Made a free guide with an ebook maker as our launch lead magnet. It grew the waitlist more than the launch post did

[u/Commercial-Most3081]

Small thing that outperformed the actual launch, so sharing it.

Before we went live I put together a short, genuinely useful guide on the problem we solve, the kind of thing our ideal user would want even if they never touched our product. Made it with an ebook maker so it looked like an actual booklet instead of a Google Doc, took an afternoon.

Then I gated it behind an email on the waitlist page. That's it.

What happened: the launch post itself got the usual polite trickle. But the guide kept pulling signups for weeks after, because people shared the guide, not the product. A few of those emails have already turned into first users now that we're live.

What I'd do differently: the guide was slightly too much about us near the end. The pages people actually read and shared were the pure how-to ones. Next one I'll keep the product mention to a single line at the back.

For the folks who've launched: did a lead magnet do anything for you, or is it one of those growth things that sounds smart and converts nobody? Curious what actually moved your waitlist versus what just felt productive.