How to design a lead magnet

Last Updated / Reviewed: Jan 10th, 2023

Execution Time: ~5-10 Mins

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Goal: Create a high perceived value lead magnet to attract your audience.

Ideal Outcome: A concrete plan on the type of lead magnet you are creating for your customers.

Prerequisites or requirements: None.

Why this is important: Lead magnets are free content and tools of any kind that you can offer to someone in exchange for their email. They are one of the best ways to generate leads in hopes of nurturing them to become a customer in the future.

Where this is done: Google Docs.

When this is done: When you want to optimize top of the funnel conversion.

Who does this: Marketing Manager, marketing consultant, or any person responsible for content marketing strategy for your business.

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Lead magnet creation checklist

1. Competitor research — Research and collect a list of lead magnet that your competitors use to generate leads.
   1. Head to Facebook Ads Library
   2. Type your competitor’s name into the search field and select the competitor’s profile that matches your criteria.
      
      
      
      Note: Make sure to set the country to “All” and the ad category to “All ads”.
   3. Click into the top 10-15 ads that they launched recently and note down their lead magnet:
      1. What is the landing page URL?
      2. What is the lead magnet offer?
      3. What is the marketing angle/hook for the ad?
         
         
         
         In this example, this particular ad and lead magnet offer free consulting on how your business can grow massive amount of traffic through SEO, content marketing, and paid Media.
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2. Customer research — Identify problems and pain points your customers are facing.
   1. Head to answerthepublic.com. This is a free tool that helps you discover what questions people are asking about any topic.
   2. Type in a general topic that most relate to your business/service and click “Search”.
      
      
      
      Make sure to set the country and language to where your main target audience is.
   3. A list of questions will be generated based on the topic you searched earlier. Note down any question (“How-to” questions for example) that indicates a problem to solve.
      
      
   4. In this example, a common question people have is how lead generation would help a business. A good lead magnet to create would be a report/case studies with that answer this question.
3. Choose a Lead magnet category — Choose a type of lead magnet you can create that will solve your customers’ pain points.
   1. Informational lead magnet to build trust — For customers who are not familiar with your product service and are at the top of the funnel.
      Who is this for: Saas, service business, agencies, ecommerce store, small business.
      Example lead magnets: Giveaways, quizzes, swipe files, templates, industry report, free samples, recipes.
   2. Educational lead magnet to nurture leads — For potential customers who require educational/value content while making a comparison (middle of the funnel).
      Who is this for: Saas, service business, agencies, small
      business.
      Example lead magnets: Webinars, email or video course, worksheets.
      Lead magnet to generate sales — For customers have high purchase intent and are close to the bottom of the funnel.
      Who is this for: Saas, service business, agencies.
      Example lead magnets: Free consultation, free checklists, free trials, online demo, Webinars, coupons/discounts
   3. Build your lead magnet once you have decided on the best lead magnet format. Then:
4. Build a landing page for the lead magnet.
5. Set up email automation for the lead magnet.