Which content type is best used as a lead magnet?

Chart of the day: PDFs are the best content type for attracting sign-ups on a landing page.

Participants were randomly assigned in an experiment by ConversionXL. The team then even did a complicated ANOVA (analysis of variance), but in brief: PDF, followed by web content is the best content formats when also compared with video, for attracting sign-ups.

Why? I can assume that although people don't mind watching videos, there is a scramble for the headphones on the office, or simply people would prefer to read something, in their own time. Here at Smart Insights, we host PDF resources and web-hosted resources, which you can read directly from our site, so as the person responsible for member content alongside our very own Dave Chaffey, I was very interested in this research.

What did ConversionXL conclude? They concluded that PDF's and web content convert much more than video and there is "no difference" between PDF and web content.

We also know that research reports generate the most leads, we summarised a study by Ascend2 in autumn last year, finding that 46% (so almost half) of marketers believe that research reports generate the most leads and return on investment.

More recently, research has found that content marketing is a big part of businesses marketing strategy.

• Source: ConversionXL 
• Sample: n=1206
• Recommended resource: Content Marketing Strategy Guide