How to Create One and Why You

Have you ever heard the saying, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch?” What this means is that you never get something for nothing. If someone offers to take you out to lunch, they probably want something from you. In this analogy, the “free” lunch is the “lead magnet.”

A lead magnet is something you give

Someone to make them give in to you. By giving your whatsapp number list customer a lead magnet, you justify the action you want them to take (like signing up for an email newsletter).

This is a great way to generate new leads and re-engage old ones. You can’t invite all your customers to lunch. But if you put in the effort, you can probably come up with something to offer as a lead magnet.

Here, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about lead magnets, from what you can offer to how you can spread the word. 

What can a lead magnet be used for?

Lead magnets are used to attract customers or encourage a specific conversion. For example, if you want to build your email list but are struggling to get people to sign up, then throwing out a lead magnet for those who sign up can work wonders.

Lead magnets can also be very effective for building a customer base or audience. Here, Plush UK uses a £5 lead magnet to encourage customers to refer a friend:

And here, Silver Linings is expanding its Facebook reach which brings us computerworld by inviting everyone who likes and comments on their posts to enter a contest:

Whatever you want your customers to do, a lead magnet can provide the nudge they need to convert . But before you start bombarding your customers with lead magnets, a word of warning: data security is VERY important. 

If you use lead magnets to build a customer list or database, there is absolutely nothing you can offer that will convince your customers to lose their data to cybercrime. And the cost of compensating for a data breach will far exceed the ROI you get from your lead magnet.

So make sure your data security policy is up to par before you even think about creating your list. Now, with that warning out of the way, let’s move on to lead magnet examples:

Common Examples of Lead Magnets

Free gifts

Did you ever have McDonald’s as a kid? 

If so, I’m willing to bet that the second you walked through those business leads doors, your eyes were drawn to the brightly colored toys in the Happy Meal display, and that was it. Nothing else would do but a Happy Meal. You didn’t care what was in there. It was all about the toy.