Lead Magnet Guides
Lead magnet not working? Change the format first.
A resource that asks for more than the reader has to give gets opened and forgotten. Test the task, choose the smallest format that fits, and let the outline follow it.
When “not working” means the wrong format.
You know you need a lead magnet, and you keep stalling at the same place: the format. The design tool opens, a fifteen-page workbook takes shape, and then it stops — because the reader you speak to on client calls needs a page they can act on between meetings, not a course in PDF form. Your own downloaded workbooks are still unopened in a folder, which makes the whole exercise feel like time you cannot spare.
That is a format decision made too late, and it shows up in three ways.
Downloads, no replies
The file is taken and nothing comes back. A resource can ask for an hour of work before the reader reaches a conclusion you could have given them in a paragraph.
Nobody finishes it
A workbook asks for a session. If the reader has ten minutes between meetings, twenty pages is a promise you cannot keep.
Your time went into layout
Design earns its place when the reader will show the output to a colleague. It is expensive when the output is a private note to self.
Rule out delivery first: a form that never sends the file, a link that breaks, a page nobody visits. If the file arrives and still does nothing, change the format — you already have the content.
Run a five-question fit test before you pick a template.
Answer these about the reader's task, not the topic. Written down, they become the brief you would otherwise write in a hurry.
| 1. What are they doing in the ten minutes after they download? | Name the verb: assess, prepare, draft, decide, explain. The verb is the format. |
|---|---|
| 2. What will they have open on screen? | If the answer is “this file only”, you need one document. If it is “this file and our own records”, say so on page one. |
| 3. Will they show the result to anyone? | If yes, layout is worth the time. If no, cut the design work and spend it on the content. |
| 4. How much explaining does the task need? | None: a checklist. A little: a worksheet with one filled example row. A method: a short guide. |
| 5. Would they finish it in one sitting? | If not, the format is bigger than the task. |
Then match the answer to a format.
| The reader's next ten minutes | Format that fits |
|---|---|
| Assess one situation and decide what to do | One-page scorecard: five to eight rows, a score for each, one next step |
| Prepare for a meeting or a call | One-page brief with fields to complete before the call |
| Do a small piece of work with guidance | Worksheet: fields plus one filled example row |
| Understand a method before trying it | Short guide of five to eight pages with one worked example |
| Reuse your structure for their own content | Template with instructions and a licence note |
Formats, not products. Nothing here is scored or ranked.
If two formats pass all five questions, choose the shorter one: easier to finish, to describe and to test in a week. The longer version can wait until readers ask for it.
Checklist or mini-guide takes the two commonest options through the same decision. The free Brief Builder records your answers on Worksheet G and sets the length budget on Worksheet G2.
Build your brief as you read.
Use the free 25-page fillable Lead Magnet Brief Builder: 19 lettered worksheets from finding an idea to a one-page brief, a draft skeleton and a launch plan, with three fictional worked examples.
Free: we send you a short email first. Reply VERIFY to it and we email you the workbook, then five short follow-up emails over 12 days (one names our own $79 Workflow Pack), then at most one email a week, when we publish a new guide. Every email has an unsubscribe link.
Why workbooks collect dust — and why one-pagers can be generic too.
Your unopened downloads are evidence of one thing: a single format used for every job. The file assumed a quiet hour, the task sat on page eleven, and it was not about this week.
The same test guards against a checklist that could belong to anyone. Read each row and ask whether it could appear, unchanged, in another consultant's resource in a different discipline. If it could, rewrite it with the nouns your clients use.
Generic: “Review your onboarding process.”
Discipline-specific: “List the two conversations a new manager has in week one, who signs off the notes, and the date of the first check-in.”
The second line could only have been written by someone who has run that week. That judgement is what you sell, and it costs nothing to put in. If a draft started in an AI tool, the rows are where it shows: keep the structure, replace the lines with your own approved notes, then check every claim with our Source & Claim Review Checklist — ten checks and three claim records for a short resource.
Turn one workbook section into a one-page scorecard.
The fastest format change reuses work you already have. A finished workbook section is researched, checked and cleared with the client; you are changing the container, not the content. An illustrative route, one morning rather than a fortnight:
Pick the section that ends in a decision.
Not the longest chapter. The one where the reader has to choose, score or agree something already holds the rows of your scorecard.
Cut it to eight rows or fewer.
Each row needs a question, a scale or option, and a next step. If a row cannot produce a next step, it belongs in a guide.
Rewrite the promise around the smaller job.
One sentence: “After using this scorecard, the reader can…” followed by an action. The workbook's promise described what the file contains; the new one describes what the reader can do.
Test the exported file, not the draft.
Open the PDF on a second device and click every link. Microsoft's support page notes that a PDF reader may substitute another font when a font cannot be embedded, and that hyperlinks may not convert correctly with some export settings. One page makes both problems cheap to see and fix.
Before: a 22-page “Cash Confidence Workbook” for Ledgerwise Finance, with five chapters, a glossary and a twelve-month grid. The reader had to work through three chapters to reach the review they could use in a client meeting.
After: a one-page “Monthly Cash Review Scorecard” with five rows — cash received, cash committed in the next 30 days, one payment at risk, one decision to take this week, one question for the accountant. Each row scores 0–2, and the total points to next month's action.
