A free download landing page that trades a useful guide for an email address
A lead magnet page offers something useful, usually a checklist, template or short guide, in exchange for an email address. It works when the download solves one small, urgent problem and the sign-up is honest about the newsletter that follows. The file itself is sent by your email tool, not by the page.
What makes a download worth an email address
The best lead magnets are small and specific. A visitor should be able to use it within ten minutes of downloading it and get a result. Long ebooks collect addresses from people who never open them; a one-page checklist gets used, remembered and associated with you.
| Weak | Strong |
|---|---|
| "The ultimate guide to marketing" | "The 12-point checklist I use before every Etsy listing goes live" |
| "Free ebook: grow your business" | "A pricing spreadsheet for freelance photographers, with the formulas filled in" |
| "Download our whitepaper" | "The five clauses to check in a commercial lease, with plain-English notes" |
Notice that the strong versions name the format, the audience and the result. That's also what the page headline should do.
The page, top to bottom
- Headline naming the thing and the result. "Get the 12-point Etsy listing checklist."
- A picture of the real file. A page or two of the actual contents, not a 3D book mock-up of something that's really a PDF.
- Three lines on what's inside. Concrete: "the photo-order checklist, title formula, the six tags most sellers forget".
- The form, with one email field and an honest button: "Email me the checklist".
- The line under the button. "You'll also get my fortnightly newsletter. Unsubscribe anytime." If signing up adds people to a list, say so here.
- Who you are, briefly, so the download comes from a person.
How the file actually gets delivered
This is the part people get wrong. An Anticode page saves each sign-up and passes it on; it doesn't send the download. Delivery happens in your email tool, triggered by the new subscriber:
- Upload the file to your email tool, or host it somewhere you control and copy its link.
- In Kit, set up an automation that emails the download to new subscribers arriving from this site; in Mailchimp, set up a welcome or confirmation email that includes the link. Mailchimp uses double opt-in through Anticode's connector, so the link can go in the confirmation step.
- In Anticode's dashboard, connect the site's newsletter form to Kit or Mailchimp.
- Sign up yourself with a fresh address and check the email arrives, the link works and the file opens on a phone.
Don't put a direct download link on the thank-you text of the page itself. Anyone could share it, and you'd lose the reason for the form. The lead magnet delivery workflow covers the sequence after the first email.
Building it with Anticode
As a lead magnet page builder, Anticode needs the offer and the audience: "an opt-in page for my 12-point Etsy listing checklist, for new Etsy sellers, with a preview image and a note that subscribers also get my fortnightly newsletter". The design engine lays out a landing page with the newsletter form as its main action, in one of seven design systems. Upload one or two images of the checklist's pages so the model can place them where the reader can see what they're getting.
Sign-ups are saved in your dashboard and sealed at rest whether or not the connector succeeds. Each is sent to Kit or Mailchimp once, without retries, so if a subscriber says the email never came, check the dashboard first, then your tool's automation.
Consent and honesty
In many places, adding someone to a marketing list needs clear consent, and burying it in small print doesn't count. The simplest safe practice is to say exactly what they're signing up for next to the button, and to send nothing beyond it. Anticode writes a starting Privacy Policy for each site from what its forms collect; read it and adjust it to describe your newsletter accurately. It isn't legal advice.
Limits
- No file delivery from Anticode. Your email tool sends the download.
- No hosting for the lead magnet file. Keep it in your email tool or your own storage.
- No gated download area. There's no member section where subscribers log in to fetch files.
- Connectors for Kit and Mailchimp take newsletter sign-ups only, so build the form as a newsletter sign-up rather than a contact form.
Questions people ask
Can I offer several lead magnets?
Yes. Give each its own landing page, so each headline matches one offer, and set up a separate automation in your email tool for each.
What's the difference between this and a newsletter sign-up page?
A newsletter signup page sells the newsletter itself; a lead magnet page sells one download and mentions the newsletter as what follows.
Can I sell the guide instead of giving it away?
Yes, through a payment link from a provider that delivers files; see the guide to selling digital products.