Wish there was a way to get high-quality leads from YouTube—without ads? Wondering how to collect contact info from people who watch your YouTube videos?
In this article, you'll discover five ways to generate warm leads from your YouTube channel.
Why Collect Lead Info From YouTube Video Viewers?
Smart marketers are using YouTube to get their businesses noticed. Why? Because it's the second most actively used social platform with more than 1 million hours of content viewed every day. But what they don't realize is that building a subscriber base and boosting brand awareness aren't the only benefits YouTube videos can offer.
Where most YouTube video content falls short is in the call to action (CTA). At the end of the video, businesses typically ask viewers to subscribe or maybe visit their website, but they're missing out on a massive lead-building opportunity. By incorporating an interactive element as your CTA such as “take our quiz” or “enter our giveaway,” you can collect qualified leads from viewers and ultimately convert more customers.
After watching one of your YouTube videos, viewers are informed and hopefully convinced that your product or service is what they're looking for. Instead of just asking them to subscribe to your YouTube channel—which doesn't necessarily lead to a sale—follow up with a CTA and drive traffic to where you can capture their contact info in the form of a lead.
The lead capture examples in this are links in the YouTube video description that lead to landing pages:
We're going to look at five tactics that will help you capture qualified leads from your YouTube videos. Whichever method you use, remember to mention your CTA multiple times in your video because some viewers may skip over the video description. You could say something like, “Don't forget to click the link in the description to enter our 40-day getaway giveaway,” to let viewers know there's a next step after watching the video.
#1: Combine a Topical Quiz With a Giveaway
When your semester grade isn't at stake, quizzes are actually pretty fun and effective engagement tools. Add a participation incentive such as a giveaway element and you'll see those quiz entries start pouring in.
The content of the quiz should be based on the YouTube video the viewer just watched. This has the added benefit of helping boost watch time and some viewers may even go back to watch the video again.
Suppose a travel agency or travel authority wants to boost tourism in a destination like Costa Rica. If a viewer watches a YouTube video titled, “The Best of Costa Rica,” they see a link to a quiz in the video description. The quiz asks viewers questions about Costa Rica and enters them in a giveaway for a free trip to the destination.
Those who opted to watch the video obviously have some interest in traveling to Costa Rica. If the video did its job and showcased the gorgeous landscape, friendly people, and exciting adventures to be had, the viewer would undoubtedly be even more excited about the destination; they wouldn't hesitate to take a short quiz and provide their contact info in exchange for a chance to win a free trip.
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GET THE DETAILSHost a Giveaway Without a Quiz
If the quiz component doesn't work for your business, giveaways are powerful lead collection tools all on their own. So no matter your business, piggybacking on your YouTube content with a giveaway can do wonders for helping you collect leads.
Giveaways are versatile so you can add components and tailor them to your goal. This allows you to include data fields in your form that will assist with your marketing. A birthday field, for instance, would let you know when to send yearly discounts and coupons. This would be helpful for spas, retail stores, restaurants, and bars.
You might also include a question that will help you further qualify a lead. If you're a mortgage lender, asking a question like, “Do you own your own home?” will help you know if you have a potential lead to talk to about refinancing.
When designing your giveaway, you can make it an “instant win” giveaway or incentivize participants with extra chances to win if they execute actions such as visiting your Facebook page.
#2: Host a Follow-Up Webinar or Live Event That Builds on Your Topic
This tactic is like the clichĂ© romantic catchphrase, “You complete me.” In this case, the YouTube video component acts as a teaser, showing off the benefits and outcome of a product or service but not explaining or teaching viewers how to get those results. The second component is the live event or webinar, which shares the steps to achieve those results.
Think of a weight loss program as an example. A YouTube video that shares success story after success story would be a great primer for a webinar demonstrating what the weight loss program entails.
This approach can also work for businesses selling online courses, how-to books, lifestyle and self-help programs, or even wealth-building programs. Whatever your business, the key is to make the video a hook, either by spotlighting customer success stories or by divulging a few bits of valuable information.

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If you're a Facebook ads expert and want to get people to sign up for your webinar, you could create a YouTube video titled, “Learn how to build a Facebook ads audience that actually converts,” where you offer a few audience-building secrets. The CTA at the end of the video might be, “Want to learn more? Sign up for our webinar.” Your video proves that you know your stuff so why wouldn't people sign up to learn more?