The workbook: kept as a follow-up for readers who ask for depth, and split into sections that become future resources.
Keep one thing in view while you cut. The scorecard earns its place only if the answer it produces is the problem you solve. If the reader finishes it with nothing to ask you, the format is cleaner but the route to a client is missing. The sample bundles on our examples page show that shape at full length — brief, resource, landing copy, five email drafts and a source report — all fictional and labelled as such.
Check the landing page before you blame the file.
Two things decide whether a visitor signs up: the promise on the page and the effort it asks for. Both are visible in ten seconds.
- The headline names the reader and the task, in the same words as page one of the file.
- The page says what the reader can do afterwards, not how many pages it contains.
- One offer on the page. A second download, a newsletter and a call booking compete with each other.
- First name and email only. Every extra field is another reason to leave.
- One visible button near the top, with the same promise beside it.
Then test the route, not just the page: sign up with an address you control, reply to the verification email as a reader would, and confirm the record lands where you expect. Leadpages' pricing page, retrieved 2 November 2026, states that its publishing plans start at $29/mo and that leads flow to a CRM or email tool through webhooks. Whatever platform you use, the check is the same.
Our criteria for choosing a landing page builder lists what to document before you commit, and what a B2B lead magnet landing page should include works through the page section by section.
Measure your own numbers, not a borrowed benchmark.
A lead magnet conversion rate is sign-ups divided by visits over the same period; a landing page conversion rate is that sum for one page. Neither figure means anything without your traffic, your market and what you count.
We publish no benchmark percentages, and it is worth being cautious with any you read: an average rarely says who measured it, on what traffic, in which market and when. Four counts of your own, taken daily, beat a published figure.
| Count | Where it comes from | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Visits | The page's own view count | Whether anyone sees the page |
| Sign-ups | Form submissions | Whether the promise and the fields are close enough |
| Deliveries | Replies to your verification email | Whether the request and the email work |
| Replies | Your inbox | Whether the resource started a conversation |
Four counts, not a forecast. Change one thing at a time and note the date.
Decide what “working” means before you change anything. A defensible definition for a consultant: one reply a week from a reader who describes the problem your service solves. A download target counts a promise rather than an outcome.
Lead magnet tips that survive a format change.
- Choose the format from the reader's task, not from a gallery image.
- Keep it to one sitting, and say on page one how long that is.
- Put the decision on the first screen; explanation comes second.
- Write each row in the nouns of your discipline, not your industry.
- Write the promise before the outline, and let the outline follow the format.
- Test the file, the delivery and the landing page separately.
On the worry that a shorter resource looks less serious: a clean one-page scorecard in your clients' vocabulary reads as more credible than a designed workbook of lines any consultant could have written. The format change is not a downgrade. It is usually where the resource starts sounding like you.
Common questions about a lead magnet that is not working.
How do I know whether my lead magnet is not working?
Check four things in order: does the file arrive after sign-up, does the landing page promise match page one of the file, can the reader finish it in one sitting, and does anyone reply? If the file arrives and the promise matches but nobody finishes it, the format is bigger than the task.
What is a good lead magnet conversion rate?
We cannot give you an honest figure. A conversion rate is sign-ups divided by visits, and it depends on your traffic, your market and what you count. Record your own counts for two weeks, define what working means for your offer, and change one thing at a time.
How can I improve a lead magnet landing page conversion rate?
Match the headline to page one of the file, make one offer instead of three, ask for first name and email only, and keep one visible button near the top. Then test the whole route with an address you control: sign up, reply to the verification email, confirm the file arrives.
Can I turn an existing workbook into a one-page scorecard?
Yes, usually faster than starting again. Pick the section that ends in a decision, cut it to eight rows or fewer, give each row a question and a next step, and rewrite the promise around the smaller job. Keep the workbook as a follow-up for readers who want depth.
Sources & editorial notes
- Lead Magnet Brief Builder, version 2 (Worksheet G: format chooser; G2: outline and length budget; H: the one-page brief), at /free-starter-kit.
- Sample campaign bundles, three fictional worked examples, at /examples.
- Source & Claim Review Checklist, ten review checks and three claim records, at /resources/source-review-checklist.
- Microsoft Support: Save or convert to PDF or XPS in Office desktop apps, retrieved 2 November 2026. The page notes that a PDF reader may substitute another font when a font cannot be embedded, and that hyperlinks may not convert correctly with some export settings.
- Leadpages pricing page, retrieved 2 November 2026. The vendor states that its publishing plans start at $29/mo and that leads flow to a CRM or email tool through webhooks.
Examples are illustrative and fictional. This page is a practical method, not a review: no tool has been tested here, nothing is ranked, and no conversion-rate benchmark is published. This page contains no affiliate links. See our Editorial Policy, Review Methodology and Affiliate Disclosure.
Match the format before you design anything.
Worksheet G of the free Brief Builder records which of three formats fits your reader's task, and Worksheet G2 turns that choice into a length budget.
Free: we send you a short email first. Reply VERIFY to it and we email you the workbook, then five short follow-up emails over 12 days (one names our own $79 Workflow Pack), then at most one email a week, when we publish a new guide. Every email has an unsubscribe link.