Content Upgrades vs. Lead Magnets: How to Choose and Use Them to Grow Your Email List

When it comes to online marketing, terms like lead magnets, freemiums, opt-in incentives, and content upgrades can be confusing.

What do they mean? How are they different? Do you need to use them all to grow your business?

In this blog post, I’ll break it down for you, show how they differ, and how to use both to grow your email list.

Why Is List Building Important?

The internet is a big, noisy, crowded place. When someone lands on your website or blog, there’s no guarantee that they’ll come back. It is also unlikely that they will buy from you on their first visit.

Research shows that people need to have seven interactions with your brand before they make a purchase. You need a way to get their email addresses so that you can stay in touch with them after they leave your website. If you do this, you stand a chance of converting them into customers or clients in the future.

However, people don’t part with their email addresses easily anymore. They need an irresistible incentive to give you their email address. This is why we use lead magnets and content upgrades.

What Are Content Upgrades and Lead Magnets?

Lead magnets and content upgrades serve the same purpose: they provide free valuable content to entice your visitors to share their email addresses.

Content Upgrades

A content upgrade is a bonus item that goes along with a specific blog post. It adds extra value to what the reader is already reading about.

Content upgrades work well because they are super relevant and timely. They can turn readers into email subscribers more effectively than a general “subscribe to our newsletter” button.

Compared to a lead magnet, content upgrades are easier to create because they are smaller and just additional value to a specific blog post, so they take less time and effort to make.

Examples of Content Upgrades:

1. Checklists: A printable checklist that goes with a how-to blog post.
2. Cheat Sheets: A summary of key points from the article.
3. Templates: Customizable templates related to the blog post.

Because content upgrades match the blog post content, they offer immediate value, making readers more likely to subscribe.

Lead Magnets

A lead magnet is a content designed to solve your target audience’s specific problem. It gives them a taste of what it’s like to work with you.

Lead magnets usually take more time to create because they are often larger and more detailed. They require their own landing page to explain what the freebie offers and to collect email addresses.

This means you need to design the landing page, write persuasive copy, and sometimes create additional follow-up emails, making the whole process more involved.

Lead magnets can be things like:

• eBooks
• Free courses or webinars
• Guides or reports
• Templates

Examples of Lead Magnets:

1. eBooks: A detailed guide on a topic your audience cares about.
2. Free Training: Access to a webinar that offers valuable tips.
3. Templates: Ready-to-use documents that save your audience time.

By offering valuable content, lead magnets attract people who are interested in what you do.

How to Use Lead Magnets and Content Upgrades Together

Using both lead magnets and content upgrades can help you grow your email list faster. Here’s how:

1. Create a Lead Magnet: Make a high-value lead magnet that solves a big problem for your audience. Promote it everywhere—on your website, social media, and more.
2. Add Content Upgrades to Blog Posts: Look at your most popular blog posts and add related content upgrades. This could be a checklist, template, or any other helpful resource.
3. Follow Up with Emails: Send follow-up emails to people who download your lead magnet or content upgrade. Give them more value, build trust, and guide them toward buying from you.

By effectively combining lead magnets and content upgrades, you can significantly boost your email list growth and nurture stronger relationships with your audience.

Remember, the key is to provide genuine value and address your audience's specific needs. Look at your current content and find places where you can add lead magnets and content upgrades. Then, create compelling lead magnets that align with your audience's goals.

Now that you know the value of lead magnets and content upgrades for growing your email list, the next step is to have an effective opt-in page to capture those leads.

My Kajabi Opt-In Page Template is designed to help you create high-converting opt-in pages with ease. It’s perfect for turning visitors into subscribers quickly and efficiently.

With this template, you’ll get:

•  A professionally designed template with the entire page mapped out so you don’t have to second-guess where the sections should go.
• An Opt-in page and a ‘Thank You’ page.
• Video tutorials to help you set up and customize the page to match your brand.

If you want to learn more, click here.

Other blog posts you may like:

• What is a Lead Magnet and 9 Easy-to-Create Lead Magnet Ideas
  
• How To Create An Effective Opt-In Page
• How to Create an Effective ‘Thank You’ Page for Your Opt-In Funnel
• 4 Key Elements of an Irresistible Freebie