This process is referred to as Lead Nurturing<\/a><\/strong>, which starts with collecting leads. And, the more the number of leads, the higher is the chance of converting more customers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n So how do you increase the number of leads?<\/p>\n\n\n\n One answer is \u201cby using a lead magnet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A lead magnet, as the name suggests, helps you attract leads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lead magnets can be critical in a successful lead generation<\/a> strategy, and this post will help you deploy them the right way. We\u2019ve covered ten tips that you can use to build super-effective lead magnets.<\/p>\n\n\n Ever barged into one of those \u201cBuild Hulk-es-que abs in 90 days\u201d cheat sheet that asks for your email address before you can download it? That, dear readers, is a lead magnet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simply putting, a lead magnet is something valuable that you provide to your visitors in exchange for their contact details (usually, their email address) on a lead-gen form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A lead magnet can be anything: ebooks, whitepapers, research reports, eCommerce coupons, free access to an application, or simply a cliched squeeze page<\/a> as shown above, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the typical characteristics of a lead magnet is that once you trade with your email, the authors will try to up-sell\/cross-sell<\/a> their wares via a nurturing sequence. For example, the body transformers above will ostensibly pitch workout videos, diet plans, or a mix of two, with intense regularity, till you succumb and flash your credit card).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Users pay for your lead magnets with their contact information.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n In our conversations with hundreds and thousands of marketers globally (VWO is an experimentation engine<\/a> that powers 3400+ marketing teams to test and refine lead magnets day in and day out), there is no other conversation theme that draws extreme opinions in 2021\u2014some are of the firm belief that lead magnets are dead. Most thought leaders, however, still sing pagans upholding the many merits of a lead magnet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For a lead magnet to serve as a true honeypot and maximize the conversion rate, many factors do the heavy lifting to convince visitors that you are the real deal. Following are a few time-tested truisms that separate \u2018dang!\u2019 magnets from the \u2018bleh!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n In Patrick Hanlon\u2019s Primal Branding, we learned that one of the strongest levers to lift a brand is having an \u2018Origin Story.\u2019 Origin Stories pull people towards a cause and convince them to rally to make it see the light of the day. Tesla does this well with its mission to produce expensive, high-margin electric cars to manufacture electric vehicles for the masses ultimately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Tesla\u2019s origin story, your lead magnets should gravitate around a cause that is held dear by your tribe and brand. Ultimately, your lead magnets have an outcome to uphold \u2013 why should \u2018I\u2019 trust in your squeeze page? Have you suffered the pain with similar (if not more) intensity as I? If not, there is no familiarity bias, and I would skim by your page without feeling the urge to drop my email<\/p>\n\n\n A lead magnet has to be extremely targeted to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re offering a generic freebie on your form, you might end up collecting leads that are irrelevant to your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consider this<\/em>: If you are a men\u2019s beard grooming brand, releasing a guide on \u2018How to Make Your Beard Trend on Pinterest\u2019 is not very likely to get you great leads because 80% of the audience on Pinterest are female<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Targeting is essential in making your lead magnets work.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Take a look at this SaaS lead-gen form by Unbounce:<\/p>\n\n\n Unbounce helps users create and optimize landing pages<\/a>. Considering that, the lead magnet in the above form (\u201cGuide to Landing Page Copywriting\u201d) is highly targeted to its potential customers.<\/p>\n\n\n While plain lead-gen forms can\u2019t tell you how serious your leads are, forms with lead magnets can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your lead magnets can attract exactly the kind of leads that you desire, with content catering to prospects from specific conversion funnel stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, you can employ BOFU content to capture users that have a high probability of getting converted into customers. BOFU lead magnets are normally entertained by users that have closely evaluated your product\/service but still haven\u2019t made a decision to purchase it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BOFU content (or lead magnet) is a resource aligned closely with your company\u2019s product or service. It can be a whitepaper talking about the functionality of your product\/service or simply free-trial access to your product.<\/p>\n\n\n So how do you ensure that readers know the same for your regular lead magnets, too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simple! You tell them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tease your users into signing up for your lead magnets.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n On your lead-gen form or click-through page, highlight points about how the lead magnet can provide tremendous value to readers. You can list out the broad headlines and a few actionable insights that your lead magnet covers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Take a look at this form page by Kissmetrics.<\/p>\n\n\n The lead magnet, here, is an ebook that is very specific to Kissmetrics potential customers. Noticeably, the form contains a lot of fields to be submitted by visitors. However, with an elaborate description of the ebook, the page gives a glimpse of its content. The page also lists out the benefits that the visitors can reap with the ebook. This helps nudge unsure visitors towards making an effort to download the resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is important to note that including the business value of a lead magnet on the form is essential. Make it clear how the lead magnet will help visitors improve their business objectives. Take cues from \u201cOptimize Your Conversions,\u201d \u201cFind More Customers,\u201d and \u201cDrive Real Growth\u201d from the above form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s another great example from Formstack:<\/p>\n\n\n Want to get started with your lead magnet in as minimum time as possible?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Go through your content library and identify the one content resource which performed the best. It can be anything: the most downloaded ebook, most viewed\/shared blog post or success story, most viewed\/shared Slideshare presentation deck, webinar with the highest number of attendees, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Content resources like ebooks, webinars, and slide decks can be readily used as a lead magnet. If your best performer is one of these, start designing your form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your star content can be your best bet as a lead magnet.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n However, if you want to employ your best blog post or success story as a lead magnet, you\u2019ll have to first repurpose it into a downloadable file. Experts advise against putting blog posts behind a form<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Repurpose your blog post or success story into an ebook or a checklist or a cheat sheet. Now, employ them as your lead magnet.