Lead Magnets

Everyone loves free stuff. They love it, even more, when that free stuff solves a problem they’ve been grappling with. That’s what lead magnets do, and that’s why writing lead magnets is a must-do if you want a steady stream of new leads coming your way. 

It’s a win-win situation. You supply a powerful, problem-solving lead magnet and in return, you get the email address of a lead who has a genuine interest in what you’re offering. 

It’s a simple concept, but it’s difficult to execute. 

It takes careful planning, meticulous execution and a whole lot of follow-up to work, but more on that later. A copywriting service can take all of this off your hands. Writing lead magnets is their bread and butter because almost every switched-on business uses them. 

Still not 100% convinced that lead magnets are the way to go? Then let’s break it down some more. 

Do lead magnets work?

The short answer is yes.

Lead magnets go hand in hand with landing pages. You create a lead magnet and then you create a landing page to promote it. And what’s the average landing page conversion rate across industries? A very pleasing 12.4%. 

So, if 100 people arrive on the landing page for your lead magnet, then, on average, 12 of them will give you their email addresses to get their hands on what you’re offering. That’s 12 more people you can win over into becoming your customers with your charming follow-up emails. 

And remember, these people were drawn to the specific contents of your lead magnet. They are everyone’s favourite type of lead – qualified leads. 

So that’s the maths behind it. But why does this work? Here comes the psychology bit. 

Free stuff has humans chomping at the bit because of the zero price effect. 

Usually, when we pay for stuff, we weigh up the cost with the benefits. When a product gets cheaper, more people want it. When that same product gets pricier, fewer people want it. But when that product becomes free, everybody wants it. 

The zero price effect reveals that when something is free, we don’t weigh up the cost and benefits anymore. In fact, when the cost is zero, suddenly we can’t see any downsides, just an inflated sense of all those wonderful benefits we’ll get. 

Of course, a lead magnet is free for your readers, but it costs you time, resources and therefore money. Mess up your lead magnet and you won’t just miss out on a great ROI, you’ll have wasted your money. That’s why it can quite literally pay to get the professionals in (that’s us) if you’re thinking about writing lead magnets. 

So what does a kickass lead magnet look like?

What is a lead magnet?

Broadly speaking, it’s a ‘high-value something’ you offer to a prospect in exchange for their email address and their consent to receive future emails.

That ‘something’ can come in many shapes and sizes, including: 

• Automated evaluations
• Cheat sheets
• eBooks
• Editable templates 
• Informational videos
• Guides
• Printables
• Reports
• Quizzes
• Webinars
• White papers.

This list really could go on and on. Whatever format your lead magnet takes, it needs to have four key qualities: 

1. Be fast-acting 

Like an antacid, your lead magnet needs to get to work straight away to solve your reader’s problem. This gives them a taste of what having a relationship with your business will be like – instantly gratifying.

2. Be relevant

The most relevant lead magnets are always super specific. Taking a broad strokes approach doesn’t satisfy anyone. Find your niche within a niche, address a very specific problem, and you’ll be best placed to provide a comprehensive solution. 

3. Be valuable

If everything in your lead magnet is what a reader could find out with a quick Google, they will feel duped. You need to add real value to your lead magnet, so your reader feels that they are getting more than they expected.

4. Be good for business 

This may sound obvious, but your lead magnet shouldn’t be so good that your reader no longer needs your services or product. By all means, be generous with the value you’re adding but hold a little back so your reader will take the next step with you.

How to create a lead magnet

You can’t dive straight into writing lead magnets until you’ve put some thought into their planning. It starts with answering these three questions: 

1) Which buyer persona are you writing your lead magnet for? 

2) What is the value proposition of your lead magnet?

3) What is the format of your lead magnet? 

Let’s cut through the marketing-speak and tackle each of these in turn. 

Choose your buyer persona

Buyer personas are also known as client avatars or ideal clients. They are data-driven, deep dives into the back stories, wants, needs and preferences of your imaginary perfect client – not your average client but the one you dream of filling your client list with. 

Buyer personas read like stories, but they aren’t written for entertainment value. 

