What is a lead magnet?
A lead magnet is free, downloadable content in exchange for an email address.
We’ve all done it. We’ve all been to a site and entered an email address for a cool checklist or a free coupon. Almost every major retail site has some sort of reward or free coupon in exchange for an email.
That’s a lead magnet.
Lead magnets help you grow your email list. They come in many different forms and can differ from website to website, but they always offer something of value to the visitor that is relevant to them in exchange for an email address.
If you have an email signup on your website without a lead magnet, then chances are you aren’t getting very many signups.
But that’s not all.
Aside from helping your email list grow faster, lead magnets also help you attract the very specific audience you cater to. With the right email magnet, only ideal customers will be enticed, putting more of the right people in your marketing funnel.
Why is email so important?
There are around 3.9 billion active email users worldwide. This number is expected to grow to 4.3 billion by 2023. That’s half of the world’s population.
The average open rate for a welcome email is 50%.
The average return for every $1 spent on email marketing is $42.
These simple statistics are the tip of the iceberg and easily show how important email marketing is.
An email has value and is a sign of trust that they are putting in your business. An email is one of the most valuable things a visitor to your website can give.
An email opens a person up to receive consistent communication from your company. It also opens you up to being able to offer more value to your visitors.
They expect it.
Nothing will make someone unsubscribe faster than a newsletter that doesn’t offer some sort of value to the reader or that comes across as too hard a sell.
Email marketing is just as effective as ever and should be a key to jumpstarting your marketing efforts.
Email marketing helps build an audience and grow your business.
A lead magnet is a gateway for your visitor to become part of your audience. The initial give gets them in your funnel, but it’s your job to keep them there and to get them to not just trust you but to like you as well.
You do that by living up to your promise of giving something of value consistently.
When you give your visitors something valuable for free, they are more likely to reciprocate. The more consistently you provide value, the more you add to the trust your audience has put in you.
And the more you give, the more likely they are to reciprocate and not only buy your product or service but also help spread your message and share your content.
This is the key to growing your business, and it’s why that initial give is so important. Value is the key that starts the engine. Value moves someone into your funnel and on the path to becoming a consumer of your product or services.
Make your lead magnet relevant to your ideal audience.
It needs to solve a problem your visitors have or offer them the information they specifically want. Too generic a lead magnet can lead to too generic a customer.
It needs to make a promise and deliver.
Your lead magnet needs to make a promise to deliver on solving a specific problem, and it needs to deliver on that promise. Otherwise, your audience will opt out at the first opportunity.
Keep it short and sweet.
Your ideal audience doesn’t want to download a 900-page book. That’s why e-books don’t do well as lead magnets.
It needs to have value for your ideal audience.
Just simply saying we’ll send you a weekly newsletter isn’t enough. You need to have something specific and easily consumable.
