The complete guide to creating a lead magnet that grows your email list like wildfire
More people on our email lists.
It’s what we all want, right?
Because more subscribers = more potential customers = more money for your business.
But how do you actually get those people to join your email list?
The good news is, you don’t have to:
- Beg people to join your list
- Purchase an expensive mailing list of potential leads
- Hassle with tech to install tons of pop-ups throughout your website
All you have to do is create something your audience wants…
And then give it away for “free,” in exchange for their email addresses.
This valuable free something is called a lead magnet. It can take many forms: webinars, e-books, video trainings…
But the simplest — and in my experience, the most effective — type of lead magnet is a free report.
The best part? Free reports are incredibly easy to create. You can write one in about 60 minutes, if you have a proven structure to follow. (And luckily for you, I’m sharing one below! 😉 )
Trust me, creating a fantastic free report is so much simpler than you think…
2 foundations before we dive in
I’ll share the free report formula in just a minute…
But before we get to the details, we need to discuss two important foundations about lead magnet strategy. Otherwise, this will all be a waste of time.
First, let’s talk about the Law of Reciprocity…
The Law of Reciprocity has been called the most powerful law of human nature. Simply stated, when someone does something nice for you, you want to do something nice for them.
By sharing valuable information for free inside your report, you do something nice for a new subscriber. You generously give away your hard-earned knowledge and help the reader solve a problem or achieve a goal.
Doing this starts to tip the scale in your favour...so that when you ask for something down the road (like a sale or a high-value call), leads will be inclined to say “yes” and do something nice for you.
The Law of Reciprocity means that sharing your knowledge not only feels good (and it does feel great to give back to your community in this way!) it’s also a really smart move for your business.
How long should my free report be?
A big mistake most business owners make with their lead magnets is making them too long.
I get why this happens! As a heart-centered business owner, you want to share as much information with readers as possible. You want to help them and give them everything they need to solve their problems.
As admirable as that is…
It’s not effective.
Remember, this new subscriber doesn’t really know you yet. They’re not going to sit down with a 100-page e-book of yours just yet. But they are willing to give you five minutes to read through a quick free report.
The goal of your lead magnet is simple: prove your worth quickly. Create something that can be digested in five minutes or less.
Give a new subscriber a taste of what you have to offer. Deliver quick value so they say, “Wow, this person’s worth paying attention to! Now I want more.”
How to structure your free report
Alright, let’s get into it…
Here’s the basic framework of a high-converting free report:
- Title page
- Intro page
- Teaching section
- Call-to-action page
- Professional bio
Let’s break each one down…
How do you catch attention? [The title page]
First things first: your lead magnet needs to have a great title page or no one will open it up.
I recommend placing two things on your title page:
- A captivating title
- Your name (and/or business name) and logo, to build familiarity
To catch reader attention with your title, I always recommend my simple All Gain, No Pain naming formula:
How to [[BENEFIT]] without [[PAIN]]
Let’s pretend you’re a veterinarian who wants to attract first-time cat owners…
Think about all the problems new cat owners have and how you could help them with one of those problems (benefit)…while avoiding something they don’t like (pain).
Here are a few title ideas that show the formula in action:
- How to litter-train your new kitty without making a mess of your house
- How to stop your cat from clawing the furniture, without painful de-clawing
- How to help your new cat feel at home without taking time off work
- How to bring your new shelter cat back to full health (without spending hundreds in vet bills)
Some business owners spend hours trying to come up with the perfect name for their lead magnet. But as someone who’s spent years testing this stuff, I can tell you that the All Gain, No Pain naming formula is all you really need.
How do you set the stage? [The intro page]
Once you’ve gotten a reader to open your free report, you need to encourage them to actually read your guide. You do that with a quick introduction page.
When I say “quick,” I mean quick! You want this section to be around 200 words or less.
Here are the four areas you need to cover with your introduction page:
- Remind them of the pain they’re experiencing. Describe what their current reality looks like and why it’s so problematic for them.
- Tease the ideal outcome. Paint a picture of what their life could like if they solved the problem.
