Lead Magnet Mastery: Attract Customers, FAST

By the end of this email, you’ll know:

I got my first 650 newsletter subscribers from one lead magnet. But it also took me three failed attempts and lots of wasted hours to learn what actually works.

But what is a lead magnet?

It is a free (or discounted) offer you make to attract leads.

These leads (or potential customers) take your free spreadsheet, video, demo, etc.

And in return, you get their contact information (email, phone number, etc.)

Once your customers see the value you gave, they (hopefully) think this business is great.

This starts the foot-in-the-door technique: if your lead says “yes” to a small request (your lead magnet), they are more likely to say “yes” to a larger request (buying).

A Lead Magnet:

As you see, lead magnets are important.

Yet, many people (except you and I) create the wrong types of lead magnets and make no money.

Let’s get into how to create lead magnets the right way…

There are a lot of misconceptions of what a good lead magnet is.

Some people think

But those qualities can kill lead magnets.

So, what really makes a successful lead magnet?

These three qualities:

Your lead magnet should be tangible.

It should be easy to visualize using and have immediate benefits.

The easier it is for the customer to imagine the concrete use of the lead magnet, the more appealing it will be.

The 150+ Idea Vault is a good example of a tangible lead magnet.

In my social media posts, I would give a few of the ideas in this spreadsheet and show the spreadsheet in use with a video.

Your lead magnet needs to solve a specific problem.

Duh. But the best businesses do this differently:

They solve a problem that leads to the problem their business solves.

My newsletter example:

Are you understanding this?

Your lead magnet needs to solve a problem but also uncover new problems that your business solves.

Then your customers will continue to buy.

Your customer should spend no longer than 15 minutes using your lead magnet.

It is a quick win. The foot-in-the-door.

There is no need for 10-page PDFs or hour-long courses. That bores the customer and wastes your time.

OK, let’s get to the good part: my favorite formats for lead magnets

I’ve tested a lot of lead magnets.

These are the lowest cost, least effort, and most effective lead magnet templates you can and should copy.

Get a list of data and throw it in a Google Sheet. I’ve seen data collections of hooks, AI prompts, and productivity tools.

This Viral Hooks Database works great because it feels raw and is very tangible.

Data collection takes a few hours to pull and organize the data, but I highly recommend this lead magnet.

Make an infographic or cheat sheet to reference.

Katelyn Bourgoin has a buyer psychology cheat sheet you can reference for your marketing or even use as a wallpaper.

You can make a cheat sheet with pretty much anything. Focus on giving quick value and solving a specific problem.

A swipe file is your own list of materials you can use for inspiration.

I’ve seen swipe files with

Compile a quick list to reference of examples your customers can use for inspiration.

Daniel Bustamante uses a Notion swipe file where he curated the best performing subject lines.

It has only 10 subject lines and probably took an hour to make. But it is very valuable and a great lead magnet.

Do you have a personal slideshow or planning document you can share?

A personal item as a lead magnet builds trust and authenticity as you give them a raw item they can use.

Shaan Puri does a great job at this with his personal Pitch Deck.

A personal item is the behind-the-scenes view of your business. It allows customers to get raw and valuable information they can use.

If you have a valuable personal item or document, then edit parts of it and turn it into a lead magnet.

Until next week,

Warren