10 Best Lead Magnets For Your Business

If you have decided that email marketing will benefit your business you have probably tried getting the email addresses of potential customers. You have also probably realized that getting those email addresses is not so easy. That’s because you have to offer a great lead magnet or opt-in incentive. Let’s take a look at the 10 best lead magnets.

Lead Magnet Examples

In order to begin or grow an email list, it is likely that you will have to offer more than just a promise to keep them “in the loop”. Chances are you will need an enticing freebie, lead magnet, or opt-in to offer in exchange. Try the ones on this page and you’d be surprised what a difference it can make. Free resources like Canva can really help you to design beautiful lead magnets. You can check out my Canva tutorial for a little help. You can also try using free tools like Inskscape, Paint.net, or Gimp. But what are the best lead magnets? Let’s jump right in.

1. Planner/Calendar Page Lead Magnets

A business planner can be branded and provided to potential customers for general use or as a planner or calendar for a blog or social media posts. Planning and scheduling posts for marketing can be tedious but a social media scheduler or content planner can really help. Your audience will appreciate this and will be reminded of your company if you add your brand name, website, and logo to the pages. The best part is you only have to create and send one page. Since it’s digital, your recipient can just print out as many pages as they like.

2. Excel Spreadsheet With Built-in Table/Formula

If you’re good with Excel or Google Sheets a spreadsheet customized with formulas can be a great opt-in, depending on your niche. For example, if you are in the real estate or mortgage niche you could provide potential customers with a mortgage calculator. If you cater to people in the area of finance, create or pay someone else to create a savings or retirement calculator. Something as helpful as this will likely be saved and every time your potential customer looks at it they will be reminded of your service or product. If you’re not good with spreadsheets, that’s okay. Find someone on a website like Fiverr or Upwork to create one for you. 

Opt-ins like these are not very common and offer a lot of value, so if you have a budget it may be worthwhile to pay someone a few bucks for this.

3. Digital Art Prints

A digital art print can be a great opt-in for any niche. Create a downloadable print with a motivational quote or funny saying, specific to a particular niche and you’ve got a freebie that is sure to stand out. Send it as a pdf and you’re on your way to providing real value to a potential customer.

4. Checklists

Checklists can be used for just about anything. A checklist of things to do before posting a blog post, a checklist of things to do before recording a Youtube video, a list of things to do before going on vacation, a checklist of clothing to pack before leaving for vacation, a list of things that must be done before moving. Checklists are one of the best lead magnets and anything that can serve as a reminder to your particular niche can be a great freebie.

5. Discount Codes

If you own a store or if you sell any kind of physical product, discount codes can be a great offer in exchange for email addresses. Offer a discount on one item, or an entire purchase. If you offer coupon codes in different places you can use different codes to track which offer brought in the most conversions. It’s very helpful to have these analytics.

Even if you sell digital products, a discount code can attract customers. If you’re selling lower priced printables consider increasing your prices a little to make up for the discount. Shoppers love seeing a sale sign, even if it means they’re technically paying the same amount. 

6. Bundle of Freebies

This is one of the best ways to offer an opt-in. A pairing or grouping or related freebies can almost guarantee that your potential customer will be willing to give you their email address. Nowadays people aren’t always so anxious to part with personal information. This may make your offer too good to pass up. If you look at the bundle and hesitate about offering it for free, chances are your audience will feel the same way and jump at the chance to get it for free.

7. Offer a Coaching Call as Your Opt-In

If you provide coaching services, a free 15 minute consultation can be an awesome offer. You know the person is already interested in your services because they have requested the consultation. All you have to do after that is continue to keep in touch with them to offer your services in the future, or related products. Email sequences are particularly helpful for customers that fall into this category. Keep in touch and based on their need, send them regular emails that will help them and encourage them to come to you for coaching when they’re ready.

8. Contests Make Great Lead Magnets

Contests can be fun to run for potential clients. You can run a contest offering a product or service and offer to include customers in the drawing in exchange for email addresses. When you select a winner you can tell them to follow you on social media to find out who won. This way you have their email address and another follower. A win-win! Quizzes are also a fun way to get people engaged. They will have to provide their email address to get the results of the quiz.

9. Tell a Secret. 

If you can share a big enough “secret” with your audience this is often enough to get someone to part with their email address. Most people can’t help but be curious about the secret, especially if you provide just enough of a tease to entice them to provide their email addresses. “Secret to losing 15 pounds in 10 days with no exercise!” See what I mean? Of course, your claim should be true, but you get the idea. Find a useful tip in the right niche to get maximum engagement. Maybe a tip geared towards beginners that will help them get past a major pain point will do the trick.

10. Free Gift With First Purchase

Who doesn’t love a free gift? Especially if it’s a surprise. The free gift can be another freebie that you have created or an actual product. If you provide coaching services, for example, the free gift could be a checklist related to your niche. An email marketing coach could provide a checklist showing how to create promotional email sequences using a particular website or service. The offer of a free service is one of the best lead magnets you can offer because of its perceived value, which is high.

Any of these freebies can be created and designed as an attractive opt-in. If one doesn’t work, try changing the language in your ad. Try changing the graphics used, the color, or the font. If you still do not receive the response you want, try bundling it with another related freebie to add more value. Trial and error are key but you have the tools to create a winning opt-in.

Any or all of these freebies can be helpful in getting a potential customer to part with their email address. Trial and error with your particular audience will be crucial. Once you have created your lead magnet try your hand at creating automated email sequences to send out regular communications to your subbies. Tools like Convertkit and Aweber are user-friendly and effective. 

Good luck! 

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