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If you have been consuming my content for some time, you would have heard me speak about lead generation for ecommerce.
When I talk about lead gen for ecom, I often mention that its effectiveness is directly tied to how good the lead gen offer is. If you have a good lead generation offer, then you will reap the benefits of lead gen.
So, what is a good lead generation offer for ecommerce?
Let's talk about it.
"10% off" is not a strong lead generation offer
Before I answer what a good offer is, let's start by talking about what NOT to do.
Most ecommerce websites offer the following in exchange for an email address: "10% off for new customers".
Maybe it's 15% or 20%, but it's some variation of this discount offer. And to get this offer, you need to sign up for the email list.
This is a lead generation offer. It's just not a very good one.
Why is that?
A 10% or 15% offer targets buyers. It's the last push to get someone who was highly likely to buy anyway to make their first purchase. But in marketing, this bucket of prospective customers only represents a small percentage of your addressable market (maybe ~3%).
But for lead generation to be effective, we need critical mass. Therefore, we need to attract a larger portion of the addressable market. And, to do that, we use good offers.
What does this all mean?
It means discount offers attract buyers, but buyers are at the very end of the customer lifecycle. Want to attract people at the start or middle.
How to create good ecommerce lead generation offers
So, again, what is a good offer?
I will answer that by exploring how people buy today.
When someone wants to solve a problem, they can often buy a product that solves their problem. But before someone makes a purchase, they do research. You do it too, don't you? You may watch YouTube videos, run multiple Google searches, or, if you are feeling particularly daring, ask ChatGPT.
Either way, before making a purchase, you are looking for information about your problem, how to solve it and the many variables involved.
So, if your product solves their problem, why not help them along their research journey too? When you help people along this journey of understanding their problem, you start a very strong relationship with them.
Okay... cool, what does all this have to do with a lead generation offer?
Well, if you create a really good resource, beyond a YouTube video or article, and you package it up as an information product, the perceived value of that information increases. But in this case, we'll package this information and give it away for free in exchange for their email address.
Let's call this the "information product lead magnet".
It might be videos, audio, written or a mix of all three. You might deliver it by email, in a CMS or as files that the prospect can download. It doesn't matter. What matters are the following two things:
- The information product lead magnet is very good. It must be good. It must deliver on its promise, and
- The page you offer this product is standalone and clearly communicates its value.
Information product lead magnets build better email lists
Now, let's explore the differences between the two types of offers discussed in this article.
The first offer is the "10% off" offer. A discount offer.
This offer attracts buyers, but it also trains them to expect a discount in the future. In fact, you might find that these buyers ONLY buy during sales.
The information product lead magnet offer focuses on the problem you solve and the solution. It helps people along their buying journey. And, here is the important part: the prospective buyer was going to go on their buying journey anyway, with or without you. Here, we inserted ourselves into their journey and helped them along.
And with these kinds of people on your list, they are highly susceptible to continuing a relationship with you as it relates to the problems your product solves. That often includes more repeat purchases.
The goal of lead gen is higher quality lists
A good lead generation offer helps you build a higher-quality list of prospects to sell to, rather than a discount-focused list of people that are only interested in the next discount.
This point is further compounded if you run multiple traffic sources to your lead gen offers. A good place to start is paid traffic and building a personal brand