How to Create a Lead Magnet That Converts? Examples and Ideas

Have you decided to create a lead magnet but aren't sure where to start? Then, our article will help you put everything in perspective. We will tell you exactly what the incentives for lead generation are. We'll show you where to find ideas for high-quality content, what form to convert it into, and how to write and design the text. We'll also explain how to promote a ready-made lead magnet and what to do with it next. 

This article will also be helpful for those readers who already have a ready-made lead magnet but aren't getting the expected conversion from it. We will analyze what to look for to identify possible problems with the quality of the content or its distribution.

As a result, this article will help you understand how to create a good lead magnet that will generate customers.  

What is a Lead Magnet and Do They Really Work?

The answer to how to create a great lead magnet is simple — offer your target audience something valuable. Then, people will be more willing to share their personal information with you (at least provide an email).

When it comes to what lead magnets consumers like, you should focus on your specific audience. Take a look at what your direct competitors offer. Also, pay attention to various studies about creating a lead magnet. For instance, according to one survey of marketers, 47% of respondents said that video and written lead magnets have the highest conversion rates. That's good news for small businesses and bloggers who can't afford monetary incentives. Let's take a look at the entire list of the best lead magnets according to this study:

• videos — 24.2% of respondents
• text files (guides, ebooks, checklists, etc.) — 22.8% of respondents
• visuals (templates, infographics) — 11.8% of respondents
• tools or access to something — 11.8% of respondents
• monetary incentives — 10.5% of respondents 
• interactives — 7.7% of respondents
• audio (podcasts, etc.) — 6.1% of respondents

Next, you might be wondering what is a good lead magnet conversion rate. The general rule is that the higher, the better. A study on the effectiveness of lead magnet landing pages found that their average conversion rate is 18%. Here are the best converting lead magnet types based on the statistics:

• Cheat sheet — 34%
• Checklist — 27%
• Ebook — 24%
• Mini-course — 22%
• Coupon — 20%
• Quiz — 18%
• Webinar — 17%
• Templates — 15%
• Case study — 12%
• Free consultation — 9%

By the way, if you're interested in landings, you might want to check out our article on lead magnet landing page examples.

What Makes It High-Converting

Now, let's go into more detail about how to create a lead magnet that converts. First, we will outline what key characteristics it should meet:

• Value-driven: offers something of tangible value.
• Relevant: aligns with the needs or interests of the target audience.
• Specific: solves a particular problem or answers a question.
• Actionable: provides immediate use or valuable insights for the user.
• Easy to consume: quick and easy to access or implement.

Let’s examine how these principles can be applied in a real-life example. Cosmetics brand Vichy uses an AI tool on its website as an enticing lead magnet. It analyzes the quality of your skin and provides personalized skincare recommendations. This aligns with the first two principles we discussed: the visitor is offered a valuable service that caters to their interests and needs.

Initially, the user answers several questions in a multi-step lead capture form, including gender, age, skin issues, skin tone, location (under the guise of assessing environmental factors), and SPF protection. By collecting this information, the company can effectively segment users and create more personalized offers once they provide their email.

Next, the system scans the uploaded selfie and evaluates the information provided, generating an assessment with recommendations for cosmetic products to enhance skin quality. This addresses two more principles: specificity (with personalized scan results) and actionability (as it suggests specific products along with explanations of their benefits).

If users wish to receive a comprehensive report with these recommendations for easy reference, they are prompted to share their email — effectively implementing the final principle of being easy to consume.

Obviously, not everyone can afford to use advanced technology like Vichy’s AI tool, but the key is to understand the essence of a lead magnet and adapt it to your product or service. For example, an online cosmetics store, spa, or beauty blogger could offer their audience a digital skincare calendar or planner as a lead magnet. Here’s how it aligns with the core principles:

• Value: users receive a free tool that helps make their skincare routine more effective, track progress, and improve results over time.
• Relevance: people following skincare routines often look for ways to stay consistent, explore new treatments, or monitor their skin’s progress.
• Specific: tailored for different skin types and concerns, the planner helps users build a routine that suits them.
• Actionable: once downloaded, users can immediately start filling in their daily skincare habits, set goals, and track progress. Beauty salons could include advice on scheduling treatments based on specific skin needs, while online stores could recommend seasonal skincare products.
• Easy to consume: the planner can be offered as a simple PDF, designed for easy use with sections for morning and evening routines.

