lead-capture
Converts anonymous traffic into known contacts — lead magnets, gated content, free tools, popups, and the forms behind them. Use this to design or improve a lead magnet, plan a free tool, add or fix popups and overlays, improve form conversion, or decide what is worth gating and
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/cbrock84/headcount/tree/main/plugins/demand-generation/skills/lead-capture
claude plugin marketplace add https://llmmart.ai/marketplace.json && claude plugin install cbrock84-headcount@llmmart
git clone https://github.com/cbrock84/headcount.git
The skills CLI installs just this skill, for any of its supported agents. Claude Code installs the whole cbrock84/headcount collection as a plugin from our marketplace. Git is the plain clone.
Skill manifest
Lead capture
What gating costs
Every gate trades reach for contacts. That trade is worth making only when the contact is genuinely worth more than the reader — which is true far less often than it is assumed.
Gate: things with immediate practical utility that a buyer would use during evaluation — templates, calculators, assessments, data. Do not gate: thought leadership, anything you want cited or shared, or anything a competitor publishes openly.
Lead magnets
The test is whether someone would pay a small amount for it. If not, it will not earn an email address that gets used.
The best ones are things people use rather than read: a template that saves an afternoon, a calculator that answers a specific question, a checklist for a process they are mid-way through. An ebook that restates blog posts is not one.
Match the magnet to a stage. Someone downloading a beginner's guide is not ready for a sales call, and treating them as if they are burns the list.
Free tools
The strongest form: durable, earns links, and qualifies by use rather than by claim.
Build one only if it does something genuinely useful standalone, and keep the gate light — let people use it, and ask for the email to save or export the result. Gating before value is delivered converts a fraction as well.
Popups and overlays
Popups work and are widely hated; both facts matter.
- Trigger on behavior, not time — exit intent, scroll depth, or a second visit. A popup at three seconds interrupts someone who has not yet decided whether to care.
- Once per visitor, remembered. Repeated interruption is what generates the hatred.
- Never on mobile mid-content. Beyond the user cost, it is penalized.
- Offer something specific. "Subscribe to our newsletter" is not an offer. "The pricing calculator" is.
- One clear dismissal. Hidden or tiny close buttons cost more in reputation than they gain in conversions.
Forms
Every field costs conversion. Ask for what you need to do the next step and nothing for a later one — enrichment can fill the rest. Explain any field whose purpose is not obvious, since unexplained fields are where people abandon.
Sources
references/sources.md in this skill lists the outside authorities that settle the questions
here — what each one is authoritative for, and what you may do with it. Check them before
answering on anything they cover, and cite what you used. Most are free to read and not free
to reproduce; the use note on each is binding.
Never
- Gate something the buyer can get ungated elsewhere in one click.
- Ask for a field nobody downstream uses. Every additional field costs conversion and the sales team is not reading it.
- Trigger a popup before the visitor has seen anything worth staying for.
- Treat a form fill as intent. Most of them are people who wanted the asset.
