Lead magnet landing page: what to put on it

The six parts

Part	Its job	How to test it
Headline	Names the result for one kind of reader	Would your reader say this about their own problem?
What is inside	Shows that the book is specific	Could these bullets be about another book? If so, rewrite them
The book itself	Shows that it is real	Is it the actual cover or page, large enough to read?
Who it is from	Says why to believe you	Does it give a reason, not only a job title?
The form	Takes the decision	Can you name a use for every field?
The line under the form	Says what they are agreeing to	Would anyone be surprised by the next email you send?

Keep the form short

Nielsen Norman Group’s advice on forms is plain: “Remove fields which collect information that can be (a) derived in some other way, (b) collected more conveniently at a later date, or (c) simply omitted.” It adds: “Every time you cut a field or question from a form, you increase its conversion rate.”

For a free book that usually leaves one required field, the address. A first name is worth asking for only if your emails will use it, and you can leave company size and phone number to a later conversation.

Write the line under the form

Most pages treat this as legal small print, but it is one of the most useful sentences on the page. It sets what the reader expects, and missed expectations are how you get spam complaints.

• Say who will write and about what. “You’ll get the guide, then a weekly email about pricing from Sam.”
• Say they can leave. “Unsubscribe anytime” is enough.
• Leave any box unticked. Google’s sender guidelines warn against “opt-in forms that are checked by default”.
• Link your privacy notice. Where the GDPR applies, Article 13 lists what people must be told “at the time when personal data are obtained”, including who you are, why you want the data and how to withdraw consent.

One more point for readers in the EU. Article 7(4) says that when judging whether consent is freely given, “utmost account shall be taken” of whether a service is conditional on consent to processing it doesn’t need. A download that requires joining a marketing list raises that question, so ask a lawyer how it applies to you. This guide isn’t legal advice.

What to leave out

• The site menu and other offers. Give the reader one thing to decide. A small footer with your privacy notice and contact details is enough.
• Invented proof. No download counts you can’t back up, and no quotes from readers who didn’t say them. A page with no testimonials is better than a page with a fake one.
• False urgency. A countdown on a file that will always be there tells the reader not to trust you.
• The whole sales pitch. The book does that later. This page only has to earn an email address.

After the form

The moment after sign-up is part of the page. Say where the book is: on the screen now, or in an email on its way. If a confirmation is needed, say so, name the sender, and suggest they check spam. How to deliver a lead magnet compares the options, and double opt-in has its own guide.

Then read one number for each place you share the page: how many visitors signed up. Small lists move around a lot, so don’t read much into a few days.

Where Chapbook fits

On a paid plan, each book can have one public page. It holds a headline, a description, bullets, contents, an author block and a sign-up form, and Write it for me drafts the copy for you to review. Under the form, readers see “You’ll get emails from” followed by your pen name, then “Unsubscribe anytime”, linked to a privacy notice. That line is stored with each sign-up.

The page also carries bot protection on the form and shows views and sign-ups by named link. You decide whether search engines may index it, and it stays out of them until you do. After the form, the reader can read the book or download the PDF straight away. Sign-ups go to your Readers list, and from there you can export each sign-up as a CSV for your email tool. Chapbook sends no email to readers.

The sample on this page is a workbook whose second week is about a reader’s promise and page, so it covers some of the same ground from the author’s side.