A lead magnet is a document or download that a business can offer to their potential clients in exchange for their contact information. They are usually informative / educational, and not very salesy. As a matter of fact – some of the most successful lead magnets aren’t salesy in the slightest. Some of them can even seem counter intuitive, but the benefits of having one or several far outweigh any potential downsides.
1. A lead magnet is either a front end expense or front end workload with never-ending, and potentially recurring revenue. You only need to create it once (or pay to have it created once), and then you’ve got a “net” to catch an unlimited amount of new customers with. One sounds great, but imagine 5 or 10 of them out there with the potential to catch you new leads.
2. By collecting regular leads, you’ll grow your database of prospects for future promotions via marketing automation / CRM outreach. So, even if a person downloads your lead magnet and doesn’t immediately decide to hire you or purchase from you, you at least know they’re interested to some degree, and may respond to a promotion in the future.Â
3. They increase the likelihood of potential customers becoming customers in the future due to the principal of reciprocity. By giving away something for free to someone, they’ll naturally feel like they owe you something in return. Ideally, that “something in return” is giving their business to your company.Â
4. They position your company as an authority on the subjects that the lead magnet covers. If someone downloads one of your documents, and learns something of value from it, they’ll naturally consider you to be more of an expert / authority. Not only does that equal more trust, but it also means that when they need an expert in the future, there’s a good chance they’ll come to you. Your company might be the only experts they know, all because of your lead magnet!
Lead Magnets can also be great for battling bounce rate. A bounce is when someone visits your website and leaves without viewing a second page. Bounce rate is simply a percentage (0-100%) of people that bounce from your website. You should be concerned about your website’s bounce rate not just because you may be losing a valuable customer, but also because Google pays special attention to your bounce rate.Â
Let’s say for example that you own a clothing store. If someone types “women’s clothing” into Google, lands on your website, but leaves it without taking any action or viewing a second page, Google will take that as the person not finding what they were looking for. It’s in Google’s best interest that users find what they’re looking for quickly – if people have a bad experience with their search engine, they’ll stop using it. When someone doesn’t find what they’re looking for on your website, your website gets a small penalty in rankings.
The opposite is also true – if someone types in “women’s clothing,” lands on your website, and views several pages before leaving, Google counts that as the person finding what they were searching for. A person finding what they’re looking for will give your website a small boost in rankings.
Since a lead magnet is something of value that you’re essentially giving away for free, a website visitor may be interested in it even if it doesn’t exactly answer the question they originally asked. It’s sort of like a shiny object in that sense, and can be a great distraction. Not only will you get a potential lead out of the deal, but you’ll avoid a bounce. Many of our clients simply take one or two lead magnets and make them available on every page of their website (via a popup, section, etc.). To maximize download potential, a lead magnet for every product / service / section of your site is ideal (the topics will be closer to the original reason a person visited your site).
While we recommend keeping the data you request in exchange for a download minimal, download forms can vary in complexity as needed. You’re looking to achieve the perfect balance of not scaring away any business while getting enough information to make some good sales with. For a lot of businesses, especially those who employ a CRM, getting the First Name and E-mail address of a potential customer may be enough. If your business has sales staff who make frequent calls, you might be inclined to request a phone number, too. It depends on what the perceived value and context of your download is – if the value is there and the context is right, a person may even be willing to give their address or answer specific questions to help you qualify them as a lead.Â
Even if you don’t end up deciding to request people’s contact information in exchange for your download, you’ll still end up with a share-worthy document of value. That share-worthy document would be perfect for putting out on social media for individuals to share around the platform. And, you can always do both. Share it on social media for free and request contact info on your website exclusively – you’ll grow your social following and your lead database simultaneously. You can also hand it out for free at trade shows, turn it into a landing page that ads send traffic to, give away part of it for free and offer ‘bonus’ sections only with a download, e-mail it to your database of contacts, or even publish it on another highly trafficked website in your geographic area.
One of the most common missteps we see businesses take is putting out a lead magnet they dont think is salesy, but it actually is.
Lead magnet topics like “10 reasons why our business is the best” and “10 reasons why you should do business with us” might fit into the rough lead magnet equation, but are salesy at the base level. The key question to ask yourself when brainstorming lead magnet ideas is – “Is this document of value to anyone who downloads it, even if they aren’t ready to choose my company?” If the answer is no, you should keep brainstorming. There simply isn’t much of a reason to download a sales document that could just as easily be peppered throughout the website’s content. So much is available for free online that you’ll need to make sure your download is worth trading an e-mail address or phone number in exchange for. What are you willing to trade your e-mail address for?
Lead magnet creation can involve your team as much or as little as you like. We can go in hands-on and learn about your business then pitch ideas to you – or simply create a document for an idea you may already have. Are you a writer, or do you already have content written that would be great for a lead magnet? LovelyPixels is also happy to design your content into an attractive, branded and downloadable PDF.
Not enough examples to get your creative juices flowing?
LovelyPixels is happy to jump on a phone call, or buy you a cup of coffee and discuss your next lead magnet project.Â
LovelyPixels’ team consists of senior talent and collaborative partnerships that are flexible to your individual business goals.
Your customers are either tuning in or tuning out and our only goal is to develop authentic, quality design work that establishes a connection with your audience.
And it all starts with a casual coffee date.
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Marketing Minded Design & Strategy
LovelyPixels’ senior talent designs lead magnets for businesses all over the world, but we concentrate primarily on bolstering businesses in Martinsburg, Hagerstown, Winchester, Shepherdstown, Charles Town, Greencastle, Frederick, Berkeley Springs, Harpers Ferry, Morgantown, and all through the State of West Virginia!
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