7 Types of Lead Magnet Pop-Up Offers Guaranteed to Convert More Email Subscribers
A gaping hole.
There was a giant, leaking hole in the middle of our marketing funnel.
This was back when I first started creating content for our company blog.
Before I tell you what it was, tell me if this situation sounds familiar to you.
Most people come to your website and leave without taking any action.
Most people visit a single page, then leave!
Crazy, right?
I mean you sweat to make good content that will attract people, but then they peace out instantly.
Most website owners have this issue.
And if you’re creating content regularly to grow website traffic, you know how big of a problem this is.
And that problem—I eventually learned—was that we weren't giving people a stepping stone to form a relationship with us.
Without that middle step, people only had two options.
Buy from us, or leave.
Most left.
But that changed as soon as we started optimizing our site to capture email addresses.
Sales went up. Traffic increased. And so did visitor loyalty.
But it was very incremental at first. We were crawling our conversion rate forward. . . .
Then we tried something new: pop-ups.
And this one email collection method worked far, far better than anything else we tried before.
In fact, within the first few days, we grew our email list collection rate by 60% just by implementing our first pop-up.
In addition, I saw from A/B testing different lead magnets that different offers converted better than others, further growing our conversion rate.
Today, we convert around 7% of all traffic into email subscribers.
From working on our site and one-on-one with hundreds of different business owners, I've learned this.
If you want to convert more of your traffic into email leads, then you need the right type of opt-in offer, at the right time and on the right page of your website funnel.
Here's an overview of the types of lead magnet pop-up offers and my consulting notes on which ones are likely to convert best for you.
#1 Lead Magnet Opt-in Offer—Webinar
What is it?
Webinars are usually live video presentations that prospective customers attend to learn something and to consider a sales offer from the business.
Webinars are a perfect example of event marketing on the web. The webinar offers that convert best are the ones that are scarce—in other words: the presentation is happening only today and will be gone tomorrow.
Data-Driven Example
For one company, webinars increased lead capture by 91%.
Speaking from experience, when Growbo launched its own webinar offer (including a watch on-demand webinar), it consistently ranked as one of our top lead magnets. Our webinar offer has consistently converted 40% of all people who saw to it.
Where to Put it in Your Website Funnel
If you’re a membership website, a webinar offer can work well on your Homepage or About page.
If you’re a blog that sells info products, your homepage works as well.
And if you’re a service business, you can advertise the webinar offer on the homepage and across your blog pages.
Best Practices
A 60-minute webinar can be a big commitment for a first time blog visitor.
Consider targeting returning visitors or people already on your email list with this offer.
It’s worth noting that Thrive Leads, a WordPress plugin, has this functionality built into it. Also, Growbo supports Thrive Leads as a pop-up optimization tool.
This one can be a timed pop-up, based on how far down the page the user has scrolled. That’s how LeadPages.net does it and they’ve been extremely successful using webinars to sell.
#2 Lead Magnet Opt-in Offer—Pricing
What is it?
Many business owners don’t realize they already have a potentially effective lead magnet, but they just aren’t promoting it.
One of the best examples of this is pricing.
This applies particularly to service businesses, since it isn’t customary for info product, SaaS, membership websites, or blogs to “gate” their pricing.
Data-Driven Example
In one case study, a prominent display of pricing increases leads by 100%.
This supports the idea that a key factor in people buying is the need to first understand if they can afford what’s being offered.
Where to Put it in Your Website Funnel
A pop-up for pricing can go on your homepage, any individual service landing page, or your About page.
Best Practices
Again, this one works best if you’re selling a service.
Be sure to make a clear offer for your visitors to instantly see your pricing.
On the redirect page, you might also consider presenting the pricing in the form of a video, so leads can understand the full value of what your service has to offer.
#3 Lead Magnet Opt-in Offer—Free Consultation
What is it?
People need a little extra help in making a buying decision—or sometimes they just have questions!
This is where the free consultation offer comes in. The pop-up offer should simply ask if people would like to hop on a quick call, in case they have questions not answered on the page.
