Let’s face it: attracting new customers is difficult, especially if you’re a small business competing with industry giants. The good news is a lead magnet funnel can become a turning point for your efforts to capture and convert new audiences.

This strategy will help boost brand awareness, build brand trust, and incentivize potential customers to engage with your business.

How do lead magnets work for you? No worries – we’ll walk you down five actionable steps to building a powerful lead magnet funnel in this guide. 

What is a lead magnet funnel?

• A lead magnet funnel is a marketing strategy that helps brands attract potential customers and convert them into leads by offering a valuable incentive, called a lead magnet, in exchange for their contact information.

In other words, you initiate a mutually beneficial trade-off with consumers.

A lead magnet is a free product, service, or content you give to potential leads. Here are some of the most popular types of lead magnets:

• e-books
• toolkits
• reports or white papers
• guides
• worksheets, cheatsheets, or checklists
• templates
• webinars or courses
• discounts
• private groups or communities, etc.

How does a lead magnet funnel work?

A lead magnet funnel is not just the process of exchange of an incentive for an email address. It’s a long-term strategy that requires several elements and steps. 

Typically, a lead magnet funnel consists of the following:

• A lead magnet (the incentive you’re offering),
• A landing page where people can sign up to get the incentive,
• A thank-you page that delivers the incentive,
• Follow-up emails or communication that continue to engage and nurture the leads, convincing them to make a purchase or take another action.

Think about it this way: a lead magnet funnel is like a treasure map that leads customers to your business. 

The lead magnet is the map that shows customers where to find the treasure, and the funnel is the journey that takes them there.

Like a treasure map, a well-crafted lead magnet and funnel can be exciting and alluring, making customers eager to discover your business.

How to build an effective lead magnet funnel in 5 steps

Every company can leverage the power of a lead magnet funnel. But what if you don’t know how to build one?

Then follow these five innovative steps to help you create an effective lead magnet funnel from scratch.

Understand your target audience.

Before building a lead magnet funnel, you must know what kind of consumers you want to attract. Otherwise, you risk creating a magnet that doesn’t capture your target audience’s attention. That would defeat the whole purpose of the magnet.

So start by analyzing your potential customer base:

• Conduct market research to understand your target audience’s needs, pain points, and behaviours;
• Develop your ideal buyer personas and define their needs and interests;
• Analyze your existing customer data, including purchase history and website behaviour. It will give you further insights into your target audience;
• Use social media listening. Monitor social media platforms to understand what people are saying about your brand.

The more you know about your audience, the better idea you’ll have of what kind of value they’re looking for.

It will allow you to create an effective lead magnet funnel that fits your target customers’ interests, needs, and pain points.

Develop a high-value lead magnet.

Now, it’s time to create a strong lead magnet based on your insights into your target customer. Choose wisely – it has to be something your audience will find relevant and valuable. 

• Let’s say you run an online clothing store and produce a podcast on fashion. You’ve thoroughly analyzed your audience and have a clear picture: your podcast targets women between the ages of 25 and 45 who are interested in fashion and looking for high-quality, sustainable clothing options.
• Based on this knowledge, a high-value lead magnet could be a free guide on how to build a sustainable wardrobe or a discount code for first-time shoppers on your website.

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In other words, choose a lead magnet that solves a specific problem or pain point for your target audience and provides them with a quick win or a tangible result.

This can increase the perceived value of the lead magnet and make it more likely that people will opt in to get it.

Pro-tip: a recent study by GetResponse shows that video lead magnets convert the best, followed by written and visual formats of lead magnets. On top of that, short-form magnets perform better with audiences than long-form ones.

Create a dedicated landing page.

A landing page is an essential component of your lead magnet funnel. Its primary function is to highlight the benefits of your lead magnet and encourage visitors to opt in to receive it. 

Here are a couple of tips to ensure your landing page does its job of attracting people to your lead magnet:

• Keep it simple. Your landing page should have a clear and simple design, no frills;
• Focus on the benefits. Let people know how your lead magnet can help them solve a specific problem or pain point;
• Use compelling visuals. Use high-quality images or videos to showcase your lead magnet and make your landing page more engaging;
• Keep the form simple. Your opt-in form should be short and clear, asking for only the most essential information, such as name and email address;
• Make it mobile-friendly. Optimize your landing page for mobile devices (many people now access the internet primarily through their smartphones).

Create a lead magnet email sequence.

At this point, your magnet should already be attracting leads, so your lead email list is growing. The most important factor in the lead magnet funnel’s success is how you leverage this list.

It’s time to encourage your leads to take the next step in your sales process. To do this effectively, develop a series of emails that are designed to provide value and smoothly guide people through the buyer’s journey.

The first email in your sequence could thank the new lead for signing up and provide them with the lead magnet they requested.

Further down the road, your goal is to continue engaging with your recipients and gently convince them to purchase. Consider such types of emails as:

• Welcome (brand introduction) email. A few days after the thank you email, send your lead a welcome email to introduce your brand and tell them more about how you want to communicate with them. This marketing email strategy can also include links to content the lead may find valuable or redirect to your shopping pages right away.
• Promotional emails. Do you have a great product to offer to your leads? Send them a promotional letter outlining all of its benefits, including high-quality images, and offering a nice discount. Tailor these emails to your leads’ specific interests and needs and include a clear CTA to boost conversions.
• Social proof emails. Let your leads know that your existing customers trust and love your brand. Enrich your emails with reviews, testimonials, top-performing UGC or case studies that demonstrate the value of your product/service. These emails help build credibility and trust with your leads and can become a game changer when it comes to conversions.

Pro-tip: use email marketing software to create and effectively implement email sequences for your lead magnet funnel. It will help you automate and optimize your follow-up emails and effectively work with different mailing lists.

Test and optimize your lead magnet funnel

Practice makes perfect, and building lead magnet funnels is no exception. The more you implement this strategy, the more effectively you can refine it. That’s why tracking the progress and efficiency of your funnel is key to your marketing success.

• Determine the crucial KPIs of your campaign, such as click-through rate, number of leads, and conversion rates. Watch these indicators closely to see how well the lead magnet funnel performs. Use tools such as Google Analytics to stay on top of your campaign trends;
• A/B test various elements of the funnel. For example, use A/B for different headlines or call-to-actions on your landing page or experiment with different email subject lines to see which ones lead to higher open rates;
• Continuously improve. Constantly refine your lead magnet funnel based on the results of your tests and optimizations. By making incremental improvements over time, you can create a highly effective lead magnet funnel that generates leads and drives conversions consistently.

Conclusion

A well-crafted lead magnet funnel can be a powerful tool for attracting, engaging, and converting potential customers. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can create a highly effective lead magnet funnel that drives results for your business.

So go ahead and give it a try – your next customer could be just a lead magnet away!