In the cutthroat arena of digital marketing, building the perfect lead magnet can rocket your business's growth.

Sure, the old faithfuls like PDF downloads have their charm, but if you really want to kick things up a notch, educational email courses are the way to go.

With insights from the email wizard himself, Nic Cole, here are five reasons why educational email courses leave traditional lead magnets in the dust.

1. Engagement Rates Through the Roof

Let’s be honest—PDFs are opened, read (hopefully), and forgotten.

Educational email courses, on the other hand, are like a gripping Netflix series drip-fed to you each week. Subscribers keep coming back for the next episode. This continuous engagement means your brand stays top of mind, creating a more meaningful and lasting connection.

You build a habit of positive interaction with your brand in your target market.

2. Problem Amplification

A well-selected educational email course can deliver tons of value to the reader by demonstrating not just how to solve their problem, but how hard that problem is to solve.

By creating a detailed course, the reader will be educated on the magnitude of their problem. They'll understand the ultimate negative outcome of failing to take action. Your course places the reader squarely in the educational valley of despair, where they are fully aware of the massive energy and time needed to address the problem.

You can then position yourself as the contrast—the solution that will deliver the ultimate outcome at the push of a button.

3. Building Trust and Authority

In the conversion game, trust is king.

By regularly delivering top content through your educational email course, you’re not just sharing information; you’re providing irrefutable evidence of your expertise. You're providing social proof, testimonials, examples, foundational theory, actionable systems, templates, and more.

Each piece demonstrates to the reader, over and over, that you can solve their problem and give them their ultimate desired outcome.

4. Superior Lead Nurturing

Nurturing leads is like tending a garden—it requires regular care and attention.

Educational email courses excel here, offering multiple touchpoints that guide your leads through their journey. Each email is an opportunity to address their evolving needs and questions, far outstripping the one-off impact of a PDF download.

5. Higher Conversion Rates

If you're using a traditional lead magnet, you're growing slow. It’s as simple as that.

A PDF lead magnet might snag you a 1-4% conversion rate. That's not bad. But imagine what you could do with a conversion rate of 20%, 30%, or even 70%. These almost comically high-sounding figures are not plucked from fantasy. Nic Cole and clients I’ve worked with, such as Fifi McGee, have achieved these crazy conversion rates with free educational email courses.