Glossary
Lead magnet
Also called opt-in incentive, freebie.
Last reviewed 11 October 2026
What is a lead magnet?
A lead magnet is a specific, useful thing offered in exchange for an email address and permission to send more, and both halves matter: without the useful thing you are asking a stranger for their address for nothing, and without the permission you have a download page and no list.
It is not a sample of your paid work and it is not a brochure with a form in front of it. It is a complete small thing that solves one problem the reader actually has and leaves them better off even if they never buy anything, which is mechanism rather than generosity: a magnet only worth having if you buy the next thing is an advertisement, and it is opted into at the rate advertisements are.
The second thing to be clear about is what it is for. A lead magnet is not for downloads, it is for a list of people who open your mail, and those two goals pull in different directions, because the highest-converting offers tend to be the most generic ones.
See also
- Opt-in page
An opt-in page is a page whose only job is to describe one thing and collect an email address for it, and a dedicated one is planned at 15 to 30 per cent of its visitors where an inline form in a sidebar converts 1 to 3 per cent.
- Email course
An email course is a finite sequence of five to ten lessons delivered one email at a time, in order, on a clock that starts when each reader joins, and it ends on a day both of you knew about in advance.
- Confirmed opt-in
Confirmed opt-in, usually called double opt-in, is the practice of sending one message to a newly submitted address and adding it to a list only after somebody clicks the link in that message.
Read next
This term is covered properly in Lead magnets: 6 types, what each costs, and how to choose, which is a longer piece on the subject.
Every other term is on the glossary index , the longer writing is in the guides, and what this site itself does is on the home page.
Thinking of writing an email course?
5dayemail hosts a five-to-ten day email course: you write it once, and everyone who joins your list gets one email a day, in order, starting from the day they confirm.
Sign in with Google and your account opens on the Free plan. There is no card to enter, and nothing is charged unless you choose the paid plan.