Lead Magnet Funnel

A Lead Magnet Funnel is essentially just like any opt-in sales funnel, except that at the top of the funnel there’s a compelling Lead Magnet. Therefore, instead of asking a prospect to provide their contact details on good faith alone, you’re giving them something in exchange for their details. 

Check out this 5 minute video from Builderall to get a clear idea of what a Lead Magnet Funnel is and how it works. It covers many of the same bases as this article, although you’ll find much more detail here. 

Despite the name’s implication, a Lead Magnet doesn’t just generate more leads (although it most assuredly does do that). It also helps to ensure that more motivated, high quality leads go into your funnel. If someone is interested enough to take the time to check out your Lead Magnet it means that they have a vested interest in the products and services you offer and is willing to let you explain to them why you have the authority that will give them confidence in your brand. 

A Lead Magnet, assuming that it’s of sufficient quality, also helps to establish trust and build buyer confidence. Paving the way for a great relationship with your brand.

• Ebooks– A great way to establish your knowledge, expertise and authority through long form copy.
• Audiobooks– The perfect solution for those who are too busy to sit down and read through an ebook. Audiobooks can be enjoyed in the car or on the train, unlike an ebook. However, they do take much longer to create, record and edit.
• White Papers / Guides– These are authoritative reports and sources of useful information in a format that’s a little shorter than an ebook but just as information dense.
• Swipe Files– Swipe Files are collections of useful resources like blog posts, email templates, infographics, factsheets and anything else you think might be of value. Users can swipe through like a magazine and refer back to resources that interest them later.
• Free Reports– A great option for the likes of SEO agencies and SaaS companies. You can identify areas where they are going wrong and thereby qualify and quantify their needs.
• Case Studies– There’s a good chance that you’ve helped someone just like your new prospect. With case studies they can see what you could do for them by seeing what you’ve done for others. These are especially useful when operating in the B2B space.
• Digital Training Courses– Don’t just tell prospects how good you are, show them with a free taster of how you can educate and inform them. Some companies use an introductory digital training course to bring value to prospects and leave them wanting to learn more.
• Coupons and discount codes– Retailers may want to use these to incentivize prospects to give you their email address so that they get curated and relevant discounts delivered right to their inbox. Just make sure that you use unique, single use codes wherever possible, however, to avoid the risk of your coupons being spammed by less than scrupulous prospects, decimating your profit margins.
• Checklists– Using a checklist as a handy reference guide can help provide your prospects with assurance that they’re doing everything right. It also helps them trust in your ability to guide, inform or equip them if they’re not.
• Free Consultation– This may not be logistically manageable for some smaller consultancies or agencies. However, in terms of a high value Lead Magnet that has high conversion baked right into the crust, it’s hard to imagine much better. Once you’ve provided leads with a free consultation and outlined all the ways in which your brand can help them, few are likely to turn you away at the door.
• Quizzes– A quiz can be a fun thing to do on your coffee break, but it can also be a great way to qualify leads and show them what you can do for them. SEO maestro Neil Patel, for instance, displays a full screen pop-up advertising his quiz as soon as prospects alight on his website. He offers tailored advice to prospects and explains ways in which they can increase their visibility and rankings in 30 days or less. All they need to do is spend 3 minutes answering questions to find out how.

When planning your Lead Magnet it’s important that whatever your create covers the following bases;

• It establishes your knowledge and authority, helping to build trust in your brand.
• It should tie in explicitly with the products and services you offer.
• It is of practical use to the recipient.
• It is specific. You don’t want to give too much away or provide prospects with a full library of resources. You need to be able to help them solve a specific problem.
• It’s not too dry. For many your Lead Magnet will be your first exposure to your brand and you want to make sure that it is imbued with your brand’s authorial voice and sense of personality.

Take the time to map out your content before you start to create. This will ensure that it is relevant and valuable. Even if the recipient never becomes a paying customer you should seek to provide value for them. You never know who they might wind up talking to about your brand.

You might feel very proud of the content you’ve created (and rightly so), but don’t forget the importance of the review process in your zeal to share your content with new leads. Take the time to check for spelling and grammatical errors before your lead magnet goes live. Remember that this Lead Magnet will be many people’s first taste of your brand. You wouldn’t want to render it an inaccurate representation with embarrassing mistakes.

Whatever form your Lead Magnet takes you need to choose a platform or channel on which it will be distributed. Using a tool like Amazon S3 for storage and distribution of your Lead Magnet is an affordable and efficient way of doing this for everything from ebooks to audio files. 

Amazon S3 generates a link which can then be sent to your prospects via an automated email upon filling out an opt-in form. Once they click on the link embedded in the email, they will be able to access your Lead Magnet and save it for later consumption.

When designing your opt-in page, one of the most important things you can have on there is a compelling Call To Action (CTA). This can make all the difference between users downloading your Lead Magnet and bouncing away from your page (possibly never to return again). 

