Lead magnets are a great way to grow your audience and turn visitors into potential customers.

In this article, we’ll show you how to create a lead magnet on Podia.

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is a free offer you give to your audience in exchange for their email address.

This could be things like digital downloads, freebies, signup incentives, bonus content, and more. While they can take different forms, they all serve the same purpose: helping you grow your audience by offering something valuable upfront.

For example, you might offer a helpful download in exchange for someone joining your email list to receive additional content from you.

Setting up your lead magnet

The easiest way to set up a lead magnet on Podia is to create a digital download product and deliver the file via email.

With this option, customers will receive the file via email and won't need to create an account or go through checkout to receive their file.

Here's how to set up a digital download product with delivery through email:

From your home feed, click on your site name and select Admin from the dropdown menu.
From the Admin dashboard, click Products in the sidebar menu.
From the Products page, click on "+ New Product".
On the new page, select the "Download" option and give your lead magnet a name.

Once you're done, hit "Create product".
Use the product editor to add files to your digital download product!

Use the file uploader box to either upload the files from your computer or drag and drop them into the uploader:
Once you’ve finished uploading the files to your digital download product, head to the Pricing tab to set up email file delivery.
Under Pricing, select "Free email delivery".

This option makes the process simple for customers: they just enter their email address and receive the file right away via email, with no account creation required.
Once everything is set up, make sure to publish your product by clicking Publish in the top-right corner of the product page.
Copy the lead magnet page URL and share it with your customers.

Editing the lead magnet sales page

You can also customize the lead magnet sales page to add more information about your offer if you’d like.

Here's how to edit your lead magnet sales page:

Click "..." from the product editor and select "Edit sales page".
You’ll be taken to the Site builder.

From there, you can edit your existing page sections by clicking directly on them and using the left-hand menu to make your changes. You can also remove any sections you don’t want to use and add new ones.

To add a new page section, hover over the area where you’d like to place it, click the + icon, and choose the type of section you want to add from the left-hand menu.
Once you're done, hit the Publish button at the top right to have your site changes published.

Understanding the customer experience

Sharing the page link with customers will enable them to view your offer and download the lead magnet you just created in exchange for their email address.

After entering an email address, the file will be delivered via email, and the user will be added to the product as a customer.

FAQs

Can I edit the file delivery emails?

These emails cannot be edited at this time, but we are working on allowing these to be customizable in the future.

You can send additional emails to the file delivery by setting up an email campaign.

How many files can I upload to my lead magnet?

As many as you'd like! If you upload multiple files, these will be automatically zipped by Podia's system once downloaded by your customers.

Do customers have to create an account to download a free file?

No, customers do not have to create an account to download a free file.

If customers are being asked to log in or go through a checkout flow, it usually means the product is set up as a regular product purchase. In that case, the system treats it like a standard order and prompts the customer to log in or create an account.

To allow customers to download a free file without creating an account, you can use Free email delivery. This delivery method sends the file directly to the customer's email instead of requiring them to create an account.

When you use Free email delivery, the experience changes for the customer:

Instead of a checkout page, they will see a simple email field.

Customers simply enter their email address and receive the file immediately—no login or account creation required.

Why are customers being asked to log in or click “Pay now” for a free file?

If your customers are asked to log in or create an account when downloading a free file, it usually means the file is set up as a free product purchase instead of using Free email delivery.

When a product is configured as a standard product the platform still uses the checkout flow, which may ask customers to log in or create an account.