Once you get the webinar or event signup, you have a lead you can market to whether they bail on the event or not. Those who watched the video and subscribed showed interest in what you're offering so don't give up on marketing to them if they missed the event or attended the event but didn't convert.
#3: Offer Complimentary Samples of Featured Products
There's a reason you can get a full tummy from a shopping trip to Costco or shake a fashion magazine and make it rain packets of designer fragrances. In some industries—like the snack food, beauty product, and designer fragrance industries—freebies work best for converting customers.
There's some psychology behind this. Experts claim free samples tap into our strong instinct to reciprocate behavior. In other words, “If you do something for me, I'll do something for you.” Free samples also help break down the buyer's decision-making process by eliminating the unknown. If you try something and it's good, why bother with other brands?
Whatever science is behind the power of a freebie, we can all agree on how effective it can be. Some retailers have found that free samples can boost their sales dramatically. So even if you're not in the food, beauty, or fragrance industry, consider offering a free sample as part of your strategy.
But how does this work with YouTube video content? Use cases, results, and demos all make great primers to build up to a “get a free sample” CTA.
To illustrate, a musician can post a live performance of a song or a performance of a track from their latest album. At the end of the video, they provide a code to unlock a free download for that song—only after people fill in a lead-capture form, of course. With the info collected, the musician can build an email list to promote future album releases or live events.
#4: Collect Questions for a YouTube Live Q&A
On YouTube, almost anyone can become a celebrity. The democratization of what was once an elusive status has made YouTube celebs more accessible to regular folks like you and me. Therefore, a direct Q&A is a highly anticipated event for people who loyally follow personalities on YouTube.
No matter your business, if you have a strong, loyal following, answering questions from your fans and customers via a YouTube Live video can work for you. Q&As are great opportunities for people to get a deeper understanding of who you are, what you do, and how you achieved acclaim. This knowledge only strengthens the loyalty of a fan and creates new fans from those who are new to your channel.
To ramp up to your Q&A event, link to an entry form in your YouTube video description that people can fill out to submit questions. This will give you time to prep and prioritize questions if you don't think you'll have time to get to them all. On the entry form, don't forget to collect a name and email address so you can further market to the people who submit questions.
#5: Link to a Newsletter Subscribe Form
Asking YouTube video viewers to subscribe to a newsletter or email list seems like a straightforward practice. However, you can get more signups by elevating what viewers are subscribing to and offering some sort of tool. For example, if you're a financial investment firm, would subscribers be more receptive to news in periodical form about your firm that predictably arrives on the first of the month (boring!) or timely hot stock tip alerts?
Similarly, if you manage a real estate group, you're likely to get a better response to a promise to send emails as new houses come on the market (especially those listed at a great price) than you would to a monthly roundup of new listings and houses that have sold (boring!).
In other words, don't just say, “Subscribe to our newsletter.” Instead, share the benefit the subscriber will receive to incentivize them to sign up.
The YouTube video you use to get your business noticed can be a great primer to this type of lead capture if you're smart about the content you include. For the real estate example above, the video should appeal to viewers who would also be interested in the newsletter content. In a video titled, “Where to Buy a Home in Orange County,” you might follow up with a CTA of “Subscribe to our ‘Hot Listings' alerts for the newest, best-priced homes on the market.”
Conclusion
Producing YouTube content and building a subscriber base can be real boons for your business. But merely asking your viewers to subscribe to your channel is leaving your marketing efforts with a lot of untapped potential.
To drive traffic to where you can capture important contact info like a name and email, you'll need to go beyond simply asking folks to subscribe or visit your website. By using one of the CTAs above as a follow-up to your YouTube content, you can continuously refresh your list of leads with those with high potential to convert.
What do you think? Which of these tactics will you try to generate leads from YouTube? Do you have any tips of your own for collecting contact info from YouTube viewers? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
More articles on YouTube marketing:
- Learn how to grow your YouTube channel with a video series.
- Find out how to ensure people watch your YouTube videos.
- Discover different types of videos to create for a YouTube sales funnel.

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