20 Eye-Catching Lead Magnet Examples [+Tutorial]

A lead magnet isn’t something you can put on your fridge.

This tool has a different kind of attraction: the ability to generate leads from website visitors. That’s why most online businesses create lead magnets to build their email list.

In this guide, you’ll see 20 brilliant lead magnet examples from successful businesses and get plenty of lead magnet ideas to support your strategy. Also, find a tutorial on how to promote a lead magnet (a discount) at the end of the post.

Let’s go:

• What is a lead magnet?

• Features of the best lead magnets

• Examples of lead magnets

• How to promote lead magnets

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is a free resource that businesses create to compel visitors to submit their emails to unlock access. Lead magnets are added in prominent places on websites and can be key to a quick email list growth boost—but their effectiveness largely depends on the quality of the resource.

A simple example of a lead magnet would be something like a free sample of a product or a downloadable guide with tips. The more valuable and useful a lead magnet is for the target audience, the more email addresses you’ll receive.

Here’s an example of a lead magnet. In this popup, a business promises free resources in exchange for an email:

If you'd like to create a lead magnet and promote it on your website—

Use this guide to adding lead magnets to forms.

And then, promote it with popups, embedded forms, bars, or onsite notifications on your website to maximize visibility.

Try Wisepops—it's got all those channels:

Unlimited free trial, no cc needed

What makes great lead magnets?

Lead magnets can be boring, impersonal, and static. Such campaigns generate a few dozens of emails at best. We’re not interested in those. We’re after lead magnets that dominate—the ones that’ll make your visitors feel they’ve stumbled upon a gold coin.

But first—here’s proof that lead magnets work.

data sources: GetResponse, WPForms, MarketingCharts

Those best-performing lead magnets have a few things in common.

They are:

• Valuable. The best lead magnets give true value to leads (lower price, actionable tips, useful knowledge, etc.)

• Relevant. A lead magnet can generate signups only when it solves a real, relevant problem for the audience.

• Educational. “Helping, not selling”—this is the goal of the best lead magnets. In any case, there’ll be plenty of opportunities to sell later.

• Instantly accessible. People want immediate value, so lead magnets should be available for download after people submit their emails.

• Easy to benefit from. The best lead magnets promise to help achieve a very specific benefit easily (and provide tips and instructions).

With that in mind, let’s move on to lead magnet examples.

Lead magnet examples

Some of the most effective lead magnet examples are:

• Free shipping

• Inspiration file

• Contest

• Discount

• Bundle offer

• Free tool

• Template

• Free trial

• Webinar

• Free course

• Ebook

• Report

• Sample report copy

• Survey

• Examples

• Free consultation

• Gift card

• Access to community

• Quiz

• Planner

1. Free shipping

This is a great lead magnet example for ecommerce businesses.

Free shipping is one of the top three reasons that customers decide to buy online, so it makes sense to try this benefit to attract leads.

Here’s an example—

This popup asks viewers if they’d like free shipping. For many customers, this offer should be enough to convert.

2. Inspiration file

An interior design studio can use home decor ideas.

A web design service can use examples of gorgeous ecommerce websites.

Can you also inspire your potential customers somehow?

If yes, then definitely consider making an inspiration file. This lead magnet is a file with content that can inspire your potential customers with examples or best practices.

Here’s one:

With this signup form example, AppSumo invites aspiring entrepreneurs to download a file with business ideas.

3. Contest

Everybody loves a chance to win.

That’s why many people participate in contests—another great lead magnet idea. If the prize is valuable enough for your customers, then you should generate a ton of leads.

Here’s an example of this lead magnet:

In this spin-to-win popup, Faguo offers visitors the chance to enter a contest to win exclusive sneakers. Just a name and email are required to enter.

So far, this lead magnet helped convert up to 17% of Faguo's visitors:

4. Discount

“Want to save money? Sign up and get 20% off!”

You’ve surely seen this lead magnet example a lot.

That’s because… it works. People love discounts because they want the best deals possible. This makes discount codes an obvious lead magnet idea.

La Senza has a great example of using a discount code as a lead magnet. I like the popup’s beautiful design and that the code is promoted as “exclusive.” Since 94% of customers want exclusive offers, this copywriting is just perfect.

You can easily get leads with popups like that.

See for yourself:

➡ How to create a discount popup [steps]

Or see how popups can help grow your business:

Unlimited free trial, zero commitment. Learn about Wisepops popup builder

5. Bundle offer

Sometimes, discounts aren’t enough to entice website visitors to convert.

That’s where bundle offers come in. They have multiple benefits for customers as a package deal, which can be a more effective lead generation technique.

Example:

Adore Me offers a discounted VIP set (free shipping + exchanges). The bundle reduces the price significantly, so it could just be convincing enough (customers consider free shipping (96%) and returns (76%) important when shopping).

6. Free tool

Cookie flavor generator.

Calorie calculator for dogs.

Business name generator for Shopify stores.

You’ve probably seen such lead magnets often. Their purpose is two-fold: show the practical value of a product and build a reputation as experts in the field.

Here’s an example—

Justinmind offers a free wireframing tool for their target audience (graphic designers). The business gets emails and installs while the people get practical value. It’s a win-win.

7. Template

A template is a file that serves as a starting point for some kind of a project. Templates can be extremely useful and help you speed up your work.

Example:

Visitors can get free website templates to help set up a site with minimal or no coding experience. It’s a great lead magnet example with tremendous value for anyone looking to create a website.

8. Free trial

Throughout my eventful career as a digital marketer, I’ve used free trials as lead magnets countless times.

It’s a way of saying:

“You’re welcome to use our basic (but awesome) software for “free” (in exchange for your email).”

