Opt-in forms or lead magnets are one of the best ways to grow your email list. And before you say, ‘but I’m a speaker – I don’t need a list”, let me tell you that you do. Among the multitude of things that a post COVID world has taught us, it is that marketing (and delivering) your products and services online is an essential part of any business.
If you want to generate leads online, then your business needs a strong opt-in. Period.
If you are wondering what makes a strong opt-in, visit our post here.
Your client won’t give you permission to email them without receiving something they want in return. Chances are, neither would you.
Irresistible Lead Magnet Ideas
I’ve put together over 50 lead magnet ideas in this series of posts, broken down into 5 major types.
- Useful Lead Magnets
- Educational Lead Magnets
- Entertaining Lead Magnets
- Community-Building Lead Magnets
- Bottom of Funnel Lead Magnets
Ready to create your lead magnet? I’m confident that you’ll find some ideas here that will work for your target market. Let’s review these highly effective lead magnet ideas to increase your subscribers.
Useful Lead Magnet Ideas
Useful opt-in bribes help to save your user time, energy, money, and more. This type of lead magnet is the most irresistible of all the types because it’s a “silver bullet”: one specific, actionable solution to a problem.
It’s human nature to want the greatest outcome for the least amount of work, so make sure your lead magnet gives your users easy answers to their problems AND that you prompt them on ‘what to do next’ so they continue down your sales funnel.
Here are some very useful lead magnet examples…
Checklist
Checklists convert the best out of all the lead magnets, probably because they are so easily consumed. They take everything that the user needs to know and transform it into one, actionable list.
They’re also very quick to create. For example, you can summarize your popular blog posts as a checklist, and turn it into a content upgrade. Then combine that content upgrade with a 2-step opt-in form. This will give you big boost in your conversions.
Cheatsheet
Cheatsheets are essentially the same thing as checklists, but they provide a list of guidelines or a process that the user can follow again and again to achieve a specific benefit.
They’re very valuable to people because they take away the need for them to think.
Here’s an example of a cheat sheet created for bloggers: 52 Headline Hacks: A Cheat Sheet for Writing Blog Posts That Go Viral.
Bloggers want their blog posts to go viral, so this is a very goal-driven lead magnet for them. It also removes the need to think: no more racking your brain about how to get your blog posts to go viral when you have this cheat sheet!
Template
A template can be anything that provides an outline, or some sort of starting point, so all the user has to do is fill in the blanks.
The Magic Email Template is a great example– it’s something that small business owners can simply copy and paste, customize a few words, and then send off to instantly connect with influencers and VIPs in their industry.
To go one step further, you can create an entire collection of templates, like Digital Marketer’s Ultimate Facebook Ad Template Library.
Examples
Examples work really well as lead magnets because they are in high demand. People are often searching for examples.
In fact, you could turn one of your popular posts into a lead generating machine by optimizing it for “[your keyword] + examples”, and then adding an example lead magnet as a content upgrade.
Toolkit
A really popular type of lead magnet is the toolkit because everyone wants to know what tools the pros use! Toolkits make life easier for the user.
Syed’s Toolkit for Growing Your Online Business is a great example!
The best part about toolkits is that you can often become an affiliate for those products. So not only does the toolkit provide a really useful resource to your visitors, but it can also generate additional revenue for your business.
Web App
A web app is a free tool that lives on your site, and which requires a login to use. Of course, users have to sign up by email to get the login.
For example, Bryan Harris created this web app called ListGoal, which is completely free to use. However, you trade your contact information for it and he gets your permission to email you.
Resource List
Lists of resources are really valuable because they are huge time savers. Whenever you pull all of the best stuff together, you’re saving your users a ton of research time.
Calendar
Calendars can also be extremely useful in a variety of industries.
For example, if you’re in the fitness industry like Blogilates, you could offer a workout calendar. That way, your users have a schedule of exercises to do every day; they don’t even need to think about it.
Plan/Planner
Similar to a calendar is a plan that you’ve mapped out for someone on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
Your lead magnet could even be a blank planner that the user fills in with their own plan. People love planners because it helps to keep them organized.
Worksheet/Workbook
A worksheet (or workbook) is similar to a planner, except that it usually helps people to complete a specific exercise or figure something out.
A perfect medium for this is an editable workbook that someone can simply download and fill out right on their computer. Teachable has a really great, in-depth tutorial on using Adobe InDesign to create a workbook lead magnet.
Printable
A printable is especially great if you are in a creative field and your users want something attractive that they can print out.
Or, perhaps your user needs to print something out so that it is handy when they need it, such as a shopping list or a grocery list, like this one from Rustic Redhead.
A printable is also great for people with children. Colouring pages and diagrams are big hits.
Inspiration File
Does your user need inspiration? People search the internet for inspiration all the time, so why not give it to them as a neatly packaged lead magnet!
An ebook full of customizable memes is great idea for people needed social media content or this Logo Design Inspiration eBook, for example, is perfect for a designer seeking inspiration for their next logo.
Spreadsheet
Spreadsheets can be used to create all kinds of useful resources. They’re basically a programming tool, right at your fingertips!
DebtHelper uses a free budget spreadsheet to collect email subscribers. They even include a bonus video guide on how to use the spreadsheet.
Educational Lead Magnet Ideas
Did you enjoy this article? Check out our posts on Educational, Entertaining, Community Building and Funnel lead magnets.
