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15+ Powerful Lead Magnet Ideas Proven to Drive More Qualified Leads Your Way

Mahnoor Sheikh
Written by Mahnoor Sheikh
Published at Nov 04, 2023
Edited by: Unenabasi Ekeruke
Reviewed by: Victoria Taylor
15+ Powerful Lead Magnet Ideas Proven to Drive More Qualified Leads Your Way

If you’re struggling to attract the right customers, you’re not alone. According to HubSpot, 61% of marketers cite lead generation as their number one challenge.

But what if we told you there’s a powerful tool to help you cut through the noise and capture the attention of your target audience?

Enter lead magnets—an effective way to incentivize potential customers to engage with your brand. In a study, we found that using Visme's interactive lead magnet forms increased conversions by up to 40% from existing traffic.

In this article, we'll explore 15 high-converting lead magnet ideas that are proven to drive more qualified leads your way. We'll share how to create interactive lead magnet forms that increase conversions by up to 40%.

Before you jump in, take a look at this video to see how to create lead magnets that your customers can't ignore.

 

 

Table of Contents

Quick Read

  • A lead magnet is a free resource or incentive offered to prospects in exchange for their email address or other contact information.
  • A good lead magnet is relevant, specific and delivers actionable value. It’s also designed to be on-brand and easy to consume.
  • Lead magnets like ebooks, whitepapers and templates work best at the top of the funnel, but you can also offer incentives like webinars, demos, free trials, case studies and discounts to drive conversions near the middle and bottom of the funnel.
  • Use Visme to create high-converting lead magnets in minutes. Access ready-made templates, customize them with your content and branding, and download and share in multiple formats to generate leads.

 

What Is a Lead Magnet?

A lead magnet is a special offer or incentive that businesses provide to potential customers in exchange for their contact information.

Some examples of lead magnets include ebooks, quizzes, webinars, templates and free trials. The idea is to give people a taste of what you have to offer, build trust and rapport, and encourage them to take the next step in the customer journey.

Depending on your business, goal and funnel stage, this ‘next step’ could be making a purchase, booking a consultation or requesting a demo of your software.

Whether you're just starting with lead generation or looking to improve your existing strategy, watch this video to discover the most effective lead magnets and how to implement them into your business and make them work for you.

 

What Makes a Good Lead Magnet?

Not all lead magnets are created equal. Some perform better than others and actually drive more leads, while others either flop or attract the wrong customers.

Here are some key elements of a good lead magnet:

Resonates With Customers

Keep your customers’ needs in mind when creating your lead magnet. The more relevant your resource is, the more likely it is to catch your audience's attention, engage them and encourage them to take action.

Additionally, knowing who your lead magnet is for ensures you attract the right prospects—those who will most likely turn into high-paying, long-term customers for your business.

Delivers Specific Value

Your lead magnet needs to add value to your prospects’ lives–both perceived and actual. More importantly, you need to be specific about the value they’re going to get out of it.

For example, “50 chicken recipes” is a less attractive option than “50 easy chicken recipes you can make in 30 minutes.”

People don’t want to sign up for generic or vague promises. They want to know how your resource is going to help them immediately meet a specific need or solve a particular problem.

It’s only then they’ll be compelled to leave their contact information with your brand.

Piques Curiosity

Your lead magnet is designed to solve problems, but don’t give everything away. The ultimate goal is to generate profitable business for your company.

The key is to create a balance and get prospects curious about what more you can offer.

Your lead magnet should solve smaller problems to build trust. But it should have calls-to-action (CTAs) and information on how your business can help solve even bigger, more complex problems — and deliver more powerful results.

Drives Action

Yes, lead magnets are shared in exchange for contact information. But a good lead magnet takes things further and drives the lead to engage with your brand after consumption.

To encourage action, you can add a contact page to your lead magnet, sprinkle relevant CTAs throughout the resource, provide actionable insights and use language that provokes action.

Easy to Consume

Your lead magnet should be easy to read, watch or listen to, and offer immediate value to your potential customers.

