A lead magnet is one of those marketing terms that sounds considerably more impressive than the thing itself.
The basic idea is pretty simple.
You have something useful.
Someone wants it.
They give you their email address and, usually, permission to hear from you again.
You send them the useful thing.
That’s a lead magnet.
The useful thing might be a checklist, template, short guide, worksheet, calculator, free sample, discount or something else that makes sense for the business.
The reason businesses use them is just as simple.
An email list gives you a way to reach interested people again.
A lead magnet gives some of those people a reason to join the list in the first place.
“Join my newsletter” isn’t much of an offer
Imagine you’re reading an article about starting your first vegetable garden.
At the bottom you see:
Join our newsletter for gardening tips and updates.
Maybe you join.
Probably not.
You came to figure out why your tomatoes keep dying. You weren’t wandering around the internet thinking, “You know what I need? Another newsletter.”
Now imagine the same site offers:
Starting your first vegetable garden?
Download our one-page planting guide showing what to plant, when to plant it and how much space each plant needs.
That’s a different decision.
You already want the information.
The guide sounds useful.
Giving your email address to get it might seem like a reasonable trade.
That planting guide is the lead magnet.
The site hasn’t tricked you into becoming interested in gardening. You were already interested. It simply offered something useful enough for you to take one more step.
That’s an important distinction.
More isn’t always better
Of course, getting more people onto your email list isn’t automatically better.
Let’s say you run a small accounting business that helps self-employed people with their taxes.
You decide to give away an iPad to get more email subscribers.
That’ll work.
I’d give you my email address for a free iPad.
So would my wife.
My kids would probably come up with several email addresses I didn’t know they had.
You could build a pretty impressive list.
Unfortunately, most of what you’d know about those people is that they want a free iPad.
Now offer a:
Self-Employed Tax-Time Checklist
Far fewer people will want it.
That’s fine.
Someone downloading a tax checklist is probably self-employed and has taxes on their mind.
If that’s who your accounting business helps, those are much more interesting email addresses.
That’s one of the jobs of a lead magnet.
It doesn’t just give people a reason to join your list. A good one can attract people who are already interested in something connected to your business.
It also doesn’t have to be enormous.
You might start with:
I’ll make a one-page checklist.
Then decide one page doesn’t seem impressive enough.
Next it’s a guide.
Then a workbook.
Then videos.
Before long you’ve spent three days building something you’re giving away for free.
Sometimes a checklist is enough.
If it helps with the problem the person already has, that’s probably enough.
There is also a point where we can get a little too enthusiastic about collecting email addresses.
Suppose I search:
How much does it cost to start a vegetable garden?
I find your article.
You tell me about containers, soil, seeds and tools.
Then, right when we get to the actual costs:
Enter your email address to download the complete cost list.
Wait a minute.
That’s what I came here for.
I’d probably feel a little cheated.
The article should answer the question that brought me there.
But maybe underneath the costs you offer me a printable shopping list I can take to the garden center.
Now I might want the download.
I got the answer I came for, and you’ve offered me something useful to help with the next part.
That makes sense.
And sometimes there simply isn’t a useful extra.
That’s okay.
You don’t need a lead magnet on every page.
You don’t even necessarily need one on your website.
They are useful when you have something that fits naturally between:
This person is interested in what I do
and
I’d like a way to reach this person again.
Why?
Because they may want something else I have later.
Another article.
Another resource.
Maybe something I sell or recommend.
If they’re on my email list, I can tell them about it.
That’s really the point.
Maybe the lead magnet is a checklist or a template.
Maybe it’s a calculator, short guide, sample or discount.
The format isn’t really the important part.
The useful exchange is.
I have something that helps you.
You want it.
You’re willing to give me your email address and permission to contact you again.
I’m willing to send it.
That’s a lead magnet.
And that’s when it earns its place.