Try this template

Why You Need Lead Magnets in Your Marketing Funnel

Creating the best lead magnet will be worth the effort, as using it to grow your email list brings many benefits. Let’s break them down. 

Kickstart сustomer relationships

Lead magnets are the perfect icebreakers with new website visitors who don’t yet know you well. By offering something valuable, you encourage people who are already interested in your niche to connect with you. 

Learn what your audience needs

Learning a person’s specific pain points, interests, etc., allows you to send them personalized content. Targeted lead magnets capture people who are generally more interested in your product. So, you'll spend less on acquisition while getting more qualified leads. 

Reconnect with website visitors

Lead magnets help capture those visitors who checked out your site but didn’t convert on the spot. With their email in hand, you can retarget them. 

Promote more offers

After converting a visitor into a subscriber, it's your job to turn them into a customer. Now, you can provide them with more interesting offers, which increases the likelihood of selling your products or services.

Organic traffic growth potential

Great lead magnets can even spread on their own! When people get something useful, some of them share the interesting find with their friends, post it on social media, and so on. This is a chance for you to get additional leads.

Not sure how to incorporate this approach into your marketing strategy? Check out our article on how to build a lead magnet funnel.

Step-by-Step Guide to Create a Lead Magnet for a Website That Converts

The process of working with effective lead capture incentives is divided into three main stages: preparation, the lead magnet creation, and subsequent improvement and scaling of the workflow.

Step 1: Know Your Audience

The quality of the future lead magnet and its effectiveness depend on this initial stage. Therefore, the lead magnet creator should work well in the preparation phase.

Email list building is great, but it won't be effective if your subscribers aren’t interested in what you offer. To create quality lead magnets that genuinely connect, you need to understand your audience on a deeper level. Here's how:

• Use tools like surveys, social media polls, and interviews to learn more about customers' pain points and goals. What questions do people ask you or your support team the most? If you find yourself answering the same questions all the time, that’s your cue!
• Look at the questions people ask on other blogs and social media threads. Head to the comment section of videos or posts from creators in your niche to discover what audiences are curious about. This is a goldmine for finding topics of interest!
• Analyze your audience's demographics and your customers' behavioral patterns. Study their feedback, etc. All this can provide important insights into the pain points of your potential clients. 
• Think about the biggest challenges your audience faces. Could you offer a simple solution or maybe the first step toward solving their problem? Providing a resource that gets them started in the right direction will instantly grab their attention.

Step 2: Define Lead Magnet Goals

Before you begin creating a lead magnet, set clear goals. They will guide the development process and ensure the final product aligns with your overall business strategy. Consider the following common objectives:

• Brand awareness: introduce your brand to a wider audience and establish yourself as an industry expert.
• Lead generation: attract leads and capture the contact information of potential customers.
• Lead nurturing: engage, nurture, and convert existing leads.
• Lead qualification: identify new leads with the highest potential to become customers.
• Educational content: provide valuable information to educate and inform your audience.
• Relationship building: cultivate relationships with prospects and build brand loyalty.

Step 3: Decide on a Lead Magnet 

Next, decide what type of lead magnet you want to use so that it fully addresses the topic of interest or helps solve a problem and meets your goals. Here are examples of how different types of content meet these conditions:

• eBooks or guides are a format for in-depth coverage of a specific topic. They typically include several types of content that can be popular lead magnets on their own, such as infographics, checklists, cheat sheets, and case studies.
• Templates and checklists are handy tools that can help solve a specific task quickly and in a focused way.
• Webinars are an interactive way of teaching, explaining a concept, etc.       
• Video tutorials are designed to explain something step-by-step and demonstrate how to learn something.

When deciding how long a lead magnet should be, focus on the topic you want to cover. Also, we can refer to a study to find out what formats people prefer in general. According to the survey, 73% of marketers surveyed said short-form videos have a higher conversion rate than long-form ones. These can be video clips, quick tutorials, and video samples. For text lead magnets, 58.6% of respondents reported higher conversion rates for short-form formats and 41.4% for long-form.

We have prepared some practical tips on creating a written lead magnet. They are flexible and suitable for products of any length.

Step 4: Write an Effective Lead Magnet

First, briefly introduce the lead magnet and explain to the user what to expect from the document. You can add a few key facts, figures, etc. This should grab the reader's attention from the start. Overall, the content of the lead magnet should be truly unique and full of insights and discoveries or data that cannot be found on Google. 