<\/p>\n\n\n In-content lead magnets are the ones that are placed within an existing content resource. Mostly used within blog posts, they can also be placed within ebooks, presentation decks, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Content upgrades are in-content lead magnets that are a downloadable version of the content they\u2019re placed in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Content upgrades often provide greater conversions because they are more contextual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is the logic: Since readers are spending time reading through the content, they are (probably) finding it useful. This is a good time to offer the same content resource to the readers in a snackable form, which they can download and refer to anytime in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This same technique has helped Backlinko\u2019s Brian Dean increase his conversion rate from 0.54%. to 4.82%<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n Sure, ebooks are a handy resource to give away. But what if your website visitors crave for something other than ebooks? What if other forms of resources relate to your business and potential customers better?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some innovative types of lead magnets are actually worth taking a shot at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jarrod Drysdale,<\/a> the man behind Studio Fellow, Bootstrapping Design, and Cascade, uses a unique and intriguing design-course to capture leads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He offers the course on The Tiny Designer website to both designers and non-designers.<\/p>\n\n\n And, this is where he captures his leads.<\/p>\n\n\n Using free online courses is a great way to generate leads<\/a>. Thinkific is an online course platform that helps you to do that, and you can even launch your lead magnet for free using their Free plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can even have quizzes as a measure of collecting leads<\/a>. Interact Quiz Maker is one website that helps you do just that.<\/p>\n\n\n Here is an extensive list of various possible lead magnets provided by ConversionXL<\/a>, segmented by audience type:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Experts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n eCommerce<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Software<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Service business<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When many of your competitors are offering free resources to their visitors, you need to step your game up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tempt your visitors with not just one free resource but a package of multiple resources. If one free resource can deliver significant value to the visitors, a package of resources can be invaluable!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Raise the stakes on your lead magnets with a whole package of content.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n This is how Copyblogger executes it extremely effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Copyblogger offers a package of immensely valuable content resources to its visitors in exchange for their email addresses.<\/p>\n\n\n This is the registration form that follows:<\/p>\n\n\n The form exhibits the list of ebooks that is included in the offer. Using this, Copyblogger has been successful in increasing its email signups<\/a> by almost 400%.<\/p>\n\n\n A\/B testing<\/a> is essential in determining whether a lead magnet is working for you or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even when a lead magnet is driving a significant number of leads to you, you cannot be sure if that is the best you can achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few A\/B testing ideas<\/a> can be derived from this post itself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Apart from these ideas, you can also test the design, placement, and usability of your lead magnet forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also go through our archive of more than 150 success stories<\/a> to find inspiration for your test hypotheses.<\/p>\n\n\n Last but not least, your lead magnet has to be greatly useful to your visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your visitors don\u2019t find any value in the lead magnet, they won\u2019t develop a positive image of your brand. When your brand image suffers, so does your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even if a half-cooked lead magnet ends up delivering you thousands of leads, most leads might not convert at the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep the following points in mind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Implement these ideas to build lead magnets on your website, and don\u2019t forget to A\/B test<\/a> them. <\/p>\n\n\n We, at VWO, are in constant conversations with our customers who use us to test if their lead magnets are working for them. Feel free to give us a spin and see if your lead magnets are hitting the right spots. Following are some ways in which various teams test their lead magnets with VWO:<\/p>\n\n\n\nDownload Free: A\/B Testing Guide<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s a lead magnet?<\/h2>\n\n\n
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1. Your lead magnet should have an \u2018origin story\u2019<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n
2. Keep lead magnets targeted<\/h2>\n\n\n
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![\"Unbounce](\"https:\/\/static.wingify.com\/gcp\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/The-Conversion-Marketers-Guide-to-Landing-Page-Copywriting-by-Unbounce-2015-12-03-18-33-29.jpeg\")
3. Use separate lead magnets for separate funnel stages<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n
4. Give a glimpse of your content beforehand<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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![\"Kissmetrics](\"https:\/\/static.wingify.com\/gcp\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/How-to-Optimize-Your-Growth-with-KISSmetrics-2015-12-04-12-23-02.jpeg\")
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5. Employ your best performing content<\/strong><\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n
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6. Use content upgrades as in-content lead magnet<\/strong><\/b>s<\/h2>\n\n\n
7. Provide more than just eBooks<\/strong><\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/static.wingify.com\/gcp\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/The-Tiny-Designer-How-Designers-and-Non-Designers-can-get-along-2015-12-04-16-09-13.jpeg\")
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![\"Interact](\"https:\/\/static.wingify.com\/gcp\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/Interact-Quiz-Maker-Make-Custom-Quizzes-For-Your-Business-2015-12-04-16-31-57.jpeg\")
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Download Free: A\/B Testing Guide<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n
8. Offer a bundled package<\/strong><\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n
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![\"Copyblogger](\"https:\/\/static.wingify.com\/gcp\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/Content-Marketing-Solutions-from-Copyblogger-2015-12-04-14-11-47.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n![\"Copyblogger](\"https:\/\/static.wingify.com\/gcp\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/Claim-your-free-My-Copyblogger-membership-2015-12-04-13-36-28.jpeg\")
9. A\/B test your lead magnets<\/strong><\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n
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10. Always provide top-notch content<\/strong><\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n
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It\u2019s a wrap!<\/strong><\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n
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![\"Banner](\"https:\/\/static.wingify.com\/gcp\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/End-Banner_10-Actionable-Tips-to-Build-An-Effective-Lead-Magnet-1024x536.png\")
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