High-Converting Lead Magnet Examples

Businesses need to bring in specific prospects, or leads, who are likely to buy their products. Without these leads, your company may have no one to buy its products or services. Lead-generating strategies are valuable and need to be targeted toward particular markets.

One of the best ways to generate leads that are well suited to your business is to use lead magnets, free gifts related to your industry in exchange for a reader’s contact information. This exchange helps potential customers easily learn about your products and services.

This article explains everything you need to know about lead magnets, including what they are, why they work, and how you can add them to your marketing toolkit. We also provide examples of great lead magnet ideas.

• What is a lead magnet?
• Lead magnet must-haves
• 4 steps to create a lead magnet
• 15 lead magnet examples to start converting the right way

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is a freebie your company offers to potential customers in exchange for their personal information. Creating lead magnets can be a powerful way to attract the type of customers you want to engage with and may even improve your conversion rate.

Lead magnets include items such as a free trial, sample, white paper, newsletter, or anything else your target audience might find useful or entertaining.

The best lead magnets are designed to meet the needs and wants of your company’s ideal customer base. When a prospective customer responds to a lead magnet, you know they’re at least somewhat interested in your business.

Lead magnet must-haves

You can’t just insert a random magnet and hope to get choice leads. Before creating a lead magnet, know who your intended audience is. Different products and services appeal to different consumers.

Once you understand your target market, you can start putting together your magnet. Here are a few things a lead magnet needs to include to be successful.

High-quality design

Great lead magnets are well designed. High-resolution images and vibrant color schemes can help make your magnets more engaging.

Optimize your magnet to work well on mobile platforms, as half of global web traffic now comes from mobile accounts. Potential customers will likely be using your lead magnet on the go, so they’ll need it to be easy to use and read.

Good design also helps you steer a reader’s attention where you want it. For example, the F pattern is a common eye pattern readers follow when skimming a web document. You can use this understanding to place important content, like calls to action (CTAs), in the top left, where your readers will naturally look first.

Promotion of your UVP

You’re giving out a lead magnet to build interest for your products and services. A unique value proposition (UVP) is a short marketing phrase that promotes your product or service and communicates its worth to consumers.

The purpose of a UVP is to quickly show your ideal consumers why they’ll like your offering, not to rattle off all of its features. A UVP shouldn’t be any more than a couple of sentences, and it’s usually shorter than that. It should be a catchy phrase that piques your target consumers’ interest.

Below are a few examples of effective UVPs.

• Target: “Expect more. Pay less.”‍
• Uber: “Tap a button, get a ride.”‍
• LegalShield: “Worry less. Live more.”

Informational value

A lead magnet needs to present educational or entertainment value to your consumers. Ask yourself what benefit your consumers will get when they use your magnet.

Let’s say your e-commerce store sells healthy, ready-made meals. You might offer a healthy recipe as a lead magnet. The value your audience would get from reading your magnet would be learning to create a nutritious meal.

The information that users get from your magnet should be specific to your target audience. In the above example, your target audience would be people who are interested in healthy food choices.

Promising ROI

You spend money, time, and energy creating a lead magnet, but you then give it away for free. If you’re going to use a lead magnet, it should give you a high return on your investment (ROI).

Here’s a formula for calculating ROI.

ROI = (Net return/Investment cost) x 100

Let’s say you spend $1,000 to create your lead magnet. It generates 10 leads. Three leads become customers and contribute a combined net revenue of $3,000 (minus any costs going into the product or service offered). Your ROI would be 300%.

ROI = ($3,000/$1,000) x 100 = 300%

Some types of lead magnets cost more to create than others. For example, it won’t cost you anything to offer people a free trial of an existing subscription service. Conversely, you may have to spend money to create a mobile game to use as a lead magnet.

Sometimes creating a more expensive lead magnet makes sense. White papers may require weeks or months of intensive research and be costly to produce. But business-to-business (B2B) companies often use them to communicate their expertise in an industry to well-informed prospects.

4 steps to create a lead magnet

Now that you understand the elements of a good lead magnet, it’s time to learn how to create one. Here, we take you step-by-step through building your own.

Step 1: Know what user persona you’re targeting

A user persona (also called a buyer persona) is an archetypal, fictional character that represents your ideal customer. Who are the customers most likely to buy your products? Companies sometimes have one or several user personas depending on the product or service they offer.