For instance, our team has developed a helpful document with ideas for A/B testing email collection forms. Each idea is accompanied by information showing the potential conversion rate increase. This way, users testing with our tips will clearly understand what to expect from each approach described. If you're interested in this testing guide, feel free to download it and experiment as you wish!

Focus on solving a person's problem and demonstrate that the lead magnet is the solution. Provide tips with concrete steps and encourage readers to take specific actions related to your product/service. Explain how these actions will improve a person's life or work.

Add calls to action in appropriate places. They should be clear and emphasize the benefits for the lead. 

Step 5: Design the Lead Magnet

Your lead magnet should be attractive, professional, and easy to read. Here's how to achieve this.

Visuals

Break up large blocks of text with visuals such as images, infographics, and illustrations. Often, lead magnets include stock images that are difficult to customize to the brand style you want to follow. Instead, try generating images using AI services. Check out our article on image generators; you may find one of them useful.

Also, consider the following tips:

• Opt for easy-to-read fonts like Helvetica, Arial, or Montserrat. Limit yourself to no more than three styles (bold, semi-bold, italic). Use a decorative accent font for headings and a basic font for main text.
• Ensure proper spacing between lines (120% of text size is recommended).
• Highlight key information: use bold, italics, or underlining to emphasize important points.

Incorporate your brand's logo, color palette, and overall aesthetic throughout the design. Using no more than five colors for visuals and text is advisable.

Structure and Navigation

Divide your lead magnet into sections and subsections with headings and subheadings. Break up large blocks of text into smaller paragraphs, lists, and bullet points. If the document has more than two pages, it is better to number them. This will help the user to know which page they are on at any given time. Add links within your document to specific sections for easy navigation.

Mobile-Friendliness

To avoid puzzling over how to design a lead magnet for mobile users, just create it in a vertical A4 sheet format. The font size for the main text should be 10-14 points to be readable on both desktop and mobile screens. For headings and subheadings, use a font a couple of points larger than the main text.

Bonus Tip for Video Lead Magnet

Wondering how to create a lead magnet in a video format but can't afford to hire an editor, etc.? An easy way to build a lead magnet is with Loom, but it requires a paid subscription. To do this, record a video and set the condition 'Request email to view' in the settings. 

Include a link to the Loom video in a social media post and start collecting high-quality leads.

Step 5: Promote Your Lead Magnet

So, we've figured out how to write a lead magnet and make it appealing. But just as important is getting the audience's attention. There are several ways on how to make a lead magnet more visible.

Set Up a Perfect Lead Magnet Popup with Claspo

Websites are the number one engagement channel for consumers, and research shows that they are the main place people want to interact with companies. So, it makes sense that lead magnets should be placed on a website. The most convenient way for businesses and visitors to promote them on the site is through widgets. 

If you're thinking about how to create your first lead magnet popup, we recommend starting by choosing and customizing a template. Our library contains ready-made free lead magnet form templates for any purpose. 

Here is how to create a lead magnet popup step by step.  

Customize chosen design: our drag-and-drop editor lets you easily personalize your template. Adjust text, images, colors, and fonts to match your brand's style.

Draw even more attention to the widget by making its shape more expressive and unusual. This is easily achieved with the 'floating image' component. Simply drag it to the desired spot on the widget, select an image, adjust its size, and edit its appearance in mobile mode.

Select a location: in the display conditions, specify where the widget will be displayed. Inline forms can be positioned in this way:

Set up targeting rules: decide when and where your popup should appear. For example, show it to visitors who spend a certain amount of time on your site or are about to leave.

By default, widgets created in Claspo are automatically displayed on all pages of your website. However, you can select specific pages and add lead magnet widgets only to the most trafficked pages. 

If you are unsure which pages to use. According to one study, the following pages have a specified level of conversion of leads into marketing-qualified leads (MQL):

• product landing page — 38%
• service landing page — 33%
• case study — 29%
• problem and solution or FAQ page — 23%
• thought leadership article or blog post — 30%
• white paper page — 38%

Use social media, email marketing, and paid advertising to reach a wider audience. Our UTM targeting helps you track where your leads are coming from to show relevant pop-ups to visitors.

Other Ways to Promote Lead Magnets

Consider sharing your lead magnet in other ways as well. Use your social media groups for this purpose, as GWI does. 

You can notify your existing subscribers about new, useful content via email to nurture them. Besides, if the lead magnet is worth it, some subscribers will share it with their friends. 

