You’ve probably heard all about email marketing and the importance of building your email list. It’s a hot topic for a good reason –as the ROI for email marketing is $36 for every $1 spent. If you aren’t using email marketing as a strategy in your socially and environmentally responsible business, now is the time to start.
But how do you start building an email list in the first place? Well, a high-quality lead magnet is a great place to start.
Lead magnets aren’t a new player in the digital marketing game, but they’re certainly powerful –and we’re talking about it. More specifically, we’re giving the inside scoop on why your impact-led business needs a lead magnet. We’ll also review what makes a great lead magnet, how it benefits your eco-conscious business, and brainstorm ideas for your next one.
But first, let’s briefly go over what a lead magnet is.
What is a lead magnet?
A lead magnet is a marketing technique brands use to give away a high-quality free resource in exchange for contact information –usually an email address–all to organically grow an email list. Essentially, a business presents a valuable resource (a lead magnet) that works like a magnet to draw leads into its ecosystem (read: email list). You might also hear it referred to as a Freebie.
It’s essential to remember that lead magnets are not trying to sell something. Instead, they provide instant free value and encourage your people to continue interacting with your brand through email.
How do impact-led businesses benefit from lead magnets?
Lead magnets are a key tool used in email marketing. But how exactly do they benefit your purpose-led business? Here are three main ways lead magnets can support you in growing your impact.
Lead Magnets Build Your Email List
Nowadays, digital marketing is essential to growing a business. Within the realm of digital marketing is email marketing, a powerful tool to engage with your values-aligned audience and build that know, like, and trust factor.
Email marketing (aka, list building) is a critical element of your marketing strategy because relying on your website alone to convert isn’t enough. 96% of website visitors won’t purchase from you on their initial visit (Statista, 2021). Guiding website visitors onto your email list is a key step in moving them into your paid ecosystem so you can truly support them and impact their lives or businesses.
A great lead magnet can make growing your email list that much easier. According to the 2023 HubSpot State of Marketing Report, email collection forms had a 15% conversion rate, which is pretty high in the grand scheme of conversation rates.
Lead Magnets Curate An Aligned Audience
When people opt-in or sign up to receive your lead magnet, they virtually welcome you into their inbox. As a result, you’ll attract people who desire the content you produce. By opting into your lead magnet, these people explicitly tell you they want to hear more from you. You’ll likely see higher open and click-through rates in future emails when you attract an aligned audience like this.
Eventually, once you create multiple lead magnets, you’ll start segmenting your audience based on what content they opted into. Email segmentation is a great email marketing tactic (but slightly more advanced), with segmented campaigns seeing as much as a 760% increase in revenue for businesses. Lead magnets can be a major player in email marketing –so don’t underestimate them.
Lead Magnets Build Brand Loyalty
Brand loyalty is an important element of your email marketing –and overall general marketing. In fact, email marketing was ranked as the second most effective medium for building brand awareness (Hubspot Report).
But here’s the thing, you can have a great lead magnet that builds a robust email list, but if you don’t nurture the people on your list, you’re missing out on building a loyal following that can’t wait to open your weekly or monthly emails.
When these people opted into your lead magnet, they felt enough of a connection to virtually open the door to their inbox. Once inside, it’s up to you to build on that connection and establish loyalty and trust long after the lead magnet has been delivered. Remember, 46% of consumers would pay more to purchase from brands they trust (Salsify, 2022).
Where to place lead magnets on your website
From pop-ups to simple sign-up pages, there are a variety of ways to deliver your lead magnets depending on your business, your brand, and your audience.
The most important thing is to make sure your lead magnet’s placement is logical and organic. When reading through your website, your lead magnet’s content and placement should make sense based on your products and services and the content your reader consumes before being introduced to your lead magnet.
For example, placing a lead magnet titled “How To Leverage Your Agency Team To Scale Your Impact” in a blog post targeting beginner solopreneurs probably doesn’t make sense. Strategically considering the content and placement of your lead magnet can impact your opt-in rates.
A few strategic places you can place lead magnets on your website include:
Lead Magnets On Your Homepage
A common practice is placing a static lead magnet opt-in on the home page. Including your lead magnet in the header or near the top of the page for maximum accessibility and visibility is a good tactic, too. You can also include it in the footer of your website. Again, as long as it compliments the content around it, there are various places to include your lead magnet on a home page. You could also add it on your About page or Service page if it makes sense.
Lead Magnets in Pop-ups
Maybe your design template doesn’t cater to a lead magnet placement, or perhaps you don’t want to deal with updating your website when you change your lead magnet. If you don’t want to designate space on your website for a lead magnet –use pop-ups.
Pop-ups are automated boxes that pop up at pre-specified times once a viewer lands on your website. For example, at Nadi Marketing, our pop-up activates 5 seconds after someone lands on the Home Page. Some pop-ups might activate once your visitor’s cursor moves upwards (indicating they will click off your website). Some pop-ups activate right away. Your email marketing platform of choice (or plug-in) should provide you with instructions on setting up your popup form.
Lead Magnet Landing Pages
These standalone web pages are a great option if you want a unique URL to link to and share your lead magnets easily. In fact, landing pages exhibited 160% conversion compared to other sign-up forms (Email Vendor Selection, 2022). Bonus points if you include testimonials or social proof on your lead magnet on your landing page. According to Forbes, 36% of landing pages with testimonials or other social proof proved more effective in conversions.
Nadi Marketing has a Resources Page that houses our three lead magnets. We link to it directly on our navigation menu. However, you can also insert direct URL links within your website copy, blog posts, social media, or promotional materials.
Lead Magnets In Emails
If you already have a list of subscribers and have created a new lead magnet (that’s relevant to your audience), remember to send it to them! This can add an extra brand touch point in their journey to (potentially) working with you. We suggest including a landing page URL link in the email. If not, describe exactly where the lead magnet is placed on your website.
