I love email marketing. I will shout it from the rooftops to entrepreneurs any time, any place.
Having a VIP list of subscribers who open my emails, trust me, learn from me, and ultimately buy from me, is the backbone of my business. It’s where I focus most and spend time growing and cultivating my audience.
But how can you get people to actually hop onto your email list?
Nobody is going to hand over their email address for a boring newsletter.
You need to give them an amazing reason to subscribe.
And that’s where lead magnets come in. It’s basically a bribe: Give me your email address and I’ll give you this cool, valuable thing for free!
In this episode I’m going to share some of the best lead magnet ideas out there. These are things that have worked for me and my students, and have resulted in tens of thousands of new subscribers.
Dive into this episode to learn what makes a killer lead magnet. And get ready to leave with a bunch of ideas to get your email game on point. Let’s roll the tape!
Growing your email list is the golden ticket for a course creator or online business owner. Here’s why: you own your list. It’s not a social platform where an algorithm decides who sees you. Those subscribers are yours, landing in their inbox, far more likely to open and read what you send. Email tends to convert about four times higher than social. So if you’re going to put your effort anywhere, put it here.
But nobody signs up for another boring newsletter. You need a lead magnet: a free gift that entices people onto your list. Think of it as a bridge. It invites the right people in, and over time you turn those subscribers into paying customers.
What makes a lead magnet actually work
Two things.
First, it gives a quick win. Don’t overload people or make it so big it’s hard to consume. Real talk: the last time you downloaded a 40-page ebook, did you actually read it? Probably not. Bite-sized and actionable beats big and impressive every time.
Second, it’s tied directly to what you sell next. If the freebie and your paid offer don’t line up, you’ll fill your list with people who never buy. So get clear first: who’s the ideal person you want on your list, and what freebie pulls exactly them in?
The lead magnet ideas
Here’s the full roundup, from quickest to build to most involved.
The ebook, PDF, or roadmap. These are everywhere and they still work. Just don’t build a hundred-page monster. Keep it easy to consume and actionable.
The checklist. People love a simple process to follow. “Plan a month of Instagram content” as a checklist they can work through converts well because it’s so doable.
Templates. Whatever your niche, a template saves people time. Back in my home decor blogging days, my label templates went like hotcakes. People happily gave their email to skip designing their own.
Swipe files. Different from templates: not fill-in-the-blank, but “copy this” or “be inspired by this.” My welcome email sequence as a swipe file, so people can see every email I send and build their own from it. These are gold for B2B and anyone teaching entrepreneurs.
Spreadsheets. An income projection tracker, a content planner, anything you actually use. It lands in their inbox, they save it to Google Drive, they use it that day. Highly desirable.
Anything fillable or copyable, template, spreadsheet, or swipe file, tends to convert best, because people see the value instantly.
Printables. Big for home decor, kids, and teaching niches. I gave away art printables people sent to Staples and hung in their homes. Think printable menus with grocery lists too. Works in almost any niche.
Audio files. If you teach wellness or meditation, “three meditations for your morning routine” is an amazing download. Audio also works entrepreneur-to-entrepreneur, like an eight-part audio lesson series. If you have a podcast, this fits your audience perfectly, since they already listen to you in their earbuds.
Video mini-series. More your style than audio? A three-part teaching series or a five-day challenge with a video each day. Bigger to produce, but worth it. Someone who’s watched five days of your videos feels far more connected to you than someone who downloaded a PDF.
Webinars. One of my favorites. Run them live, or pre-record and use them evergreen so people watch on their own time. A webinar delivers real value and lets you pitch your paid offer. I recommend them to every course creator.
An intake form or book-a-call. If you’re a coach or service provider working one-to-one, this counts too. A survey or a calendar link where someone books a discovery call hands you their email and starts the conversation. People forget this is a lead magnet, but it absolutely is.
Quizzes. Popular for good reason. Use a tool like Interact to build something like “What type of online course should you create? Take the quiz to find out.” You can get sophisticated, routing different answers toward different offers.
What’s worked best for me and my clients
My rapid email list building guide has performed year after year. I asked other experts for their number one list-building tip, compiled it into a report, and put it on my site.
My email funnel maps do great too: a visual of what funnels actually look like, for people who can’t picture how the pieces fit.
One client teaches Instagram growth. She built a hashtag spreadsheet, did the research up front, and gave it away. Her audience went bananas for it because it saved them hours.
And back in my blogging days, my room design source guides crushed it. I’d take a room makeover from a blog post and turn the product sources into a two-page PDF. People loved downloading it instead of bookmarking the page.
Then connect it and let it run
Pick one idea and build it. Set up an email provider (I recommend ConvertKit or Flodesk), create an opt-in form, and connect the two. Someone signs up, the freebie hits their inbox automatically, and your list grows without you lifting a finger.
Then add a welcome sequence. A five-part series that introduces you, points people to your best content, and gets them to stick around. Do that and you’re off to the races.
Want to build your next lead magnet in a fraction of the time? I’ll show you how I use AI to create these fast in my free workshop. Grab your spot here.
For more, check out my episode on selling digital products, or browse my programs when you’re ready to go deeper.
Growing your list feeds directly into my guide on how to sell an online course.
Click ‘play’ to listen:
Ep52: Killer Lead Magnets to Grow Your Email List