Collaborate with companies related to your business to participate in partner email campaigns, as Search Engine Journal and Unbounce do.

How to Promote a Lead Magnet: 11 Examples to Capture Leads Fast

Let's look at real-life examples of how companies from different industries promote their lead magnets and what interesting approaches they use.

Discount on the First Purchase

Glossier targets the two-step pop-up to new site visitors. The first screen offers an enticing promise but no details.

After clicking the accept button, the user sees the details on the next screen. In this case, the lead magnet is a 15 percent discount, a fairly common practice for e-commerce sites. 

On the eve of major holiday sales, you can encourage visitors to sign up for newsletters to be the first to know when the event begins. One website dedicated to Black Friday has already added a non-intrusive widget with a timer that counts down to the start of the sale. 

Members-only early Access

As a lead magnet, LEGO offers three-day early access to order new themed sets. Interestingly, the company doesn't just collect contact information from those who want to be the first to buy. It also encourages them to register in the insider community. This gives the company much more information about its customers, which it can then use to personalize its communications.

Free Consultation or Expert Advice

We discussed this powerful lead magnet example in detail at the beginning of the article, but now, let's focus on its promotion method. The widget on the Vichy website doesn’t distract visitors from the main conversion but still attracts attention because it remains within their field of view. 

Freebie and Giveaways

Oreo is expanding its subscriber list with a gift giveaway. This is a good example of how to create a compelling lead magnet in cooperation with a non-competitor brand, in this case, the popular streaming service Spotify. Note that not all subscribers will even receive the lead magnet. They only have a chance to win it. The subscription form has a very laconic design and contains points of introduction to the Terms of use, etc. 

Exclusive Webinars Invitation

The widget offering webinar notifications on Moz.com is set to trigger after the visitor views three pages. When the user clicks the opt-in button, a full subscription form pops up, clearly showing the frequency of the webinars. The fields in the subscription form allow for initial lead qualification.

Free Trials or Samples of Your Product

Film Editing Pro offers free trial lessons as a lead magnet. Four options are available for potential leads with different interests. This allows for clear segmentation of subscribers for further personalized communication.

Gated Content

Some companies use content on their websites and blogs as lead magnets, as Monotype does. This is a common practice of specialized media, which provides only a part of the content for free review. So, if you have valuable material, you may not have to go through the trouble of creating a separate PDF file, etc.

Infographics

Emarketer offers to subscribe to its daily newsletter to receive infographics with interesting statistics and tips on how to use them. A built-in subscription form with such an infographic is located on the page. This increases the likelihood that a person interested in statistics will convert to a subscriber. 

Solution-Focused Template

We're using our own example here because we have something valuable to share with you. Our team has a lot of experience in A/B testing widgets, which logically led to the creation of a template for experimentation. Our strategy is to organically add the built-in form to our relevant articles, like this one. If you are interested in conducting your own experiments, just fill in the single field and run to the inbox to catch the file!

Free eBook or PDF with Valuable Guides

The Litmus blog uses a similar approach. They added two lead magnets to a blog post corresponding to its subsections. This increases the likelihood that more readers will leave their contacts. Plus, they can be segmented by interest to send relevant content.

Avoid Mistakes: Examples of How Not to Promote Lead Magnets

While researching real-world examples for this article, we encountered several cases where something went wrong. Let's analyze them to understand what mistakes you shouldn't make when using lead magnet widgets.

In the following example, the website looked nice at first. We see a small widget that is non-intrusive but interesting and noticeable, but when we go to the dedicated landing page, we are prevented from accessing the content by a lead magnet popup. 

There is no way to close it because there is no ‘close’ button. We really wanted to see the page information to learn more about the content of the lead magnet. But instead, we are forced to subscribe or leave. So we left.

We saw another controversial strategy on one blog. When you read an article on it, a widget pops up on the page offering you a free tool. However, when you decide to try it, you are redirected to another service that asks you to register. Why should we register? Where does it say so in the pop-up? You can guess what emotions this scheme evokes in the user.

Our final example demonstrates the inconsistency of the rules for displaying multiple widgets. As a result, they are literally piled on top of each other in front of an innocent visitor who does not understand what has happened. 

We counted 4 widget variants, duplicating each other's offers.

The Lead Magnet Has Been Released, What to Do Next?

Once the mechanism is up and running and all the wheels are in motion, it's time to work on converting leads into customers and continuing to generate leads. Here's what you can do. 