When people signed up, my team worked hard to demonstrate to them how valuable and useful the product or service was. Or, we tried to “upsell” leads on some extra features they needed to grow their businesses.

Bottom line? Consider giving away your product for free.

Many businesses, especially those in the SaaS industry, use free trials for lead capture. Like here, visitors are offered a free trial of a website building tool.

But limit the time people can access the trial to 14 days. This will give them just enough time to see the value of your product (provided that you help, of course). Even if subscribers don’t decide to stay with you, they become a lead.

9. Webinar

Webinars are like legit life hacks for marketers.

No other lead magnet comes close to generating a ton of emails in as little as an hour, which is something webinars can achieve.

The secret— webinars play on “the fear of missing out” because they happen at specific times and might not be available again. Also, they provide expert knowledge for free.

Example:

Search Engine Journal gives visitors a chance to get valuable insights into SMS marketing strategies. A well-focused webinar like this hosted by an expert should secure a lot of emails.

10. Free course

Got some expertise to share with the world?

If yes, you can score your business many leads by creating a free course. It can be a series of videos and written guides.

People are always looking for new skills (Udemy saw a 400% spike in enrollments a few years ago), so this lead magnet could be very effective.

That’s why lead magnets like this one below are easy to find.

11. Ebook

Much like webinars, ebooks help people solve a specific problem. Over 55% of small businesses say this lead magnet converts well for them, helping to get leads and boost reputation.

This is exactly what Gentleman’s Gazette is looking for with their new 50 Style Mistakes ebook.

12. Report

Work in an industry that relies on research and data?

Then this lead magnet idea is for you.

A report contains original research on a specific topic, so it’s a useful resource for decision makers.

Trend Hunter, for example, converts visitors with their latest report.

13. Sample report copy

This lead magnet idea works for businesses selling research and business knowledge. The idea is to pull out a part of a research report and offer it as a lead magnet.

Statista, a portal for market data, does exactly that.

14. Survey

Why do sites like Buzzfeed have so many quizzes and surveys?

Because in addition to generating social engagement, surveys are an excellent lead magnet. People like to voice their opinions, and many aren’t against giving their emails (especially when you promise to share the results).

This survey below is a great example of a lead magnet. Besides generating leads, the business will also get valuable data.

15. Examples

Examples are a fantastic way to learn something or get inspired, agree?

(You might be reading this article to find examples, too).

And if they are strategically aligned with your product or service, they can be high-converting lead magnets.

Like here—

Shogun, an ecommerce website design builder, shares web page examples with potential customers. This way, the business is both showcasing their tool and generating leads.

16. Free consultation

Selling a complex product or service?

Then a free consultation should be a good lead magnet for your business. This way, you’ll give clients a taste of what you’re offering, helping them understand its value.

Example:

A web development agency offers a meeting to people interested in creating an online marketplace. Indeed, building a site like Amazon is no walk in the park.

17. Gift card

To whoever said a gift card is a bad gift…

Sales of digital gift cards in the U.S. are up 21%. People buy them to treat both themselves and others, and their value hasn’t diminished a bit. Also, the pandemic’s influence drove even more shoppers to this product.

That means one thing for us: gift cards are a legit lead magnet idea.

A great example is Revelry, a bridal shop. Here’s their latest website popup campaign offering a $200 gift card for visitors.

18. Access to an exclusive community

Many businesses manage communities on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Slack. There, customers discuss topics related to their needs and businesses.

Managing a community, too?

You can generate leads by offering people access.

Here’s a popup template for Slack group invitation:

19. Quiz

“Which country best fits your personality?”

You probably have seen something like this on your social media. People like to do quizzes for fun, but they also work as excellent lead magnets.

Here’s why:

Quizzes provide immediate payoff and personalized results. That’s as valuable as it gets!

Here’s an example of a free product quiz from Glowforge. Visitors can answer questions and get personalized tips on choosing a 3D laser printer. I know I’d click—this product isn’t something I buy every day.

20. Planner

Many of us are busy.

Fortune-500-company-CEO busy.

That’s why we often turn to planning for help.

The power of writing things down is real—a good planner can make anyone more organized and productive. And businesses know that.

One of my favorite examples of this lead magnet comes from Lifehack. They made a full life planner—just imagine how much effort went into that!

How to promote lead magnets

The best place to share your lead magnet is your website. As you’ll see in the next section, many businesses prefer to promote lead magnets with website popups.

Popups are preferred because they:

• Can be shown to all visitors

• Can be added to specific website pages

• Can accommodate any lead magnet message

There are many popup software options to choose from. Some are great. Others, not so much. In our humble opinion, the easiest for beginners is Wisepops—so we’ll use it.

First, create an account (it’s free):

Unlimited free trial, no cc needed

Once in Wisepops dashboard, click Create Campaign > Campaign Assistant > E-book to see templates:

Next, add unique text and change campaign colors to fit the palette of your website.

You’ll see that every customization step is easy to do in our drag-and-drop popup editor. Basically, you just need to click the element you want to change to start customizing:

Once your popup is ready, connect your website to Wisepops and activate the campaign.

Just like that, you’ll start collecting emails with your lead magnet.

Many online businesses are building impressive email lists with Wisepops. OverstockArt, for example, generates 1,000 leads monthly and Faguo gets 5,000 every month.

Find out how this Shopify store used Wisepops to get 17% of monthly sales in just four hours:

Charlotte BIO case study

Lead magnet examples: next steps

Want to convert website traffic with lead magnets, too?

Then deciding on a lead magnet topic should be your first step.

Doing so is easy—

Just choose a topic where your business has the most expertise.

This way, you’ll be in the best position to give plenty of useful tips and insights. Next, pick one of these 20 lead magnet ideas you just read about.

Once you create a lead magnet, share it with your website visitors with a popup.