The last thing you want is people struggling to get value out of your lead magnet. If they don’t have a good experience with your resource, chances are they won’t be returning for your products or services.

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Well-designed and Visually Appealing

Your lead magnet should be visually appealing, use clear and concise language, and be free of grammatical errors.

It should also be consistent with your brand's overall image and convey a professional look and feel to establish trust and credibility with your potential customers.

Aligned With Business Goals

A good lead magnet should help your business achieve a specific goal, like increasing sales, generating high-value leads or building brand awareness.

Don’t forget to measure the performance of your lead magnet and whether it's hitting goals by tracking key metrics and KPIs.

Pro Tip: Share your lead magnet via Visme to easily track its performance. View key metrics like views and engagements using our built-in analytics tool.

 

15+ Lead Magnet Ideas for Every Stage of the Funnel

Lead magnets come in various shapes and forms. In fact, some types of lead magnets work particularly well at the top, middle or bottom of the funnel.

In this section, we’ll look at 18 of the best lead magnet ideas to help you drive more sales-qulified leads at every stage.

Jump to:

Top-of-Funnel (Tofu) Lead Magnet Ideas

Lead magnets work best at the top of the funnel, which is why you’ll find most of the ideas under this section. This is a crucial stage where you need to spread awareness about your brand and convince leads to drop their contact information with you.

Let’s look at some proven top-of-funnel lead magnet ideas.

1. Ebooks and Guides

Ebooks and how-to guides are the go-to lead magnet idea for most businesses.
That’s because they’re incredibly versatile, easy to share, download and consume, and can work for a variety of topics and niches.

More importantly, ebooks are educational and help potential customers achieve tasks, gain knowledge or solve specific problems.

HR Management Guide Lead Magnet
HR Management Guide Lead Magnet
HR Management Guide Lead Magnet
HR Management Guide Lead Magnet
HR Management Guide Lead Magnet
Customize this template and make it your own! Edit and Download
Pro Tip: Visme lets you easily create interactive lead magnets. Add links, hover effects, embedded videos, animation, voiceovers and more into your ebooks and guides to engage your leads. Or, use our Flipbook Effect to turn your PDFs into virtual page-turners!

Learn how to create an ebook your audience will love by watching the video below

Use Visme's AI writer to generate content for your ebooks and any other document you want to create. The tool helps you generate first drafts, edit and proofread your text and even create layouts. All you have to do is explain what you want the tool to generate and it will do the rest for you.

2. Research Reports

Publishing reports with the latest research, statistics and trends data can help attract leads looking to make informative purchase decisions.

For example, if you’re in the real estate industry, you can create an insightful report with data on various neighborhoods (pricing, income level, number of parks, average utility costs etc.)

Valuation Report
Valuation Report
Valuation Report
Valuation Report
Valuation Report
Customize this template and make it your own! Edit and Download

This lead magnet idea helps position your business as an industry expert. This means when prospects are ready to buy, they’re more likely to turn to you.

Take advantage of data visualizations like charts, graphs, tables and other visual aids to share actionable insights with leads.

Lead magnet ideas - GIF of data Visualization

3. Whitepapers

A whitepaper typically offers a comprehensive analysis of a particular issue, challenge or trend. Additionally, it provides actionable recommendations to aid decision-making.

Whitepapers are often used by B2B companies, but can be effective for any business that wants to showcase its expertise and provide valuable insights to potential customers.

For example, a company offering Artificial Intelligence (AI) products may create a whitepaper on the benefits and limitations of AI, along with practical advice on how businesses can leverage AI to achieve their goals.

AI Whitepaper
AI Whitepaper
AI Whitepaper
AI Whitepaper
AI Whitepaper
Customize this template and make it your own! Edit and Download

4. Email Newsletters

Email newsletters are typically sent out on a regular basis (weekly, monthly, etc.).
They provide subscribers with the latest updates related to your business and are a great way to build and nurture relationships with them over time.

