Lead magnets are exclusive. They’re something people need and can solve their problems, but aren’t as easy to locate the answers with just a quick internet search.
- Beneficial for business: Lead magnets provide just enough information to intrigue your audience, but leave them wanting more so they convert into paying customers.
- Specific: Lead magnets don’t target a general or vague topic. Instead, they dig deeper to identify a niche problem and provide a solution to it.
- Easy to scan: People can get the key points and information just by scanning the lead magnet, no matter its form.
- Instantly accessible: People can access the lead magnet as soon as possible after exchanging their information, whether through a link, download, or email.
20 Lead Magnet Design Ideas
The best lead magnet design ideas allow for personalization and customization. You can use the same ones for different purposes and change them to fit the exact needs of your audience. Some helpful lead magnet design ideas include:
1. eBooks
EBooks are a common lead magnet because they’re simple to create, easy to share, and can provide valuable information on a variety of topics. You can create an eBook from scratch to cover a topic that meets the specific needs of your audience. You can also develop a curated compilation of some of your best content by adding a brand new introduction and conclusion to pieces you’ve already created.
Even though eBooks can be a quick solution, you may find that you lack the time and resources to make one, especially if you don’t have experience in doing so. Instead, let CopyPress provide the solution. Our writers and editors will create an eBook that follows your style guide and appeals to your target audience so you’re able to close sales.
2. Webinars
A webinar is a live or a recorded seminar that can help teach your audience how to do or accomplish something. They provide instructional information that the audience can take and apply to their own strategies, goals, and everyday work. Most webinars also include some type of other incentive, such as a discount code for services, access to a question-and-answer session, or networking connections with an industry expert.
3. Micro Courses
Mirco courses are like webinars but aren’t always self-contained. They may last longer than one session, such as over a few days or a week. They may provide similar information to webinars, such as instructions and tips on how to complete a certain task or implement a strategy. Micro courses may include a variety of media, such as audio recordings, videos, quizzes, articles, and other resources. They’re versatile and you can create them around almost any topic.
4. Checklists
Checklists make it easy to see and understand visually all the steps you need to do to complete a task or meet a goal. These lead magnets can be helpful for tricky topics with many steps. They may also be valuable if your audience is new to your industry or made up of people trying to learn best practices for certain strategies or topics. Checklists are quick and easy to create, and applicable across industries.
5. Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are a great way to stay organized. Many business professionals use them for a variety of purposes in their day-to-day work. Creating spreadsheet templates for different processes or organization functions may be a great way to attract leads, especially if your audience is comfortable using spreadsheets but not creating them. To make this lead magnet even more effective, consider including a detailed instruction manual for use and tips for customization and troubleshooting.
6. Calculators
Calculators can be valuable lead magnets if your field has a mathematical component to it. For example, in marketing, you could offer a return on investment (ROI) calculator for your audience. You may make your own free app for phones and tablets or you can include your calculator in a spreadsheet template. Either way, be sure that the person designing the calculator is familiar with both the right math and coding to ensure its accuracy.
7. Guides
Guides are an easy-to-create lead magnet that can help you repurpose other content you’ve already created. A guide is an all-inclusive manual that contains the most comprehensive information on a topic, usually broken down into different sections. If you create other content, like blog posts or articles on smaller, shorter topics, you can combine ones with the same theme to create an extensive guide. These lead magnets can be helpful if you need to make one quickly to promise curated content to your current or potential subscribers.
8. Infographics
In 2019, 74% of marketing content contained a visual element. That number is likely even higher today. This statistic shows people like to experience information in different mediums. Consider repurposing written content you’ve created and design a visual infographic to make it stand out. You may tease a screenshot of the full infographic to get people to share their contact information for the entire piece.
If you’re looking for a team to create interesting infographic lead magnets to build your contact list, contact CopyPress. Our skilled designers develop the right images for your brand so you’re more able to share your data story and entice new leads to your company.
9. Videos
Similar to infographics, videos are another avenue for repurposing your old content in a new medium. Video marketing is on the rise, and while sites like YouTube make it easy for people to watch that content for free, you can make it exclusive. Tease your video and make the full version available behind a gated content wall. Consider taking one of your more popular written content pieces and turning it into a video, with graphics, audio, and other engaging elements. Videos work for many types of content, including how-tos, explainer videos, short online courses, and product demonstrations.
Related: 16 Questions To Ask Before Creating a Video
10. Podcasts
Like videos, putting podcasts behind a gated content wall can make them more enticing than if a listener can pull them up for free on their streaming services. This is what can make them good lead magnets. Podcasts are yet another way you can repurpose old content in a new format. Consider discussing topics you’ve written about or explained before and then share new information about how the topic has changed since you first visited it. You may tease the first episode of your podcast to get people to subscribe and listen to the rest of the episodes.
