Lead magnet mistakes: the file the ad promised

A download page usually has one prominent button, and the visitor presses it. If the button links straight to the file, the visitor gets what they came for and leaves, and the email box further down is never read. Owners see the download count climb and assume the page works, because a download feels like a result. The signups are a separate count, and it stays flat. On a phone, the email box may sit below the first screen, so a visitor who wanted the file never scrolls to the one thing that asks for something back.

• The email box sits on the same screen as the download button, above it on a phone.
• The button says what the email buys, such as Email me the sheet, not only Download.
• The file title repeats the words of the search or ad that brought the visitor.
• The thank-you step names the file and the inbox the email goes to.
• The file opens or downloads on a phone without sending the visitor to a second site with a warning.

The wrong version is a generic title, such as Free Guide or Ultimate Resource Pack, on a page that was found by searching for one specific sheet. The visitor reads the title, decides it is not the thing they searched for, and leaves before any form. The right version repeats the words of the search or the ad in the title and the first line, so the visitor knows at once it is the file they came for. Read the title and first line next to the search phrase. If a visitor could not tell they were in the right place, the promise is the first fault, and a moved form will not fix it.

Owners often hide the link until the form is sent. The link is still in the page, so anyone who looks at the source can open it, and a visitor who taps the button may land on the file directly. The wrong version hides the button with a style and calls it a gate. The right version sends the file only after the email is entered, either as an email attachment or as a link on the thank-you step, and the page never shows the file's address. A simulated visitor that taps the button and lands on the file has found a link the form should guard, and the report shows that step.

The last step is the handoff. The file opens in a new window, a file host shows its own warning page, or a zip file may not open on a phone. Each one is a second site or a second chance to stop. The wrong version sends the visitor from your page to a file host with its own download screen and no sign of who sent it. The right version delivers the file from your own site or in the email, under a file name that says what it is, and opens on a phone without a second tap through a warning. Open the handoff on a phone after each change to the file, the email or the link.

A marketer copies the page for next season, and the old download link, the old title and last year's file come along with it. Run the same visitors from the search phrase after each copy, through the email step and the download, and check the file that arrives. With paid credits, visitors can open a protected preview of the new page before the link goes out in an email.