My lead magnet is too valuable, how can I give it away for free?

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No one really subscribes to those newsletter forms in your website. However, if you offer them something that can help them in their life or in their business they will gladly give you their information in exchange for that solution. This solution comes in the form of a lead magnet or freebie.

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is a product that provides value to your customer that you give away in exchange for their email address. The key words are “provides value”. It needs to solve a problem – doesn’t have to be a big one – so that your customer will be interested in it and agree to give their contact information.

Lead magnets are usually PDF documents that have lists, workbooks or even ebooks. Spreadsheets and templates can also be set up as lead magnets.

Also important is that the content needs to be easy to consume. Something the prospective customer can read in 5-15 minutes.

How do you set up a lead magnet?

You normally do this through your email provider. Email providers are services that will help you acquire and manage your email list. They give you forms and landing pages where you ask for people to subscribe. There are many popular ones for example: ConvertKit, MailerLite, Active Campaign, MailChimp, Aweber and others.

I use ConvertKit because it’s easy to create the forms in it and set up the “incentive” which is the lead magnet. You upload it to their system and they deliver it once the subscriber clicks on the confirm button to download the document.

If you make a landing page, you can use their URL (They’ll give you that) or embed it on your WordPress website. You can watch one way to embed it in this video using ConvertKit.

Making the most of your lead magnet

Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of advice regarding online businesses, and it’s got my head spinning. Amy Porterfield says that if your lead magnet is good enough to sell, that’s what you should give for free. Monica Froese (I love her and buy all her products!) says stop giving stuff for free, your work and time are valuable, so she has funnels inside funnels and sells everything she’s got.

When I started this blog I wanted to do a spreadsheet called The Online Business Brainstorming Kit, where you’d be guided on the basics to start an online business.  As I started making it, I realized it was more complicated and involved many more elements than I’d originally thought. This needed to be a product or even a course. So I made a simpler lead magnet so I could launch my website!

Divide and conquer

Don’t give your readers too much information. If your lead magnet starts to be too big or too complicated, maybe it’s time to divide it into parts or they won’t read it.

Here are some examples:

• Is your lead magnet a 200 page book? Offer the first chapter as a lead magnet then sell the rest of the book as a content upgrade.
• If you have a complex spreadsheet on planning blog content you can make a simplified copy and offer the full version at a discount.
• Make a free mini course instead of a long course that takes too long to consume.

Add tripwires to your subscription forms

A tripwire is a low cost offer intended to warm up your customer so they are more willing to buy from you later on.

What do you normally do when people submit your subscription form? Show a thank you note in the place of the form? That’s the default. You can redirect the subscriber to a new page where you will thank them and tell them their download is on their way. And, by the way, have you seen this product that is on sale for the next 15 minutes?

Then you put your sales page below that message and show all the features and benefits and all the good stuff that goes into a sales page.

Does it feel pushy? A little bit, but what have you got to lose?

Add a clear CTA in your lead magnet

Your lead magnet should end with a CTA (call to action) where you show the customer where he needs to go next. You can be adding the CTA boxes earlier in the lead magnet when the content refers to the topic at hand. If you’re talking about coaching you’d put a button below “I’d like to get some coaching now!”. 

It’s also possible to lead them to an evergreen masterclass where eventually you offer a higher paid product. The idea is to make sure you are leading the customer through a journey where your products help them solve their problems and succeed in their own endeavors.

Conclusion

One of the strategies for success in business that I’ve heard makes the most difference is to consistently give value to your customers. That and establish a relationship with them.

Once they sign up to your email list you’ll have to nurture that relationship in order to keep adding to that initial value the lead magnet offered.

It can be a little scary knowing that what you do will affect other’s lives and businesses, but that’s how a heart centered business works.

Go ahead and give your customers more value than anyone else ever has.