Do you run an E-commerce store or Website that advertises your service or products, even if you do not sell them online?
If so, then probably about 97.5% of your traffic never buys from you. The average conversion rate for E-commerce stores, and all the more so regular websites around the world stands at just a notch above 2.5% (Smart Insights).
That means that more than 97.5% of the visitors you work hard to bring to your site never actually bring your business any boodle. Sure, they might hop on your site, have a quick look around, and maybe even check out a few product pages. But they’ll never convert and become real lifetime value customer you can count on for revenue. How sad!
If this is so, then what is the point of all the time, effort and money you spent building your Online Store or wonder website?
So, how do you turn these missed opportunities into high-value conversions?
With these 2 words: Lead Magnet.
A lead magnet will get you contact information about your traffic, thereby allowing you to nurture all of those missed opportunities into likely customers via email, SMS, or your channel of choice. In this blog, we’ll teach you 7 of the best, conversion-inducing lead magnets for E-commerce businesses.
But first, what is a Lead Magnet?
Here’s an awesome definition from Digital Marketer (hat tip to Ryan Deiss).
Lead Magnet – an irresistible bribe offering a specific chunk of value to a prospect in exchange for their contact information.
In essence, a lead magnet is a locked-up item of value. To unlock the gate and gain access to the valuable lead magnet, visitors must first hand over their contact information (i.e. their name, email, phone number, location, etc.)
You can use a lead magnet to work wonders for your conversion rate in three incredibly simple steps:
1. Promote the lead magnet to get a higher, more targeted percentage of your traffic into your email list.
2. Once you have these new subscribers, market your products to them as appropriate.
3. You may have to send them warming content (more info as to what your product or service offers, how it will benefit them and why they should buy yours as opposed to your competitors)
4. Follow up with a sales call, sales funnel or whatever is necessary to close the sale.
5. Profit.
So what sort of lead magnet should you create for your E-commerce store or sales funnel?
Here are 7 Lead Magnet ideas that will generate those leads that you need to fill up your CRM system. Leads that you’ll later retarget for conversions as you move them along the sales pipeline:
1. Coupon (Purchase Discount)
The coupon or voucher is one of the greatest lead magnets ever. Why? Because your visitors can assign a specific dollar amount (or whatever currency you sell in) to its value.
For instance: Visitors to your E-commerce store can get a 20% discount on their next purchase of a $50 T-shirt you sell, if they sign up to your mailing list.
A visitor quickly does the math ($50 x 20% = $10). Then they think, “Ten bucks off just for my email address? That’s a no-brainer!”
And before you know it, they’ve signed up to your mailing list, bought the T-shirt, and applied the coupon. Not only has your conversion rate been given an instant boost, but you’ll also have a brand-new loyal customer who thinks your E-commerce store is the greatest.
2. Discounted or Free Shipping
Another high-value lead magnet idea similar to the coupon is discounted/free shipping.
If there’s one thing that online shoppers dislike universally, it’s shipping costs. Yes, we understand it as the necessary evil that accompanies the convenience of internet shopping, but that doesn’t mean we need to like it.
Blissoma, a digital store that sells skincare and related products, leverages their customers’ universal dislike of free shipping to entice new email subscribers. However, Blissoma requires that your retail order value be >$50 in order for the free shipping to apply. This sort of restriction is a good way to avoid abuse of your lead magnet (you don’t want to end up spending $10 to ship a $5 product to your customer).
3. Guide to Shopping
There’s another drawback to e-shopping and that’s choice. Lots and lots and lots of choice.
When you’re shopping online, there’s literally an endless number of products to choose from. All this choice makes it rather hard to find (much less decide upon) the right product that fits suits your needs and your budget.
You can solve this pain point for customers in your niche by creating an “ultimate guide to shopping for [insert your product here]”. Not only will this entice new subscribers to your mailing list, but you also have an opportunity to promote your own products in the guide.
4. Daily Promotions/Sales
PlanetX, a digital store for all things biking (cycles, clothes, accessories, etc.), runs a promotion every day on at least one of the goods it has for sale.
How do they attract interested traffic (hopefully conversions) to these promotions? They have a subscriber program where people can enter in their email address to get a daily update on the newest promotions.
A daily deal like this makes for a wonderful lead magnet; if you have the margins to run similar promotions on your e-store, then you should definitely consider it.
5. Free Gift(s)
Another top lead magnet is a totally free, no-strings-attached gift (or better yet) a collection of gifts. However, the gift need not be a physical item, it could be a downloadable free PDF guide on how to do something in the most effective way, or a free assessment or evaluation. As long as it holds value for the market, it can be considered a free gift.
6. Giveaways
A giveaway is like a free gift in that you’ll be giving away something totally free of charge to a select few. It’s unlike a free gift in that only a percentage of people who opt into the draw to get the product actually end up with it.
When your leads enter a giveaway, they might get the product … or they might not and that’s what makes a giveaway so viral-friendly.
For example, Zappos does an excellent job of leveraging regularity to boost popularity of their giveaway. Because the giveaway happens every week, users are highly incentivised to stay subscribed to Zappos’s updates, enabling the store to market to potential customers for a longer period of time, and in so doing creates a social buzz. You can find another example at Zappos (shoes, bags, and accessories store) where you can enter to win a weekly $100 Zappos gift card giveaway.
7. Contest
A contest is different from a giveaway in three main regards:
• Entrants have to complete an action to be eligible to win the prize (not just sign up).
• Entrants (sometimes) have to pay a small sum to be eligible.
• The prizes are typically of much higher value.
Here’s an example of a contest in action from Contest Zone, hosted by Airtel (an India-based ISP).
As we discussed above, entrants first have to complete an action (in this case, a survey) to be eligible to win. Additionally, they also have to pay $0.08/day to get the SMS alerts. For many entrants those costs are well worth it, because the prizes include a house, car, and motorcycle, among others.
In conclusion, lead magnets will rocket your conversion rates by giving you access to a potential customer’s personal inbox, where you can continue to market to them, until they’re ready to buy.
If you don’t already have a lead magnet in operation on your Online store or website, then you’re missing out! Review the seven magnet ideas above, decide on one, and start implementing it in your marketing campaigns.
HomeZone (A subsidiary of Thundermount Digital) is a digital marketing Agency that specialises in home products, home improvement and renovation services that can help you in greatly increasing your leads and conversion rates. HomeZone will brainstorm slick ideas for lead magnets that will attract your ideal leads for your industry and product and then retarget them with other special offers for more and more conversions.
(Much of this article is has been based on and adapted from an article by Optimonk.com.)