What Is a Lead Magnet? A Beginner's Guide, Plus Examples

In this post, we'll introduce you to what lead magnets are, inspire you with lead magnet ideas and examples from real sites, and then show you how to create your own lead magnet.

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is an incentive that you offer in exchange for a visitor's email address. This way, instead of a one-sided situation (you asking for an email address), the exchange becomes beneficial for both of you.

You get their email address — they get the incentive. Everyone is happy. And this usually means you can expect a noticeable bump in your email opt-in forms' conversion rates.

For example, our data shows that offering a discount in exchange for an email subscription can increase signup rates by over 150%

So what is a lead magnet in real life?

For ecommerce brands, the most common example of a lead magnet is a discount code or free shipping coupon. For blogs, the most common example is a free eBook or checklist people can download after joining the email list:

But you can also get more creative with videos, audio files, and more — we'll dig a little deeper into lead magnet examples and ideas in a second.

Lead magnets vs content upgrades

Lead magnets are closely tied to another term — content upgrades. However, while the two are quite similar, they're also slightly different in approach, and it's helpful to understand the difference.

Generally, a lead magnet is a specific offer you promote sitewide. You might even have an entire landing page dedicated to promoting the lead magnet.

A content upgrade is a special offer that's tied to a specific post.

For example, if we wanted to create a content upgrade for this post, we could create a PDF checklist for “X steps to create the perfect lead magnet”.

Get the idea? It's the same approach — offering an incentive in exchange for an email address — but a lead magnet is usually a generic offer, while a content upgrade is an add-on for a specific piece of content.

For example, a writer of The Penny Hoarder upgrades her blog post about making money on Medium with a guide to improving finances 👇

Lead magnet examples — broken down by industry

To give you some lead magnet ideas, we'll start off with some general types of lead magnets you can create, and then get into more actionable ideas for specific industries, along with examples from real sites.

Unless you’re willing to provide a discount for your products in exchange for emails, there are 5 common lead magnet examples to choose from:

• A checklist that shows people how to do something relevant
• An eBook that covers a relevant topic in detail
• Original data that you've collected
• A white paper that collects and analyzes data from various sources
• A template for something; an email template to generate leads, for example.

These lead magnets are usually provided in PDF, but you don’t have to limit yourself to this format.

For example, you can also offer video content or audio lead magnets, which you'll see in some of the examples below. Or, you could create custom spreadsheets to help people track something related to their site. Feel free to get creative with your lead magnets!

The only real criterion is that your lead magnet has to be something your visitors find valuable.

As long as that's true, the format doesn't matter.

Now, let's get a little more specific and dig into lead magnet examples and ideas for popular niches, including:

• Bloggers
• Ecommerce
• Fitness or nutrition
• Realtors
• Photographers or filmmakers
• Coaches or consultants

And even if you don't fit one of those niches perfectly, you'll still come away with some great ideas and see how other successful sites are using lead magnets.

Lead magnet ideas for bloggers (+ examples)

Bloggers have a lot of latitude when it comes to the types of lead magnets they can create. Some popular ideas are:

• Guides
• Checklists
• Resource collections
• Templates

Adam at Blogging Wizard does a bit of all of that. Rather than creating a single lead magnet, he created a dedicated lead magnet landing page that offers “15+ Guides, Checklists & Templates To Accelerate Your Blog's Growth”:

Now, you don't have to go all-out as Adam did. But creating that type of content is always a good starting point.

Lead magnet ideas for ecommerce (+ examples)

If you're running an ecommerce store, one of the most effective lead magnets you can offer is a coupon or discount.

You've probably seen this approach before…

You land on an online store. Then, after a few seconds, or when you're about to leave, up pops a window that offers you a special discount in exchange for your email address:

You can offer:

• Flat-rate or percentage discounts
• Free shipping
• A special gift
• Buy one, get one free
• …any type of offer that adds value

If you don't want to go the discount route, another good ecommerce lead magnet example is a shopping guide — especially for high-value or technical purchases. For example, you could create a guide that breaks down purchasing a high-end stereo setup.

Lead magnet ideas for fitness or nutrition coaches (+ examples)

Fitness and nutrition open up some interesting types of lead magnets. Beyond the general tips we discussed above, some good options are:

• Meal plans
  For example, you could offer up a one-month meal plan for free.
• Workout plans
  The same idea — offer up an exercise routine that isn't available publicly.
• Tracking spreadsheets
  If you've already published the routine or meal plan publicly, you could offer up a custom-built tracking spreadsheet to help people stay on plan.
• Recipes
  Offer up delicious recipes that are also healthy.

For a real-life example, check out Say No To Broscience, which offers a free tracking spreadsheet for a popular weightlifting routine in exchange for visitors' email addresses:

Lead magnet ideas for realtors (+ examples)

Buying or selling a home is a big decision, which means you have some great opportunities to create educational lead magnets around topics that are relevant to both home buyers and sellers.

Look at how this Australian real estate agency offers a free guide for first-time home buyers:

Other topics you can explore include:

• How to understand what you are looking for in a future home
• How to properly inspect a home to make sure there are no surprises
• What to consider before signing a home purchase contract
• How to take pictures of your house for selling
• Etc.

Finally, if you work with more commercial clients, you could also offer neighborhood market analyses or a special list of foreclosed properties.

Lead magnet ideas for photographers and filmmakers (+ examples)

If you're a photographer or filmmaker, you already know why people are interested in you, so go ahead and lean in.

For example, Matt D'Avella, a popular filmmaker and YouTuber, created a 20-minute mini-documentary that he offers in exchange for visitors' email addresses:

People who are visiting Matt's website probably already know him from his films on YouTube, so the offer of an exclusive film that isn't available on YouTube is sure to be enticing.

