Do Lead Magnets Work? [5.5 Steps to Make a Lead Magnet Effective]
Written by Michael Cheney. Posted on 19th February 2021
If you're building an email list you might ask - do lead magnets work? Yes - lead magnets still work, this guide shows you the right way...
I'm going to show you how to build an effective lead magnet, step by step.
But first, here's your quick answer to your question, if you're in a hurry;
Do Lead Magnets Work?
Yes. But only if you follow these 5.5 simple steps;
1. Find a Hungry Crowd
2. Uncover Pain Points and Desires
3. Create the Perfect Lead Magnet Combining Needs and Wants
4. Promote Your Lead Magnet
5. Drive Targeted Traffic
5.5 Be Consistent in Your Follow-Up
Here's Why You Need a Lead Magnet
When you do this correctly, I'll show you how, it can be the life blood of your online business.
I've attracted hundreds of thousands of leads using lead magnets.
Yes it still works, here's how to make your lead magnet effective...
Before you start creating your lead magnet, or dreaming of building a huge email list, you need to find the right crowd for your offer.
If you've already done all this, then follow this simple guide which shows you how to create a lead magnet in 19 minutes or less.
Niche selection is often forgotten by entrepreneurs;
They just dive into creating an offer or a lead magnet, because of some specialist knowledge.
You need to find people who WANT something, first.
Don't create a lead magnet, then work out how you're going to find people who want that item.
This is backwards. If you're struggling to get a good email sign up rate, this could be why.
Lots of entrepreneurs contact me, asking;
Do Lead Magnets Still Work?
Yes, they still work.
But you need to find the right audience first, before you do anything else.
This means putting in the time to scour the internet looking for where your target audience hangs out.
The key signs that you have found a hungry crowd worth pursuing are;
- They have a problem they want to solve
- It needs to be a problem which keeps them awake at night
- They are passionate about one topic and love to talk about it
- They would do almost anything (including spending money) to solve the problem
- They congregate in certain place online, and are easy to track down
- Other businesses already target them, with their solutions
You are only going to find all these factors, if you put the time in.
You will become adept at finding hot niches, when you do this often enough.
It could be something as simple as browsing the magazine rack in a store, looking at the Amazon bestseller lists or doing a bit of keyword research on Google.
"One of the easiest ways to pinpoint a hungry crowd, is if you are already in that crowd yourself."
You know what your problems are, how you think and what keeps YOU awake at night (or has in the past).
If you've overcome a particular problem, have a potential solution, but can also relate to people who still struggle with it, then your hungry crowd could be right in front of you.
But just finding the hungry crowd, is not enough.
You also need to...
The twin forces of pain and desire are what drive all buying decisions.
If someone is in enough pain they will do anything to get out of that pain.
This doesn't have to be physical pain, of course.
Quite often - mental pain or worry will drive us to take action on something, when physical pain or discomfort would not.
Desire also drives purchasing decisions, but to a lesser extent.
"People will do more to avoid discomfort, than they will to get pleasure."
In your research, you want to find both, but pay particular attention to the common pain points which crop up.
What you're looking for here is early buying signals;
Key trigger points which clearly show you a person wants to make a change, wants to take action to solve their problem, and is ready to spend money in order to get a solution.
You need to drill down into a lot of detail here;
- Which words do the prospects use to describe the problem?
- How are they feeling right now?
- What is causing them the most discomfort?
- Why are they "hurting" so bad?
"One of the best ways to find niche pain-points, is to do a simple Amazon book search."
Just find book titles which address this problem.
Let's say you're targeting the hungry crowd of insomniacs - people who have trouble sleeping.
A quick search on Amazon shows this as the current bestseller "Say Goodnight to Insomnia";
You just take a quick look at the reviews, and you start to get a picture of how this particular hungry crowd describes their feelings and problems;
This is gold.
You can now start to use some of this language as you create your Lead Magnet.
You may even get ideas from this research on what to call your Lead Magnet and how to position it.
So do lead magnets work? If you do this kind of research then, YES, they most certainly do!
Common themes may occur in the reviews, which provide you with a structure for various modules, components or chapters in the Lead Magnet you decide to give away.
Okay, now it's time to...
So you've found a hungry crowd, dived into their pain points, and discovered how they describe their problems.
You now need to take this information and just dream up what would be a perfect Lead Magnet solution for these people.
In our insomnia example, it could be something like;
"The 5-Minute, Fast-Asleep Guide for Insomniacs"
You want to hit home with the name and title of your Lead Magnet.
"Free Report" or "Free Video" just won't cut it.
