Are Lead Magnets Dead? Lead Generation For The Next Generation

Are Lead Magnets Dead? Lead Generation For The Next Generation
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As the online marketplace becomes more saturated, viewers are literally becoming blinded to opt-in offers. Years ago, it was a simple process to obtain customer details through an opt-in form in exchange for a PDF or eBook to bring them into your funnel.  A simple few step process was all it required to watch your optin subscribe stats sky rocket.

Those days are DEAD! And today it is a very different story...

Traditional Lead Magnet Lead Generation Tactics Are Dead

Yes, you read that correct! Lead Magnets, in their traditional format are starting to lose impact.

As the online marketplace becomes more saturated, viewers are literally becoming blinded to opt-in offers. Years ago, it was a simple process to obtain customer details through an opt-in form in exchange for a PDF or eBook to bring them into your funnel.  A simple few step process was all it required to watch your optin subscribe stats sky rocket.

Those days are DEAD! And today it is a very different story...

Why Are Traditional Lead Magnets Less Effective Now Than Ever Before

Quite simply, visitors are less willing to part with their email address and we bet you are the same. What used to work simply and effectively isn't going to work any more unless you have something of immense value to offer your visitors.

Brian Dean of Backlinkio first coined the term content upgrade. Initially, these lead magnet v2 concepts did help the lead generation landscape over previous simple PDFs and eBook optins (lead magnet V1). Content upgrade callouts were so effective years ago, that every content marketer started using them. Very soon, websites in every niche were populated with highlighted call out boxes - opt-in offers inserted midstream relating to the content of the page.

With so many websites utilising lead magnets and content upgrades, visitors literally have become blind to the optin offers, and the value has quickly diminished. When a website visitor is overwhelmed with so many opportunities to optin, and the underwhelming & lack of value of the free content is so low, the success rate of these tactics has diminished rapidly.

As an example, a traditional lead magnet would be a PDF eBook. How many of us have opted in to receive a digital ebook and have a collection of unopened PDFs collecting digital dust in our inbox?

Once upon a time, a digital ebook had some worth, but nowadays there's so many 'ebooks' that are nothing more than a few pages long; quite often just a collection of already published blog posts strung together and dressed up in nice packaging.

The Future of Lead Generation - Evergreen Lead Magnet Techniques That Work

Most people hear the term and wonder, "What Actually Is An Evergreen Lead Magnet? ... and how do I use one?"

Sam Thomas Davies of Sleeknote give the following definition:

"An evergreen lead magnet is a content upgrade that (1) offers immediate value to the user, (2) invites repeated usage, and (3) is regularly updated to ensure it’s the most up-to-date resource it can be."

Evergreen lead magnets are highly-effective for three reasons:

  1. Immediate Value
  2. Invite Repeat Usage
  3. Evergreen

Let's take a deeper look at these important factors for your audience.

An evergreen lead magnet offers immediate value. This is one of the most important factors about lead generation - the visitor should acquire something of immense and immediate value. This could be a tool, or a calculator that is utilised immediately on subscription in order to gain some personal benefit with little time investment.

An evergreen lead magnet should invite repeat usage - always. You want your visitor to interact and engage with your brand as often as possible, over a continuing period of time. 

Statistics have shown repeatedly that a visitor who repeatedly interacts with your brand is more likely to become a customer. A customer who makes a 3rd purchase from you is 53% more likely to buy again than a customer who has purchased twice (according to stats supplied by RJ Metrics).

The problem faced by many brands is that those prospects entering the top of the funnel, at the awareness stage, only interact with your brand once. They'll read a blog, or optin for a lead magnet and then that's it. At best they'll have other touch points like follow up email marketing or retargetting via social media, however the ROI is lower than ever these days.

Offering repeatably interactive content such as a swipe file, a template library, a lifetime subscription to free software, etc.), you invite the prospect to return to your brand, again and again, indoctrinating them into your marketing further.

Finally, an evergreen lead magnet needs to be kept updated, current and accurate. If you're constantly updating your content, then your prospect has continuing reasons to revisit & interact with your content and brand.

Evergreen Lead Magnets Are The Future - Are You In?

Listen, lead magnets are not going away! That is evident.

What is also evident is that these days you can't cobble together some weak content into a generic PDF and hope you'll acquire customers emails to market to.

As quickly as remarketing technology evolved and the demand is created for personalised, engaging and specific user interaction - the future lies in high value, evergreen, interactive content. Evergreen Lead Magnet techniques are without a doubt the future of optin success.

By adopting modern thought processes and challenging the mediocre, you're gaining the edge over your competition and you'll be rewarded by soaring optin statistics that will have a huge positive impact on your bottom line and ROI.

Want to discuss your options for exploring how Evergreen Lead Magnets can work for you, then get in touch with our MagnetMonster team now.

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