How to create a great lead magnet - Part 3: Testing

So you’ve spent time putting together a brand new lead magnet. (Make sure to check out my blog posts on lead magnet content and lead magnet format to learn more about this!)

You posted it on social media.

You put it on your website.

You sent it to your entrepreneur friends.

After a few days, you’re excited to see the results! So you open your email marketing program to see how many people have signed up and you see...3 people. And one of them is your mom.

We’ve all been there!

But don’t panic. This doesn’t necessarily mean your lead magnet isn’t good. Check out this video to learn more.

Listen to the audio:

Why isn’t my lead magnet working?

If you don't get a lot of response to your lead magnet right away, it means one of four things:

• Your content is not something that people actually want or need

• Your marketing messaging isn’t connecting with people

• The format doesn’t appeal to people

• You aren’t getting enough traffic

So you're probably going to have to experiment a little bit with what you're offering and how you're presenting it. I encourage you to tweak and test one element at a time so that you know what is and is not actually working.

Testing your content

If you're not sure about the content of your lead magnet - if it's actually something that people want and need - then the best way to test this is by talking to people.

Talk to people in your DMs and Instagram stories. Talk to your clients. Talk to your email list. Get feedback on people’s pain points and what content they would be interested in.

If you have a lead magnet that you want to test, you may want to get some volunteers together and have them go through your lead magnet, do the exercises or tips that you include, and tell you what they think.

Make sure these are people who are going to be objective and honest with you, and not someone like your mom who's going to tell you you're amazing no matter what.

If your lead magnet is an exercise that you already have clients do regularly, you can check in with them and see what they actually think about it. What they like about it, what they don’t, how useful they found it, etc.

Bonus - if your lead magnet is a client exercise, see if you can get some testimonials that you can use to promote it!

Testing your marketing messaging

So maybe you’re sure that your content is something that is useful to people and that they actually want, but the way you’re presenting it is not resonating with them.

If the main thing you're not sure about is the messaging, then put your lead magnet out there and see what happens. Give yourself a set period of time - whether it's a couple weeks or a month, etc. - and see how people are responding. (The amount of time depends on how actively you are promoting your lead magnet. More promotion means that you can probably test it for less time).

Track things like how many people are coming to the landing page to see your lead magnet and then the number of those people who are actually signing up for it. This is a really good indication of whether or not your messaging is convincing.

It could be something as small as changing the name of your lead magnet. Or it could be the description of what it’s for and why people should want it. Try changing one thing at a time, promoting the freebie for a week or two, and then see if your sign up numbers change.

Testing your lead magnet format

If you're not sure that you have chosen a format people want to sign up for, try it a few different ways. Try marketing a PDF and see how that works. Try marketing a mini course and see how that works.

Just like the messaging, actively promote one format for a few weeks or more. Check your conversion rate (the number of people visiting the landing page versus the number of people who sign up).

You may need to revamp the same concept multiple times in different formats until you get it right or until you reach the point where you're ready to do something new, and that's okay.

Promoting your lead magnet

There is another aspect of this that I don't want to get into too much, because it deserves to be its own topic. An important part of your lead magnet is how you actually get it out there.

It's not enough to just put it on your website or mention it in your Instagram stories every once in a while or post it once on Facebook.

If you want to get your lead magnet out there and you want traffic and you want people regularly signing up for it, you need to promote it actively and regularly.

This could mean that you need to mention it on social media at least once a week. I don't mean necessarily post about it but, for example, if you're active on Instagram you should be putting it in your Instagram stories at least once a week. You can even put a box for people to drop their email address so that you can sign them up for it.

If you have a blog, you can put a sign up form or an ad for your lead magnet in your blog posts.

If you have your own podcast or you are a guest on someone else’s, that’s another audience you can get your freebie in front of.

If you are doing networking events, presentations, or workshops, you can mention it to people and give them the information to sign up. If you are doing a live event and passing around a sign up sheet, then you can get people's information that way as well.

And of course I'm sure you've already thought of this last one. Once you have experimented with your lead magnet and you've got it pretty tight - I wouldn't necessarily recommend this for a brand new, untested lead magnet - but when you know that your messaging is pretty solid and what you're offering is pretty solid, you could consider doing paid advertising of some sort. This could be Instagram ads, Facebook ads, etc.

This is completely optional. It is a way to get more traffic than you can organically, but I know people who run their entire business without ever doing paid ads. It's not necessary, but it is an option, especially if you find that the organic methods are just not getting you the results that you're looking for.

No matter how you decide to promote your lead magnet, set some goals for the results you are looking for. What is a good number of visitors to the landing page for you? What is a good sign up rate for you? What are the number of clicks you are looking for compared to the number of people who see your ads? (Yes, you should have a spreadsheet and formally track all of this, even if you’re not a spreadsheet nerd like me. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but you do need to track your numbers!)

Do some experimenting. Have fun with this process. Try some different types of lead magnets or try some different methods of getting it in front of people and see how you do.

Do you have questions about your lead magnet? Let me know down in the comments or feel free to reach out.