For example, if you sell affordable business suits, one of your personas might be Kyle, a 21-year-old business school student who needs an inexpensive suit to wear to his internship. Another user persona could be Clare, a 45-year-old mother of two who’s in the process of switching careers into a higher-paying industry.

These are just short examples. A user persona for a real business is likely to be much more elaborate, including aspects like what life goals a person has, how much money they make annually, and even details about their personality. A business might dedicate a full page or even two to describing one user persona.

Step 2: Create and design a catchy lead magnet

Consider using Adobe Creative Cloud, Canva or similar programs to create designs your audience will find appealing. You might create an instructional video on a platform like YouTube or make a helpful spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel or a similar software program

If your magnet is a film, make it look professional. Write an engaging script and hire actors to perform the lines. Use quality equipment including DSLR cameras and high-quality shotgun or boom mics. Add video effects and edit footage using a program like Adobe Premiere Pro.

Content-based magnets with too much imagery may appear cluttered and unattractive. Space out images and use ample white space (blank space) to make your lead magnet easier to follow. This also helps emphasize specific images, especially valuable for pictures of your product.

Ensure that any magnet you send out includes your company’s branding. This could involve using a logo, trademarked slogan, or your company’s color scheme.

Remember to keep your ideal audience in mind when designing your magnet. An average customer will generally prefer to read a piece of content that’s easy to understand and digest. Industry-specific jargon, in-depth product analyses, or other detailed information might turn them off.

If you’re marketing to experts within your field, however, industry jargon, complex analyses, and comprehensive statistics can help you build a solid reputation with prospects.

Hiring a professional if you don’t have design experience might be a wise choice. On Upwork you will find graphic designers, video editors, and other independent talents who can help you create professional-looking marketing materials.

Step 3: Build a conversion path: landing page, form, thank-you page, and email sequence

A conversion path (otherwise known as a sales funnel) is a series of steps designed to gently guide a consumer on their journey to becoming a customer. It’s unlikely that a customer will buy a product or service from you the first time they hear about your company, but they may do so after repeated contacts.

The process goes like this:

1. A user clicks on an ad for your company and is taken to your landing page.

Landing pages are branded pages that advertise your lead magnet. Try using a program like Hubspot’s Landing Page Builder or Leadpages to build quality landing pages.

Your landing page features a straightforward and appealing CTA link that advertises your lead magnet. It might say something like, “Start your free trial today.”

Make sure your landing page isn’t immediately connected to the rest of your website. A viewer may be easily distracted from your offer if your landing page has a navigation bar.

Your landing page is also a great place for things like customer testimonials or reviews that will help build credibility.

2. The user clicks on the CTA and is brought to a form that captures their information.

Be careful about adding too many categories to your lead form. Gathering more information can help you market to consumers, but if you ask for too much info, some users might get uncomfortable  and leave your form. Essential categories include name and email address.

You can embed a form on your landing page. Use programs like Typeform or Google Forms to design high-quality and attention-grabbing forms.

3. After the user accepts your offer, they’re brought to a thank-you page.

An effective thank-you page serves a few purposes. It thanks your new lead for signing up for your offer. It then delivered what they signed up to receive. It also advertises your business and gives consumers more opportunities to connect with you.

For example, if you have an online software business, your thank-you page might have descriptions and links to other software tools your company offers. Or it might have links to your social media accounts where consumers can follow your business.

4. Now that you have your lead’s information, design an email sequence that encourages your lead to purchase from you.

A well-designed sequence has emails that cater to consumers at different points of their sales journeys. Here are a few types of emails you might use in your sequence.

• Nurturing emails are for new consumers who aren’t likely to buy from you just yet. These emails aim to give prospects more information about your company while also engaging them.
• Engagement emails are made for consumers who know a little more about your business. They invite your audience to get involved with your company. An engagement email might ask a user to attend an event or follow your company on social media.
• Conversion emails include a clear CTA and ask the consumer to buy from you.
• Follow-up emails reach out to consumers you haven’t heard from in a while. They remind leads about your business.

You might have rules for when you send different types of emails. For example, a rule might be that you’ll send a consumer an engagement or conversion email after they open or interact with three nurturing emails.

Use programs like Mailchimp or Moosend to create quality marketing emails.