11. Quizzes
Quizzes can be a fun and popular lead magnet. They’re exciting for the audience and fun to create, and you can theme them around a variety of topics. For example, if you owned a candy company, you could create a personality quiz called “Which Jellybean Flavor Are You?” Some businesses also use this method to help their potential customers find the right products for their needs. For example, clothing companies may provide body shape and style quizzes to help people pick the right pair of jeans.
When people take a lead magnet quiz, they must submit their email address to get the results in their inbox. This allows you to collect their information and learn more about who your target audience is, what they need, and what they like based on their results. Then, you can do fun marketing things like segment your email list depending on their quiz answers so you’re able to deliver high-quality and relevant content to that group.
12. Free Trials
If your company sells products, especially software or apps, offering free trials can be an enticing lead magnet. Free trials often include a few features people can use for a certain period, such as one week or 14 days. The idea is to let people try your programs and find that they’re so helpful or easy to use that they’re willing to sign up, spend money, and use them permanently.
13. Workbooks
Workbooks aren’t just for elementary school anymore. These downloadable resources let people take the information they learn from your content and apply it to their businesses and lives. The goal is to help people learn by doing, similar to how you’d learn a school lesson. These are good educational resources that can help you repurpose content and reinforce the information you’re trying to share with your audience. Workbooks often include instructions, tips, and tricks to help people with planning and creative topics.
14. White Papers
White papers are reports that a company creates to share information about complex problems facing their customers or target audiences. They’re research-based and informative to help people learn and understand a topic better. They’re also persuasive and aim to help the audience make a decision. White papers can be good lead magnets, especially if your company conducts its own studies or compiles its own research. You may tease the white paper information in your other content and then ask people to sign up to receive the full report.
If white papers sound like a viable lead magnet for your target audience, contact us today. We have a team of expert writers and editors who are skilled at developing this type of content across many verticals. We take on the work so you can spend the time focusing on other parts of your business.
15. Design Templates
Templates can help save your audience time, money, and resources when they’re creating content and developing a strategy. You can create free but gated templates for a variety of purposes, such as emails, social media posts, and graphic designs. This can be helpful if your audience is less skilled in design areas but needs professional quick fixes to make their content look polished.
16. Private Group Access
Rather than promising people a tangible item, a unique lead magnet approach may be to offer them a community and knowledge. That’s why access to a private group could be the perfect low-maintenance lead magnet. Create a space where people can share their own content and ideas, ask questions, and network. Platforms like Slack, Discord, LinkedIn, and Facebook all provide host areas for things like this. You can also create your own workspace if you can develop it and code it into your website.
17. Automated Evaluations
A good lead magnet may be as simple as providing an automated consultation service to people on a specific topic. If you can build a tool that automates a process and tells your audience what they’re doing well or where they can improve, they may wonder what else your company can do for them. That could entice them to take the next step and become paying customers.
An example of an automated evaluation is CopyPress’s Content Analysis Tool. You can receive a competitor content analysis for your business and discover new ways to be more effective through your content marketing. Learn about gaps in your keyword strategy, opportunities to increase your reach, and see how your content compares to your top three competitors. We are also available to create the content for you so you’re showing up for your potential customers and clients.
“CopyPress gives us the ability to work with more dealership groups. We are able to provide unique and fresh content for an ever growing customer base. We know that when we need an influx of content to keep our clients ahead of the game in the automotive landscape, CopyPress can handle these requests with ease.”
Kevin Doory
Director of SEO at Auto Revo
18. Calendars and Planners
Calendars can be enticing lead magnets for anyone working on strategy or scheduling. They may help people get started in learning how to plan for things, such as a social media content calendar or a project management calendar. The best ones may include day-by-day instructions to follow but also places for people to add their own notes and information. Planners may contain most of the same information but be more open-ended and customizable.
19. Coupons or Free Shipping
Yes, a lead magnet could be something as simple as offering a coupon or a discount to your audience. This may work better for people further down the sales funnel who are already considering making a purchase. The freebies may help push them over the edge. A coupon or discount is also a way to provide value while you learn who’s close to making a purchase. Then you can further target those communications to convert them more quickly.
20. Toolkits
You may consider toolkits the catch-all of lead magnets because they include so many resources. They’re a one-stop package filled with all the resources you need to learn about, do, or complete a certain strategy, topic, or task. For example, a toolkit may contain an eBook or white paper, a checklist, a spreadsheet template, a calculator, and an explainer video, all together in a zip file that’s easy to download and use.
One nice thing about toolkits is that you can create other lead magnets individually for other purposes, and then choose to make a toolkit later by repurposing that content. You may also make the toolkit first and then decide to release each piece individually later. Either way, you can get double the work out of the same resources. You can theme a toolkit around almost any topic, though finding the right one for your audience may take some experimentation.
The best lead magnets benefit the business and the leads alike. If you find an offer and a format that can help your business goals and provide value to your audience, give it a try and see how fast it increases your list of potential customers.
CopyPress writer
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