Your Call To Action can take many forms. Even something as simple as an anchor text link is an example of a CTA. A “Click Here” button is another commonplace example of a CTA. Of course not all CTAs are created equal but there are some encouraging statistics that demonstrate that they can be devastatingly effective. For instance;

• The presence of a CTA on an email opt-in page can increase clicks by 371% and sales by 1617%.
• Adding a CTA to your Facebook page can increase click-through rate by up to 285%.
• More than 90% of visitors who read the headline of a page will also read your CTA copy, even if they don’t read anything else on the page.

If you can spare 5 minutes, this short video from Sleeknote has some great tips for creating high-converting CTAs and some examples from which you can draw inspiration.

There are many things that can make a CTA less or more compelling from positioning to size, and even the colors and fonts used. Sometimes, the difference between a great CTA and a bad CTA is just a couple of well chosen words. Our friend Neil Patel has a great example of how a Lead Magnet CTA can be transformed in just a few simple words right here. 

In promoting a free e-book to users, two subtly different CTAs were used. Version A featured the text “Get It Now” and Version B used the alternative “Grab Yours Today”. As you can see Version B offers a far greater sense of urgency with the verb “Grab”. It also pre-emptively implies ownership “yours” as well as implying limited availability (although neither is actually true). After all, an e-book can be replicated an infinite number of times and can stay available for as long as you want it to.

Still, that kind of emotive language definitely works because Version B had a conversion rate 5% higher than Version A.

If you do business within or with consumers in the European Union, your email lists and Lead Magnet practices will need to adhere to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation to keep your business on the right side of compliance. 

While you can find out more information on GDPR, Lead Magnets and email lists here, for the sake of brevity let’s look at some important things to keep in mind when sending Lead Magnets to prospects within the EU;

• You need to get separate consent for EU prospects to opt-in to your newsletter even if they’ve accessed / downloaded your Lead Magnet.
• You cannot make opting into your email list a prerequisite of being able to access your Lead Magnet.
• You can add a “sandwich” page thanking the prospect for requesting your Lead Magnet and asking them to subscribe to your email newsletter.
• You can add a separate CTA in your delivery email to encourage leads to opt-in to your email list.
• You can include a subscribe CTA within the Lead Magnet itself.
• You can add a voluntary checkbox (must be unchecked by default) or a dropdown (yes or no) to your opt-in page asking if they also want to subscribe to your email newsletter.
• You can use your follow-up email to explain the benefits of your newsletter and ask for specific consent to join your mailing list.

This short video by speaker and content strategist Jennifer Bourn has some useful tips on keeping your Lead Magnet Funnel GDPR compliant.

While this model may vary depending on the size and nature of your business let’s take a look at a successful sales funnel and how it can be enhanced by the use of a Lead Magnet. You should be using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform to track the movement of leads through your funnel and schedule appropriate actions to make sure that they don’t slip through the net. 

Ordinarily at this stage, the widest part of the sales funnel, prospects would be cold called and appointments / follow up calls arranged to ascertain whether your product or service meets the needs of the prospect. However, because we know that the lead has accessed (and hopefully consumed) the Lead Magnet you won’t be going in completely cold. They’ll probably have also received a follow-up email so they will be accustomed to hearing from you.

They’ll have familiarity with your brand and have already built some trust in you. Still, at this point it’s important to keep your expectations realistic. 

At this point, you need to verify that the lead is qualified to buy. This means that they have a genuine need for your products or services and are at least in a position to buy. If this is the case, the lead is considered an SQL or Sales Qualified Lead. 

At this point, you need to verify that the lead is qualified to buy. This means that they have a genuine need for your products or services and are at least in a position to buy. If this is the case, the lead is considered an SQL or Sales Qualified Lead. 

In some business models if it’s been ascertained that the product or service is a good fit for the lead, it’s good practice to demo or pitch the product (either remotely or in person) to make sure that they know that. This gives you an opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge and expertise that’s inherent in your Lead Magnet and build on the brand trust you’ve developed.

Hopefully, at this point the lead sees enough value in the product and your brand to be close to converting. A proposal can be arranged or a contract prepared. Some businesses may want to further build brand value by implementing a trial which allows them to see the product’s full capabilities. This may be free or at a special introductory price.

Your lead is impressed! They’ve made it all the way to the bottom of your funnel. You won them over with the quality of your Lead Magnet, you’ve followed up without being intrusive and you’ve taken steps to further ensure that they see the value in your brand and product. They should now be motivated to convert. Now it’s up to your sales team to close the deal and convert that lead into a customer. 

At various points in your funnel it’s natural that some customers will fall out of touch, never get around to properly engaging with your Lead Magnet or miss a call from a member of your team. Still, that doesn’t mean you need to let these warm leads go cold. They may still be motivated to buy, and can still be chased up and closed. And by keeping your CRM up to data you need never let a qualified lead slip through your fingers!