Lead magnet ideas: which offer turns visitors into leads
A lead happens when a visitor gets something worth their contact details. Which offer that is depends on how far along they are in their search and what they expect from you. Here are the common lead generation offers, what each one asks of the visitor, and how to check beforehand which one works with your audience.
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Lead magnet ideas compared
| Offer | What the visitor gets | What they give | Fits when … |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guide, checklist, study | Knowledge to take away | they are early in their search and still getting oriented | |
| Calculator | A number for their case: cost, savings, need | A few details, often their email | the decision hinges on a number |
| Quiz | A personal recommendation or assessment | Answers, often their email | there are several paths and they don’t know which one is theirs |
| Webinar | Explanations, and a chance to put questions to experts | Time and email | the topic needs explaining and trust is still missing |
| Audit, analysis | An assessment of their own situation | Data about themselves, often a call | they know their problem and want to know how big it is |
| Intro call | Answers to their questions | Time and a phone number | they are close to a decision |
| Free trial | The product itself | Email, sometimes a credit card | the product shows its value without help |
How to spot a strong lead magnet
- It is concrete. “Calculate your costs in three minutes” says what you get. “Learn more” doesn’t.
- It is made for this person. A guide “for practices that do their own billing” draws more practices that do their own billing than one “for everyone”.
- It solves part of the problem right now. Someone who has their number after using the calculator has a reason to believe you.
- The price matches the payoff. An intro call costs half an hour, a guide an email address. Ask yourself whether someone at this stage of their search would give that up.
- It leads to the next step. If an offer brings in leads who never want to talk to sales, it does little for sales.
What is known about lead generation offers
We have not found a study that compares offers across industries with the same metrics. What exists are numbers from individual vendors about their own customers, for example on quizzes (see quiz funnel) or on free trials (see Demo or free trial (German)). According to Unbounce, the median across all landing pages and goals is 6.6% (2024, more than 41,000 pages); it is not broken down by offer.
In our simulation study (German), the simulated personas of all five B2B audiences preferred a calculator to an intro call (21 to 6 in the core audience), with the calculator framed as a self-assessment for the enterprise buying committee. The calculator in the study did not ask for contact details. This is a simulation, not a market measurement.
How B2B pages do it: in the 99takes funnel library (91 funnels, as of October 9, 2026), 17 ask visitors to get in touch, 9 release content only in exchange for contact details, one offers a calculator, none a quiz. For marketing agencies, contact is the standard (13 of 13), and all 5 captured agency forms sit right at the top of the page. B2B landing pages in numbers.
Which offer works with your audience
- Write two to four offers as short openings: headline, one sentence on what you get, the button.
- Show them to people from your audience: which one would they take, and what holds them back on the others?
- Launch the strongest one in the market, and measure not just the number of leads but what becomes of them.
99takes checks copy and pages in Claude with personas from your audience before they go live. You show them the variants, and they say which one they would choose and where they get stuck. A shortlist pre-sorts several drafts for 3 to 5 credits; comparing two versions with 12 personas costs about 73 credits, or about 19 as 1:1. You start with 350 credits, no payment details.
A simulated audience tells you which version is more likely to hold up, and why. Only a test with real traffic shows whether it brings more leads in the market.
Frequently asked questions
Which lead magnet works best?
That depends on how far along your visitors are in their search. As a rule of thumb, small steps such as a guide, calculator or quiz fit early, an audit, intro call or free trial late. There is no reliable ranking across industries; for your own audience, a comparison will tell you.
How many fields should a lead form have?
As few as the next step needs. In the 99takes funnel library, captured B2B forms have a median of 6 fields, 4 of them required; agencies ask for a median of only 3.
Is an intro call a good lead generation offer?
For visitors close to a decision, yes; for everyone else it is a big step. If you don’t want to lose early visitors, offer a smaller step next to it.
How can I test lead magnets before launch?
With two to four openings that differ only in the offer, shown to people from your audience. 99takes does that in Claude with personas from your audience: the shortlist pre-sorts several drafts for 3 to 5 credits, and the full comparison of two versions costs about 73 credits. After that, the test in the market decides.
Related reading
Compare offers before you spend the budget
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