Files (headcount)
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references
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sources.md 3.4 KB
# Sources — `demand-generation:lead-capture` <!-- Generated by scripts/build-sources.py from sources/*.toml. Do not edit. --> Check these before answering on anything they cover, and cite what you used. The use note on each one is binding: most of what a professional cites is free to read and not free to reproduce. ## .com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising US Federal Trade Commission · US · public domain (US government) — quote freely <https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/com-disclosures-how-make-effective-disclosures-digital-advertising> **Authoritative for:** What 'clear and conspicuous' means on a screen — proximity, hyperlinks, scrolling, pop-ups, and space-constrained formats. ## CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business US Federal Trade Commission · US · public domain (US government) — quote freely <https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business> Machine-readable: <https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-316> **Authoritative for:** The mandatory elements of a US commercial email — header accuracy, subject-line honesty, physical address, opt-out mechanism and the window for honoring it — and that hiring an agency does not move the liability. ## Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation, S.C. 2010 c. 23 Department of Justice Canada · CA · free to use with attribution — credit the publisher <https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/E-1.6/index.html> **Authoritative for:** Whether you may send a commercial message to a Canadian address at all. CASL is opt-in by default, which inverts the US assumption, and this is the text governing express versus implied consent. ## Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, 16 CFR 312 US Federal Trade Commission · US · public domain (US government) — quote freely <https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-312> Machine-readable: <https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/complying-coppa-frequently-asked-questions> **Authoritative for:** Whether a property counts as directed to children, and therefore whether behavioral advertising, retargeting pixels or lead capture may run on it at all. ## Delivery restrictions and telephone solicitation rules, 47 CFR 64.1200 US Federal Communications Commission · US · public domain (US government) — quote freely <https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-64/subpart-L/section-64.1200> **Authoritative for:** The consent standard for marketing SMS and autodialed calls — what prior express written consent requires, how revocation must be handled, and the identification rules. Read the current text rather than a summary; this area moves in court. ## Guidelines 05/2020 on consent under Regulation 2016/679 European Data Protection Board · EU · free to use with attribution — credit the publisher <https://www.edpb.europa.eu/our-work-tools/our-documents/guidelines/guidelines-052020-consent-under-regulation-2016679_en> **Authoritative for:** Whether a consent interface is valid — cookie walls, scroll-as-consent, pre-ticked boxes, granularity and bundling. More decisive in practice than the regulation text, because this is what supervisory authorities apply. --- Sources are maintained in `sources/` upstream, not here. If one is wrong, out of date, or missing, fix it there — this file is regenerated and an edit to it is lost.
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SKILL.md 3.2 KB
--- name: lead-capture description: Converts anonymous traffic into known contacts — lead magnets, gated content, free tools, popups, and the forms behind them. Use this to design or improve a lead magnet, plan a free tool, add or fix popups and overlays, improve form conversion, or decide what is worth gating and what should stay open. --- # Lead capture ## What gating costs Every gate trades reach for contacts. That trade is worth making only when the contact is genuinely worth more than the reader — which is true far less often than it is assumed. Gate: things with immediate practical utility that a buyer would use during evaluation — templates, calculators, assessments, data. Do not gate: thought leadership, anything you want cited or shared, or anything a competitor publishes openly. ## Lead magnets The test is whether someone would pay a small amount for it. If not, it will not earn an email address that gets used. The best ones are things people *use* rather than read: a template that saves an afternoon, a calculator that answers a specific question, a checklist for a process they are mid-way through. An ebook that restates blog posts is not one. Match the magnet to a stage. Someone downloading a beginner's guide is not ready for a sales call, and treating them as if they are burns the list. ## Free tools The strongest form: durable, earns links, and qualifies by use rather than by claim. Build one only if it does something genuinely useful standalone, and keep the gate light — let people use it, and ask for the email to save or export the result. Gating before value is delivered converts a fraction as well. ## Popups and overlays Popups work and are widely hated; both facts matter. - **Trigger on behavior, not time** — exit intent, scroll depth, or a second visit. A popup at three seconds interrupts someone who has not yet decided whether to care. - **Once per visitor**, remembered. Repeated interruption is what generates the hatred. - **Never on mobile mid-content.** Beyond the user cost, it is penalized. - **Offer something specific.** "Subscribe to our newsletter" is not an offer. "The pricing calculator" is. - **One clear dismissal.** Hidden or tiny close buttons cost more in reputation than they gain in conversions. ## Forms Every field costs conversion. Ask for what you need to do the next step and nothing for a later one — enrichment can fill the rest. Explain any field whose purpose is not obvious, since unexplained fields are where people abandon. ## Sources `references/sources.md` in this skill lists the outside authorities that settle the questions here — what each one is authoritative for, and what you may do with it. Check them before answering on anything they cover, and cite what you used. Most are free to read and not free to reproduce; the use note on each is binding. ## Never - Gate something the buyer can get ungated elsewhere in one click. - Ask for a field nobody downstream uses. Every additional field costs conversion and the sales team is not reading it. - Trigger a popup before the visitor has seen anything worth staying for. - Treat a form fill as intent. Most of them are people who wanted the asset.
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