They are the touchpoint for every piece of marketing and advertising you put out there. They anchor the tone of your copy and ensure that whatever you write hits the mark with this imagined perfect client. And this includes your lead magnets. 

You’ll note the mention of buyer personas, plural. 

You should have several different buyer personas that reflect the ideal client in your different target audiences. Ideally, you need a lead magnet for every buyer persona you have. 

To get started, pick the buyer persona that is most important to you – the one that reflects the section of the market where you most want to extend your reach and grow. 

Define your value proposition

The value proposition of your lead magnet refers to the benefits (value) you promise to deliver in exchange for a potential lead’s email address. 

If you’ve already got yourself some comprehensive buyer personas, this is easy enough to identify because you already know what your ideal client needs. You can, therefore, create a lead magnet that caters to this need. 

This is not the place for guesswork. 

If you’re unsure what the needs or pain points are for the leads you want to target, you need to do the research first. 

Pick your format

Almost anything can be considered a lead magnet if you pop it behind a sign-up page in exchange for an email address. But in reality, when choosing the format for your lead magnet, you need to keep speed in mind. 

You should be able to deliver your lead magnet quickly and in a format that your leads can consume easily. 

This doesn’t mean webinars and long-form guides don’t work. They do. But they are designed to make it easy for folks to digest the information presented. This means great signposting, engaging content and clear chunking of individual concepts, ideas or solutions. 

So which is better, video or written content? It’s a tie. Both come up trumps as high conversion formats. This is where you should play to your strengths by picking a format that you feel confident with.

Creating your lead magnet

Now you know who you’re writing for, what problem you’re solving and the format you’re using, it’s time to start creating your lead magnet. 

A good starting point is to write your headline. It will feature front and centre on the landing page to promote your lead magnet, so it needs to be attention-grabbing. 

Don’t be clever. Be crystal clear instead. This is not the same as being boring. 

Leave out the puns and witticisms. Add in the intriguing adjectives, be super specific and try putting a number on it. “Five Proven Strategies to Double Your Leads in 30 Days” sounds a lot better than “How to Grow Your Leads”.

Your headline should guide the direction and structure of your lead magnet. Crafting cracking content from this point takes practice. There is no magic formula. 

Unsurprisingly, copywriting services have practised this to perfection and can give you the confidence of having a lead magnet that pleases instead of disappoints. This isn’t just about providing helpful, engaging and accessible content. It’s also about the design, visuals and attention to detail. 

Your lead magnet is a bit like a movie trailer. It should leave your leads thinking about you, talking about you with their friends and wanting more of you. 

Even the smallest of errors, from typos to weird formatting, come off as sloppy and can detract from the value you’re providing. That’s down to another little bit of psychology called negativity bias – we notice and remember bad stuff more than good stuff.

Your lead magnet needs to be as perfect as a Marvel movie trailer. Don’t leave it to chance. Get professional lead magnet copywriters to take care of it for you. 

Once you’ve been handed your spangly, new lead magnet, what comes next? 

How to follow up on your lead magnet 

Your lead magnet is just the beginning. Now you’ve got those precious email addresses, you need to keep them. We’re not asking you to breach the UK GDPR though. Criminality isn’t a good look for any business. 

You need to work hard to keep those leads engaged – hitting unsubscribe is all too easy – but you also need to move them along your marketing funnel and turn them into paying customers. 

This is what an email nurture sequence is designed to do. 

But don’t pull a Jekyll and Hyde. Your leads handed over their email addresses because you promised to give them something of value. Your email nurture sequence needs to continue to add value, so avoid turning into a pushy salesperson. 

Instead, tailor individual emails to specific pain points, provide that value and also offer the opportunity to convert. Speaking of tailoring, your entire email sequence should speak to that buyer persona you picked back when you first created your lead magnet. 

A powerful lead magnet combined with a well-crafted email nurture sequence is a proven way to grow your leads and your customers. In fact, almost 60% of businesses see at least a 10% increase in sales opportunities after lead nurturing. 

So why wait? 

Get the complete package – powerful, problem-solving lead magnets, conversion-crushing landing pages and profit-boosting email nurture sequences – all under one roof. Book a discovery call with us today.