Lead magnets? Lead generation calculator? Productive lead magnet? What does all of this mean and how does it turn website visitors into potential customers?
Psychologically humans are hardwired for reciprocation. Research by psychologist Robert Cialdini (author of the classic persuasion book Influence) and others has shown repeatedly that if you do something for someone first, they are more likely to reciprocate. People love free stuff.
You are helping the reader with the free calculator, so he will be more biased to give you his email address.
A lead magnet is a free service or item that is given to collect the contact details of a prospect in exchange. Interactive calculators are a great example of a valuable lead generation tool. If your main purpose is collecting emails from your readers, simply add an email box to ask for contact details.
How to get traffic from lead magnets
Once you have a lead magnet, what can you do with it? Reaching out to others in your industry about your calculating tool is a great place to start. Since it's very useful, many of them may link it from their website. This way, you can earn high authority backlinks.
Calculators can get that amount of organic traffic if properly used. And the most amazing thing is that you don’t have to know the code to create a calculator for your WordPress site. And you can create a calculator in no time!
At Formidable Forms, we provide a code-less, hassle-free solution to create your lead magnet with ease and get your business booming.
Examples of lead generation calculators
It may be difficult to imagine what type of calculator to use as a good lead magnet. Think about what data can help your client answer a question. We wrote about how to use calculators on different types of WordPress websites.
At some point, you've likely searched for some form of calculator. It could have been to calculate your taxes, your mortgage or even your calorie intake. These calculators are simple but so useful that almost everyone has used one. That is what makes a lead calculator such a powerful tool in lead generation.
For example, a site selling solar panels can use a lead calculator to show prospective customers how much money they'll save. Financial service websites can offer budget calculators. Or real estate sites can help clients understand the cost of their mortgage with a mortgage calculator. The possibilities are infinite.
Here are a few examples that took us minutes to make:
If we don't have what you're looking for, you can build it. You can create any calculator using our drag-and-drop form builder.
Using a calculator as a lead generation tool
Enough talk. Let’s walk through how the lead generation process will work.
- A visitor discovers your site via social media, a website, or even by searching for the calculator lead magnet you offer.
- They click on your lead generation calculator call-to-action — a link, a button, or an image.
- That click takes your visitor to a landing page designed to capture lead information in exchange for something. In this case, the visitor provides an email address to get the calculator results.
- The fills in the lead calculator in exchange for their contact information.
That's it. You've successfully attracted a new lead with your calculator lead magnet. It really is that simple.
Let’s make one now! You can use one of our beautiful templates, or build your own calculator from scratch. We’ll show you how to do both.
How to build a lead calculator from a template
Are you a math hater? It can be complicated and confusing. And who has time to Google formulas that you don’t understand? Luckily, Formidable Forms comes with tons of form templates to make your life even easier.
Step 1: Select a form template
Go to Formidable → Forms and click Add New. That should pull up a list of available templates. You can scroll or search through the options.
You can click Preview to get a feel for the form and see if it’s the one you're after.
Step 2: Edit to your heart’s desire
Customize your chosen template by selecting Create Form.
If the template doesn't already have an email address field, go ahead and add one as we did above. This is the field that transforms a simple calculator into a lead calculator.
See how simple that was? You just built a lead generation calculator with zero hassle. You can now get back to work and focus on your business and new leads rather than a stream of error messages. That’s what we offer at Formidable Forms - simplicity, flexibility, and power.
How to build a lead calculator from scratch
Maybe you have a unique idea that isn’t covered by our calculator form templates. Or maybe you just like a challenge. Regardless, if you want full control over your lead generating calculator, here’s how to make one from scratch.
Step 1: Create a blank form
Go to the Formidable → Forms page in the admin menu on the left. Click Add New, and click Create Blank Form.
Now you should see a list of fields in the left sidebar.
Step 2: Add fields for user input
The first step to build your lead generation calculator is to add the required fields.
If you're building a lead calculator that provides a percentage, it requires two initial number fields.
- The number
- The percentage to solve for
If the user needs to enter a time period, such as the length of a loan, you'll need to set a number range. Fill out the default values, placeholder texts, and field description boxes where necessary.
These fields help guide the user through the interactive lead calculator.
Step 3: Turn your calculator into a great lead magnet
Now let’s turn the form into a lead generating calculator. We’re going to add to fields to collect user info.
First, you want to add a page break. Then add a new field. Page breaks make a form look simpler, and once a form is started, it is much more likely to be completed.
To add a new field, like the one you'll need if you want to collect user data like email addresses, click on All Fields. Then find the one you want and add it to your form. Make sure to designate that these are required fields. If you don’t, people can skip them and get their answers anyway.
Step 4: Add the calculation result in the success message
We recommend waiting until after the form is submitted before showing the result. This will help you get the most leads.
The [frm-math] shortcode performs the calculations once you put it in the form success message to make your calculator lead magnet functional. As a basic example, a birth year calculator may have an "Age" field with the ID of 5. The calculation in the success message would look something like this:
[frm-math]2021-[5][/frm-math]
You can also take a look at another example calculation for a BMI calculator.
Step 5: Publish your lead generation calculator
You can publish your calculator lead magnet in two ways: Formidable Forms blocks or shortcodes. Formidable Forms works with Gutenberg along with a variety of other page builders too.
The easiest way to publish your calculator lead magnet is using blocks:
- Select Add New Block on the page you wish to publish your calculator.
- Choose the Formidable Forms block.
- Select the appropriate calculator from the drop-down menu.
- Publish!
Calculator lead magnet tips for success
- Share Results via Email. Your calculator lead magnet provides you with email addresses. Use them. Email their results and begin to build a relationship. Read more: How to create an email list
- Send Related Content. After you’ve sent out the results, you can begin to send them related content. For example: Your lead uses a due date calculator and gets their results. A follow-up email should follow with the subject along the lines of "9 Weeks Pregnant — Development of Your Baby."
- Use Social Media. Using social media to share your content can help to connect with your audience. By sharing a Reel, IGTV video, or story about your lead generation calculator, you educate your followers about using the tool.
Lead generation calculators are powerful tools for your arsenal, and one of the best lead magnets. With Formidable Forms, they’re easy to create, and satisfy your website visitors secondary intent. You can make one now, with our WordPress calculator plugin. If custom WordPress forms are what you need, Formidable Forms is the solution you need.
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