Step 4: Keep evaluating results, testing, and updating

Remember to measure how well your lead magnet performs over time. Google Analytics, HubSpot Marketing Analytics, and similar tools can help track the success of your lead magnet.

As time goes on, you may also need to update your lead magnet periodically. For example, if you’re a marketing consultant, your lead magnet might be a list of the best marketing software tools. You may need to adjust your list as new software tools become available and older tools become obsolete.

If you need an expert to help you organize your company’s analytics, explore Upwork to find data professionals who know how to use analytics to improve your company’s marketing strategies.

15 lead magnet examples to start converting the right way

Now, we’ll go over some types of lead magnets you may find helpful for generating prospects for your business. We’ve included specific examples of magnets to help you choose the perfect one for your company.

1. Webinars
2. White papers
3. Ebooks
4. Trials
5. Bonus packs
6. Templates
7. Audits
8. Training videos
9. Case studies
10. Surveys
11. Product demos
12. Infographics
13. Challenges
14. Guides
15. Email courses

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1. Webinars

Webinars are informative video presentations that tackle an industry problem or issue. Webinars are typically presented live by an expert and show your audience how to achieve a specific goal. For example, the title of a webinar put on by a marketing firm might be “How to Automate Your Sales Process.”

As a bonus, many webinars have Q&A sessions at the end, giving potential customers a chance to get even more value and personally interact with your business.

DocuSign helps people use digital contracts. The company offers clearly labeled webinars that show users how to operate their software product. It also lets visitors know that the webinar includes a Q&A portion.

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2. White paper

White papers are long, thoroughly researched articles that explain new technology products, cover specific topics within an industry, or present research findings. B2B businesses commonly use white papers to gain their client’s trust.

Typically, white papers show how the information has been used to solve an industry problem. They’re designed to be read by experts and are generally too lengthy and complicated to interest average consumers.

The American Marketing Association (AMA) is a nonprofit that benefits the career growth of marketing professionals. The company’s website features white papers that solve marketing issues, such as how to conduct valid and trustworthy research and optimize a business’s marketing practices.

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Creating a quality white paper for your business might be challenging, especially if you’re not a professional writer. Upwork has a global pool of freelance writers who have the skills to help you put together white papers and other business documents.

3. Ebooks

Ebooks are similar to white papers in that they aim to solve specific problems in an industry. However, ebooks don’t have as much data and analysis as white papers, and they’re designed for a more inclusive audience.

Ebooks are generally designed to be readable by the general public rather than just experts. They may also have more diverse content than white papers. In addition to being informative, they are often entertaining.

Keep in mind that ebooks take a lot of time and energy to produce. Long ebooks might also seem daunting to average consumers. Before investing effort into creating an ebook, make sure you can’t present your information in a shorter free guide or blog post.

ClickMinded offers an ebook to help visitors increase their conversions through email. The ebook has a clear title that spells out the exact value a reader will gain from it.

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4. Trials

Many software subscription companies offer free trials of their products. Examples of such businesses include video streaming services like Hulu and cloud gaming platforms like Google Stadia.

A free trial can be an extremely effective lead magnet. Using this tactic helps companies collect information like a consumer’s name and email, and it allows consumers to sign up for the service if they enjoyed the free trial.

The streaming service Paramount Plus offers users the chance to sample their streaming service for a week. Their hope is that users will enjoy the service so much that they’ll pay to stay subscribed to it permanently.

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5. Bonus packs

Bonus packs give users extra content that isn’t available in an original blog post in exchange for their email address. The initial blog post piques a reader’s interest so they’re more likely to sign up for the bonus back

For example, if your blog post is called “10 Software Tools Every Developer Should Know,” your bonus pack could include five additional tools that aren’t in the article.

The lead generation company OptinMonster offers a bonus pack that’s sure to intrigue its audience. The company will design a free lead generation email campaign for any user that submits their contact information.

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6. Templates

Quality templates often save users time and provide high value. You can offer templates for things like sales emails, social media posts, WordPress landing page designs, and business spreadsheets. Templates are also fairly easy to make.

‍Webflow is a company that offers web development tools and hosting services. They know their target market is looking for quality website design, so Webflow offers free, professional-looking web design templates to any visitor who signs up for an account.

