6 Ways to Use Psychology in Your Lead Magnet

When you’re in business you’re dealing with humans — and to understand humans, you must understand psychology. I think a lot of people have this backwards when it comes to psychology. It’s not icky, not a scam, nor is it manipulative.

It’s about understanding human behaviour and where your dream client is coming from by putting yourself in their shoes — developing awareness and empathy.

When you have an empathetic approach, it can be applied to every aspect of your business: consultation calls, emails, and your marketing and sales strategy. By incorporating psychology into your marketing efforts you’ll attract your dream audience, make them feel seen and heard, and create such a rewarding experience for them that they’ll come back for more!?

Where to start incorporating psychology? Your lead magnet, of course! A lead magnet is exactly what it sounds like — a free, valuable resource that you create for your ideal client (leads). In exchange they give you their contact information, like their email.

There are a ton of benefits to developing a lead magnet. It establishes your expertise, provides value, gives your ideal client a taste of what it’s like to work with you, helps you to nurture these leads (by using email marketing), and even helps you to segment your leads to personalize the experience.?

Ok, now that you know the importance of using psychology, I’ll share six psychological theories that you can use to create an out-of-this-world lead magnet, attract your dream clients, and be the star of the show.?

1. Reciprocity Principle

This principle happens all the time and you may not even be aware of it. Think of when a friend helps you out during a difficult time or even when someone compliments you. What do you want to do? You want to return the favour when they’re going through a tough time and you want to give them a genuine compliment right back. This principle is based on social situations; when we receive something from others we want to pay them back.?

When someone helps us, we want to help them. This is the very foundation of a lead magnet. As a business, when you give away valuable information for FREE, it’ll only be natural for those who consume it to want to pay it forward to you. This could mean that your leads reach out and tell you how much they appreciate your freebie, send it to their contacts because they’d benefit from it, or share it on their social media profiles. In the best-case scenario, they reach out to you about your services when they’re ready to buy.

The key with your lead magnet is to make it so valuable for your prospects that they say, “I can’t believe that this is free!” If you’re giving away this much value for free, they’ll know that your services go above and beyond. When you give, it guarantees you’ll get something in return. ?

2. The Information Gap Theory

When someone has a gap in their knowledge about something they care about, they’ll seek out that information to know more.?

As a business, you solve a problem. Maybe it’s helping your dream clients build websites that convert, guiding women entrepreneurs to work with their hormonal cycle, or assisting new business owners to be more organized. You’ve got the solution to their challenges and a proven framework that works.?

The whole point of a lead magnet is to provide your dream clients with information (on one topic) that’ll guide them through the journey — from a problem (where they’re feeling stuck) to being on the other side (a website that converts, working with their energy, and being more organized). Your lead magnet fills in the gap of their knowledge of how to solve their problem.?

The format doesn’t matter, it could be an e-book or a masterclass, as long as you’re clearly spelling it out for them and filling in the gaps of the missing information. But, if you want some ideas for lead magnet formats, check out my previous article. Although written for coaches, the seven ideas I offer up can be adapted for practically any field.

3. The Pratfall Effect

We love watching bloopers, we love when others can be vulnerable, and we love when people are real and talk about their challenges and make mistakes. In fact, this psychological phenomenon states that when individuals who are perceived as highly competent make a mistake, it makes them more likable than those who don’t.

Think of Jennifer Lawrence tripping up the stairs on her way to accept her Best Actress Oscar…in front of millions of people. She instantly became more likable in our eyes, because who hasn’t been clumsy?

How do you apply this to your lead magnet? Easy! Talk about a mistake you made along the way (make sure it’s relevant to the topic you’re discussing). If you help businesses have more efficient meetings with your software, talk about a time when you accidentally missed a meeting that you scheduled. Then you can tie it back to your software — that’s why you developed it after all, to keep everyone on track.?

You don’t need to talk about 10 mistakes you made, just use one example in your lead magnet. Chances are, prospects who consume your freebie will relate to your mistake.?

4. Social Proof

The desire to conform runs deep within all of us, and this theory is proof of that (pun intended). Think about when you buy something online (my weakness is clothes). Are you attracted and motivated by the white blouse that has two reviews, both of them four stars, or to the colourfully printed top that has 100 five-star reviews? I’m guessing it’s the latter because there are so many amazing reviews for this product!

The same thing applies to service-based businesses. You’re more likely to trust a business that has a lot of incredible testimonials versus the business that only has one or two.?

This is incredibly easy to incorporate into your lead magnet — go ahead and add some kind words from your clients that have been over the moon with the results you delivered (with their permission of course). It could be from an email or DM they sent you or you can simply use a testimonial they wrote for you on LinkedIn or Google. You can sprinkle a few reviews throughout your lead magnet and also towards the end as a final note, to really drive the point home.

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5. Scarcity

We all want the things that are exclusive or rare, why? Because people place a higher value on something that is scarce and a lower value on things that are widely available. Think about courses that have waitlists or a product that has limited availability (e.g. websites that display “only two left” next to the item you’re eyeing up). We’re more likely to act now — add our name to the waitlist or purchase the product before it sells out.?

Now, I’m not saying to trick your dream clients into purchasing from you or to be dishonest. When used in this way, these become dark patterns that can drive away business and shade into the unethical. Use this tactic carefully and be transparent.?

Let’s say you take on four clients per month, and for next month you only have two spots left. In your call to action (CTA) you can say “Claim Your Spot Now for Next Month, Only Two Spots Left.” Just make sure that you update this part of your lead magnet to accurately reflect your availability.

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6. The Mere Exposure Effect

Have you ever bought something simply because you were exposed to it over and over again? One day you’ve never heard of a particular business and then all of a sudden, they’re everywhere! Billboards, ads on TV, and even your favourite podcasts are promoting them.

This recently happened to me when I wanted to start implementing vitamins and nutrients in the morning and tried out Athletic Greens. I was exposed to their product enough times (through ads) that I caved and tried it out for a month (I ended up not renewing the subscription because it tastes awful and I didn’t notice any significant changes after 30 days…but that’s besides the point).?

The mere-exposure effect is a theory that we favour things merely because we’ve been exposed to them repeatedly…not just things but people as well. Think about it, we prefer people we’re more familiar with.?

This is tied to your entire prospects’ journey. From the first touch point —whether through IG stories or LinkedIn content, your lead magnet, and then through email marketing. The more you show up online and talk about your lead magnet, the more likely it is that your dream clients will sign up for it.?

Don’t let these warm leads cool off when they get lost in space. Keep them in your orbit by sending them an email nurture sequence after they have downloaded your lead magnet. After all, email marketing has the highest return on investment (ROI) when it comes to marketing efforts. Who do you think they’re going to reach out to when they’re looking for a particular solution to their problem? YOU, because you’ve stayed top of mind.?

Be Strategic to Attract New Clients?

Applying these six psychological theories to your lead magnet will bring it to new heights and ensure that you stand out from your competition. However, it’s important to also properly promote your lead magnet and ensure that you continue to nurture warm leads through email. If you have all of that set up and working for you, you’ll begin to have your dream clients orbiting around your business in no time! Need help? Book a call.?