What is a lead magnet and how to implement it

The road from a prospect to a customer is a lengthy one. It takes great effort to convert visitors to leads, which is why it’s important to do it correctly, should you not want your effort to be in vain. Let’s not kid ourselves; the whole point of having a business is being able to sell the products or services to the interest parties. But, in order to ultimately sell that product/service, you’ll first, have to attract potential customers. And what better way to do so than to have them, willingly, leave their contact information? That’s where lead magnets come into the picture. Now, you may be wondering what is a lead magnet and how you can implement it, as such, but you needn’t worry as we’re here to answer your queries.

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is the essence of digital marketing. In general, it is a tool that businesses use to gather visitors’ contact information. Typically, it’s represented in form of something of value that is being given away for free in exchange for a person’s, most commonly, email address. It’s also not unusual for the business to ask for additional information, such as first and last name, and/or phone number.

There are plenty of examples of lead magnets. Some of the common ones include eBooks, leaflets, tutorials, templates, and more.

Implementing lead magnets in digital marketing

The goal of lead magnets is simple. To gather contact details in order to improve conversion rates. But the question is, how can one implement them to ensure success? Well, for instance, you can:

• Take note of a specific problem that the target audience is facing.
• Create content that discusses the said issue.
• Flash lead magnets across your website.
• Make sure you drive traffic to the said lead magnets.
• Wait for people to sign up.

Lead magnet implementation from the perspective of various industries

Now, you may think that lead magnets are useful only for a particular type of business. The truth is, virtually any business can make use of them. Here are a couple of examples of how different companies can benefit from adequate lead magnet implementation.

A company selling some type of software, for instance, callback software, can use lead magnets to take a look into a particular feature that their potential customers would like included in it. On another note, business service providers can use them to figure out whom their sales department can contact. Bloggers oftentimes utilize lead magnets as they, ultimately, help them gain followers, but also, give them direct contact with someone potentially interested in affiliate offers. Furthermore, e-commerce websites can use lead magnets as a way to present their subscribers with promotional offers.

Different businesses, in general, don’t have different definitions of what a lead magnet is. But, as seen above, they do have different ways of implementing it.

And while most lead magnets are designed to collect nothing but a prospect’s email address, in certain cases, additional information is collected with the sole purpose of lead qualification. Lead qualification is, essentially, a practice common among businesses whose products/services are sold at greater prices. It’s a process that helps them determine whether a particular prospect would actually become a valuable customer – someone who will actually use what they are selling.

No leads are created equal. With that said, it’s important for a company to attract high-quality leads that will, in turn, drive the conversation rates through the roof. The purpose of lead engagement software is to help determine who is worth the effort. Thanks to it, businesses are able to target a specific audience; The specific audience that can, ultimately, lead the business to success.

Adequate presentation of lead magnets

Most, if not all, lead magnets are presented as a sign-up form whose purpose is to collect information. Nowadays, anyone with even a remote idea of how digital marketing works should be able to spot the lead magnet when they see one. It typically all looks like this:

• Lead magnet on the landing page. It’s a pretty common occurrence for a lead magnet to have its own, separate page on the website. Generally, the said page consists of a heading, a copy, a picture (or a few), and a sign-up form that’s located at the bottom of the page.
• Redirection to the thank-you page. Once proper information has been filled in, visitors are usually taken to a new page on the website that thanks them for their submission. The thank-you page might also include the link to the downloadable content.
• A thank-you email. Instead of being redirected to a separate page, prospects could receive a thank-you email that contains a link to the promised resource.

Lead magnets don’t necessarily need to have their own pages. In fact, they are more often than not presented in form of pop-ups, sidebars, or rather, call-to-action buttons.

What is a lead magnet that brings results?

A lead magnet that brings results is one that is:

• Specific. It’s important for it to attract the target audience and provide it with a specific solution to their problem.
• Valuable. Otherwise, you can kiss goodbye to converting prospects to leads. Offer prospects something that they cannot say no to, something that will make them return to the website wanting more.
• Unique. Convince the potential-future customers that you have something that your competitors cannot match.
• Easy and fast to consume. The attention span of an average prospect is short. That means that, should you want your marketing strategy to be a success, your lead magnet will have to be something that’s easy and fast to consume.

Testing the waters

Knowing full well what is a lead magnet should help businesses drive higher traffic to their website. However, as no strategy is foolproof and guaranteed to work across all industries, it’s best to, first, test the waters. Implement lead magnets in a couple of ways to determine what it is that works best for your target audience.