What are Lead Magnets?

A lead magnet is a free resource, product or service (such as an eBook or a free trial) that users who visit a site can access by filling in a form with some personal and contact information (such as name and address e-mail).

What is a lead magnet?

The goal of the lead magnet is to acquire new contacts and " attract " leads (the English term "magnet" in Italian can be translated as "magnet"). Companies thus exploit it to entice users to fill in forms with some personal data – such as name, surname, age, profession, email, telephone number (together with other information that may be useful for sales) – allowing them to quickly and free access to a resource they need. Precisely because the aim is to attract new contacts, lead magnets prove to be a useful marketing tool , functional to the lead generation activity.

Companies can offer these resources on their website: when the user enters the site , he can find pop-up screens or banners with calls to action that draw attention to the resource to be downloaded.

However, lead magnets can also be offered through advertising campaigns carried out on social media , for example by exploiting sponsored ads on Facebook which direct the user to a page on the site which contains the form to be filled in to access the resource.

The calls to action of the graphic elements (such as some buttons) are generally accompanied by particularly captivating sentences, designed to entice users to download the resource made available, in exchange for some personal data. This data is added to the company's database which inserts potential customers into the sales funnel , then proceeding with several progressive contacts designed to guide them towards the purchase .

Types and examples of lead magnets

Depending on the professional, the company and/or the type of activity that takes place, it is possible to use many types of lead magnets. Among the most popular are eBooks and white papers . Experts from the most diverse fields can take advantage of these lead magnets to offer users exclusive content with advice , guides and checklists on multiple topics.

Companies, on the other hand, can use the knowledge and data they have available in their reference market to create, for example, reports regarding trends and trends .

Lead magnets can also take the form of video or audio: in this regard, think of the creation of free online courses , webinars , podcasts dedicated to topics that concern your business and which can offer an answer to the needs, questions or requirements of the target that you want to achieve.

In addition to the possibility of downloading digital content or accessing exclusive videos, companies and professionals can possibly offer free consultations .

There are also other examples of lead magnets such as quizzes and tests that offer users the possibility of obtaining evaluations: if you want to proceed with a concrete example, go to the site of Karmen Kendrick Creative, a company that offers WordPress site maintenance services , you can take a quiz to test your skills in using the platform in question.

Thinking instead of how ecommerce could exploit lead magnets to get contacts, it is possible to refer to discount coupons , made available for some products to be purchased, or even to the possibility of obtaining free shipping costs .

Companies that deal with software or the sale of tools could instead offer free trials of online tools or even demos that allow you to use the product in question, even if in a limited way, in exchange for some data.

How to develop an effective lead magnet?

In order for a lead magnet to be effective and able to lead to sales, it is first of all necessary that the target is well defined, identifying the needs of the different buyer personas, so as to be able to offer them something really useful. The creation of poorly personalized lead magnets, i.e. not designed with a specific target in mind, leads to the collection of leads that are not very relevant to the company, who will tend not to be interested in purchasing.

Before developing a lead magnet it is important to focus on a few key aspects. First of all, we need to focus on the offer , i.e. on the characteristics of the main product or service that the company wants to sell. Then you need to ask yourself what type of customers could get more benefits from the main offer, thus focusing on the target : the goal of the lead magnet is in fact to offer something that your audience can exchange with your data. Finally, it is necessary to identify which are the main benefits that the target can obtain from this offer (thus defining the value proposition ).

It should be emphasized that there are some key features that tend to make lead magnets more effective . As noted earlier, this must be a resource provided free of charge; it must somehow be attributable to the company and its core business, referring if possible to the main product or service of the brand. Furthermore, it must be easily usable by users, requiring the least possible investment of time (for this it could be useful to make the forms short and easy to fill out).

A valuable lead magnet must also offer an answer or a concrete solution to a specific problem or need : for this reason, the proposed contents must be periodically updated , making sure that the materials do not become obsolete. It should also be an exclusive resource or proposition, i.e. not accessible to the general public, giving users an incentive to leave their data.