Data-Driven Example
In this case study a law firm saw a drop in conversions by 55% but a net increase in revenue simply by changing their Call to Action from downloading a form to booking a free consultation.
Where to Put it in Your Website Funnel
Your pricing page is the best place to put this opt-in.
If you’re a service business, you can put it on your service landing page, as well.
Best Practices
If you’re not a service business, you may want to tweak what triggers this pop-up.
Consider basing it on the visitor’s time on the page or how far down the user scrolls.
#4 Lead Magnet Opt-in Offer—Multi-Day Email Course
What is it?
A multi-day email course is basically what its description entails.
You offer to teach something.
Then when someone opts-in, they receive a series of follow-up emails over the course of several days or weeks. Each email contains a lesson.
The idea here is similar to the idea behind content marketing.
By teaching something related to what you’re selling, you’re building trust and bringing the reader closer to the benefit your product or service can deliver.
As a result, people are more likely to buy.
Data-Driven Example
My friend Brennan Dunn over at Double Your Freelancing created the pop-up email course pictured above. Last he told me, it was converting around 9%.
In other words, nearly one out of every eleven people who saw it signed up.
Where to Put it in Your Website Funnel
This one can be promoted across your entire website and on all your blog pages, unless there are more relevant or competing offers you should be showing (e.g. pricing).
Best Practices
This is a good rule of thumb for all pop-ups, but make sure people aren’t bombarded with the offer more than once every 30–90 days.
#5 Lead Magnet Opt-in Offer—Newsletter
What is it?
Here you’re offering people the opportunity to receive your newsletter.
Even if you haven’t started a newsletter yet, this is the easiest lead magnet to start testing as an opt-in offer.
Where to Put it in Your Website Funnel
Across your blog and on your About page are the best places to promote this one.
Best Practices
Be specific with your language. Don’t just say “get our newsletter.”
Tell them specifically what kind of content they will be getting and how often.
Also consider including how many other people are also getting the newsletter. This is a good form of social proof and can help boost conversions.
#6 Lead Magnet Opt-in Offer—Checklist or Actionable Template
What is it?
One of the highest converting lead magnet offers is also one of the simplest.
A checklist or a template is something that email subscribers can download and start benefitting from instantly.
Data-Driven Example
At Growbo, our highest converting lead magnet is our “11 Point Perfect Sales Funnel Checklist.” It consistently converts at around 50%.
Where to Put it in Your Website Funnel
This one is best to promote in pop-ups across your blog pages. It’s a simple, bite-sized piece of value, and there’s a low level of commitment needed for the reader to get value from it.
Best Practices
When creating the content for this lead magnet, be sure to keep it brief. One to two pages will work fine.
Keep it actionable, and keep it simple.
#7 Lead Magnet Opt-in Offer—Direct Offer (Coupon/Sale)
What is it?
This one is most relevant to ecommerce businesses and info products.
The idea here is to show a direct offer.
Data-Driven Example
Win In Health is an online natural supplement and vitamin store that was able to increase revenue by 300% with a simple 10% off discount pop-up.
Where to Put it in Your Website Funnel
Have it display on your checkout and individual product pages.
This can also be setup to show across your blog for membership websites, if you’re having a one-time sitewide sale.
Best Practices
Implement this as an exit pop-up.
This means it will only be shown to potential customers who are about to leave your site. You should target people who are on the checkout page.
Conclusion
These are the most popular and highest converting pop-up offers we’ve seen work well in our own business and in our customers’ businesses.
When you’re testing them on your website, be aware on which pages the offer will be shown.
The more the offer aligns with the context on the page or the user’s actions, the better the conversion rate.
Want to optimizing your pop-ups? Growbo specializes in pop-up optimization, saving you time while consistently growing your conversion rate.
Which lead magnet will work best for your website and why?
Are there any other kinds of lead magnet offers that have worked well for you?
Leave a comment below and let me know!
Keep Hustlin’, Stay Focused,
—Matt
