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Lead magnets (free downloads)
A lead magnet is a free digital download. Customers give you their email — not a card — in exchange for the file or link. The mechanics are identical to a paid download; the difference is who's paying with what.
Quick answer
Create a product → pick Lead magnet. Upload a file (or paste an external link), write your checkout and confirmation copy, then publish. Customers enter their name and email, click the button, and the download arrives — no card, no payment account required.
What it's for
A lead magnet is a free taste of what you sell. Use one when you want to:
- Build your email list — visitors trade their email for something useful.
- Qualify interest before launching a paid product — give away a sample chapter, a checklist, a starter kit.
- Funnel into a bigger offer — the lead magnet sets up the pitch for your full course or community.
- Give away a tripwire — a small free thing on the homepage that introduces a stranger to your work.
Everyone who claims one becomes a contact on your customer list (more on that below).
How it differs from a Digital download
The two are siblings with one major difference:
| Lead magnet | Digital download | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Always free. Klixey won't let you set a non-zero price. | Any price you set. |
| Card needed? | No. | Yes. |
| Payment account needed? | No — you can run lead magnets without ever connecting a payment account. | Yes — you need to connect a payment account before you can sell. |
| What the customer enters | Name + email. | Name + email + card. |
| Delivery | Same as a download. | Same as a lead magnet. |
| Where the file ends up | Inbox + portal. | Inbox + portal. |
| Email subject line | "Here's your free content" (you can customize). | "Your download is ready" (you can customize). |
Everything that's true of a digital download — file vs external-link delivery, banners, checkout copy, confirmation copy, status — is true of a lead magnet too. Read that page first if you haven't.
When to use a lead magnet
A lead magnet earns its keep when the email you collect starts a useful relationship. That usually means you have a relevant campaign to send later—an upcoming launch, a practical follow-up, or an invitation to the next step.
Common patterns:
- Free starter guide that introduces your topic and ends with a CTA to your paid course.
- Free chapter or first lesson of a paid course.
- Free template that pairs with a paid template pack ("free 5 templates" → "paid 50 templates").
- Free checklist related to your community's topic.
- Sample-of-a-sample — a single track from your album, a screen from your design pack.
Creating one
In the store editor, click Add Product and pick Lead magnet. You'll land in the same editor as a digital download, with the same tabs:
- Setup — the buy page's headline and description.
- Confirmation — what the customer sees after they claim it.
- Settings — the file upload or external URL.
Pick a delivery type, upload the file or paste the link, set the title and description, and publish. See creating a digital download for the delivery setup walkthrough — it's the same flow.
What customers experience
The buy page looks just like any other product page, with one difference: there's no price and no card form. Just a name field, an email field, and a button labelled "Get it free", "Download", or whatever you wrote.
When they submit:
- The confirmation page appears with the download link (or the external-link redirect button).
- A Here's your free content email lands in their inbox with the same link, so they can come back to it later.
- Their email is added to your customer list as a contact.
If you've also turned on a customer portal account for them, they can sign in any time and grab the download again from their account page.
Why no card?
Lead magnets skip the payment step entirely. Klixey doesn't even ask for a card. That also means you don't need to have connected a payment account to use lead magnets — you can ship them on day one, before you've set up paid sales.
They land on your customer list
Every email captured becomes a contact in your workspace — someone you have a record of, but who hasn't necessarily paid you anything yet. See the glossary for what "customer" means in Klixey terms.
To follow up with a Klixey campaign:
- Open Customers → Contacts and confirm which people gave you permission to receive marketing.
- Create a Smart List using Product access for the lead magnet, or apply a tag that identifies the group.
- Open Marketing → Email → Campaigns and create a one-time campaign for that Smart List.
Claiming the download does not let you bypass marketing permission. Never mark someone subscribed unless they agreed to hear from your business. See Contacts & audiences for permission and Smart List setup.
Every contact you collect counts toward your plan's contact limit. See contact limit for the limit on your plan and plans to compare tiers.
Set an accurate expectation
Tell people what they will receive and how often. If the lead magnet only delivers one file, do not promise an ongoing series. If you plan a later campaign, make sure the person separately agreed to receive marketing.
Banners, copy, and confirmation
Everything in the shared pages applies the same way to lead magnets:
- Checkout and confirmation copy — the headline, description, and confirmation message.
- The banner — a wide image at the top of the buy page. Upload from the editor panel.
- Product status — draft, listed, unlisted.
The confirmation page is where you set up the next step:
Thanks — your guide is on the way Check your inbox for the download link. While you wait, take a look at my full course on the same topic — link below.
A lead magnet is most effective when the confirmation page does double duty: it confirms, and it points the visitor at your paid offer.
Pricing
A lead magnet's price is locked at zero. Klixey blocks any attempt to set a non-free price on a lead magnet — if you want to charge, convert it to a digital download instead.
Roles
Anyone with the editor, admin, or owner role can create and edit a lead magnet. Plan tiers may cap how many lead magnets you can have — see plans for what each tier includes.
Related
- Creating a digital download — the paid version of the same delivery; everything except the price step applies.
- Link products — a card on your storefront that just sends visitors to a URL, no email collected.
- Editing checkout and confirmation copy — the shared copy walkthrough.
- Product status — draft, listed, unlisted.
- Contact limit — every email you capture counts toward this.
- Contacts & audiences — permission, tags, and Smart Lists for follow-up campaigns.
- Create & send campaigns — build and send the one-time follow-up.
- Plans — limits and pricing per tier.
- Storage limits — what counts toward your storage if you're uploading a file.
- Glossary — contact vs customer.