11 effective lead magnet examples that will delight new subscribers

Do you want to know how to get people to sign up for your email list?

Let me guess. You have no idea what kind of lead magnet to create for your blog. Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. The purpose of this post is to show you some excellent lead magnet examples and ideas, how you can make your own newsletter freebie, and how and where to promote it.

lead magnet examples

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is a valuable free item or service you give in exchange for someone’s contact information.

Look, everybody is busy. So, to sway your readers to hand over their email and subscribe, you must offer something to impress your audience. But you probably wonder, is it necessary to use a lead magnet, and do they actually work?

Let me say this straight. They do work, but often, visitors will sign up for your list just to get your freebie. The most valuable sign-ups are from people who sign up because they are interested in your blog content and love to hear from you. Usually, these are the ones that will buy something from you.

What are some benefits of lead magnets?

Perhaps you’re wondering how lead magnets can benefit your blog. Listed below are five benefits, as well as some examples of how to use them.

Grows your email list:

A good way to grow your email list is by offering a helpful resource in exchange for an email address. For example, you run a fitness blog and provide a free workout guide as your lead magnet. Visitors to your site who like to download the guide will need to enter their email addresses to access it. You can collect their contact information this way. This is so that you can add them to your email list for future marketing purposes.

Builds trust with your audience:

Providing an excellent resource for free is a great way to get people to trust you. You can offer your readers a free recipe e-book as a lead magnet if you run a cooking blog. You can use the e-book to collect emails to build your list. You can also use it for future promotions and offers. Besides, since they trust you, you can use the book to promote your other products or services.

Increases engagement:

Lead magnets get people interested in your brand and website. Imagine you run a travel blog and offer a free travel planning checklist as your lead magnet. Those who download your checklist might spend more time exploring your content. And they may share and follow you on social media.

Provides insights into your audience:

Lead magnets let you gather useful info on your audience’s interests and needs. Let’s say you run a marketing blog and offer a free e-book on social media strategies as your lead magnet. As people download the e-book, you can collect data on which topics they’re interested in. This can help you tailor your future content to their needs.

Generates leads and sales:

If you make a great lead magnet, you can drive people to your products and services. Suppose you own a web design agency and offer a free website audit as your lead magnet. People may like to hire you. Positioning yourself as an expert can bring in more business.

Blogs with enticing lead magnet examples

We will take a look at what other successful blogs are doing and use that as inspiration.

1. Checklists

Checklists summarize everything your reader needs to do or know in one list. Moreover, they are easy to make. Want an example of how to create a lead magnet checklist? 

Check out how Compose.ly offers visitors a free SEO checklist when subscribing to news and blog updates. They target people just starting a blog with this valuable freebie.

Free SEO checklist

2. Ebook Template

Ebooks are popular and have incredible conversion rates. What’s more, they are easy to write. One way is to repurpose or build upon your existing blog posts. A free ebook should be easy to consume and does not have to be longer than 3000 to 5000 words. Lena from WhatMommyDoes offers a blank version of an ebook. Just fill in the blanks to create a free ebook for your blog in minutes.

ebook template
Image by WhatMommyDoes

Read also: How to create an Ebook In Canva In 7 Easy Steps [with free template]

3. Free Pinterest templates

If you understand a bit about designing in Canva, this can be a great idea to grow your subscriber list. As you can see below, Margaret Bourne uses free Pinterest templates as an opt-in freebie. Many bloggers use free editable Pinterest templates because they convert well. They know their audience struggles with creating fresh pins daily.

optin freebie pinterest templates
Image by Margaret Bourne

4. Free Guide

Another great idea to gain subscribers is to make a free guide. Think about how you can help your readers. What do they struggle with? Can you make a free guide to help them solve their problems?

Steph from Zerotobiz created a free guide that extends her blog post about what you should know before opening an Etsy shop. It includes information that is only available to subscribers to her blog. 

free guide to open etsy shop
Image by Zerotobiz

5. Mini-course for Online lessons

Creating a mini-course may sound complicated, but the truth is, it really isn’t. To develop a profitable mini-course idea, you will first have to create an audience profile. You will want to know their pain points and how your short course can solve their questions. An online presentation of 3 to 5-minute videos each is something you can quickly put together in Canva. You can accompany it with supporting materials like an editable worksheet for the students taking this course.