A newsletter can include a variety of content, such as blog posts, infographics, case studies, industry news and special offers. It should be designed to provide value to subscribers, and keep them engaged and interested in your brand.

At Visme, for example, we love sending out newsletters to keep our subscribers up-to-date with our platform’s latest features.

Lead magnet ideas - Visme newsletter

Visme seamlessly integrates with your favorite marketing tools like HubSpot, Mailchimp and Zapier. As a result, you can use Visme to create shareable content for your email and other marketing channels. This will give you more exposure, increase traffic and boost sales.

5. Templates

Templates are a great lead magnet idea because they offer potential customers a quick and easy solution to a specific problem.

Depending on your niche, you can create templates for design projects and text-based items like article intros and emails, websites, planners and more.

Email Pitch Template Book Lead Magnet
Email Pitch Template Book Lead Magnet
Email Pitch Template Book Lead Magnet
Email Pitch Template Book Lead Magnet
Email Pitch Template Book Lead Magnet
Customize this template and make it your own! Edit and Download

By providing a ready-made template, you can save customers’ time and effort while demonstrating your expertise and knowledge.

Not sure how to start? Visme has thousands of professionally designed templates to help you create helpful ones for your audience. Discover professional templates for infographics, presentations, charts, maps, documents, printables and many more projects.

6. Cheat Sheets

Cheat sheets are great tools for condensing and simplifying information for your customers. They’re especially useful for web development, design and other technical topics.

That said, you can create a cheat sheet for basically anything if it involves considering several factors for decision-making.

Cheatsheet Lead Magnet
Cheatsheet Lead Magnet
Cheatsheet Lead Magnet
Cheatsheet Lead Magnet
Cheatsheet Lead Magnet
Customize this template and make it your own! Edit and Download

For example, a design agency could offer a cheat sheet for choosing the right brand colors based on color psychology principles.

Keep your lead magnet on brand using Visme’s AI-powered Brand Design Tool. Simply input your website URL, select your brand colors and fonts, choose the branded templates theme and watch your assets come alive.

 

7. Checklists

Checklists are handy tools to help your customers complete tasks more effectively.
They’re also great for providing immediate value to prospects in the form of step-by-step instructions or a list of items they shouldn’t miss out on.

For example, a brand management firm could create a checklist for customers of all the items to include in their brand style guide.

Brand Style Guide Checklist Lead Magnet
Brand Style Guide Checklist Lead Magnet
Brand Style Guide Checklist Lead Magnet
Brand Style Guide Checklist Lead Magnet
Brand Style Guide Checklist Lead Magnet
Customize this template and make it your own! Edit and Download

8. Worksheets

Worksheets help potential customers brainstorm, organize their thoughts and ideas, solve complex problems and plan projects more effectively.

They also give leads a great starting point if they’re confused or intimidated about initiating a project. For example, this SWOT analysis worksheet template makes it easy for marketing managers to do some introspection and research.

Swot Analysis Worksheet
Customize this template and make it your own! Edit and Download

9. Workbooks

Workbooks are like extended versions of worksheets. They’re also brilliant lead magnets, especially for B2B companies that provide tailored, complex solutions to businesses.

Consulting firms, for example, can use this workbook template to help their clients come up with a viable business plan.

Business Plan Workbook Lead Magnet
Business Plan Workbook Lead Magnet
Business Plan Workbook Lead Magnet
Business Plan Workbook Lead Magnet
Business Plan Workbook Lead Magnet
Customize this template and make it your own! Edit and Download

Easily download your lead magnet in different formats ( PDF, JPG, PNG and HTML5) and share it with your leads using the Visme editor.

Lead magnet ideas - Download your lead magnet in different formats

10. Quizzes

Another engaging (and fun) lead magnet idea is to create quizzes, tests and assessments that help leads understand their needs or find the right solution.

Here’s an example of a brand personality quiz on brand agency Glorious Creative’s website:

Lead magnet ideas - Glorious Creative website

Make the quiz free and easy to take, and then have leads provide their contact information at the end to receive their answers. As they’ve already invested time in completing the quiz, chances are they’ll want to know the results.

