Lead magnet: how to use free content to attract students

Over the last 10 years, the digital product market has grown exponentially. In Brazil alone, Connect Soluções Digitais recorded 103% growth in 2022.

Among other things, this means other digital businesses want to attract the same customers you do.

That's why anyone who wants to sell online courses needs more and more structured strategies. In this other post, we shared tips from Cademí's Customer Success team on how to do that. They include, for example, using order bumps, upsells, and the card warm-up strategy. But that's not all.

Before you get to that stage, it's important to win leads, meaning the contact info of people who might be interested in your product. And one way to do that is by creating lead magnets.

If you don't know or use this strategy yet, keep reading to learn:

• What is a lead magnet?
• Lead magnet formats
• How to use free content to attract students
• How to create an effective lead magnet

What is a lead magnet?

You've probably come across a lead magnet at some point.

An e-book, a masterclass, and sometimes even a complete course that's totally free. To get access, you have to sign up with your full name, email, and phone number. The required information can vary depending on the need, but as a rule, that's it.

The idea is to offer something valuable and, in return, get something just as valuable: the contact info of someone who wants to learn what you want to teach.

With that information in hand, you can add the contact to your email marketing flow or point more targeted traffic campaigns at these people. And what you might not know is that you can also add these free lead magnet students to your member area. That way, you generate sales much faster and at a much lower cost.

Lead magnet formats

A lead magnet can take basically any format digital products already use. So ideally, you should know your persona and which format they prefer to consume and will engage with most.

And, of course, you should also figure out which format works best for what you produce. Some options:

E-book: probably the most popular format. E-books are a way to go deeper into a topic you've already covered in a blog post, on YouTube, etc. They usually take the form of a guide and teach how to do something.

For example: how to care for orchids or how to decorate a small apartment living room.

Infographic/research: if you work with data, infographics and research can be an option. They can be presented as an e-book, but in this case as a study of data you collected or your analysis of third-party data.

Webinars: in short, a seminar held online. You pick a day and time to go live and share some knowledge. It can also run over more than one day if you think it's worth it.

Editable document/spreadsheet: does your field use a lot of spreadsheets? Then offering a document with all the automations built in can be a great idea.

For example: a spreadsheet to calculate the supplies needed for an order or a family's monthly expenses.

Videos: like e-books, videos are a classic. After all, it's a format that never fails when it comes to consumption. The video can be a lesson, a case study, or a roundup of tips.

How to create an effective lead magnet

Convinced that lead magnets are worth it for your digital business?

Then the next step is building them. The secret to a successful lead magnet is that it actually delivers value. There's no point, for example, in making a three-page PDF and calling it an e-book. Your leads will be frustrated and get a bad impression of your business.

The feeling has to be “if I learned this for free, imagine what I'd get if I paid.”

Another important piece is your landing page. The opt-in page has to be short and clear. Don't try to sell a thousand things or send the user to a thousand places. There's only one CTA (call to action): signing up.

With that in mind, when creating the product, look for answers to these questions:

• Who is your audience and what do they need?
• How do they like to consume content?
• Can their need wait for a set date, or are they looking for instant delivery?

Finally, remember how important it is to apply your visual identity to this product, and test and tweak it as many times as needed.

A successful landing page

Whatever format you choose, you'll need a landing page.

In other words, a page where people interested in your lead magnet are sent and where they fill in the information that gives them access to it. Unlike a website, all the content here is designed to grab visitors' attention and convert them.

That's why it's important to have a simple design, a clear offer, good copywriting with a clear and compelling headline, and a strong CTA.

The area above the fold, meaning the first part users see before they scroll, is the most important. So focus your promise, or whatever matters most, there. According to Peep Laja, founder of Conversion XL, the area above the fold holds 80% of a visitor's attention. That's where you win your lead. Also, don't forget to:

• Keep the form simple and to the point;
• Add social proof, if you have it;
• Make sure the page is optimized for mobile devices;
• Use videos and good images;
• Make sure the page loads fast.

How to use free content to attract students

At Cademí, Brazil's first Member Hub, we call this strategy the Diamond Funnel. Among our customers, we have countless success stories that come from using lead magnets inside the member area. That's mainly because we don't charge based on how many students a digital business has.

In other words, you can put all your free product students in the same space as your paying ones. At no cost.

In practice, your lead magnet student is fully brought into your business's world. And they see everything you have to offer while they're consuming your product, meaning at the peak of their delight and excitement. There's no better time to sell, right?

We've already seen lead magnet leads buy a mentorship program inside the member area. In other words, a very low-cost lead (sometimes even organic) buying a product worth tens of thousands of reais, which in a traditional funnel would take months to even be offered. In another case, after two months of adding lead magnet students to their Cademí member area, a creator made R$180,000 in internal sales.