“Subscribe to our newsletter!”

You’ve probably run into this pop-up form more than a few times. And more than a few times, you’ve politely declined the offer.

After all, why would you subscribe? You have enough spam and useless rubbish in your inbox, even without (yet another) newsletter.

This is how your reader feels. They will hesitate to part with their email address without good reason.

But what if your visitor wouldn’t hesitate?

What if you could make your sign-up proposal irresistible? Imagine your visitor jumping at the mere chance subscribing.

Your list would be full of people desperate to get more of your content.

You CAN do it. All you need to do is provide value in exchange.

And that’s where so many people fail…

Is Your Lead Magnet Worthless?

Any blog or website wanting to grow their mailing list needs a lead magnet.

While most websites offer an incentive for subscribing, they rarely do it properly. Most lead magnets you see out there are completely worthless:

• They rehash old information.
• They make false promises.
• They’re simply irrelevant to the visitor.

Your visitor is looking for information and value. If they find a lead magnet that doesn’t really promise a solution to something they’re struggling with, they will simply gloss over it and move on.

Some websites try to lure people into subscribing by making wild claims about the benefits their lead magnets will provide.

Don’t do that.

If your user subscribes in the hopes of receiving something truly amazing, only to be let down by a depressingly average lead magnet, they’re gone.

Gone and severely disappointed.

The first impression of your website must be positive. It’s the one that your visitor will remember. The key is to offer an amazing lead magnet:

• It must provide one incredibly useful solution to one incredibly annoying problem.
• It needs no explaining and is quickly applied by your reader.
• It’s consistent with your overall message.

Creating an effective lead magnet is not difficult.

However, to make it memorable, you need a sprinkle of creativity.

5 Examples of Brilliant Lead Magnets

Let’s take a look at some examples of lead magnets that are creative, clever and absolutely irresistible.

1. The Entertaining Quiz

If your day is spent working online, you’ll love small bits of entertainment. A hilarious cat pic, a stupid (but hilarious) meme, or a brilliant quiz can provide a much needed few smiles to lighten up your day.

The quiz at “The One Question” isn’t just light entertainment. It promises to help you find the purpose in your life. That’s a hefty claim, but wouldn’t you like to see what happens?

If you do, you’ll find a well-crafted quiz that perhaps doesn’t reveal your life purpose, but definitely, raises some interesting questions.

Site: The One Question

Takeaway: Break the monotony of your user’s web browsing.

2. The Audio Lead Magnet

Why not offer an audio version of your lead magnet? We’re constantly in places where reading or using a computer is difficult: sitting in our cars, taking a walk, going to the gym…

But we can and do listen to audio. With all the audio garbage out there, some quality content to listen is always welcome.

I downloaded Danielle Laporte’s lead magnet not because I’m particularly interested in the topic. I just like to have something to listen to while I’m out and about.

Opted in out of practicality. How cool is that?

Site: Danielle LaPorte

Takeaway: Make your offer practical and easy to apply.

3. The Challenge Magnet

Love to Ride challenges you to ride your bicycle more. Challenges are great for engagement, but it’s difficult to follow through without peer support.

That’s where the Love to Ride community comes in. Most of us start an exercise challenge excited and motivated, but soon after we lose interest and quit.

With group challenges, though, you have a whole community full of similar people supporting you and sharing their daily results.

It becomes a game and you find yourself riding your bike just to stay active in the group.

I don’t own a bicycle, but just reading this made me want to join the crowd!

Site: Love To Ride 

Takeaway: Challenge your visitors to join a community.

4. Share an Extensive Report or Case Study

Case studies and reports make for fascinating reading. People are always looking for real-world examples and stories about their industry.

They can also make for a great incentive to subscribe.

Social Media Examiner dug into the social media marketing industry and found out how marketers are using social media for their promotions.

Site: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com

Takeaway: Provide a comprehensive report on your industry

5. The Free Tool Giveaway

Can you offer a free version of your application or product?

You might not have even noticed how common it is to use this as a lead magnet. Your visitor gets to try out your product, and you get a good list of prospective leads.

Microsoft took this approach to the extreme limit by offering Windows 10 for free. Albeit with this much value, there’s a catch: Windows 10 collects much more than your email address.

Toggl is a time-tracking tool with a free option for private users. In exchange for your contact information, they offer a desktop client and a way to easily track your time use.

This simple tracker tool is great for immediately increasing productivity.

Site: toggl

Perhaps there’s a feature your audience is requesting. The folks at Smartblogger kept getting requests for some way to calculate blog earnings.

They put together this nifty calculator. It’s a simple spreadsheet with some key figures.

Site: Smart Blogger

Takeaway: A simple tool can be a priceless time saver.

Offer Value

You don’t need to offer a boring and worthless incentive. Make your visitor cherish their subscription from the moment they sign up.

Make it memorable. Whether it be a quiz, a challenge or even an extensive report, make sure your visitor will remember it.

Every opt-in offer you create needs a great landing page. You can design your own landing pages in minutes with our RAPID method.

Jay Pitkänen is passionate about copywriting, inbound marketing and turning marketing jargon into something humans can understand. When he isn’t waxing lyrical about conversion optimization on theThrive Themes blog, you can find him roaming the streets of major European cities looking for business opportunities.