Visme supports integrations with your favorite tools like SurveyMonkey, Typeform, Jotform and more . So you can easily embed surveys and quizzes in your case studies, view responses, create data visualizations and much more.

Lead magnet ideas - Visme quiz integrations

Middle-of-Funnel (Mofu) Lead Magnet Ideas

The middle of the funnel is where buyers are in the consideration stage. This means they’re aware of their needs, but are still researching solutions and evaluation options.

At this stage, you need to create lead magnets that help demonstrate your product’s power, establish your expertise and show what makes you better than the competition.

Here are the top MoFu lead magnet ideas for your business:

11. Webinars

Webinars can educate potential customers about how your business, products and services can add value to their lives and solve problems.

This makes them excellent lead magnet ideas for MoFu leads as it gives you a chance to show them why they should choose you over your competitors.

At Visme, we host regular webinars to help prospects learn more about our product and the digital content creation industry in general.

Lead magnet ideas - Visme webinars

Additionally, you can use this webinar presentation template to create stunning virtual slide decks.

Customize this template and make it your own! Edit and Download

Make sure you create registration-only events for your webinars and promote them across your social media for max lead generation.

Pro Tip: Ensure your presentation design is always on point by creating a Master Layout. Apply it across all slides with a single click to ensure they all look professional and on-brand.

12. Product Demos

Live and pre-recorded demos, especially if you’re in the SaaS business, are a great way to show customers the power of your product, how it works and what makes it unique.

Similar to webinars, you can create virtual events for your demos that interested prospects can register for. You can also do live demos on demand by creating a registration or Request Demo page on your website.

Asana, for example, lets visitors watch a demo of their project management software by filling out a quick form.

Lead magnet ideas - Asana demo

In Visme editor, you’ll find tools for making captivating product demos. You can create videos using our free online video maker. You can also create stunning video presentations with audio in a few simple steps using our presentation software.

13. Case studies

Case studies are a great lead magnet idea for both the middle and bottom of the funnel.

By sharing case study examples you're providing evidence-based documents that show potential customers how you’ve solved problems similar to theirs for other clients. This helps build trust and prove your expertise in front of prospects, encouraging them to get in touch with you.

Enhance your case studies by including testimonials from past clients and statistical results that demonstrate success and ROI.

Marketing Agency Case Study
Marketing Agency Case Study
Marketing Agency Case Study
Marketing Agency Case Study
Customize this template and make it your own! Edit and Download

Bottom-of-Funnel (Bofu) Lead Magnet Ideas

Finally, some lead magnets can give that final push to prospects on the verge of making a purchase. Let’s look at some of these bottom-of-funnel lead magnet ideas.

14. Free Trials

If you’re a SaaS company, offering a free trial can encourage more website visitors to sign up and leave their contact information with you.

Lead magnet ideas - Omnisend

Free trials are loved by software companies for a reason. They’re proven lead generation tools that draw customers in by giving them a “taste” of your product.

Once they’re in, they can test out your product, and you can follow up with them over email to ensure they have a good experience and choose to upgrade after the trial period.

Note: Depending on your goals, you may choose to offer all features for a limited time or limited features with no time limit.

15. Free Consultations

Free consultations are like the non-SaaS version of free trials. These are especially useful lead magnet ideas for coaches, agencies and consultancies.

Lead magnet ideas - Wellconvert

Clients who book a free consultation with your brand will be able to get a feel of your services and determine whether they’re worth paying for.

If you’re looking for an easy, no-code solution for creating beautiful, branded forms, check out Visme’s online form. Customize premade form templates, embed on your landing page or share online, and collect and view submissions inside Visme.

16. Discounts and Coupons

Discounts and exclusive codes for first-time customers can help sweeten the deal. They could be the final push your lead needs to convert and make a purchase.

All kinds of businesses can offer discounts, including SaaS firms, B2B service businesses and B2C companies selling consumer goods.