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7. Audits

An audit can be a good lead magnet for certain B2B businesses such as consultants and software companies. Audits help prospects evaluate key aspects of their business.

For example, a marketing consultant might offer an audit or free consultation to measure how efficiently a company is using search engine optimization (SEO) on their business website.

Majestic offers services to help businesses increase the number of quality backlinks to their website content. When users sign up for a free account, they get to use Majestic’s backlink checker service. This tool evaluates the site’s current backlinks and gives a benchmarked score.

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8. Training videos

Free training videos can allow you to showcase the key benefits of your service or product and demonstrate their use to consumers. If a prospect already knows about your brand, a training video can help them see in more depth what your offerings can do for them.

For example, if your company creates chatbots, you might provide a training video showing clients how to use these helpful online robotic agents to automate customer support processes on their social media pages.

Tableau offers new subscribers free training videos that explain how to use the software for data visualization. The videos are divided into different categories depending on who the subscriber is.

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9. Case studies

A case study providing social proof is a powerful tool that might influence consumer decisions. Before customers invest in a product, they like to see that others have experienced benefits from using it.

Consider creating written or video case studies. These detailed testimonials showcase real people who have used your services before with positive results.

HubSpot features case studies from several businesses that have used the company’s marketing tools. Every case study has a title that shows exactly how each business was able to benefit from HubSpot.

10. Surveys

Surveys allow you to conduct market research and give users the chance to share their feedback about your business. Many consumers appreciate the ability to share their thoughts about how your company can improve.

You don’t want a survey to pop up the moment a visitor comes to your website. A user needs a chance to experience your webpage before they are able to offer feedback. Some resources, like OptinMonster, allow you to design surveys that appear only after a user has taken the time to visit several pages on your website.

MOD Pizza has surveys that allow recent visitors to give feedback to the company. The surveys also feature attractive prizes and giveaways to consumers who fill them out.

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11. Product demos

A product demonstration shows consumers exactly what your product does and how it works. Seeing your product in action might be exactly what a consumer needs to convince them to make a purchase.

HubSpot offers free demos to users who provide their contact information. The demos show prospects how the platform can streamline and improve a business’s marketing practices.

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12. Infographics

Whether printable or digital, well-designed infographics with useful information often make effective lead magnets. Colorful graphs, charts, diagrams, and cheat sheets can help users process and understand intricate concepts.

The real estate marketing platform Z57 offers a series of infographics consumers are able to use to market their own products. It even offers suggestions for where users should share the material.

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13. Challenges

A challenge can inspire potential customers and help build a sense of community for your business. Challenges are a fun way to get people involved in your business.

The Ride Anywhere Challenge from Love to Ride inspires its users to ride their bikes. The site stores information about how many miles users have ridden to help those engaged feel like part of a competitive community.

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14. Guides

A guide is often a great lead magnet if it’s relevant to your target audience. For example, a marketing consultant could write a guide about SEO.

One problem you might run into is that guides have already been written about most subjects in your industry. If this is the case, you might try to write a comprehensive guide about a larger subject.

HubSpot’s guide to email marketing is aimed at marketing beginners. It covers the broad concept of email marketing. Its purpose is to help business owners learn how to use emails efficiently to grow their brands.

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15. Email courses

An email course is a set of emails a company sends to consumers on its email list that explores a particular subject extensively. The course might be as short as three or four emails or as long as 10 or more emails. An email course provides significant value, and it gives you multiple chances to market to each potential customer.

EmailOctopus gives users helpful email marketing courses when they register with the company. The sign-up form has a readable and attractive design that appeals to website visitors.

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Hiring a lead generation specialist

Giving something away for free to increase your sales may sound counterintuitive. Still, a lead magnet can be an important instrument to attract targeted consumers to engage with your business.

If you are able to offer consumers a magnet that’s related to your business and provides value to them, you’ll have a greater chance of building your customer base over time.

Consider hiring an expert to get the best return from your marketing efforts. Upwork can help you find skilled independent workers like lead generation experts, digital marketing professionals, and content marketing specialists from a global talent pool.

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Upwork is not affiliated with and does not sponsor or endorse any of the tools or services discussed in this article. These tools and services are provided only as potential options, and each reader and company should take the time needed to adequately analyse and determine the tools or services that would best fit their specific needs and situation.