Photographers can do something similar. For example, you could offer special high-res versions of images that aren't available elsewhere, or you could offer previously unreleased images.

If you're more client-focused, you could also create a lead magnet that targets clients. If you're a wedding photographer, something like “15 questions to ask before hiring a wedding photographer” would probably be pretty enticing to potential clients.

Lead magnet ideas for coaches or consultants (+ examples)

A lot of the general lead magnet ideas apply to coaches and consultants as well. But one way that you can be more effective in your efforts is by offering a free consultation or discovery call in exchange for an email address or other contact information.

You'll need to be careful that you don't waste your time talking with unqualified leads. But, if you do have a good lead qualification system in place, a free consult is a great way to open the door.

How to create your own lead magnet: everything you need

Now that you've got your creative juices flowing, let's finish out this lead magnet guide with a look at how to create a lead magnet for your site.

There are three steps to creating your own lead magnet system:

1. Creating the lead magnet itself
2. Creating the front-end lead magnet opt-in form
3. Delivering the lead magnet to people who sign up

To that third point, you definitely don't want to manually message your lead magnet to everyone who signs up for your list.

Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to automatically deliver your lead magnet as soon as someone signs up for your list. We’ll show you one in a moment 😉

But first, let's go through each step from the beginning.

Step 1: Create your lead magnet content

The exact process here depends on what type of lead magnet you're creating, but we'll focus on any type of PDF lead magnet because that's the most popular approach.

While creating a PDF lead magnet can be as simple as saving a Word document as a PDF, you'll probably want to put a little more effort to make your subscribers feel that they are getting premium content.

Thankfully, gone are the days when you needed to be a professional designer to create a good-looking eBook or document. Now, anyone can do it — you just need the right tool.

To that end, Canva is a great starting point for both designers and non-designers alike. While a lot of people know this tool from its image editor, it also works great for PDFs, and even has a dedicated eBook option.

To get started, click this link to open a new eBook design. Then, use one of the free templates as a starting point or create your design from scratch.

To add another page, just click the + Add a new page button and keep designing.

When you're finished, you can choose to download it as a PDF.

Step 2: Create your opt-in form

Next, you can use the Getsitecontrol email subscription popup builder to create an opt-in form, along with an enticing message that describes your lead magnet.

First, create an account on Getsitecontrol. It offers a free plan, so you don’t have to make a commitment until you give it a try.

Then login to your Getsitecontrol dashboard, hit the + Create widget button, and select a premade template from the gallery:

Feel free to choose any premade template with an email capture form – you’ll be able to customize its design later.

If you’d like to explore other variations, select Design ideas. This gallery features over 30 subscription forms, including modal popups, slide-ins, sticky bars, and embedded inline forms. You can browse the gallery without logging in.

Whichever route you choose, proceed by adding the template to the dashboard.

To tailor the opt-in form to your goals, add an image that reflects the content of your lead magnet, and write a clear call to action. It should be shaping up looking like this:

Read a more detailed guide to creating email opt-in forms in Getsitecontrol to learn all the ins and outs of the form creation process.

When you are done editing the copy of the form, move on to the Targeting tab and play around with the settings to control exactly when and where your opt-in form displays.

In the example above, the signup form appears only for new visitors when they scroll down 30% of the page. It also stops appearing for 1 day if a visitor has closed it, and forever if a visitor has signed up.

On Getsitecontrol’s Help center, you’ll find a complete guide to targeting settings to help you set up the conditions for displaying your opt-in form.

If you want to see all the steps to setting up an email signup popup in more detail, watch this video tutorial.

Step 3: Create an automated email to deliver your lead magnet

To deliver the lead magnet to people who join your list, you can use Getsitecontrol's built-in feature, named follow-up emails.

Follow-up emails are automatically sent to everyone who signs up through your opt-in form.

Before you set that up, you'll need to upload your lead magnet file to your website's server. Or, if you don't have access to your website's server, you could also upload it to Google Drive or Dropbox — that's totally fine.

Then, proceed to create a follow-up email by switching to the Follow-up tab.

You can either create an email from scratch or select one of the premade emails from the gallery. However, keep in mind that most of the templates are designed for discount-based lead magnets – so you might need to make significant adjustments to the text.

If you’re starting from scratch, type your email and fill out the fields on the right with the details:

💡If your opt-in form has a name capture field, we recommend using the ‘var’ buttons to include the name of the subscriber in the message.

Next, use the controls in the top-left corner to format your text, and the buttons on the right to add elements like images, buttons, and dividers:

And now the most important step: include a link to your lead magnet PDF file in your email. It can be a simple link attached to a piece of text, like in this case:

Or a button opening your lead magnet URL, like this one:

When you are satisfied with how your email looks, click Done and select how soon after the subscription you want to send it.

Save & close your form and that's it! Now, all new subscribers will automatically receive an email that includes a link to download the relevant lead magnet.

💡If you want, you can even create different lead magnets and use Getsitecontrol's built-in A/B testing feature to find out which one gets you the most subscribers.

Create your lead magnet today

Lead magnets are a surefire way to get more email subscribers to your site.

You will need to put a little effort into creating the lead magnet at the beginning, but it's a one-time investment that will pay off long term. You’ll ultimately get a higher conversion rate for your email opt-in forms.

To get started, use a tool like Canva and create a great-looking lead magnet. Then, use the Getsitecontrol form builder to create an email capture form and automatically deliver your lead magnet to your subscribers.

Give it a try and start growing your email list today!