As a business, you want to increase traffic to your website, but your biggest goal is to generate leads from your website visitors. If you are using a product, such as Leadfeeder, you are tracking any new visitor to your site and you are monitoring how both new leads and existing customers use your site. This is an excellent strategy for Lead generation. But… there is an additional step you can take to gather useful data from your website visitors - a Lead Magnet. What is a lead magnet? A lead magnet is any piece of content, such as an e-book, infographic, PDF file, or video that can be downloaded in exchange for the visitor providing their email address—essentially giving up their anonomity. The most important element of a lead magnet is the content must have high value for the visitor. The content is something really interesting or important that the user wants to see. It does not always have to be about your product, but it could be something that makes their job easier. That’s the key to success for the lead magnet - content that tempts the user enough to provide their email address to get it. Lead magnets are often used on the top of a lead funnel. They are not as qualified as a salesperson calling about a product or service, but a sales person sending a personal email or a sequenced email campaign can reach out to the prospect afterwards. What is the purpose of a lead magnet? The objective of a lead magnet is to capture the user before they leave your site. Think of it as a last-ditch effort to engage with the prospect. Types of lead magnets The most common types of lead magnets are e-books, reports, guides, case studies, checklists, cheat sheets or “hacks.” Videos or recorded webinars are also frequently used as lead magnets. Checklists and cheat sheets are very popular because they take a large volume of data and condense it down into easily consumable tidbits of information that users can quickly swallow. E-books and webinars are good for the more detailed website visitor who wants to research or dig deep into a specific subject. Infographics are another popular lead magnet because they offer detailed information that is displayed as images, charts, graphs and statistics. How do you decide which type of lead magnet to use? The best advice for growing a business is the same advice for lead magnets - know your target market. Who is your target audience? What is your target audience interested in, and what compels them to buy? What type of information is useful for them or helps them in their work or daily life? These are the questions you can consider when choosing the type of lead magnet for your site. Your lead magnet does not have to be something complicated, but it does need to meet a specific need. A lead magnet that does not hit the target market will produce low-quality leads. A good lead is one that reaches the right people in your target market. Second, a good title for the lead magnet is essential. The title and a list of benefits is all they see to entice them to submit their contact information. Third, a well laid out exit intent pop-up for desktop and a short catchy mobile banner for phones are also important. It goes beyond this post, but use a basic landing page strategy and apply it to the popup, such as forcing the user’s eye to go to the form. Lead magnets can be used on websites, landing pages, social media posts and paid advertising. The content in the lead magnet does not have to necessarily be completely related to your product or service. For example, if your ecommerce store sells snow skis, you could have a lead magnet that compares the latest skis or explains how to improve your technique to ski the moguls. Lead magnets do not always have to be about the company’s products; they can be about making a person’s job easier, especially with B2B products that intrigue your visitors. Intrigue and mystery are compelling elements that cause your visitor to provide their contact information in exchange for the content. What are the benefits of using a lead magnet? Increasing your conversion rate. When a lead magnet is triggered on your site at the appropriate time, the conversion rate can be anywhere from 3% to 40%, and the average is 10% - 20%. Attracting your target audience. You get the people who are looking for your product or service. It’s hard to find the right people who are ready to make a buying decision. A lead magnet is the first step in building a relationship with your ideal customers. Building your brand. A lead magnet can show your expertise about a specific subject. When visitors are looking for specific information and they find that you have the expertise they need, you just built your brand by creating a fan, and fans build brands. Adding a lead magnet to your website is not hard. There are many tools that can help place the lead magnet on the site and trigger it at the right time in the user journey for both mobile and desktop. Figure out what content is highly desirable for your target audience, build some mystery and anticipation around that content, and offer it for free. The hard part is to make sure you can deliver on your promise that the content is highly valuable. When that happens, your website visitor will most likely turn into a paying customer. ### About the author: Greg Ahern Founder and President of Ometrics®is a fanatic about conversion rate optimization, chatbots and lead generation. Greg has been a successful Internet entrepreneur since 1994. He speaks at conferences and webinars and has built a number of internet businesses, including web marketing, web development and internet lead generation, which have been successfully acquired. Greg is the Denver Chapter Leader for the Digital Analytics Association. You can follow Greg on Twitter @gregahern and join his CRO Hacks Groups on Facebook and Slack.