Are you an ecommerce store owner struggling to capture leads and convert them into paying customers? Look no further!
In this article, we’ve compiled a list of 14 awesome lead magnet ideas. From exclusive discounts to free resources, these lead magnets are guaranteed to attract potential customers.
Read on to discover how you can get more leads for your business.
What is a lead magnet?
A lead magnet is an incentive (like free content, an item, or a service) you offer website visitors in return for their contact details.
Generally, in order to get their freebie, they must first enter their contact info, usually an email address and/or phone number.
Lead magnets are a killer way to build a list of subscribers. And once you have your visitors’ contact details, you can easily nurture these relationships with email or SMS campaigns, boosting your conversions and customer loyalty.
What's a great lead magnet for ecommerce?
Since offering lead magnets is such a popular lead generation tactic, online shoppers are used to seeing them. That means you can’t really get away with boring offers.
You need to have a truly high-value offer to capture a prospect’s contact information.
Great lead magnets provide instant gratification, such as big discounts or free tickets to online courses. And ideally, your lead magnet should also solve common pain points that your target audience has.
14 best ecommerce lead magnet ideas to capture more leads
Now that you know what a lead magnet is, let’s see some of the best lead magnet ideas and examples that work well for ecommerce stores.
1. Offer a coupon
Coupons are a great lead magnet idea because people love saving money, and website visitors can connect a coupon with a specific monetary value.
Here’s how DTC brand Obvi uses a 20% off coupon to generate leads:
Want to try this effective lead magnet for yourself? It’s easy using one of OptiMonk’s many discount lead magnet templates—check out a few examples below.
2. Offer free shipping
A free shipping offer is one of the best lead magnet ideas for online stores.
That’s because it addresses one of the top pain points of online shopping: high shipping costs. Studies show that 82% of shoppers say they want free shipping.
Offering free delivery like Oka.com is a great way to entice potential customers:
Promoting your free shipping threshold can also increase your average order value and boost sales.
3. Create swipe files
Swipe files are quick, informal resources that deliver instant informational value to your customers. That’s why they’re a great method for generating leads.
For example, this social media swipe file from DigitalMarketer provides a list of 72 headlines for social media posts:
In order to create an amazing swipe file you can use as a lead magnet, focus on a problem that your target audience commonly runs into and provide bite-sized solutions. For example, if you sell luxury moleskin notebooks, you could create a swipe file of “21 of the Best Fiction Openers.”
4. Create shopping guides and quizes
When people have too many choices, it causes so-called “decision paralysis” and can often hold up a sale. After all, it’s easier to choose between 2 sweaters than between 25!
Make it easier for your potential customers to choose a product from your inventory by creating a shopping quiz for each product category.
The Farmer’s Dog uses this type of lead magnet idea to generate leads by making their quiz an integral part of their sales funnel. In this quiz, they ask lots of questions about your dog to help customers find the right products. Based on your answers, you’ll get a customized meal plan with the perfect recipes for your dog.
Try our Conversational Popup templates which ask customers a segmenting question first, then offer personalized recommendations:
5. Create ebooks
Ebooks are another good lead magnet option for many companies. They offer in-depth information about a topic for target audiences that are interested in a deep dive into a problem.
An ebook can help showcase your authority and build a trust among your potential customers. If the content is high quality and makes an impression, your brand will stay at the top of their minds.
To help your ebook lead magnet connect with your target audience, make sure you choose a topic that they’ll be interested in.
Here are some ways you can figure out what to focus on:
- Review your website analytics to figure out which blog posts are most popular and use those to choose a topic.
- Run a short survey on your site to find out which topics your customers want to read more about.
- Use Google Trends and similar tools to do background research and find out which topics in your niche are capturing people’s interest.
You’ll also want to heavily promote your lead magnet ebook on your website, which you can do with one of our ready-to-use templates:
6. Host a giveaway
Another great lead magnet idea is to offer the chance to win free stuff by running a prize giveaway. Giveaways are very shareable, so they tend to generate a lot of buzz and sometimes even go viral.
For a unique twist, consider giving away beautiful Canvas Prints featuring the winner’s favorite photo or artwork.
This great lead magnet example is from Guilty Shoes. They promote a chance to win a free pair of shoes using an eye-catching image to grab attention and clear, concise copy.
7. Run a contest
Contests are similar to giveaways, but this type of lead magnet requires people to do more than just sign up for an email list. Often, they’ll need to share a certain number of branded posts on social media or take some other action.
