How to Build a Lead Magnet Funnel

Learn how to build a lead magnet funnel and move prospects through your sales funnel from awareness to subscriber.

Building your audience and your email list can be one of the biggest pain points in starting and growing your subscription box business. 

You can’t have a successful subscription box launch without traffic and leads. And you can’t have a successful subscription box business without traffic and leads. 

Building an audience and growing an email list isn’t easy. And it doesn’t happen quickly. But, if you know what to do and how to do it, you CAN build an audience of  right-for-you-and-your-business. And that audience? That audience that you never stop building and nurturing - that is the foundation upon which you will build a successful, sustainable business. 

So how can you bring continuous new leads into your business every month? Is there a secret formula? 

Keep reading as I walk you through just what you need to build a lead magnet funnel that serves you and your business. 

$100 K in monthly recurring revenue? 

When I decided to start a second business, the subscription box coaching side of things, I was starting from scratch. I had an audience and thousands of engaged followers. But… that audience and those followers were for my retail business and subscription box. They were not the people I needed to attract to launch and grow my coaching business. 

So how did I build my audience? Lead magnets. 

I used three different lead magnets to build and grow Launch Your Box, my coaching business. A business that generates more than $100,000 in monthly recurring revenue. Listen to episode 112 to hear more of that story. 

What is a lead magnet? 

A lead magnet is simply something that attracts someone to your website or your business. It’s something you put out there that gets someone’s attention enough that they click on it. 

That click leads them to your website where they find what they’ve come to check out. Many times that’s a freebie. It can also be a low-dollar offer. 

The purpose of a lead magnet is simple - to attract people and bring new leads into your business. 

Lead magnets can be a lot of different things: 

• Free tutorial 
• Discount
• Free gift
• Checklist
• PDF 

In addition to free offers, a lead magnet can also be a low-dollar offer. A $10 or $15 offer that you use to attract new leads into your business. 

Check out this blog post to learn more about downloadable freebie opt-ins. 

Move people through your sales funnel. 

When we talk about a sales funnel, I want you to picture an actual funnel. Its widest part is at the top and it gets more and more narrow as you work your way through the funnel. 

Your goal is to move people through your sales funnel, taking them from not knowing you or your offer to becoming a customer or subscriber. 

Sounds simple, right? 

A prospect won’t move through your sales funnel on their own. The way we start to pull people through the funnel is with a lead magnet. 

Start with a free or low-dollar offer. 

The top of the funnel is the largest part of your sales funnel - it’s where everyone starts. 

The goal here is to gather as many leads as possible. 

Start with a free offer or low-dollar lead magnet. I used both when building an audience for my coaching business. 

Why? 

This free or low-dollar offer is your opportunity to give your audience something of value, to start building your authority and know, like, trust factor. 

I recently used a free monogram with purchase as a lead magnet for my retail business. My ideal customer is a woman who LOVES monograms. You can see how this type of lead magnet will attract people who are likely to buy from me. 

A lead magnet for the coaching side of my business is my freebie, 10 Ways to Surprise & Delight Your Subscribers. Again, you can see how this lead magnet is designed to appeal to my ideal customer - subscription box owners. Make sure you grab one for yourself - it’s full of great ways to show your subscribers how much you appreciate them! 

The goal at this stage is to capture leads and get them onto your email list. 

Do this by running ads on Facebook, Instagram, or whatever platform you use. Run ads for your lead magnet to targeted interests, using cold and warm audiences. You want to cast a wide net and use your lead magnet to pull in the right people. 

This is the largest part of your funnel, so you want to collect as many leads as possible. 

Make sure your lead magnet is niched down to appeal to your ideal customers. You don’t want to waste time and money attracting unqualified leads. 

When someone clicks on your lead magnet, that link will take them to a landing page with an opt-in. That opt-in simply means they’re open to receiving emails from you. You then deliver the freebie via email.   

When you deliver the freebie or low-dollar product, that email should include an upsell. Think of this as the next step. They see the value in what they received from you and they’re open to committing to something of slightly higher value. 

Once someone is on your email list, they move into the middle of the funnel. 

Put email marketing to work for you. 

When someone reaches the middle of your sales funnel, they’ve received value from you and have something to judge their experience on. It’s your “first impression.” 

Now your goal shifts to getting them to purchase your main offer. For subscription box owners, this means your recurring revenue product, your subscription box.

This is where you put email marketing to work for you. 

Set up an email automation that kicks off when someone opts in. 

This simple email sequence consists of three emails: 

• Email #1 - deliver the freebie or low-dollar lead magnet and introduce your subscription box. 
• Email #2 - remind recipients to download the freebie or low-dollar lead magnet and share the “why” behind your box with them. Include a picture of you! 
• Email #3 - is all about your subscription box. Share social proof and pictures of past boxes. 

You can extend this sequence to five emails by including an email that includes a low-dollar offer and another with an additional offer to subscribe at the end. 

If someone subscribes at any point during this email flow, the sequence stops. Set this up inside your email CRM. As subscribers, they’ll continue to get nurtured with your weekly email campaigns. 

Include these 5 steps for an effective lead magnet funnel. 

Creating a sales funnel that attracts qualified leads and moves them toward becoming subscribers isn’t hard. But there are things you need to do for your funnel to be effective. 

Follow these five steps when you build a lead magnet funnel for your subscription box business: 

1. Create the lead magnet. 
2. Create images for social media and ads. 
3. Create two landing pages - one for the opt-in and one for the thank you/upsell page. 
4. Create an embed form for the opt-in. 
5. Write your emails and set up the sequences. 

That’s the lead magnet funnel. Lead magnets, landing pages, email sequences. Use it to guide people through the funnel from lead magnet to first purchase to subscriber. 

I teach so much more inside Launch Your Box about generating leads, driving traffic, and nurturing those leads until they’re ready to convert. Ready to join us? My team and our amazing community are ready to help you start, launch, and grow your subscription box.