Let’s set the scene: you are the king of SEO. Your SEO strategy is in place, and the execution has been done right. Your website generates hundreds, thousands, even millions of views. Bravo… but massive traffic is not an end in itself. If your website doesn’t convert them into leads that are ready to be turned into actual customers, your investment won’t have been worthwhile… unless you are a media that sells display advertising.
But how do you convert your traffic, generate qualified leads and boost your sales performance? This is a mission for the Lead Magnet, a “gift” you give to your audience to encourage them to entrust you with their contact information for marketing and sales purposes.
In this practical guide, Twilead offers to explore the power of the Lead Magnet. The program includes an in-depth definition, figures documenting the performance of the Lead Magnet and the best practices of marketers, an analysis of the different components of a good Lead Magnet, a theoretical typology and then concrete examples of Lead Magnets that convert en masse. Let’s go !
What is a Lead Magnet?
In the broadest sense, a lead magnet is a marketing concept that refers to a service or item offered free of charge in exchange for contact information as part of a lead generation campaign.
Major pillar of the Inbound Marketing strategy, the Lead Magnet usually takes the form of a white paper, an ebook, a newsletter, a webinar, but also a free trial period for software publishers, free consultations for consulting firms, free samples for companies that produce goods… and any other service or item likely to be of sufficient interest to a more or less numerous and more or less qualified target so that it can concede its contact information (and accept to be the object of further commercial and/or marketing communications).
Of course, the Lead Magnet is necessarily a “Gated Content”, or blocked content, whose access is conditioned by an action, usually the fact of providing contact information and signing an opt-in.
Without getting into the psychology of consumption, the Lead Magnet draws its strength from its free nature. An experiment documented by Neil Patel shows this aspect very well. Consumers were asked to choose between:
- A free Amazon Gift Card worth $10;
- An Amazon Gift Card sold for $7 with a value of $20.
It’s simple: 100% of participants chose the free Gift Card, even though they earn less than with the paid Gift Card. In short, consumers prefer free, even if it means losing out on revenue. And because the Lead Magnet is free (financially), it’s a hit with consumers (B2C) and buyers (B2B). It’s up to you to take advantage of this in your Inbound strategy to generate qualified leads that are ready to be transformed into effective customers.
The overwhelming ROI figures for lead magnets
As its name suggests, the Lead Magnet is a real catalyst for lead generation:
- Half of the marketers who mobilize Lead Magnets in the top of the sales funnel(ToFu ) report higher conversion rates (source: wpforms);
- According to the Content Marketing Institute, the three most successful lead magnet “formats” according to marketers are, in that order, in-person events (19%), webinars (16%) and ebooks (13%);
- More than one in two B2B buyers (51%) say they are willing to share their contact information (or their company’s) to sign up for a webinar… making it the most effective lead magnet format(according to a DemandGen survey);
- “Monetary” lead magnets such as coupons, promotions and free shipping perform better in B2C (12.3%) than in B2B (8.4%) according to a GetResponse study;
- According to GetResponse, short Lead Magnets generate the best results. In fact, more than 58% of marketers surveyed believe that newsletters, checklists, infographics and ebook excerpts are more effective than how-to guides, reports, online courses, etc.
- Finally, HubSpot says that the average ebook-style lead magnet is between 5,000 and 10,000 words.
What are the different components of the Lead Magnet?
Whatever the format chosen (white paper, webinar, promotion…), the Lead Magnet must imperatively include certain decisive elements to play its role of mass lead generator:
- A Call to Action (or CTA). It is an image, an animated visual or any other element that attracts the target’s attention to make them click to be redirected to the Lead Magnet. This CTA can be placed on the homepage of your website, but also as a cover photo on your social pages (Facebook and LinkedIn in particular), as a signature in your emails, etc.
- A landing page. This is a page dedicated to the Lead Magnet, to which the link of your Call to Action refers. It must clearly explain what the user will receive in exchange for their contact information. The quality of the Landing Page conditions the performance of your Lead Magnet. That’s why you’ll have to make an effort in copywriting and design so that it can serve your Lead Magnet (we’ll give you our recommendations below).
- The content of the Lead Magnet itself. This includes white papers, webinars, infographics, research reports, etc.
- The Lead Magnet support delivery system. It all depends on your digital maturity, your means and the expected success of your Lead Magnet. You can host your Lead Magnet online and redirect users to the content automatically upon submission of the contact form. You can also schedule an email delivery, which will allow you to add an extra layer of validation to prevent throwaway emails, fake emails, etc. Finally, you can send your Lead Magnet by email in a manual way… even if this approach is not recommended for several reasons: you will make your lead wait, you can miss a form, etc.
Your lead magnet can also include other components depending on your lead generation strategy. Your form can include an email and/or phone number validation system. It can also be connected to a scoring system to help you evaluate leads and prioritize those that are most likely to go on to purchase, etc.
Lead Magnet: 5 golden rules for a Landing Page that converts
The performance of a Lead Magnet is largely conditioned by the quality of the associated Landing Page. Indeed, a content with very high added value can be sabotaged by an orphaned, dull and uninviting form. This is why we have chosen to give you 5 golden rules for a Landing Page that enhances your Lead Magnet.
