The tripwire offer. Turn cold customers into paying customers.

One of the biggest problems entrepreneurs face is converting their free customers into paid customers.

Most marketing works by using free lead magnets and tools to attract customers.

But a lot of “free” customers don’t end up buying because they don’t trust your product or aren’t ready to spend a large amount.

This is where tripwire offers come in.

Instead of offering a $400 cohort or a $2,000 coaching program, you offer a small $1-$49 tripwire offer.

A tripwire offer’s main purpose isn’t to make a large profit. It’s to get the customers to take out their credit cards and spend.

This gets your foot in the door and makes the customers more open to buying your bigger offer.

Also, if your offer is valuable, it builds trust in your brand.

When you position your tripwire offer as a small and irresistible purchase, you will get more people buying now, and many sales later.

Tripwire offers are similar to lead magnets, but customers pay money. Lead magnets also come before tripwire offers.

Lead magnet → tripwire offer → larger paid offer.

Your tripwire offer should have these core elements:

Your tripwire offer should be the first step that leads to your larger offer.

When you position your larger offer and the “next step” to purchase after your tripwire offer, you will get much more sales.

Your tripwire offer should be easy to consume and valuable to the customer. It should position you as an authority on the topic and be just as valuable as your core offer.

Your customers will think that your tripwire offer is as valuable as your core offer, so make a valuable tripwire offer.

Tripwire offers are generally priced between $1 and $49.

The price you choose, however, depends on the cost of your main offer. If your larger offer is $99, your smaller offer should be around $10.

Let’s get into some real-life examples of tripwire offers.

Russell Brunson offers his book Dotcom Secrets for free if customers cover the shipping cost of $7.95.

This cheap offer of $7.95 for his book is the tripwire.

After you submit the shipping information and are about to pay, you are asked to buy his whole book bundle for $37.

The $3 teeth-whitening tripwire offer seems like a deal you can’t pass up. Later, during the appointment, the dentists will upsell a full checkup.

- Warren

PS: I’m building a playbook that teaches exactly how I grew Business Deconstructed to 1,700+ subscribers from marketing on Reddit. More information coming soon.