It's called a lead magnet, and if your insurance business doesn't have one, this article will change the way you think about how to improve insurance sales forever.

So what exactly is a lead magnet?

Leaflet magnets, also known as content offers or downloadable content, are an irresistible bribe that offers a specific portion of value to a prospect in exchange for their contact information.

The goal of the lead magnet is to maximize the number of highly specific leads you're receiving to catapult your insurance sales.

However, simply piecing together old bits of insurance information here and there to offer in exchange for potential customers' contact details won't do.

Your lead magnet must be specific and highly relevant.

But... I have great news. Leaflet magnets don't have to be long, complex, and time-consuming to create.

In fact, a long and complex lead magnet will likely generate poor conversion, generating fewer leads and sales.

You simply need to solve a specific problem with a specific solution for a specific segment of your target insurance market.

The key is that...

Your lead magnet must be consumed by perspective in order to have an impact.

The perfect lead magnet will offer great value within minutes of the lead downloading it.

Later in this post, I'll provide you with a checklist so you can create irresistible lead magnets to skyrocket your sales.

But first...

How exactly does a lead magnet work?

Step 1: The potential customer comes to your website.

Step 2: The potential customer sees your free guide (lead magnet).

Step 3: The potential customer clicks on the call to action and is taken to a landing page.

Step 4: The potential customer submits contact details on their landing page to access the free guide and becomes a potential customer.

Step 5: The prospectus is taken to a thank you page where you can access the free guide.

Using Chris, the owner of a starter cafe, I give you the 3 important variations of insurance lead magnets that you can use to improve sales.

1. Raise awareness about your problems, educate prospects about their specific insurance problems, and raise awareness of the solution, without mentioning your brand.

This type of downloadable content is often overlooked, but it's crucial for attracting potential customers in their initial stage of researching for insurance, as it opens the door before any other insurance specialist. Not only that...

It also allows you to provide the answers that potential customers are looking for.

Remember, helping is the new sale and this is the best way to do it.

If you do it right, not only will you be known as the industry expert, but you will also increase sales.

For example: Chris could be researching “How to open a coffee shop?” and he finds his downloadable guide entitled “The Ultimate Checklist: 99 Tips for Starting a Coffee Shop” on Google.

Seeing that it's very specific to what you're looking for, you click on the result and land on the landing page of your website, where you can download the checklist guide in exchange for your contact details.

Chris completes the form and clicks submit to access the checklist.

Chris now becomes the leader of his company and downloads the guide.

Chris reads the guide that is specifically tailored to his needs and, among many other useful things, Chris learns about problems he may face if he doesn't have adequate insurance policies, such as:

Breakdown of machinery for things like your coffee machines.

Civil liability for unfortunate events, such as outdoor umbrellas flying into expensive cars

Fire & Perils if your cafe is located in an old building or if fryers are used.

You'll see how valuable a content asset like this can be in educating potential customers and establishing a relationship.

The content of the awareness stage, such as this example, creates urgency in the new potential customer and gives them the impetus to take the next step, such as requesting a quote with your company because you were the one who gave them the answers they were looking for.

2. Educate them about the solution. Potential customer magnets that educate prospects about the solution, provide educational information about specific insurance products as they begin to incorporate their brand into the conversation, are more common, but they only represent a third of potential customers.

Here the prospectus knows exactly what your insurance problem is and knows the name of the solution/product.

In Chris's case, it would be civil liability insurance for cafe owners.

For example: This lead magnet could be something like “Liability Insurance Guide for Coffee Shop Owners.”

In this example, potential customers like Chris could download this lead magnet as the next step after consuming the previous guide “The Ultimate Checklist: 99 Tips for Starting a Coffee Shop”.

OR...

If you Google terms such as “coffee shop liability insurance” a potential customer may find their lead magnet to be highly organically relevant.

You also have the opportunity to use paid advertising to promote these valuable content assets to generate even more leads by showing the right content to the right people right away.

Using useful content such as lead magnets to promote your business and improve sales is a very smart way to convey the message to potential customers because you're not just telling them me, me, me, you're providing them with all the educational information you need.

3. Tell them why you're the best choice. If a potential customer is at the decision-making stage where they're ready to request a quote, all they want to know is who is the best option to buy insurance! So now is the time to talk about yourself and everything that makes you stand out from the crowd.

This is when prospects really want to know about you and how you can serve them.

Providing prospectus magnets filled with the most frequently asked questions about how you can help along with case studies of how you've helped previous clients is a foolproof method to close all those potential customers in the decision stage so that they're ready and willing to request a quote from you.

A great example of a lead magnet at the decision stage to improve insurance sales could be “How we make a difference at the time of the claim [12 case studies]”.

Potential customers love to read about what has worked for others to get results and how they achieved it.

If you were involved in helping them get it, then it looks even better on their side! The great thing about these 3 types of lead magnets is that no matter what stage a potential customer is at in their research phase, they have downloadable content that appeals to them every step of the way, meaning they can capture leads at any stage in a potential customer's buying journey.

For example: When they're just starting out and they don't even know if they need insurance or what type of insurance they need.

If you know what type of insurance you need but don't know where to start.

If they know exactly what they need and are looking for the best insurance specialist to provide it for them.

Most insurance companies are only based on attracting people at the decision stage, and while this is crucial, they are leaving an even bigger piece of the pie on the table and a great opportunity for you.

Now is your chance! Start attracting potential customers at any stage of their insurance buying journey and start establishing a relationship with them long before any other insurance business that only focuses on generating business in the decision stage.

Next, how to create compelling lead magnets to boost insurance sales.

Here's my 10-point checklist of the most important factors that make lead magnets remarkable:

Know your customer: All good marketing starts with knowing your customer.

Who is your customer? What do you want, need and want? How can your products or services satisfy those desires?

Relevance: Your primary magnet must be hyper-specific to attract potential customers.

Simplicity: Make your offer very clear so that a prospect knows exactly what they will receive, avoiding disappointment.

Speak your language: write your lead magnets the way your target audience speaks.

Immediate gratification: Make sure they get value from the content right away.

High perceived value: Just because it's free doesn't mean it should LOOK free.

Use professional images: people process images faster than words.

Just like the examples of simulated images I provided above.

I bet you'd like to be able to see what's inside! Answer common questions: Make sure you answer the right questions.

Change the relationship: the best prospect magnets do more than educate, they actually change the mentality of your potential customer to participate in future business with your company.

Easy to digest: Its contents should be easy to scan.

Written content that is cluttered and difficult to read becomes useless.

Make sure to use white space effectively.

Lead magnets continue to evolve, but one thing remains the same... they work.

The greater the value you provide to your potential customers, the more they will trust you when they give you their contact details to fill your pipeline with potential customers.

Now that you know how to improve insurance sales, take action and do it.