- Introduce yourself. At this point, you’ll have the reader engaged, so it’s the perfect time to quickly explain your background and why you’re the right person to help them.
Build excitement for the free report. Tell them exactly what they’ll learn inside the free report and why it’s worth their time. Also, tease how quick and easy this guide will be to consume, to motivate them to keep reading.
How do you show your stuff? [Teaching section]
The teaching section will make up the bulk of your free report, where you educate your reader and help them learn something new.
Through education, you prove your expertise. So share some of your best stuff here, don’t hold back!
Remember the Law of Reciprocity — the better info you share, the more your reader will feel indebted to do something nice for you in the future. You want them to think, “If this is what they give away for free, imagine how great it will be to work with them!”
Here are my best tips for structuring the teaching section:
- Share 3-5 main teaching points. More than that will be too overwhelming and we want readers to actually take action on what you teach.
- Write like you’d talk to a mate. Use a conversational tone and avoid industry jargon, acronyms, etc. Really dial it back and make it easy for a layperson to read and understand.
- Make the page visually interesting. Break up big blocks up text into shorter paragraphs (2-3 sentences each), use bullet points, and include images if possible.
- Keep each teaching point to around half a page (shorter or longer based on necessity). Imagine you have only 30 seconds to explain this topic to someone. What would you say? That’s what you should write in each point within your teaching portion.
Finding new customers online doesn’t have to be complicated.
All you need is ONE simple formula to attract, engage, and convert strangers on the internet into paying customers. In my free webinar, I’m breaking down the formula that helped me build a multi-six-figure business (and helps our clients do the same).
Click here to book your Marketing & Sales Strategy Call — it’s free!
What happens next? [Call-to-action page]
Once you’ve delivered great value and proven your expertise through teaching, it’s time to present readers with a clear next step to take.
That’s where your call-to-action (CTA) page comes in.
On your CTA page, tell readers what to do next. Don’t beat around the bush — make it crystal clear exactly what they need to do to continue the journey.
A few example CTAs are:
- Follow me on social media
- Read a blog post to learn more
- Sign up for an evergreen webinar
- Forward this free report to a friend
- Watch one of my videos
In my experience, the CTA that converts best at this point is a high-value call. That’s where you can go deep and where customisation comes in.
I usually like to take the angle of: “What I can share in a free guide like this is general in nature. If you sign up for a free call, I can share solutions tailored to your personal situation. Click here to sign up now!”
Whichever CTA you choose, you want it to be a logical next step, based on where the reader is in their journey. A new subscriber is unlikely to sign up for a $10K package after just one lead magnet. Think about the offer that makes sense for a beginner to say “yes” to.
How do you build trust? [Professional bio]
To wrap up your lead magnet, let’s end on a professional note: with your bio.
This is an opportunity to build authority by sharing your qualifications and expert status. Like everything else in your lead magnet, you want this to be quick and easy-to-consume. A good length to aim for is 3-5 sentences.
Include only the most important things that will instil trust in your reader, such as:
- Education
- Professional associations or memberships
- Awards
- Press coverage
- Industry qualifications
You also want to show a bit of your human side, too, because people like to work with people! A little personality can go a long way.
Here’s a great example bio:
So there you have it, the five simple parts of an effective free report:
- Title page
- Intro page
- Teaching section
- Call-to-action page
- Professional bio
Once you create your lead magnet, you can promote it in all sorts of ways to grow your audience. (With Facebook ads, in networking events, during speaking engagements, on your website, etc.)
Want to get started now? Take a few minutes and fill in this outline for YOUR new free report.
Challenge yourself to map out your title ideas and teaching section of your free report. Once you have that outline, creating it will be easy.
…And then you’ll have a valuable lead magnet that encourages droves of subscribers to join your email list!
Creating your free report is Step #1 in the three-part system to find new clients online.
You simply need to 1) attract, 2) engage, and 3) convert new leads to paying customers. Now sure how to do it? I’m laying it all out on my free Marketing & Sales Strategy Calls!
In our call, we'll go over your business goals and map out your very own Marketing Blueprint that brings in your desired number of new qualified customer appointments every month.
Click here to book your free no obligation strategy call.