In 2018, email marketing is still as important as ever, which is why you need to refine your lead magnet strategy. In this article, we take a look at why email marketing matters and how to create eye-catching lead magnets that people can’t say No to.
A lead magnet is supposed to be simple but powerful.
It’s nothing more than a free gift that you offer your site visitors in exchange for their email address. It could be an eBook, a cheat sheet or even a video.
Sounds simple, right?
One snag:
No one likes handing over their email address to strangers. As such, your lead magnet has to be awesome and it has to be something that people can trust.
All we hear at the moment is Facebook, Facebook, Facebook.
While Facebook (and indeed Google) is a pretty awesome place to find customers via good content marketing, email is the best place to keep ‘em.
OK, so Facebook has 2.2 billion users. But guess what? 2.4 billion of us use email.
That means 34% of the world’s population has at least one email address.
[clickToTweet tweet="34% of the world's population has at least one email address. #emailmarketing" quote="34% of the world's population has at least one email address. #emailmarketing "]
Getting customers is a constant struggle for online businesses, but we’ll get onto how to capture more customers with your lead magnets soon. For now, let’s talk about customer retention because research has shown that existing customers provide most of our sales.
Moreover, it’s easier to sell to existing customers than it is to new ones.
And check this out:
If you boost your customer retention rates by a mere 5%, your profits can go up by 95%.
Now, let me ask this:
Wouldn’t it be amazing if all your customers were grouped together in one place where you could contact them whenever you wanted with new deals, promotions and so on? Instead of going out looking for new customers each time, you have them all in one spot!
With email marketing, that’s exactly what happens.
Once a customer opts into your email list, you can then work out an email marketing gameplan that converts them into a long-term customer.
But how do you get people onto your email list in the first place?
This is where lead magnets come in.
Since no one likes to hand over their email address to just about anyone, you need to give your website visitors a pretty good reason for them to do so.
Here are some tips on how to create a convincing lead magnet:
The easiest way to not get a lead?
Being unapproachable. Being serious! Saying “Register Now” as blandly as possible.
If you want to get those email addresses, you need to adopt a friendly, personable tone of voice that helps to build rapport and trust, both of which are very important for future conversions.
The friendlier you are, the more likely it is that a customer is going to trust you. A customer doesn’t know you at this stage. They’re “cold”, and it’s by being friendly and personable with your language that you can “warm them up” and convince them to sign up.
A really easy way to be more personable is to include a smiling picture of you alongside the text, like Melyssa Griffin does very well on her website:
Other ways to warm your customers up via your lead magnet is by using social proof.
As again demonstrated in the image above, social proof can be a simple as “Join over 200,00 others …” but its effect on website visitors is incredibly powerful. It’s essentially telling the prospect that, if something worked for 200,000 others, it’s going to work for them, too.
The language you use is important for being personable and warming up a cold customer. Here are words you could consider using:
Unless you know your customers, you can’t tap into their desires and needs and give them what they really want.
What you’re looking for aren’t just any old leads - what you want are qualified leads.
This means that your lead magnet must be something your customer wants/finds valuable.
For example, why offer a cheat sheet when what your average customer wants is something visual, such as a video?
I’ll cover the types of lead magnets you can choose from at the end of the article, but to understand your customers better, try the following:
Writing in the first person helps to build mutual trust and establishes a vital connection between you and the customer.
Writing “Send me my ebook” might sound wrong to you as you write it, but by involving the customer, you’re strengthening a bond between the two of you.
Here are some more examples:
“I want to start my free trial now.”
“Yes, send me my free eBook!”
“I want to learn how to make money online today!”
Not sure this works?
Content Verve split-tested writing in the first person and their click rate rose over 90% when they wrote in the first person.
If you don’t write in the first person, you’re failing to tap into a customers emotions and you’re not giving them a chance to register a sense of ownership.
Customers don’t care all that much about features. Instead, they wanna know how this free gift is going to change things for them. So let them know by outlining the benefits in your lead magnet.
Not reinforcing the benefits could be a deal breaker. A customer who is sure about you and your product might still have one or two concerns and reminding them of the benefits of signing up and getting their free gift is what gets them over the line.
Want a person you’ve never met to hand over their email address to you? Well, you’re going to have to offer them an insane amount of value.
It’s all about a perceived sense of value. If a customer perceives they’re getting more out of this then you are, they’re more likely to go ahead with this transaction.
As such, your free gift has to be AWESOME. It must be so good that your friends can’t believe you’d offer this for free.
If your free gift provides little to no value, two things will happen:
Okay, now that you know who your customers are and how to put together an irresistible lead magnet, it’s time to work out what type you should create.
When deciding on what to offer, remember the two key elements of a lead magnet:
Lead - The prospect’s email address/telephone number/home address (usually, however, it’s just their email address that we get)
Magnet - The attraction
We want a customers info but to get it, we have to give them something they want.
What do they want?
It all comes down to knowing your customers and what they would find hugely valuable right now. Give them what they really want, and then focus on converting them into buying customers once you’ve secured their email address.
Here are some lead magnet options for you:
If you offer a text-based gift, such as a cheat sheet or a report like Jon Morrow does on his website, make sure to offer it in PDF format.
All in all, email marketing can be the best way to grow your online business in 2018 and beyond.
Create personable, properly targeted lead magnets that get people onto your list and then work out an email marketing strategy that turns them into lifetime customers.
Have you got anything you’d like to add?
Please feel free to leave us a comment below as always.
Best of luck.
About the Author
Andrew is the CEO of Next Level Web, a trusted marketing agency based in San Diego, California. He has three lovely daughters and the most patient wife of all time. They specialize in Web Design, Search Engine Optimization, PPC Advertising, and Email Marketing (The Agency - not the daughters... yet). See case studies & results of happy clients at www.NextLevelWeb.com.
