These CTAs Drive Leads – 5 Great Examples for Lead Gen

You're probably familiar with the term "lead magnet". 

It's an incentive for someone to give you their email address in exchange for a free item or service. That can be anything from a trial subscription to a consult, a newsletter, or any other piece of content.

To promote these lead magnets and generate leads, businesses create calls to action on their websites.

At some point, you’ve probably come across a CTA section you just couldn't ignore. 

Have you ever wondered if there’s a secret behind its effectiveness? A secret sauce?

Could be the design, the copy, or the offer.

So, in this post, we’re going to analyze 5 examples of effective lead gen sections. We’ll discuss the lead magnet, why it works, and then review the CTA section itself. 

Then you can apply the findings and create your very own CTA that’s impossible to resist.

1. CTA for free downloadable resources

A lot of businesses use free downloadable resources as lead magnets. 

You must have seen promotions of white papers, e-books, case studies, templates, checklists … the list goes on.

For instance, HubSpot offers answers to its audience's questions and receives a lot of organic traffic on their blog. Then they convert the visit into an email by providing a free resource. The example in the picture above is from their blog post on marketing strategy. They discuss the steps of creating a marketing plan as well as break down the elements it should contain. 

In addition, they offer a free template where you can organize all your info and prepare a marketing plan document. This is their lead magnet.

This approach works because it's a combination of guidelines and a template that simplifies the plan creation process.

So they do the following:

• they provide a thorough overview of a particular topic
• in exchange, they generate leads
• then they nurture the leads and offer them paid services

Finally, let’s take a look at the CTA section which is quite simple and straight to the point. It’s outlining clearly:

• what you'll receive
• how to get access

Simple, but effective.

2. CTA for newsletter signups

Newsletters are a very powerful lead gen tool. You collect interested leads in exchange for content that comes directly to their mailbox.

However, all those emails flooding your customers’ inboxes have made them more selective when subscribing to newsletters.

That’s why you should upgrade your signup form and give your customers an incentive to subscribe.

A great example of an effective CTA is Harry Dry’s subscription form. Let’s break it down.

• First of all – it’s personal. He is the brand. There’s a photo of him, a short hello and you know right away that a real person is writing and sharing the content.
• Context. You know exactly what you will get and when.
• Social proof. He’s got a huge subscriber base which is worth mentioning. Also, his newsletter was voted the best marketing newsletter. But he knows that only his words might not persuade the visitor, even though there’s a link and you can verify it quickly. So he added two testimonials as well. 

Moving on to the button, it definitely isn’t typical. It’s brief, sounds non-binding and casual. 

All in all, this CTA section is short, clear, and has all the elements to persuade a visitor to subscribe.

So, when creating your newsletter signup section, follow these steps:

• Offer value. Outline how your newsletter will benefit them.
• Set expectations. Make it clear what kind of emails they’ll be receiving and how often.
• Add social proof. Provide evidence of your credibility with customer testimonials.
• Use a great CTA button. Include a benefit in your CTA button text, answer an objection the customers might have, or simply make it stand out.

3. CTA for calculators

Another example of lead magnets is calculators. Your potential customers can use them to calculate the cost of your product, how much they would save if they use your services or anything else they might find useful from your industry.

Netlify has made a tool that calculates the return on investment their platform delivers. In exchange, they of course ask for the visitor’s email. This works because it’s used as a selling point for their product. The customer can quickly calculate the benefit of adopting it. 

So basically they’re attempting to motivate the customer to purchase. But also obtain their email to continue nurturing them across multiple channels.

Here is why their CTA is effective:

• It includes a brief description outlining the outcome.
• They have laid the expectations. The visitor can get a better understanding of how much time this form will take. In addition, they can see the path with the main segments to be filled out before getting the results.
• The CTA button stands out because of its contrasting color.

4. CTA for free trials

If your product allows you to have a free trial, consider offering it. It’s a great way to generate leads.

It’s non-binding, meaning your users are not required to purchase the product. However, they can test it for a limited amount of time. 

Happierleads has done a great job presenting their free trial.

Right at the beginning, they start with the main value they are offering. Their selling proposition. Besides, they’ve clearly defined their target audience - B2B businesses.

But it also seems like they’ve detected some objections their customers have. The word remotely is marked. It actually represents their customers’ concerns. So they start off with it, ensuring the customers that their tool captures even the remote workers. 

Further along, with the CTA button, they address two more objections. 

Firstly, they let them know the trial is free and lasts 14 days. 

Secondly, having to enter credit card details before even testing the product is a deal breaker for a lot of customers. This is why they mention they don’t require a credit card. 

On top of that, we can see social proof – their links to review sites as well as two testimonials. Finally, they have included visuals. A nice insight into how the tool works.

To sum up, the CTA looks quite persuasive and effective. It has all the information a B2B marketer would need while looking for a lead gen tool.

5. CTA for demo calls

Customers may sometimes need a little more reassurance before purchasing, and demo calls can provide it. They are also excellent lead magnets.

Worksome is a tool for managing freelancers. On one hand, they register freelancers into their network and on the other, they seek out companies that want to hire them. 

To present their platform to interested companies, they do demo calls. Which are also the primary action they’re leading the user to take.

So, why does this work?

Well, the decision-making in companies takes longer as there are usually a couple of hierarchy levels involved. Also, for a purchase to be approved they need justification and are often interested in the ROI as well as other meaningful benefits. 

This is where the demo calls come in.

They are short presentations of the product's features, benefits, and value. The demo is usually personalized based on the customer’s use case. This helps customers better understand how can the product solve their problems, improve their processes or support their goals.

Demo calls are definitely an important step in the B2B customer journey. 

Now let’s take a look at why this CTA section works.

The design is minimalist and the content is on point. One glance and everything is clear:

• the product they offer
• who’s this platform made for
• the value they provide their customers

Final words

Hopefully, you’ve found inspiration in some of the lead gen examples we’ve analyzed. 

Now it's up to you to put your own spin on these tactics. Keep crafting those CTAs, and don’t be afraid to experiment with them. When your CTA is a part of a well-established strategy, it can work wonders for your business.