Retail company Ann Taylor, for example, offers a 10% discount to customers who sign up to receive text messages (i.e. leave their phone numbers with the brand.)

Lead magnet ideas - Ann Taylor

17. Limited-time Offers

Limited-time offers are proven to increase conversions at the bottom of the funnel. Add an expiration date to your special discount to create urgency and turn more leads into customers.

Check out how Dick’s drive in uses a limited-time offer to elevate your lead’s FOMO (fear of missing out)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Dick's Drive-In Restaurants (@dicksdrivein)

18. Money-back Guarantees

Build trust with potential customers by promising they’ll get their money back if they’re unhappy with your product or service. Offering guarantees can help drive more BoFu leads by appealing to hesitant buyers who are wary of losing money to scams.

Jotform offers a 30-day money-back guarantee to its customers.

Lead magnet ideas - Jotform

 

How to Use Visme Forms to Generate Leads

Visme offers a no-code form builder to create various forms, including email sign-up forms, lead generation forms and website pop-up forms that can help you with your lead generation goals.

These animated, interactive forms provide a memorable sign-up experience for your leads and encourage them to share their contact information.

But before that, you’ll need to create a lead magnet. Let’s show you how you can create a lead magnet in just five simple steps:

 

Step 1: Create Your Visme Form

Once you’re done with creating your lead magnet, it’s time to create your lead generation forms and pair them with your lead magnets. Here’s how you can create your form in Visme.

1. Choose Your Form Type and Customize It

Explore various forms Visme offers, including website pop-up forms, email sign-up forms, lead generation forms and more. Then, customize the fields according to your needs using our drag-and-drop editor.

Create beautiful lead forms that drive conversions in minutes!Sign up. It’s free

You can include fields like email address, phone number, name, address and whatever you need. Here’s an anatomy of a Visme form that you use for inspiration.

2. Customize the Character Animations

Visme offers animated characters you can customize to match your brands and look like you. With our advanced animation capabilities, you can animate your characters in various ways.

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3. Select Your Form Appearance

Choose between single-step or multi-step forms. You can have your form pop up on your content or landing page, slide in from the side or remain static on the sidebar.

Visme Forms Inbox Subscription
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4. Publish Your Form

Once done customizing, you can embed the form anywhere on the web using HTML file format.

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5. Integrate Your Forms

Visme allows seamless integration with various tools like Mailchimp, Excel, Sheets, HubSpot and more. You can direct your form submission results to these tools to automate many tasks for your marketing efforts.

Create beautiful lead forms that drive conversions in minutes!Sign up. It’s free

Step 2: Pair Your Forms with Lead Magnets

After creating the form, strategically pair it with your lead magnet to maximize lead generation.

Depending on the format of your lead magnet, here's how you can pair it:

Downloadable Resources

If your lead magnet is a downloadable resource (like an eBook or a guide), you can use an email collector form or a lead generation form. The user fills out the form to receive the download link via email.

Newsletters or Subscriptions

If you're offering regular content updates or newsletters as your lead magnet, an email sign-up form fits perfectly. Interested visitors can opt to receive your valuable content straight to their inbox.

Visme forms lead magnet
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Gated Content

If users interact with gated content, a website pop-up form that appears before access can capture leads effectively.

lead gen forms Visme
Create beautiful lead forms that drive conversions in minutes!Sign up. It’s free

Contact Us Page or Support

Pair a contact form with a support guide or FAQ page. Here, visitors who need more specific help can share their details to get personalized assistance.

 

Types of Visme Forms to Choose From

Lead Generation Forms

These forms are designed to gather information about prospective customers, such as their names, email addresses, job titles and companies. You can place these forms on opt-in pages, specific landing pages or at the end of a blog post to engage interested visitors. Visme allows you to fully customize these forms to match your brand and maximize lead capture.

Create beautiful lead forms that drive conversions in minutes!Sign up. It’s free

Email Collector Forms

Email collector forms are a subset of lead generation forms, focusing solely on gathering email addresses. These are generally used when the primary goal is to build an email list for newsletters or email marketing. You might add this to gated content such as eBooks or white papers, where users provide their email addresses to access the content.