Give it a meaningful name - this conveys what it will do for people.
It also gives it a more tangible nature - as if it is actually something physical which people can grab hold of.
You need to make your digital Lead Magnet an OBJECT, not just a concept.
How Can You Make a Lead Magnet Effective?
Focus on the pain and the desire with the title of your Lead Magnet.
You should also be using the power words and triggers you uncovered from the earlier research stage too.
Don't get into the nuts and bolts of what the Lead Magnet includes.
You don't want to reveal everything here.
"Focus on the pain they have, the fact your Lead Magnet will help solve it, and how they get it."
If you try and explain its contents too much, they will assume they know what it's about, and not even bother getting it.
You also need to be mindful of the way you deliver the Lead Magnet.
Is your audience more used to seeing video content, written information or audio files?
Don't do it a specific way just because you think it's cool, "current" or easier for you to do.
"Fit your delivery mechanism to the wants and desires of your audience."
There are plenty of free tools out there, when it comes to actually creating your Lead Magnet.
You can use Audacity to create a free audio file.
There are lots of PDF Creators to create reports (or you could just "Save As PDF" using MS-Word).
And Techsmith has a great, screen recording software you can use to record what you are seeing on your screen.
Easier still - just hit RECORD on your smartphone and make a video, IF, this type of content is something your audience is used to consuming.
Okay, now let's move onto how you...
Promotion is key, obviously.
You want to promote your Lead Magnet everywhere you can.
Leverage any existing assets you have, by promoting your Lead Magnet on;
- Your Facebook header, About section, profile and pages
- Your LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram profiles
- Business cards
On your website itself, you want to promote the Lead Magnet in as many places as you can, without looking like a clickbait factory!
"I recommend using time-delay pop-up for desktop viewers on most of your pages."
You will also want to implement a "click to pop" link, or image, which promotes your Lead Magnet.
This way, mobile users (who won't see any timed pop-ups), will be able to click to launch an optin pop up box to the LeadMagnet and join your list.
In longer content, you might want to have such a trigger image occur two or three times.
It's also a great idea to sign off all your content pieces with a call to action to get your Lead Magnet.
I also recommend you create a dedicated page on your website for your Lead Magnet.
These landing page examples will give you ideas of how to do this.
This page will be solely focused on getting people to join your email list.
You can then link to this page from other content.
You can even promote this page directly from your socials so people don't have to click around your website to find it.
How Many Lead Magnets Should You Have?
This is a great question.
Ideally, you should have as many Lead Magnets, as you do have types of content.
So if you have content about insomnia, you should have a Lead Magnet for that.
If you also have content about stress, then you should create a stress-specific Lead Magnet, for that.
And so on.
This is easier said than done, however.
When you first start out you will probably just want to get a Lead Magnet up and running, fast.
One is better than none.
But eventually you will want to customize things even more.
You are going to have a more effective Lead Magnet, if it is tailored specifically to the type of audience (and problem), that viewers to a certain page attracts.
Now let's move onto the Next Step...
We've already spoken about some simple ways you can get visitors to see your Lead Magnet.
The key to success with all this is - TARGETED TRAFFIC.
Not just any kind of traffic - but people who have the exact problem your Lead Magnet helps to solve.
These prospects need to be at the right phase in the life cycle of this problem too;
Not too early, because then they won't be too worried about it, and won't be ready to take action to solve it.
Not too late, that they've already learned to live with it, or already found an alternative solution.
"Your success with Lead Magnets comes down to SEARCH INTENT."
Knowing why visitors are coming to your website, what they are likely to be searching for when they're at the golden "I need to solve this now" phase of their journey.
This is key.
You can get all the other components right, but if you don't send visitors to your website who are desperate for a solution, your Lead Magnet will not be effective.
And even if your Lead Magnet does start building you a big email list, your mission is far from over...
Because you need to...
I mean consistency in two ways here;
1. Consistent, regular email follow-ups, educate, entertain, inform and move the prospect to the sale
2. Consistent messaging and directions being used in the Lead Page promise, inside the Lead Page itself and in the follow-up emails you send out
Opt in to your own email funnel;
- Does it make sense?
- Are there any disconnects?
- Are you giving people what you promised (and more?).
- Does the Lead Magnet truly help people with the pain they had, yet open the way for you to offer a more in-depth paid solution?
Remember; your Lead Magnet determines the type of people you will be building your entire business around.
Get the positioning wrong, out of the gate, and you won't be able to claw it back.
You want qualified people, with the problem you can solve, who are actually willing (and financially able) to do something about it.
