Designrr: Is It a Decent Lead Magnet Creator or Is It Too Clunky?

Designrr Review

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Like a lot of marketers, we use lead magnets (Opt-ins and content upgrades) to entice our readers to join our list. The problem is creating the lead magnets in a fast, accurate way that also looks good.

I am a designer and I love using graphic design tools like Adobe InDesign and Photoshop to create lead magnets. Sometimes, I even use Microsoft PowerPoint and MSWord. It all depends on my headspace for creativity at the time.

But, if you’re not a designer, it can be frustrating and time-consuming. And if you want the lead magnet to look like a designer did it, that takes up more time and expertise than I bet you’re willing to contribute. Especially, if you’re just attempting to create a simple checklist or cheat sheet.

Ain’t nobody got time to spend 10 hours creating a cheat sheet, right?

Designrr

Now you don’t have to stress, you can use Designrr. It’s a cloud-based service that allows you to repurpose existing content into an ebook, checklist, transcript, or report.

That’s not everything you can do with the software, but for most people, it’s a great start. And you can do all of these projects quicker with Designrr.

What can you create with Designrr?

Imagine being able to transform and repurpose:

  • Blog posts
  • Podcast episodes
  • Facebook Lives
  • YouTube videos
  • Practically any audio or video
  • MS Word or Google docs

. . . Into different pieces of content that you can use to reach more people. Without having to create something brand new and spending tons of money.

That’s the promise from Designrr. But how good is it at doing all this?

I’ll answer that question in this honest review from a real designer.

Who Can Benefit From Using Designrr?

who is Designrr for

Designrr works great for a variety of entrepreneurs and marketers. I’m sure you will recognize yourself in one of the above scenarios.

How Does Designrr Work?

Choose your source for Designrr

Once you sign up, you can start your project. I always like to look at the support section to get a feel for how the software works.

They do have a “Tour” set up for you to go through which is pretty helpful.

The video I watched instructed me to start with a “Vanilla” layout. Being the rebel that I am, I chose to start with a template. I came to regret that decision. More on that later . . .

Here are the basics to import a blog and convert it into a lead magnet:

  1. Go to your blog and copy the URL of the blog
  2. Click “Create A New Project”
  3. Click “Import From URL”
  4. Import
  5. Choose a template
  6. Edit the project
  7. Export to PDF
  8. Distribute as you like

Seems simple enough, but let’s look at the sometimes “clunky,” “wonky,” and “sensitivity” issues with actually using Designrr.

Changing Templates in Designrr

About the template thing . . . Since I use design software regularly, I’m used to changing things and swapping out elements inside of the project. Not so fast with Designrr, you have limits.

You can switch between templates easily, but they’re all pretty much the same, except for the cover page and distinct theme colors.

Designrr changing the cover

Changing the Cover in Designrr

The wonky part is that you can’t change any of the art on the cover. You do have a choice to add a texture and/or color.

My suggestion is don’t waste time doing anything to the cover. Either design it yourself and upload it or head over to Fiverr.

Adding Images in Designrr

One thing that really irked me was that none of the images imported. I tried with two different posts, with the same results.

The first time, I downloaded the image from the blog and then uploaded it to the document. That might be ok if you only have a few images. But, we’re trying to do this quickly . . . To the support area I went.

replacing an image

I located an article pretty quickly that walked me through importing and placing the image.

  1. Go to the blog post URL and look for the exact image you want
  2. Copy the Image Address
  3. Go back into Designrr, go to the blank square where the image should be and click “Media Manager
  4. Click “Import From URL” and paste the Image Address
  5. Import the image by clicking “Use Image

This is the easier way to do it, but it’s still time consuming, especially if you have a lot of images.

elements bar

Working with Elements in Designrr

Even though Designrr’s ability to actually design is a bit clunky, it does have a lot of features to play with.

Indeed there are a lot of options including:

  • Add ordered lists, tables, labels, and quotes
  • Embed YouTube videos
  • Change themes
  • Apply background colors, padding and margins, and more!

move elements freely

Another thing that irked me and totally drove me crazy was trying to move the elements on the page to different spots. The interface is not very flexible.

There is a button in the settings, it’s called “Free Element Dragging.” Enable it at your own peril.

Of course I enabled it, the designer in me told me to do it. But then, the whole, entire layout broke and all I saw was a blank page! I quickly hit the “Undo” button and disabled it.

The “Free Element Dragging” setting isn’t the only part of Designrr that’s “sensitive” and a little clunky.

The “Undo” and “Redo” buttons seem to only work one or two times per click. After that nothing happens??Editing the text takes a couple clicks to get to the text you actually can edit.There’s no multi- or group-select feature. If you have a bulleted list, you have to select and edit one at a time. That goes for all the elements including graphics and paragraphs.

Facebook Importing

Facebook import

There is an option to import from your Facebook profile or page, but my question is . . . Why would you create an ebook of Facebook posts?

Instead, you might want to import a single Facebook post into your ebook. I couldn’t get it to work.

If you really want to use a Facebook post, I suggest takingng a screen shot and keep it moving.

table of contents

One thing that I did like is the ability to create a Table of Contents. I tested it and the links went to the correct place in the document.

After you complete everything (and save it) you can save the file as a PDF, mobi (Kindle), Epub, and HTML. You can also create a 3D graphic of the document. I really like that feature.

Designrr Pricing

Designrr pricing

If you like Designrr so far, go ahead and get it because there’s a Limited Lifetime offer available for $27.

But Wait . . .

If you’re a podcaster or you’re getting it because you want to repurpose audio or video, you’re going to have to upgrade to one of the higher priced plans.

The $27 special doesn’t include transcribing.

However, if you break it down, it’s still a deal.

Let’s say you produce 4, 30-minute videos or audios per month and want to transcribe each one of them. If you use a service like Rev.com, you'll pay $1 per minute of transcribed audio/video. That comes to about $30 per project X 4 = $120 per month. Using Designrr, you wind up saving about $70 per month (Premium plan). 

Pros

  • You have over 200 templates to choose from and can switch between them easily
  • Changing colors and other elements is easy
  • Multiple publishing options
  • 3D cover creation
  • Cloud-based, no software to install
  • Once you learn the process it gets quicker and easier to produce a project
  • Transcription option is great
  • Easily create a Table of Contents

Cons

  • The images from the blog do not import. You have to do them separately.
  • Can’t multi-select elements on a page
  • Creating a cover sucks, design it yourself or use Fiverr
  • The design layout is clunky and doesn’t work as easily as it could
  • The Transcription option is not included in the Lifetime offer of $27
  • The interface is busy and sometimes confusing as to what changes or adjusts what

Is Designrr Worth the Investment?

My project I created took me about 2 hours to complete. It would have gone faster if I wasn’t using it for the first time and creating while I was also learning.

I took this post, 37+ Free Internet Business Tools Every Entrepreneur Should Know About, and converted it into this checklist.

converted blog to lead magnet

Now that I know what’s what, I’m sure I could do a similar post in about an hour.

Compared to the time it takes a non-designer to create this same document, that’s a great use of time.

If you’re using Designrr to create cheat sheets, checklists, and even transcripts, you’ll be very satisfied, even with the quirks and “clunkiness.”

However, if you’re trying to create a huge project, like a 50-page book, all I can say is have wine ready.

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