A lead magnet can be a critical part of growing and scaling your business. As a business owner, you continuously want to provide value to your audience. A lead magnet can help you do this. While lead magnets don’t generate immediate sales, they do allow you to obtain the right to contact your audience – usually through email. For every $1 spent on email marketing, you get $42 in return, so the money is in the emails!  

But how do you get your audience to sign up for your lead magnet? Well, first, you need to know how to create a lead magnet that converts.

But first, what is it?

In simple terms, a lead magnet is anything FREE and of value that can be exchanged for contact information – preferably an email address. You want to give, and give, and give to your audience long before you ever ask them for anything. That’s why lead magnets can be a powerful tool for growing your email list. You are giving valuable information away for free. All of those opt-ins or pop-ups you encounter as you browse through websites are lead magnets.

For example, when you land on Amy Portfield’s webpage, a pop up directs you to her FREE training to help you kickstart your email list. In exchange for your email address, you are getting her best-kept secret to growing an online business, “Amy’s Proven List Building Framework.”

Unfortunately, they aren’t all great conversion machines. There are plenty of duds out there when it comes to opt-ins. That’s why you need to know how to create one that converts your website visitors into email subscribers. So, how do you do this?

Niche it down…

I’ve mentioned that having a niche in your business is essential, and this is certainly true for lead magnets as well. When your lead magnet is directed at your target market audience, you are better able to provide them with a super valuable resource that they both want and need. 

Even if you have several niches, you can create multiple options and direct them toward a particular niche.

Let’s use Amy Porterfield as an example again. She teaches “business owners, educators, and entrepreneurs the profitable action steps for building a highly engaged email list, creating online training courses, and using online marketing strategies to sell with ease.”

Her niches include 1) growing your email list, 2) course creation, and 3) online marketing strategies. On her home page you will immediately see two lead magnets:

1. 20 Smart Strategies to Rapidly Grow Your Email List
2. The Ultimate Course Creation Starter Kit

Having two different lead magnets allows her to speak directly to her different niche markets by providing a valuable resource that relates to their individual business needs. Not everyone will be looking to create a course. Business owners who are not looking for course creation resources might want to grow their email lists. 

Do you see how niching your lead magnet down can be valuable?

Pique their interest

You absolutely need to pique your audience’s interest with your opt-in. Give your audience a reason to exchange their email for your resource. We are past the time for enticing our website visitors using a generic “subscribe to our newsletter.” If you want higher conversion rates for your email list, you need lead magnets that provide value.

What you are promising to your audience should be something they already need or would find valuable. This is often considered a value proposition. This value proposition should be promoting the solution to their problem. Remember, your product or service is all about your ideal client or target market, not you.

Give it a compelling title

Like any good sales page, blog post, website, or product, your lead magnet needs to be called something – but not just anything. Your lead magnet title works the same way as a headline on a website or sales page. Meaning, the title needs to be eye-catching and tell the reader exactly what they are getting. If your lead magnet title does this, you can expect a much higher conversion rate increase.

Again, Amy Porterfield’s lead magnet, “20 Smart Strategies to Rapidly Grow Your Email List”, tells you exactly what you are getting. The title literally breaks down the quantity you can expect (20), what you will learn (strategies), and what you will get out of it (to grow your email list).

Keep it simple

Don’t over complicate your lead magnet. Remember, you want to provide a quick value that gives immediate results. Confusing your audience on what you are offering won’t entice them to sign up for your lead magnet. Please keep it simple, to the point, and pack it with plenty of value.

Now that you know how to convert your audience, it’s time to figure out what type of lead magnet you want to create. Some great examples of lead magnets include:

• Handbooks
• Ebook
• PDF Guides
• Webinar
• Downloadable
• Product discounts
• Survey
• Quiz
• Free consultation
• Cheatsheet

When creating your lead magnet, don’t forget to ask yourself these questions:

1. How can you niche down your lead magnet, so it speaks to your target audience?
2. How can you pique their interest with your lead magnet? 
3. What value are you providing them?
4. Do you have a strong title for your lead magnet?
5. Is your lead magnet simple, concise, and to the point?

Remember, the placement of your lead magnet can have an impact on your conversions, too. If you want suggestions on where to place your email opt-ins on your website, I recommend reading about the benefits of these five placements. 

If you have any questions about lead magnets or want to brainstorm ideas – I would love to hear from you.