Written by Howie Chan
(Read the Jan 18, 2026 issue HERE)
You’ve got a fantastic lead magnet. It’s a free guide called “The 7 Psychological Triggers Behind Irresistible Marketing.”
You run ads or share it on social, asking people to sign up to download it.
Let’s look at two versions: the friction-filled version (what most people do) vs. the frictionless version (what Roger Dooley would advise).
Step 1: The ad says:
“Download our free 32-page guide to the psychology of persuasion.”
So far, so good. But when people click…
Step 2: They land on a long, cluttered page with six paragraphs about your company before you even mention the guide again.
Step 3: The form has eight required fields: name, company, title, website, phone number, email, number of employees, and marketing budget.
Step 4: After submitting, they get a message saying,
“Check your inbox to confirm your subscription.”
They have to go open a new tab, find the email, click again, and then wait for an email that actually contains the PDF.
Step 5: They get the email and the guide opens as a giant PDF that takes forever to load on mobile.
Result: 90% drop-off. Not because the content was bad but because friction was high.
Let’s break that down: