If you need lead magnet ideas, you’re in the right place.
In case you need a reminder, a lead magnet is an incentive for people to give you their contact information. That incentive is crucial as the last thing anyone wants is more emails.
But people do want solutions to their problems.
So, when you offer a great lead magnet that solves a problem for your target audience, they’re much more likely to give you their email addresses.
Once you have their contact information, you can stay in touch with them, build a relationship, and make offers that grow your business.
If you feel you don’t have the time or money to make a valuable lead magnet, don’t worry!
We’ll cover many simple and affordable lead magnet ideas to help you get people excited to share their email addresses with you.
Let’s get started!
4 Keys to Creating a Powerful Lead Magnet
Creating a lead magnet doesn’t have to be complicated.
Simply follow four easy steps, and you’ll have an irresistible magnet idea to share with prospects via Facebook ads or your website.
1. Focus on One Problem
You can’t solve every problem your target audience faces with one lead magnet. It won’t work. You’ll confuse them. When people are confused, they don’t take action. And if they don’t take action, they won’t see how your products or services benefit them.
So, focus on one problem you can help solve.
2. Provide an Easy Win
Your target audience wants to see results sooner rather than later. So, create an effective lead magnet that gives them a quick win.
Don’t confuse the value of the win with the amount of content you include. An 8-hour video course sounds valuable but is too much of a time commitment for a lead magnet. Go for something immediately actionable.
3. Be Specific
Your lead magnet needs a specific solution.
Give the reader a step-by-step guide. Focus on just one problem with a quick win, but include enough detail so they understand how to get that win.
Don’t leave them hanging with a lead magnet that doesn’t offer value or leaves them confused.
4. Invest in Great Design
The design of your lead magnet matters.
An attractive lead magnet delights its users and shows that you’re a professional.
But good design doesn’t have to be expensive. With tools like Canva and templates created by real designers, you can have a sleek-looking lead magnet for a minimal investment.
With those keys in mind, let’s look at specific lead magnet ideas.
21 Lead Magnets Readers Can’t Resist
While the options below have increased lead generation for other businesses, they may not all work for you.
So as you look at these lead magnet ideas, think about your audience, the problems they face, and the best content to help them solve one of those problems.
1. Discount
One excellent lead magnet idea is a one-time discount for people who sign up for your email list.
You don’t need to provide a significant percentage off; a small discount works well. While some discounts are as high as 50%, the most common discount on a site like RetailMeNot is 10-15%.
Here’s one lead magnet example from Dr. Martens. They offer subscribers a 10% discount on their order when they join the email list:
This is an excellent option because it motivates buyers to make a purchase while helping you with lead generation.
2. Physical Product Sample
People like to know what they’re getting before they make a purchase. So consider offering a sample of the product.
For example, Michael Hyatt offers the first chapter of his book for free to users who sign up for the Full Focus mailing list.
This gives users a chance to sample Michael’s writing style before making a purchase. Also, it helps Full Focus grow their email list.
3. Free Shipping
Free shipping is an excellent option if you ship physical products to your customers.
Shoppers may not quibble over the price of a product, but shipping charges stop many of them from making a purchase.
According to Baymard Institute, 42% of website visitors abandon shopping carts at checkout because of “extra costs.”
However, if you remove the extra cost of shipping for the customer’s first order, they are more likely to make a purchase.
For example, interior design and furniture store Ruma offers visitors free shipping (and 15% discount) on their first order when they share details.
This helps the company increase both their sales and their email subscribers.
4. Free Trial
Free trials allow a potential customer to take your product or service for a spin to see how well it works for them.
If it works, they will buy it and you’ll gain a customer.
If it doesn’t, you will still have their email address.
That way, you can stay in touch with them to nurture the relationship and potentially convert them to a paying customer later.
In other words, free trials help you increase sales both now and in the future.
As a result, they are very popular lead magnet ideas, especially in the software as a service (SaaS) niche and with products like membership programs. For example, here is a one-month free trial for Microsoft 365.
The trial allows Microsoft’s prospects to experience the benefits of the cloud-based program suite as well as the messaging of the company’s marketing emails.
5. Template
Templates are among the most popular lead magnet ideas because they offer a quick win. Most users need a little guidance to start a project, and templates provide that guidance.
Visme, an online platform that helps you design presentation materials, offers templates you can use to build your business’s visual materials like infographics or charts.
They make some templates free and reserve others to entice visitors to create a paid account.
6. How-to Guide
Have you ever experienced the frustration of needing to do something complicated and unfamiliar without a step-by-step manual?
If you have, you understand the value of a how-to guide.
Grayson Bell of iMark Interactive heard of his fellow bloggers’ frustrations with the process of setting up a WordPress website, so he created a how-to course to help them.
His free guide is the perfect introduction for his prospects into the sales funnel for the WordPress support services he offers.
7. Cheat Sheet
A cheat sheet lists the essential points to remember during a process. Your cheat sheet might include additional explanations or details to help ensure your target audience gets a quick win with their projects.
Image consultant Anna Bey offers her target audience a cheat sheet that helps women who want to cultivate a specific style know what to look for while shopping.
She tells them what fabrics, color combinations, and fashion styles they should seek. Those happy with her advice may make a purchase from her small business.
8. Checklist
For processes that require your prospects to complete a list of steps in a specific order, a checklist is an excellent option. It helps them avoid skipping steps so they are more likely to get a quick win.
Checklists also increase their motivation, productivity, and confidence. Every time they reference a list with your branding, they will remember you.
Blogging coach Tracie Fobes understands the value of checklists for lead generation:
Her checklist offers new bloggers and others in the affiliate marketing space a resource to ensure they cover all their bases for optimal conversion rates.
Furthermore, once a website visitor is in Tracie’s email marketing funnel, she continues to share advice and offers.
9. Case Study or Secret Method
Case studies and secret methods provide your content marketing prospects with valuable information to help them define their goals and processes while developing a strategy.
So, if you have case studies from successful clients or a method for success that you swear by, these make effective lead magnets.
These reports don’t share your specific process. They share the results you got for your clients and customers and why those results matter.
For example, the Harvard Business Review offers a report on how your business can pivot with industry changes while staying true to the mission that makes your company unique.
It provides strategic direction to business owners as they sample the Harvard Business Review’s valuable insight and enter the organization’s email marketing funnel.
10. Audio Recording
Audio recordings are great lead magnet ideas if you’re more comfortable with audio content versus written content.
Equally, audio content is beneficial if your target audience likes to listen while on the go.
Brand strategist and business coach Hanna Fitz uses an audio download for lead generation:
Her audio training teaches prospects about mindset and finding the right clients for their businesses.
11. Video
With the growing popularity of videos in content marketing, they’re excellent lead magnet ideas for three reasons:
- It is a great way to reach your target audience.
- It helps them get to know you better.
- It increases their trust in you.
Best-selling author Amanda Frances takes advantage of these benefits with her series of money mindset meditation videos to those who opt into her email list.
While Amanda’s series has 11 videos, you don’t need to produce that many. One well-done video will work.
12. Ebook
Ebooks are valuable lead magnet ideas but remember to keep them short as you want to give the reader a quick win.
An excellent example of an ebook option comes from industry leader, HubSpot.
Their ebook, How to Stay Current On Emerging Tech, offers a solution to their target audience’s problem.
At 46 pages, it’s short enough to read in one sitting and gives actionable “tips for staying ahead of the tech curve.”
13. Email Course
If you love email, an email course might be your perfect lead magnet.
As with the ebook, don’t provide so much content that you overwhelm your potential customer.
Take a look at content marketing expert Meera Kothand — the queen of creating email courses that are effective lead magnets.
She’s a huge fan of them because they attract prospects who are ready to invest time in their business.
14. Webinar
A webinar is a great lead magnet idea if you teach a process requiring a little more depth than you can offer in a cheat sheet or checklist.
Most webinars are about an hour long, so you’ll have time to dive deeper into your topic.
Video content also increases your conversions as your audience gets to know and trust you more.
Check out Convertkit. They are an expert on increasing conversions, and it uses a webinar as its lead magnet.
First you provide your email address and enter into their sales funnel. Then ConvertKit’s webinar teaches you how to create your own sales funnel to increase sales without being sleazy or pushy.
15. Quiz
Quizzes are fun for the end user. That’s why BuzzFeed creates so many of them.
You can take the same fun energy and curiosity and use it in your own business.
For example, money coach Denise Duffield-Thomas does that with her Money Archetypes Quiz.
Readers take the quiz, and Denise emails them the results along with more information about what each archetype means and how to use that information.
16. Access to a Resource Library
A resource library is a collection of resources like podcasts, webinars, printables, ebooks, etc., that you offer to people when they join your email list.
This is a good option if you’re an experienced content marketer with a large stash of resources to offer your target audience. It’s popular with cooking sites with lots of recipes and crafting sites with lots of patterns.
However, it can also work great in other fields such as digital marketing.
For example, Podcaster Amy Porterfield uses a library of resources to build her email list. Her resource library includes multiple PDF downloads and a masterclass.
As Amy’s prospects learn about building an email list, they enter her sales funnel and get firsthand experience of the experience they could provide to their own audience.
They may also end up buying her Digital Course Academy.
17. Access to a Facebook Community
Access to a Facebook community is essential to many people. It allows like-minded individuals to come together and build a community.
In this example, Superpath offers companionship and networking for content marketers via a Superpath Slack channel.
If Facebook is not your jam, you can build a community on Slack or Discord.
18. Free Consultation
Consultations are great for service providers who work with clients who know they need help but aren’t sure what kind of help.
But keep time limits in mind if you offer free consultations — your time is valuable, so don’t give away too much of it.
Financial coach and CPA Ben Watson of Fiscal Fluency offers a free consultation to help potential customers decide which of his services would be most beneficial.
A coffee chat is a friendly way to advise a potential client while letting them get to know and feel comfortable with you.
19. A Challenge
A challenge can be a fun way to draw people onto your email list.
Again, keep it short and sweet as you want your readers to maintain enthusiasm and finish the challenge.
Personal development coach Calan Breckon gives The Fear Challenge to new email subscribers.
In just five days, he’ll teach you how to beat your fears so you can live a more adventurous life.
20. Software
If your product or service involves software, a free download or update can be a great lead magnet.
It brings users into your product ecosystem because they think of you each time they use the software.
Furthermore, through email marketing, you can build a relationship that leads to paid use of your product or service.
One great example of a software lead magnet is Mint’s free money management software.
Once people use Mint for their budget, it’s easier to continue with Mint for all their money management needs.
21. Pictures or Graphics
Free stock photos or graphics can be an attractive offer as creating quality photos and graphics can be a challenge for some of us (waves hand frantically).
So if you have a talent with the camera and your product or service relates to the need for photos or graphics, this might be your lead magnet of choice.
Prospects can use the photos on social media, their website, and other places they need photos to market their business.
Which Lead Magnet Idea Will You Choose?
Creating the right lead magnet for your business can be intimidating, but with our lead magnet ideas, you’ll find plenty of inspiration.
Whatever your offer, it’s all about getting people onto your email list so you can stay in touch with them and build a long-term relationship. That is how you’ll create a successful business.
Look over our list again and get to work on your lead magnet. The sooner you make it available to your readers, the faster you’ll grow your list.