A/B testing ideas 

Run some experiments to gain insight into what resonates best with your audience. A/B test your lead magnet widgets with different variations:

• Headlines (e.g., one that focuses on the problem vs. one that emphasizes the benefit)
• Calls to action (first person vs. generic)
• Visuals (images vs. video)
• Form fields (one, two, three fields)
• Layout (popup vs. embedded form, with or without a launcher, etc.)
• Triggers (by time vs. scroll depth, etc.)  

If you're interested in conducting similar experiments, check out this article, where we share our experience on increasing the conversion rate of your subscription form by 100%.

Create a great lead magnet follow-up campaign and test emails for subscribers who shared their contact information and received the lead magnet but didn’t take the next step, such as signing up for your service. Experiment to see which message is more effective in getting them to convert. For example, it could be an email with social proof, such as testimonials and case studies, or a message highlighting the benefits to the potential user. 

Lead Magnet Repurposing Opportunities

You've put a lot of effort into creating the perfect lead magnet, so you definitely need to make the most of it! Try repurposing it. The best way to do this is with an ebook. Its rich content is usually enough to create a webinar script and presentation.

If the ebook includes several interesting infographics, you can add additional information, comments, or tips. Then, distribute them as a separate lead magnet. You can do the same with a checklist or cheat sheet.

Use individual ebook chapters as the basis for blog articles, affiliate posts, social media posts, and more.

You can also check out our blog post on ebook lead magnet examples to get more traffic and get inspired to create your own.

Don't stop with just one lead magnet

It’s probably a mistake to assume that one or two excellent lead magnets will be enough to generate a lifelong, steady stream of leads or subscribers. Your audience is diverse. Therefore, you should segment it by key characteristics. Identify their needs and provide a lead magnet to satisfy each group.

For example, a fitness trainer and a blogger may have subscribers with different goals: some want to lose weight, others want to build muscle, some are interested in rehabilitation exercises, and others are looking for nutrition advice, and so on. Obviously, it's impossible to create a single lead magnet that would interest all of them. A free first lesson as a lead magnet is a versatile incentive. By the way, you can easily find a suitable widget template for such an offer in our library.

Try this template

Even if you have a more homogeneous audience with similar needs and goals, you can still divide it based on their readiness to buy. After all, potential customers just starting to learn about you and your product/service need one kind of information, while those on the verge of ordering need something else entirely. So, create an effective lead magnet for each segment to significantly increase the flow of leads to your business.

You can also find more articles about lead generation to enrich your strategy with other approaches.

How To Optimize a Lead Magnet for Maximum Conversion Rate

Lead magnets don't always perform as expected, and you need to figure out where the slippage is. If you find that people generally aren't actively responding to the incentive you're offering, turn to A/B testing and try different approaches to promoting lead magnets. 

On the other hand, if your site visitors are happy to share their contacts to receive your incentive but don't move further down the sales funnel, you should investigate the following issues:

Are you targeting correctly? For example, your offer is most relevant to visitors from a certain region. Let's say a local bakery chain offers an ebook of holiday meal ideas with a call to order ready-made goodies. 

Try this template

In theory, such an excellent lead magnet will appeal to a wide audience, but in practice, only residents of the cities where this chain operates will be able to place an order. Therefore, limiting the targeting of lead magnet widgets to visitors from specific areas may make sense. With Claspo, you can set up geo-targeting by country, region, and city.

Have you chosen the right content? Ensure that the topic you cover in your lead magnet directly relates to your product or service. Also, ensure that the text clarifies that to solve a user's problem or get what they want, they need to go to your website and place an order, contact your sales team, etc.

Have you offered too much for free? You need to strike a balance between what you give away and what you provide for money. The lead magnet should be a taster, an appetizer that whets the appetite, not completely satisfies it.

Your Lead Magnet Journey Starts Now

Now that you fully understand how to create a killer lead magnet, we suggest you get right down to business. Follow our step-by-step guide. To find the best lead magnet ideas, thoroughly analyze your target audience to determine what topics they are interested in. Choose the most appropriate lead magnet format. Create valuable content and promote it with widgets. 

Plus, you can do it for free with Claspo! Our free lifetime plan doesn't tie your hands at all. You can use any template from our library of over 700 designs. Easily create widgets with any components, including gamification, timers, and more. Run A/B tests to find the path to your audience's heart that will bring the most value to your business. So don't waste your time. Create lead magnets and get more conversions with us!