What are the most successful lead magnets in e-commerce these days?

For my money, nothing beats good content marketing. it drives your SEO (if optimized and framed correctly), establishes your level of expertise and gives your site visitors many layers with which to interact with as well as helps ultimately with conversion (abandonment follow-ups, drip campaigns etc.) ultimately your conversion is only as good as your traffic is qualified, so content marketing helps on both sides of the funnel in terms of getting more/better leads and converting those leads once they hit your pages.

If you are ready to tap into the hidden potential of your website, read on to find out the different types of lead magnets and how to incorporate them into your strategies.

#1. Coupons
Coupons allow customers to access discounts on items. The great thing about coupons is that since visitors can see the value on them, they can immediately calculate how much they stand to gain. This is an immediate perceived value.

If for instance you are selling blenders for $100 each and you are offering 30% 0ff, visitors will make a mental calculation of the actual value they will gain in exchange for their contact information. What’s more, they might even spend the discounted amount on another item on your website. A cent saved, is a cent to be spent elsewhere.

It’s rare for consumers to ignore a coupon. People will often convince themselves to take discounts wherever they can find them, and that’s what makes them such good lead magnets.

2. Offer free shipping
Another way of offering discounts to customers. Like coupons, free shipping can create a pool of loyal customers for your store, as shipping costs is one expense that online shoppers would rather not incur. It serves no value and is often a stumbling block and a major factor to cart exits.

Remember to get your calculations right though, otherwise you’ll find yourself spending $6 to ship products that cost $2. Minimum order is a tactic used often and customers expect this kind of thing, so it’s not an unwelcome surprise.

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Gaiam: Prominent banner on home page promoting a time bound free shipping for new subscribers on any purchase above a $75 threshold.

Forever21 : Free shipping offer with no minimum purchase to generate email subscribers.
Forever21: Free shipping offer with no minimum purchase to generate email subscribers.

Moo.com showing free shipping offer in a lightbox popup if you sign up for their email newsletter.
Moo.com: Promoting free shipping offer in a lightbox popup if you sign up for their email newsletter.

#3. Offer a product buying guide
Product buying guides help shoppers to narrow down the product choices available online. This is what makes them such perfect lead magnets because shoppers are attracted to material that helps to simplify things.

A product buying guide provide tips for finding that one product that will fit a customer’s budget and satisfy his or her needs. If for instance, you want to make it easier for a customer to find a computer that’s best suited for them, you could offer tips through a guide titled, “Tips for buying the right device for your needs”.

4. Offer daily deals
The beauty about an online shop is that you can give deals every day and on any product you want.

Sales deals are a commonly used tool, especially by large online stores, so the key to turning your sales deals into lead magnets is to make them enticing. This way, visitors will want to give you their contact information so that they can receive updates of your amazing daily deals.

The gist is getting them inside; there is something for everyone and the odds are on any one of these days, their interest will be piqued by something relevant to their wants & needs.

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eBay: Daily deals lead magnet to increase email newsletter subscribers

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Amazon: Daily deal promotion box to boost email subscribers.

#5. Give free samples
Who doesn’t like free stuff? Free samples are very effective lead magnets. Usually, visitors are unsure about buying a product if they can’t first sample it. Offer a free sample of your product where and when you can. This is particularly effective for a brand new product where you need to generate excitement and awareness.

For instance, if you are selling a deodorant that’s new in the market, customers will be hesitant to buy it without first trying it out. But if you provide test samples for free, more customers to will be interested in what you have to offer.

A benefit of this lead magnet is that you can get a lead’s physical address (to post the item) and usually a phone number in case of any delivery problems; the crux here is that it gives you another touch point for marketing.

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Enfamil: Free sample and discount offer to increase email subscribers.

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Birchbox: Incentivising paid subscription by promoting free product samples.

#6. Giveaway promotions
Giveaway promotions will prompt visitors to give you their contact information for the chance of them winning something of value. A giveaway promotion would read something like, “sign up for the chance of winning a laptop”.

Though visitors don’t know for sure that they’ll win, they will sign up as long as they know there is even a little chance they could get a giveaway. Ensure you make it easy to enter and watch the entrants flood in.

For your giveaways to work, you have to make them regular and make sure that the winners publicize the fact that they got the prize. Social proof of real life winners will generate repeat entrees.

The more regular your giveaways, the more encouraged your customers will be to stay tuned to your updates.

#7. Run contests
Contests differ from giveaways in a variety of ways:

Giveaways don’t require a visitor to purchase but contests do.
Contest participants win by taking part in challenges.
Some contents require a subscription fee.
The prizes that are up for grabs in contests are usually given after a draw.
You might wonder what would entice people to sign up, pay a subscription fee or buy a product in order to participate in a contest. The reason they’ll do all these things is because usually, the winnings are so big as compared to what they’ll have to spend.

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Bath & Body Works: Contest lead magnet to boost email subscriptions.

Bottom line
Having the contact information of potential customers is a powerful tool through which you can constantly market your products and make potential customers to eventually buy. Include the above lead magnets into your e-commerce site and you will get higher conversion rates. Even a .5% increase can result in massive revenues for high turnover businesses.

For further queries you can consult me.

Some of the best lead magnets that have worked well for me have been:

1. A resources list - for example, a list of useful tools and software in the ecommerce industry.
2. A free ebook on various subjects in ecommerce.
3. A checklist of things to do to start a business.
4. A curated list of various blog posts that a super useful for someone looking to learn about ecommerce.
5. A list of good product niche ideas refreshed every quarter.

As you can see the lists are endless. If you want to learn more about these strategies, feel free to visit my blog at Pezlogic.com.

I am also available for calls to discuss various strategies on ecommerce. Feel free to reach out to me through Clarity.fm.