Create beautiful email forms that drive conversions in minutes!Sign up. It’s free
RELATED:white papers

Email Sign-up Forms

These are similar to email collector forms but are primarily used to enable users to subscribe to newsletters, updates, or upcoming offers. They're best placed in the website footer, on the sidebar of your blog, or as a pop-up on your website's homepage.

Create beautiful email forms that drive conversions in minutes!Sign up. It’s free

Website Pop-Up Forms

A pop-up form appears over your site's content, usually triggered by specific user behaviors (like a plan to exit the website). These can be lead generation forms, email sign-up forms or special offer announcements designed to capture the user's attention and entice action.

Create beautiful website forms that drive conversions in minutes!Sign up. It’s free

Contact Forms

These forms are perfect for visitors who need to reach out for further queries or support. They typically include fields for the user's name, email, subject, and a message box. Contact forms are usually placed on the 'Contact Us' page or the website's footer.

Create beautiful contact forms that drive conversions in minutes!Sign up. It’s free

We tested Visme forms on 700K organic users and found that they can increase form engagement by 207% and conversion rates by 205%.

 

Lead Magnet FAQs

Yes. Lead magnets are worth it. When planned, designed and executed right, it can yield successful results. A study by WPforms found that 50% of marketers experience higher conversion rates when they use lead magnets. Lead magnets can be used for both short and long-term lead generation.

You can do a lot with a lead magnet, including but not limited to lead generation, building brand authority, learning about consumer behavior, increasing sales or email subscriptions and more.

In order to figure out what you can do with a lead magnet, you should first consider what you want to accomplish with it. Once you land on an idea, you can unlock the many possibilities of what a lead magnet can offer.

Some lead magnet examples include case studies, forms, webinars, ebooks, white papers, templates, checklists or cheat sheets. If you’re interested in creating these or other lead magnets, browse Visme’s template library to access thousands of professionally designed lead magnet design ideas.

Where you place your lead magnet is based on your lead magnet goals. If you’re giving your lead magnet out for free, you can place it anywhere as long as it’s accessible to your audience. You can embed it on your website and share it with others as a social media post.
But if your lead magnet is gated or will only be given in exchange for an email, you should create a sign-up form and share your lead magnet once an email is submitted.

The more people that see or engage in your lead magnet, the higher your chances of conversions and success. You can get people to see your lead magnet by sharing it on social media, placing it on your blog, using digital ads and customer referrals, creating CTA banners or sending it in an email blast to your customers.

You’ll only be able to determine how many leads you should have based on your goals. With your goals, you can determine how many lead magnets and leads you’ll need to deem your project successful. For example, an entrepreneur might need 100 leads, a start-up might need 1000, and a C-suite company would need 10,000.

Lead magnets can be either free or paid. There’s no hard and fast rule on which it should be; ultimately, it’s your decision. Most paid lead magnets are successful only if there’s already an audience ready to buy. If you’re new to lead magnets, start by offering free ones; once you’ve built an audience, you can start charging for them.

 

Create Powerful Lead Magnets for Your Brand with Visme

Lead magnets can help you drive more leads at the awareness stage. But they’re also great tools for pushing prospects down the middle and bottom of the funnel.

The lead magnet ideas above will help you create and implement the best types of resources for every stage of the customer journey.

And if you’re looking for an easy way to create beautiful, practical and measurable lead magnets online, check out Visme. We offer tons of lead magnet templates and an intuitive drag-and-drop editor to help you customize them.

Learn more about how Visme can help your marketing team with lead generation.

Mahnoor Sheikh
Written by Mahnoor Sheikh

Mahnoor is a freelance writer and content strategist for B2B SaaS brands (and a toddler mom). She loves to talk about marketing, sales, branding and visual design. When she’s not working, she’s chilling at home (or the beach), cooking gourmet dinners for her family or traveling the world. She’s currently based in Antalya. Connect with her on LinkedIn or check out her website.

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