If you've ever Googled "how to grow an email list", you've probably been told the first thing you need is a lead magnet. Which immediately triggers the overwhelm.
Apparently you need an ebook, or a workbook, or a five-day challenge, or a mini course. Then before you know it, you're halfway through planning something that's going to take weeks to create and you've not even thought about your email platform yet.
It's no wonder so many people never get round to creating anything.
The best lead magnets usually aren’t the biggest, or the prettiest. They're the ones that solve one small problem at exactly the right moment. That's what makes someone think, "Oh, that's exactly what I need."
The path of least resistance.
So... what actually is a lead magnet?
A lead magnet, also called a freebie, is something valuable that somebody receives in exchange for joining your email list. It could be a checklist, a template, a guide, a cheat sheet or even a short video. It doesn't really matter what format it takes. What matters is that it helps someone move one step closer to solving a problem they're already thinking about.
Think of it as the beginning of a conversation. Someone is saying, "I'd like to hear from you," and in return you're giving them something genuinely useful.
Not sure whether building an email list is right for your business. Have a read of Is an email list worth it for a small business? first.
Bigger doesn't mean better
We've all downloaded those enormous ebooks.
You know the ones. Forty-seven beautifully designed pages that promise to tell you everything you've ever wanted to know about a topic. You download them with the best intentions, save them to your laptop and six months later they're still sitting in your Downloads folder untouched.
They're not badly written, they’re not valuable, but oh wow, are they hard work! I don’t have time to read all my emails everyday let alone a 47 page workbook about time hacks!
Most people are looking for a little bit of help with the thing they're struggling with today. Which is why some of the best lead magnets I've seen are surprisingly simple. A checklist. A template. A planner. Something they can use in ten or fifteen minutes before carrying on with their day.
Simple doesn't mean less valuable. It often means more useful.
Start with the problem, not the freebie
Rather than asking yourself, "What should my lead magnet be?"
Ask this instead…
What problem is my ideal client trying to solve right now?
Once you know the answer to that, the format almost becomes irrelevant.
For example, someone who's thinking about starting email marketing doesn't necessarily need a huge guide explaining every feature inside MailerLite. They might simply need to know what to prepare before they log in.
Which is exactly why I created my Email Setup Checklist.
I kept seeing people jump straight into building forms, landing pages and automations before they'd decided what they actually wanted people to receive. They weren't struggling because the software was difficult; they were struggling because they hadn't prepared first.
The checklist doesn't teach you how to use the system, but it helps you get your ducks in a row before you start clicking buttons and throw in the towel.
Sometimes that's all people need.
One problem. One solution.
When you're creating your lead magnet, try to resist the temptation to solve everything at once.
Imagine you've got a kitchen drawer that's become a bit of a dumping ground. You know the one... batteries, takeaway menus, old birthday candles, random keys that don't seem to fit anything anymore.
If someone handed you a book called The Complete Guide to Organising Your Entire House, you probably wouldn't read it. If someone handed you a simple checklist called Clear Your Kitchen Drawer in 15 Minutes, you'd probably have a go.
Lead magnets work in exactly the same way. The more focused they are, the easier they are to say yes to.
Think about what happens next
Creating the lead magnet is only part of the journey.
What happens after someone downloads it?
- Do they receive a welcome email?
- Do they know what to expect from you?
- Will they hear from you again next week or next month?
Your lead magnet is the start of the relationship, not the end of it.
That's why I always encourage people to think about their welcome email before they publish their freebie.
Check out these two posts for help around what to pu in your welcome sequence: How many welcome emails do you actually need? or What happens after someone signs up? They'll help you make sure new subscribers don't download your freebie and then get ghosted.
Don't worry about making it perfect
Perfectionism stops more lead magnets than lack of ideas.
People spend weeks tweaking colours, rewriting headings and adding extra pages because they think bigger or fancier automatically means better.
It rarely does.
It’s much better to create a simple, helpful checklist that genuinely solves a problem than spend six months trying to build the perfect fifty-page guide that never gets published.
Your lead magnet doesn't have to win awards, it just has to get people to sign up so they see how bloody marvellous you are.
How do you know if it's working?
It's easy to focus on downloads, conversion rates and how many people signed up.
Those numbers are useful, but I'd also look a little deeper. Are people opening your welcome email? Are they clicking through to the place you want to go? Do they reply to your emails?
And arguably the most important, do they eventually buy something or enquire about working with you?
A smaller number of engaged subscribers is often far more valuable than hundreds of people who downloaded something because it was free and never come back.
Keep it useful
If there's one thing I'd love you to take away from this, it's this:
Your lead magnet doesn't need to be big and shiny. It needs to be more useful and it needs to be easy to do.
The best lead magnets solve one small problem really well, leaving people thinking "That was genuinely helpful."
What next?
If you're planning your first lead magnet, or you've already got one but you're not quite sure your email system is ready for it, download my free Email Setup Checklist.
It'll help you gather everything you need before you start building, from your branding and landing page to your welcome emails and automation. It's a simple way to make sure you've got all the pieces in place before you dive into the tech.