As a result, you should offer a higher value product than you would for other lead magnet ideas…think things like an expensive laptop, a TV, or a cash prize.
To achieve the best results with this type of lead magnet, you should really invest in promotion by using social media ads and posts, email campaigns, and promotional video content.
You should also incentivize user-generated content to get more eyes on your contest. Instagram photo contests, for example, are a great way to build momentum.
8. Offer a free sample or a free gift
Offering a free gift or sample to potential leads is another effective lead magnet idea. Just using “free” as part of your lead magnet copy can boost your lead generation efforts!
Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational, found that when people had the choice between a free $10 Amazon gift card or paying $7 for a $20 Amazon gift card, people preferred the free $10 over the $13 of value with the paid offer.
The lesson here is that your target audience might prefer something like a free sample or free consultation over a more valuable offer that requires additional effort on their part.
Here, Grab Green Home offers a free home cleaning bundle:
Try it for yourself with these free popup templates:
9. Create educational videos or training videos
An educational training, tutorial, or how-to video is an awesome downloadable lead magnet idea. Video is a great format for companies that sell products requiring a bit of explanation or a demonstration.
In the realm of social video marketing, businesses can gain a competitive edge simply by using the power of YouTube. Make sure to use some of the top tools to transcribe YouTube videos as this invaluable resource not only enhances accessibility but also boosts SEO by making your video content more searchable and engaging for a wider audience.
And video is incredibly popular: 89% of people say watching a video has convinced them to buy a product or service. For example, if you sell bike accessories, you could offer access to an educational video on how to change a bike tire.
Here’s a lead magnet example that promotes a video about how to use excel.
10. Hold webinars
Webinars are essentially live-streamed educational videos, bringing an extra dose of urgency since they aren’t available all the time.
Wyatt Jozwowski (co-founder of Demio) highlights the benefits of webinars as lead magnets in more detail: “Webinars are truly unlike anything else; if done right, you can keep your audience engaged for hours on end, and that’s something that videos put simply—struggle to do. Not only that, but your audience can also ask questions and get real-time feedback on the training.”
When your visitors are excited enough to spend hours with you as part of a webinar, they’ll be more than happy to sign up for your email list.
11. Offer a free consultation
Often, your site visitors might be interested in getting advice about their problems, which you can use as an opportunity to explain why your product is a good solution.
If you can have specialists on hand to provide expert advice to your visitors, it can be a really great way to generate leads. Here’s how PayPlan offers up their expertise:
12. Offer a mystery discount
By offering a “mystery discount,” you can tap into people’s natural curiosity and generate a lot of interest.
Lead magnets work by getting your site visitors intrigued enough to enter their contact details… which is exactly why the suspense of a mystery discount offer can be a great way to collect leads.
13. Invite visitors to join your loyalty program
A loyalty program can also be used as a lead magnet.
Rather than simply offering a discount to new visitors, brands like Sephora and Urban Outfitters invite them to join their loyalty program.
By entering their email and registering an account, the brand then emails the promised discount or incentive to the new subscriber.
Using a loyalty program as a lead magnet has several benefits. It helps convert new visitors into subscribers by providing an additional incentive beyond just a discount. By joining a loyalty program, subscribers feel a sense of exclusivity and are more likely to engage with the brand and make repeat purchases.
14. Offer credits
Similarly to discounts, another effective yet less explored approach is offering credits for future purchases.
This tactic not only encourages immediate sign-ups but also ensures that your potential customers remain engaged and invested in your brand.
The Oodie is a great example of this. Upon joining their email list, visitors receive a $25 credit for their first order.
Now let’s see how you can add a lead magnet directly to your ecommerce site.
How to offer a lead magnet on your ecommerce site?
Popups are one of the best ways to promote your lead magnets because of how effectively they capture people’s attention. This means your visitors won’t miss out on your lead generation campaign and you’ll be able to capture as many leads as possible.
OptiMonk’s targeting options make it easy to create a lead magnet popup that reaches the right people at the right time.
Already know which kind of lead magnet you want to offer? Great! Now check out some ready-to-use OptiMonk lead gen templates that you can have up and running on your site in minutes.
Final thoughts
Utilizing lead magnets can be a powerful way for ecommerce businesses to increase their revenue and grow their customer base. Hopefully, you’ve found some lead magnets in this article that you can use to up your lead magnet game.
Remember to experiment with different strategies and track your results to find the perfect lead magnets for your business.
