Growing your email list is one of the best ways to grow your membership website and your bottom line. Generating qualified leads for your email list can be challenging, but with the right knowledge and tools, you can create a surefire way to get more leads and grow your email list organically using lead magnets.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at what lead magnets are and what makes them effective. We’ll also explain how you can grow your membership website email list faster with lead magnets.
What is a lead magnet?
A lead magnet can be defined as any piece of content that helps you attract leads organically. This can be in the shape of blog posts, emails, videos, PDFs, or downloadable content. Regardless of what content type you choose, the components of a typical lead magnet will include the following:
- Call to action. A button or link that’s designed to get the viewer to click through a piece of content and arrive at the landing page.
- Landing page. This is where the viewer will learn about the offering and see the option to sign up for your email list by entering their email information.
- Confirmation message. That informs the viewer that they have successfully subscribed to your email list.
- Email series. This is what the subscriber will receive after they’ve successfully been added to your email list.
While this conveys the structure of a lead magnet quite well, it leaves out the essential part – what makes lead magnets effective at growing your email list?
Why is a lead magnet effective?
Just knowing all the components of a lead magnet won’t guarantee that you’ll be able to create an effective lead magnet that brings in new potential customers or members. You must take into consideration the following to create a lead magnet that generates results.
- Specific focus on a topic. An effective lead magnet needs a focused approach. If your topic is too general or broad it will have a hard time competing for attention. Knowing your audience well and choosing a more niche and specific topic for that audience will get you the best results.
- Solve a problem. This adds to the previous point of specificity. When addressing your focus topic, you need to have a goal in mind. For example, how does your piece of content assist the viewer with their task? What problem does it help solve? Instead of taking a general knowledge approach, a problem-solution oriented content piece will yield better results.
- Create easy-to-consume content. Your content needs to be presented in a way that does not overwhelm the viewer. Keep it as clear and concise as you can. That way, you have a much better chance of keeping the viewer’s attention and thus are more likely to get a conversion.
- Create credibility. Use your content as an opportunity to demonstrate your authority on the topic. Well-written and well-researched content will give you better conversions than fluff pieces.
- Make it easy. Whether it is downloadable or otherwise, make sure that viewers can access the content quickly and in as few steps as possible.
Now that we know the fundamentals of creating an effective lead magnet, let’s go over how to implement them to grow your membership website.
Grow your membership website email list with lead magnets
The content for your lead magnets is going to be specific to your topic of expertise, target audience, and scope of your membership website. There are a number of ways to make quality lead magnets by creating content around your expertise.
Existing Course
If you already have an online course then you can create a lead magnet using some of the content. The goal here is to create a small promotional course that people can receive for free over email. This provides value to the recipient and it also makes them more likely to engage with your emails even after the course ends.
This will not only net you more leads but those leads are also going to be more qualified. This is because they’re already familiar with your brand due to their interaction with your email course and are more likely to opt for a premium offering from your membership site in the future.
If you don’t already have an online course, check out our article on 6 Original Online Course Ideas and Why We Like Them for inspiration.
Extra Features
This strategy works really well with both written blog posts and video content. You can provide additional insights, information, or other “freebies” that complement the topic of your content well.
An example of this can be a blog post or video about, say, “10 photography hacks for beginners ”. You can offer subscribers additional content based around that topic titled “5 bonus photography hacks for beginners” as an incentive to sign-up for your email letter. This is highly effective because users are already interested in the topic and consuming content regarding it, which increases the chance of them being interested in signing up for your email list.
Cheat Sheet
Cheat sheets are content pieces that are optimized for some particular task. This can take many forms based on your membership website. Some common examples are things like checklists, how-to guides, glossaries or list of terms, quick tips, and infographics.
The goal of a cheat sheet is to make a task easier and simpler, as well as, expedite it. A handy tool like that is a good incentive for people to sign up for your membership website’s email list. Your new sign-ups are already interested enough in the topic to seek methods of improving or expediting it which makes them very high-quality leads.
Schedule Planner
A schedule planner is a template that is optimized for your niche based around the events that your potential audience might be interested in. Whether it is astronomy or knitting, a custom schedule planner that helps users plan out activities makes for a great lead magnet. You can create a downloadable, printable schedule planner and offer it to users in exchange for their email addresses.
It’s a simple offering but one that places the viewer’s topic of interest along with your brand. It is a great way of having some passive or “offline” engagement with the viewer and can be a handy tool for growing your email list with qualified leads.
Quizzes
Quizzes are a useful tool for creating a lead magnet due to the sheer popularity they have across a wide variety of internet platforms. A quiz should be designed around a topic of interest to your target audience, sure, but it also needs to be attention-catching and engaging.
Interested viewers are highly likely to enter their email information to get their results or the answers. This makes for an engaging and gratifying experience for the subscriber and can also set their expectations as to what kind of content they can expect in their email by being a subscriber of your list.