If you want to make a mini-course, you should check out Destiny Copp’s website and get started with her free offer, a lesson course presentation template.

mini e-course as opt-in freebie
Image by Destini Copp

 

6. Access to members’ area

Giving your readers access to a library of freebies is another great way of gaining new subscribers. Look at how Ivory Mix targets readers who want to level up their social media. By signing up, readers can access a library of free stock photos, Canva templates, resources, and video tutorials. Now I hear you say: Why give all that away for free? Once people enter the member’s area and see the value of what she has to offer, they may want to sign up for elite membership.

ivory mix lead magnet
Image by Ivory Mix

7. Spreadsheets

You can use Spreadsheets to create almost anything, for example, a monthly budget and expenses tracker, a social media content scheduler, and different types of planners. Google Sheets is a free tool you can use for this. It allows you to team up with other users to share your work. One of the best lead magnet examples is on HubSpot, which gives readers access to a free collection of 9 Excel marketing templates to organize and streamline their business. Pretty awesome, right?

free marketing spreadsheets
Image by HubSpot

8. A Workshop

Yet another terrific way to get your visitors to join your mailing list is by bundling different free content into a workshop. A workshop is an educational or instructive class dedicated to learning a special skill or inspecting a particular topic. You have to be an expert on this particular skill or subject to do this. Heather Jones uses her skills as a web designer to teach readers how to make a mood board. She combines video lessons, a quiz, templates, examples, and instructions so you will learn how to create your own mood board.

free workshop
Image by Heather Jones

9. Quiz or self-test

People love doing quizzes, and they are great for generating new email subscribers. You can choose from personality quizzes, knowledge quizzes, or calculation quizzes. For your visitors to get the quiz results, they must provide their mailing addresses. Click here to learn more about how to create an online quiz by Convert kit

quiz  for sign ups
Image by Convertkit

10. Email course

Creating an email course can take up a lot of your precious time. But it also has a lot of benefits, making it worthwhile. It allows you to build a relationship with your blog audience and gain their trust, but it also lets you show you are an expert in your niche. Maliha from TheSideBlogger provides a free 10-day email course for new bloggers who want to start a blogging business. As a bonus, you will also get access to freebies for subscribers only.

free email course
Image by TheSideBlogger

11. A toolkit

My favorite lead magnet is a toolkit. Pack several content items together to create a big bundle or toolkit. Why would you do that? Because people are curious about all the favorite tools that successful bloggers use. Ideally, your toolkit should be a valuable resource your readers can come back to time and again. With a toolkit, you can add affiliate links to the resources you recommend, which will help you make some extra profit.

free blogging toolkit
Image of the toolkit by Everydayshessparkling

So, This is our list of lead magnet examples that you can apply to your own blog. In this next section, we’ll tell you how to make your own lead magnet.

Posts you may like:

How to make a first-class opt-in freebie?

When creating your newsletter freebie, you must ensure it’s relevant to your readers and solves one of their most common problems.

Still, no idea what kind of lead magnet to create?

Let me give you a few more lead magnet examples.

For Mom Bloggers

  • printable baby shower planner or games
  • a get the house ready for a new baby checklist
  • hospital bag checklist

For Business Coaches

  • a free one-on-one coaching session
  • how to build a coaching business
  • how much to charge for your coaching services

For Food Bloggers

  • food photography tips and tricks for beginners
  • 8 free Instagram post templates for food bloggers
  • a cheat sheet on how to make money with your food blog

Want to know how to create a lead magnet in a few simple steps?

  • Figure out what your reader’s greatest struggle is. As mentioned, your opt-in freebie should help them solve this problem.
  • Choose a tool to design your freebie. Canva, Powerpoint, Google Sheets, or Google Slides are easy to use and free.
  • You can use your favorite email service to set up a free course.
  • Create a sign-up form with an image of your free offer and add it to the most relevant post.
  • Make a landing page to capture your visitor’s interest and persuade them to sign up to download your freebie.
  • Promote your opt-in freebie and the landing page. Read below how you can do that.
  • Last, create a welcome mail or series of emails that each subscriber to your list will receive after signing up.

How to promote your lead magnet?

You can add one of these lead magnet examples to your blog posts for starters. Bear in mind that for it to be effective, it must relate to the post’s topic, for instance, as a content upgrade at the end of the article.

Then again, you can add it in other places, like in the post’s sidebar, within the post, or even as a pop-up. Needless to say, if you want people to see your offer, you have to choose a post or posts that get the most traffic.

If you have a fantastic freebie and the blog post gets sufficient traffic, you will see your email list explode.

Related posts:

Other Creative Ways You Can Promote Your Opt-In Freebie


  • Make a special landing page with a detailed description and a preview of your freebie.
  • Comment on other blogs and link to your freebie
  • Make a pin of your lead magnet and pin it on group boards
  • Mention it in relevant Facebook groups
  • Add it to your Instagram bio
  • Include a link to it in your YouTube bio
  • Share it in Tailwind’s communities

Do you get the idea?😉

So, to recap

Offering an opt-in freebie is one of the best ways to attract your visitors to sign up for your list. Hopefully, these lead magnet examples give you ideas to create something unique and useful for your readers. To find the perfect lead magnet for your business, you should focus on your goals and what your target visitor needs most.

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