A lead magnet is a reward that you offer someone in exchange for their email address.
This website offers visitors the "100k Blog Framework" as a reward in exchange for their email address.
The lead magnet acts as an incentive to encourage people to take action. Without a reason to opt-in, most people will just ignore your website forms.
The popup form on this website does not offer readers a compelling reason to share their email address.
Lead magnets come in many different formats:
- eBook
- Whitepaper
- Checklist
- Resource Guide
- Workbook
- Lookbook
- Swipe File
- Cheat Sheet
- Template
Whatever form it takes, the underlying formula of content in exchange for contact information is what defines the lead magnet strategy.
When there is a fair exchange of value both people are happy.
Why do you need to collect email addresses?
Most of the visitors who land on your website will never return. It’s not that they hate you, it’s just that the Internet is vast and attention spans are short.
Since the process of turning an anonymous website visitor into a paying customer doesn't happen instantly, it's useful to have a way of following up with people after they leave your site.
Despite the popularity of social media and other methods of communication, email is still the most reliable way of nurturing prospective customers.
The importance of conversion rates
Your conversion rate measures the quantity of email addresses you collect on a web page compared to the amount of traffic that it receives. This is typically displayed as a percentage value:
If your website has a high conversion rate then it's making efficient use of the traffic being sent to it.
Since a low conversion rate means that your website is wasting lots of valuable traffic, it's always advisable to increase your conversion rates BEFORE driving more traffic.
Driving traffic to a website with low conversion rates is like pouring water into a leaky bucket. Sure, you'll have some success but your results would be much better if you fixed the holes before first!
What's a typical conversion rate?
The average conversion rate of a web page is around 2%.
Lead magnets have been shown to increase conversion rates to as much as 20%.
This opt-in form will have a low conversion rate.
This opt-in form will have a high conversion rate.
Other benefits of using lead magnets
Increased conversion rates might be the main benefit of using lead magnets but the strategy will also bring you some other results:
Lower Cost Per Lead
If you're using paid traffic acquisition strategies like Facebook Ads then every visitor to your website costs money. By increasing the conversion rates of your key web pages you can generate more leads from the same spend.
Better Qualified Leads
If you want your lead magnet to be attractive to website visitors then it should include helpful content. This content will help to educate prospective customers and move them to the next stage of the buying cycle.
Improved List Segmentation
If your business offers multiple products and services then it's useful to segment your list of emails based on what a potential customer is most interested in so you can send them information about what is relevant to them. The particular lead magnet that someone downloaded is a great indicator of what they are interested in.
Top of Mind
By providing quality content in a lead magnet you can enhance your reputation as a leader in your industry. This helps to differentiate you from competitors so when a prospective customer is ready to make a buying decision they will be more likely to choose you.