Discounts
Last, but definitely not least, we have discounts. A tried and true method, offering a discount via email can be a simple yet highly effective way to get people to sign up for your email list. Once a user enters their information to become a subscriber of your membership site email list, they receive a unique discount coupon for any of your online digital offerings. For instance, you can offer users 10% off their purchase or a flat $15 discount on their next order.
Automating the lead generation process
After creating engaging lead magnets, you will need a way to automate the lead generation process for your membership site.
There are some very good statistics that demonstrate an automated email campaign to be superior to traditional marketing emails. Put simply, automated email campaigns get more engagement and conversions. Most importantly, they actually preferred by the recipients of the emails.
One of the best ways of automating your email marketing is using a tool like FluentCRM. This powerful WordPress plugin is an all-in-one solution for managing leads and customers.
The key features on offer with FluentCRM include:
- Email campaign management.
- Contact profile access.
- Smart contact segmentation.
- Email marketing automation.
- Email Sequencing.
- Detailed Reports.
You can learn more about FluentCRM features here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is a lead magnet?
A: A lead magnet is something of value that you offer your website visitors in exchange for their email address or other contact information. A lead magnet can be an e-book, a white paper, a checklist, a free trial of your product, a discount code, or any other piece of content that can entice your visitors to sign up.
Q: Why is a lead magnet important for email marketing?
A: A lead magnet is important for email marketing because it helps you grow your email list faster. By offering a valuable incentive, you can attract more people to sign up for your newsletter or other email marketing campaigns. A lead magnet also helps you attract the right kind of subscribers – those who are genuinely interested in your brand and are more likely to engage with your content.
Q: What are some lead magnet ideas?
A: Some lead magnet ideas include e-books, white papers, checklists, templates, case studies, webinars, free trials, demos, quizzes, surveys, discounts, and exclusive content that can only be accessed by subscribers. The key is to offer something that is relevant, valuable, and aligned with your audience’s needs and interests.
Q: How do I create a killer lead magnet?
A: To create a killer lead magnet, you need to consider how you’ll offer something that solves a specific problem, answers a burning question, or fulfills a desire of your target audience. Your lead magnet should be easy to consume, visually appealing, and provide tangible and actionable insights. It should also be aligned with your overall brand and messaging, and should leave a positive impression on your subscribers.
Q: How can I use a lead magnet to grow my email list fast?
A: To use a lead magnet to grow your email list fast, you need to promote it strategically. You can add it to your website sidebar, create pop-ups that appear when a visitor is about to leave your site, include it in your social media posts, or use paid ads to reach a wider audience. You can also use a call-to-action (CTA) to encourage visitors to sign up. Make sure your CTA is clear, specific, and compelling.
Q: What are some lead magnet examples?
A: Some lead magnet examples include a free e-book on “How to Master SEO in 30 Days”, a case study on “How XYZ Company Increased Sales by 50%”, a discount code for “10% off your first purchase”, a webinar on “How to Build a Successful YouTube Channel”, a free trial of a software tool, a checklist for “10 Steps to Starting a Successful Blog”, or an exclusive video tutorial on “The Secrets to Creating Viral Content”.
Q: Why do I need an opt-in form for my lead magnets?
A: An opt-in form is a form that visitors need to fill out in order to receive your lead magnet. Without an opt-in form, you won’t be able to collect your visitors’ contact information, which means you won’t be able to add them to your subscriber list. An opt-in form also enables you to segment your subscribers and send them targeted emails based on their interests and behaviors.
Q: What are some ways to grow your email list?
A: Some ways to grow your email list include offering a lead magnet, creating a landing page, optimizing your website for conversions, using social media to promote your lead magnet and newsletter, using paid ads to reach a wider audience, collaborating with other marketers or influencers, and using exit-intent pop-ups or gamification to engage visitors.
Q: What’s the best way to build an email list?
A: The best way to build an email list is to use a combination of strategies that work for your specific audience and goals. You need to understand who your target audience is, what their pain points and aspirations are, and how you can provide value to them. You also need to optimize your website, your lead magnets, your opt-in forms, and your email marketing campaigns for conversions and engagement.
Q: What is a newsletter versus other email marketing campaigns?
A: A newsletter is a type of email marketing campaign that usually includes multiple articles, news updates, promotions, and other content that is sent on a regular basis (such as weekly or monthly) to your subscribers. Other types of email marketing campaigns include product updates, promotional emails, abandoned cart reminders, event invitations, and transactional emails (such as order confirmations or shipping notifications).
Wrapping it up
Organically growing your email list can be a long and laborious process if you go in blind. By creating a high-quality piece of content that you can turn into an effective lead magnet, you can generate more qualified leads and grow your membership website’s email list faster.
You can use this marketing strategy by repurposing content from your existing online courses and offering extra features, cheat sheets, planners, quizzes, and discounts. Once you’ve set up your email list, you also need to automate the process using a tool like FluentCRM for WordPress.
With this information, you can step up your marketing game by applying it to your membership website and digital offerings.
Do you have any questions about lead magnets and how to use them to grow your membership website email list? Let us know in the comments section below.