Lead Magnets In Blog Posts
It’s good practice to place lead magnets on both your main blog page (if you have one) and throughout relevant blog posts. Depending on the length, you can place them 3-5 times within a single post. Email marketing platforms make this really simple once you set up your forms.
Lead Magnets On Product Pages
Some lead magnets might be more relevant to specific products or services you offer. Rather than including a lead magnet on your Home page, consider placing it on a relevant product page.
For example, if you sell organic baby clothes, placing your lead magnet on the 5 Biggest Toxins Found In Non-Organic Clothing Materials makes complete sense, whereas placing that same lead magnet on a product page for your SEO Course doesn’t.
What makes a great lead magnet?
If you need help choosing your lead magnet topic, just remember that you need to solve a real problem your people are having and deliver a quick-win solution that positions you as the expert you are. Here is a quick breakdown of the key ingredients that will take your lead magnet from average to exceptional and successful.
- Solve a real problem your people are facing. Your target audience and market research should come in handy here for identifying the core problems or struggles your people are moving through. Once you understand their main problem, you can create a high-value resource that helps solve it.
- Provide instant gratification or a quick solution to their problem. Give them a quick win. What can they implement right now to see a result within minutes, hours, or, at the maximum, days?
- Offer high value to your customers. Make your lead magnet valuable. Don’t hold back on your knowledge and expertise. If your free resource is high value, your people will be more inclined to invest their money in your paid product and services.
- Make it easy to consume. Don’t write novel-length content or include tons of industry jargon or technical terms your average person won’t understand. Keep it simple and clear so it’s quickly understood and easy to digest. Provide specific information that will get them from A to B.
- Make it instantly accessible. Deliver your lead magnet immediately, either through an instant download or email within minutes from when they opt in. They just opted in for a valuable, quick win. Part of what makes it a “quick” win is making sure it’s immediately available.
- Demonstrate your expertise. One of the benefits of a lead magnet is it positions you as the expert in your field. But that only works if you create a lead magnet with expert advice. If you know little about Facebook ads, don’t make a lead magnet on it. If you spent 10 years as a nonprofit accountant, a lead magnet around taxes or bookkeeping for nonprofit leaders will allow you to highlight your expertise.
Bonus Tips For A Great Lead Magnet
- Keep it simple. Focus on one goal at a time and achieve that goal within your lead magnet. Don’t try to stuff all of your knowledge into one lead magnet. Remember, a clear lead magnet is better than a clever one.
- Don’t bury it in your website. Place your lead magnet somewhere visitors can easily find it. Make it noticeable and enticing but not intrusive.
- Always tell them why they should subscribe. As an eco-conscious business, you already understand the value of transparency. Set expectations from the start by clearly stating what you’ll be sending them –and then deliver on that promise.
- Respect user privacy. Privacy is a huge concern in this digital age, so following the GDPR guidelines is important. No matter if you’re physically located in the US or anywhere outside the European Union, the GDPR applies to you if you collect, record, organize, store, or perform any operations on data relating to an individual in the EU. Run your business assuming that anyone around the world can access your website, so adhere to any global regulations.
Ideas for your next lead magnet
Here at Nadi Marketing, we love a good lead magnet. Lead magnets are a great tool for ramping up your email marketing efforts. But it’s important to remember that what works for the sustainable brand around the corner might not work for you.
We all have different sales funnels and customer journeys. When it comes to lead magnets, no one size fits all. How you attract and engage your people will look different from the next impact-led business owner, which is why there are so many unique lead magnets out there.
Here is a robust list of lead magnet ideas to get you started.
- Templates
- eBooks
- Workbooks
- Case Studies
- Infographics
- Writing prompts
- Personalized results
- Guides
- Resource Lists
- Planners
- Calendars
- Toolkits
- Challenges
- Educational resources
- Masterclasses
- Webinars
- Prompts (especially AI prompts)
- Generators
- Scripts
- Discounts
- Free trials
- Checklists
- Cheat Sheets
- Report Summaries
- Analysis
- Data Sheets
- White Papers
- Spreadsheets
- Product Samples
Creating a lead magnet isn’t always a quick process. It takes time, effort, and even some testing. When you do the necessary work (like market research) and adjust when necessary, you create a lead magnet that delivers value to your people AND makes a lasting impact on your business.
If you want to see a lead magnet in action, check out our newest lead magnet landing page. Notice how we:
- Highlight how this lead magnet will make your business life easier
- Are transparent about what’s included, and
- Have made it instantly accessible once you enter your email address and name.
Have questions on lead magnets or general marketing startegies? Reach out. We’d love to help you grow your conscious businesses through intentional marketing.
References:
- Litmus Resource Center: Email Marketing Guide on Email ROI. (n.d.). Litmus. https://www.litmus.com/resources/email-marketing-roi/
- Inc, S. (n.d.). 2022 Consumer Research Report – The value of building brand trust. Www.salsify.com. https://www.salsify.com/resources/report/content-2022-salsify-consumer-research-the-value-of-building-brand-trust
- 20 Fresh Landing Page Statistics: The Stats to Know for 2023. (2022, December 6). Email Vendor Selection. https://www.emailvendorselection.com/landing-page-statistics/
- Rais, S. (n.d.). Council Post: High-Value Clients Are Waiting: How To Connect With Them. Forbes. Retrieved August 29, 2023, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2022/11/08/high-value-clients-are-waiting-how-to-connect-with-them/?sh=7e008a62741a
- HubSpot. (2023). The Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics for 2022. Hubspot. https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics
- GDPR. (2019). GDPR.eu. GDPR.eu. https://gdpr.eu/
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