- Choose an ultra-specific title. Internet users should be able to easily guess the content that will be offered to them for free after submitting the contact form. It may be obvious to say, but we still see some Landing Pages that simply promise “A white paper”, “an ebook” or “a document” without giving any further details. Instead of talking about an “ebook for Facebook advertising, promise “x ultimate templates for Facebook ads that convert like crazy”.
- Numbers, numbers and more numbers. If you offer a LeadGen guide, argue with the revenue your method has generated. If you are proposing a webinar registration, argue with the number (and quality) of expected participants. If you offer automated workflow templates, argue with the time marketers will save, etc.
- A social proof (or Social Proof ). Has your method helped your clients generate results? Don’t hesitate to include positive reviews… taking care to ask for permission from the main people involved, of course.
- A Lead Magnet designed for a restricted target. Universal Lead Magnets may generate a lot of leads, but they will be of poor quality. You will waste time segmenting and prospecting them with a disappointing conversion rate. The best Lead Magnets are aimed at a small but highly qualified target. Don’t lose sight of the objective: generate sales, not ratings!
- Emphasize the instant gratification that your Lead Magnet provides. Use a verbatim that refers to immediacy: “receive immediately…”, “don’t waste any more time on…”, etc. Of course, your lead must be able to download his Lead Magnet as soon as he submits the form. If it is a webinar, he must receive his invitation by email within a minute.
The different formats of Lead Magnets
As you can see from our survey review at the beginning of this article, the most successful lead magnet formats are white papers, in-person events and webinars. But some industries and targets may be more receptive to other formats. Here is an extensive list of the different types of Lead Magnets:
- The white paper, a document that proposes an in-depth reflection on a theme, with data, Insights, advice and/or actionable ideas. It usually takes the form of a PDF document.
- The webinar, a live and interactive session on a given topic, which continues to perform even after the event thanks to a video on demand. The emergence of free webinar delivery and management platforms has propelled this format in recent years, especially after the health crisis and social distancing measures.
- A sector study, an opinion poll.
- The “How to” guide. It is a practical PDF document that details the steps to follow to complete a task, build a strategy, deploy a tactic, etc.
- Template compilation. These are turnkey templates to simplify certain tasks. These can be templates for PPT presentations, for creating white papers, B2B prospecting emails, etc.
- Checklists, which list the various tasks to be performed in order to successfully implement a strategy, tactic, campaign, etc.
- Free product samples for companies that produce goods.
- Free trials for companies that publish software solutions.
- Free consultations for consulting and expertise firms.
- Case studies or customer cases.
- Online courses.
- Quizzes…
5 examples of Lead Magnets that have outperformed!
To inspire you, here are five examples of Lead Magnets that have generated massive leads!
#1 Hootsuite Online Courses
As a social media management tool, Hootsuite has focused on a series of online courses for beginners to popularize certain concepts and educate. The verbatim used on the Landing Page refers to ease: ” Learn at your own pace “, ” Social networking basics “, ” develop valued skills”, etc. People who take these courses will inevitably need a social media management solution… and that will be Hootsuite!
#2 Faguo’s “Spin to Win
Let’s move on to B2C with this “wheel of fortune” by Faguo, a specialist in footwear, ready-to-wear and luggage. The concept is as old as the hills, but it is still devilishly effective. If the prize is valuable enough for your target, you should be generating leads in spades. Here, Faguo offers the target a chance to win a pair of exclusive shoes in exchange for their email.
#3 The compilation of Success Stories for inspiration
Are you marketing a tool you believe in? There is nothing more selling than to compile the success stories it has generated. Here, Shogun, an e-commerce website builder, has compiled the top 25 landing pages created by its clients for a Shopify e-store. This document also offers comments and tips on how to use these examples to boost the sales performance of the online stores concerned.
#4 The ultra-practical checklist
Sometimes, simply compiling or summarizing is enough to create value, without necessarily producing 100% original and unpublished content. This is the purpose of “checklist” or “mind map” formats, which simply list the steps to be taken, the conditions to be fulfilled or the tasks to be carried out in order to achieve a given objective.
Here are two examples, with a checklist of the best KPIs to track to measure the success of SaaS, and another to ensure the success of your business meetings.
#5 Practical and instantaneous tools
Are you a real estate agency? You can develop a tool that estimates the value of a property based on different criteria (area, location, etc.). Are you an SEO agency? You can develop a tool that evaluates the SEO score of a page or a website. Do you market nutritional supplements? Why not develop a small computer program to assess the deficiencies of consumers based on their diet?
In short, it will offer an online service, ultra-practical and instantaneous to generate leads in mass. In the following example, HubSpot offers “Marketing Grader”, a free tool that rates your website in seconds.
To conclude on the Lead Magnet
The Lead Magnet is a powerful tool that will fuel your lead generation strategy, provided you find the right inspiration and above all master your buyer personas. Many companies have literally taken off with a successful lead magnet. Contrary to what you might think, a good lead magnet does not necessarily require you to break the bank. Sometimes all it takes is compiling your best blog posts into a coherent white paper, documenting a customer case, or developing an ultra-practical checklist to get the ball rolling.
If you also enroll your Lead Magnet in an automated campaign via Twilead, you’re guaranteed to blow up your pipeline and your calendar with high-potential sales opportunities. It’s up to you!
