Here’s a reality check: most first-time visitors to your e-commerce website aren’t ready to buy from your business.
As a matter of fact, you can only manage to sell to barely 4% of them. It takes some relationship-building on your part to get the majority to convert.
That’s why acquiring their email addresses to build an email list is key.
With email marketing, you can stay connected with them and guide them down the sales funnel.
But no one will hand over their contact information without a good reason. This is why you must present site visitors with an irresistible offer.
In today’s guide, you’ll learn six powerful lead magnet ideas you can use for your online store.
Let’s jump right in!
Skip to:
1. Discount Coupons
Who doesn't love a good deal?
It's no surprise that people are willing to share their emails in exchange for a tempting discount on a product they’re interested in.
This strategy is also excellent because, with discounts, two-thirds of customers are more likely to make a purchase, even if they hadn't planned on it initially.
In the end, you might not just gain their contact information but also secure a sale. Make sure, though, that you place the discount coupons where they are impossible to miss.
For example, you can embed a simple banner containing the offer on your homepage. Alternatively, use an exit-intent popup that appears when the target customer is about to leave your website.
ZooShoo used this strategy to gain 5000 extra subscribers, with over 1100 buying from them later.
Your coupon copy and call to action matter, too. Both should be crystal clear about the action you want visitors to take, with the discount percentage standing out:
While discounts can be powerful, it’s important to take precautions before running the campaign because they can easily hurt your profit margins.
So, analyze your sales data, including average order value, per-customer purchase frequency, and average net margin. This analysis helps you determine how much you can let go from your first purchases without harming your profit.
Set a reasonable percentage-based discount or a dollar-value discount based on these metrics.
2. Product Guides
A product guide gives potential leads comprehensive information related to a product or range of products. This type of content can take various forms, such as recipes, how-to guides, or video tutorials.
The primary goal is to share educational or informational content. But the content needs to be related to your industry and product offerings.
That’s the only way your ideal customers - and not just people who might not be interested in what you have to offer in the first place - will share their email address to access it.
Take Hobbii, a Danish yarn eCommerce website, for example.
They offered a guide covering the various things you can create with yarn – their primary product – as their lead magnet:
Naturally, crocheting and yarn enthusiasts—also Hobbii’s ideal customers—would be interested in the product guide.
As a result, they’ll share their emails with the company, which can then nurture them into paying customers.
Think about educational topics that your target audience would be interested in. You can also test and validate your idea by publishing a shorter blog post on the topic on your website.
Then monitor the content’s performance.
If it performs well, you can proceed to create a more in-depth version of the post and make it gated content.
3. Webinars
Webinars are a key component of any top B2B SaaS marketing strategy.
They help with generating leads and driving sales for software companies. But that doesn’t mean they’re not just as effective for eCommerce businesses like yours.
This valuable lead magnet idea is similar to guides. But this time, you're offering in-depth video content with insights into niche topics.
The promise of gaining exclusive knowledge motivates your targeted audience to submit their contact information for entry.
With webinars, like product guides, you can attract highly qualified leads by curating the discussion around a relevant topic. Say you’re a small gym equipment store. You can offer a fitness webinar.
So, your attendees are more likely to be fitness enthusiasts who could become future patrons of your business. This explains why webinar is a high-converting lead magnet, promising up to a 55% conversion rate.
But how do you make your webinar irresistible?
While you're not asking for payment, you're asking for minutes or hours of the prospect's time and contact details. There, you must show them that your webinar is worth it.
That’s why popups or a simple embedded banner alone might not cut it. It’s best to pair them with a dedicated webinar landing page for better impact.
On this landing page, you have the space to highlight the webinar value and compel your audience to attend. You can take a cue from what Sensient did below:
In general, your attendees will register for your webinar if they feel the topic can, ultimately, make them feel either one of these two things:
- The pleasure of gaining something. For example, a webinar on how to save big on their next shopping spree
- The satisfaction of solving problems. For example, a webinar on how to get rid of dog fleas
Don’t forget to promote your webinar across various platforms.
You can announce it on your social media channels, and ask your co-hosts and invite industry experts to share details about it on their profiles. You can also promote your webinar via email.
Create the best digital business card by checking online resources and add your homepage URL, and webinar registration link as a QR code to your email signature.
This way, email recipients will only have to scan the QR code to get to your site and know more about you as a company and your accomplishments.
That can increase the chances of them signing up for the webinar.
4. Online Courses
Online courses serve as potent lead magnets, offering valuable content beyond traditional marketing.
You might want to consider providing industry insights masterclasses, product tutorial series, skill-building workshops, exclusive webinars, or certification programs.
These offerings not only attract potential customers having educational value in mind but also have the power to position your brand as an authority in your industry.
By delivering practical knowledge and fostering engagement, creating and selling online courses can effectively capture leads, nurture relationships, and drive conversions for your e-commerce business.
For example, you may offer a free mini-course as a lead magnet, and then start promoting your paid online courses as part of your wider marketing initiatives, encouraging your customers to join your own customer training program.
5. Contests
Contests are known to generate excitement and engagement among audiences. The opportunity to win something will always encourage participation.
So, as long as your prize is valuable and relevant enough, expect to generate tons of leads with this effective lead magnet.
You have to be careful while choosing a prize for the contest, though. Make sure it is something that helps you qualify your leads in the first place.
So, with your targeted messages via email, you can convert these leads into customers down the line. For example, if you’re a cosmetics brand, you don’t want to offer something generic like a MacBook.
But a prize like a premium moisturizer will surely attract the kind of audience who can nurture with your emails to buy from you.
Whether creating a dedicated contest landing page or making a popup, always keep the entry process straightforward. That’s because complicated or lengthy sign-up forms may deter participation.
So, request only essential information, such as the name and email address. Your contests don’t have to be so complicated. A simple spin-to-win might get the job done. This is exactly what Faguo did to generate leads:
Participants can just enter their email address. If they’re lucky, they win a prize.
Not only is this easy to set up, but you can also get over 2100 leads with an average of $0.37 cost per lead.
6. Quizzes
Quizzes bring a dual benefit to both you and your prospective leads.
For the leads, this perfect lead magnet presents an opportunity to discover something new about themselves or simply enjoy a bit of entertainment.
So, they’ll gladly share their email addresses with you to access the quiz.
When they do this, you get an additional email address for your email list. For the best results, let the prospective buyers take the quiz before asking for their email addresses.
You can say you’ll send the results of their quiz to those emails. You can also structure your quiz to help you gather valuable insights about the specific customer.
As participants answer questions, you can learn about their preferences, needs, and pain points. With this insight, you’ll be able to better nurture the leads with your targeted email content until they buy from you.
Here is a real-life example from Anne Marie.
They created a quiz that helps prospective customers build a personalized skin care regimen. The average skincare lover will definitely find this interesting.
Following Anne Marie's footsteps, be sure to strategically place your most important quizzes where there's high traffic, like on your homepage or a relevant, frequently visited blog article.
This ensures a higher chance of visibility and participation.
Conclusion
Not every website visitor is ready to buy from you immediately.
But with effective lead magnet ideas, you can use email sequences to forge a solid relationship with them and convince them to buy later on.
You have many irresistible lead magnet options for your eCommerce store.
From discounts to quality content such as product guides, interactive quizzes, contests, and webinars, the sky’s the limit. Just experiment with these lead magnet ideas to determine the perfect option for your audience.
Good luck in your lead magnet game.
Author Bio
Nico is the founder of Crunch Marketing, a SaaS link-building agency. The company works with enterprise SaaS clients, helping them scale lead generation globally across EMEA, APAC, and other regions.
