Table of Contents
A tripwire funnel is a popular type of sales funnels for one good reason – it works.
It’s a valuable tool in your overall marketing strategy to attract and convert website visitors into buyers.
But, even though tripwires have been around for decades, many people are still confused about how to use them.
The idea behind a tripwire is simple: make an irresistible low-cost offer to gain a new customer.
Once people have bought an inexpensive item from you, they are more likely to purchase something else.
That’s the real value of a tripwire funnel.
Using this method gives you the best opportunity to upsell your new buyer once they are in your sales funnel.
If you’re interested in turning more lookers into buyers, then read on.
We’ll explain the following:
- What a tripwire is
- How to create a tripwire funnel to boost your leads and generate more sales
- How to measure your tripwire funnel
What Is A Tripwire?
Although the word conjures up images of someone getting caught in a trap, the definition is far from sinister!
A tripwire is a compelling, low-priced offer that’s designed solely to turn a prospect into a customer. They’re usually priced between $5.00 – $30.00, but the majority are less than $20.00.
The price point you choose depends on how your tripwire offer fits in with your higher-priced products.
It’s important to remember that a tripwire funnel is not the first step in your sales process.
To capture new email subscribers, you must begin with a lead magnet. This is usually a free resource like an ebook, a template bundle, or a mini training course delivered via email. Some businesses put valuable tangible objects as a free offer, then ask the buyers to cover the shipping costs.
When you have built an email list from your free lead magnet signups, you’ll add a tripwire offer to your sales funnel to encourage customers and start generating revenue.
Keep in mind that the goal of a tripwire is not to make money but to turn leads into first-time customers.
Why Use A Tripwire Funnel
Your tripwire funnel gives you 5 main benefits:
1. It offsets marketing and advertising costs
When you’re promoting your business online, it costs money to generate traffic.
The costs of creating, marketing, and advertising can add up quickly. A well-defined tripwire offer will help to offset those costs.
2. It fills your email list with buyers.
When someone purchases from you for the first time, they begin to develop their relationship with you via your email communications, social media pages, and your website resources.
This means that they are more emotionally connected to what you offer next – whether that is paid or free content. In other words, they are more likely to buy from you again.
3. It allows you to test different offers.
Tripwire funnels allow you to test what your market is looking for.
When you offer a selection of inexpensive products, you will see which topics interest your buyers the most and customise your follow–up communications with them.
This means that you target only those prospects who seek a specific solution to their problems.
4. It creates audience loyalty.
When you get your tripwire offer right, people are thrilled that you gave away so much value. You’ll create happy and loyal followers when you consistently provide them with high-quality material at a no-pain price point.
5. It encourages micro-commitments.
Micro-commitments are easier for people to accept because they’re allowed to make smaller decisions over time. Your prospect signs up for your mailing list, buys a small product, then buys a bigger one.
A tripwire offer is the best example of a small commitment, which leads your customer to comfortably complete a larger commitment in the future.
How To Create A Tripwire Offer
The key to a successful tripwire is to create an inexpensive but irresistible deal.
A deal so good that someone knows in a split-second that it’s something they must have.
But first, you need to create your offer.
This is easier than you think because there are multiple ways for you to create tripwire products from content you have created already, e.g. your online course.
What are the main components of a tripwire?
1. It’s inexpensive
While the price is usually relative to the cost of your main offer, most tripwire offers are under $20.00.
Numbers containing a “7” seem to prevail, so we often see tripwires promoted at $17.00 or $27.00.
2. Very high quality
You can’t compromise on quality just because you’re selling something cheaply.
Your tripwire offer may be the first interaction many people have with your products. If you fail to impress them right from the start, then why would they buy a more expensive product from you?
3. Simple to use or implement
It shouldn’t take another product to explain how to use the first one. Whatever you offer, it must be easy to obtain and implement so that your buyer is clear on what they need to do.
4. Related to your core offer
What happens if you’re building a mailing list that doesn’t care about your core offer?
You’ll be stuck with customers who won’t buy your flagship course or premium products. It’s easier to make this mistake than you think.
5. Promises a quick win
Ensure that your tripwire offer allows people to achieve what you promise within a short space of time. For example, if you tell your customers: “Create Your First T-Shirt Graphic in 7 days,” then that must be an attainable goal.
Ideas For Your Tripwire Offer
A Single Course Module
For example, you might sell an online course that includes written materials, video lessons, and a private Facebook group for members to network and interact with other learners. You could segment off one module from that course and offer it at a low price as a tripwire product.
Bonus Material From Your Online Course
How many digital offers have you seen that include bonus materials?
We’re guessing it’s quite a few.
To incentivize conversions, you might offer one or two bonuses from your primary course. It could include a couple of short videos, several checklists, and a few articles.
A Mini-Course Via Video
This is a relatively simple way to provide a ton of value to your leads. Once your visitor has opted in to your list, send them a welcome email and tell them what to expect over the next 5 or 7 days.
During that period, you send them a daily email, including a short video training on the topic they requested.
Another alternative is to provide a mini-course as an educational email series.
Template Bundles and Checklists
These days, we’re all looking for ways to streamline our processes and reduce the time it takes to complete certain tasks.
This is why downloads of templates and checklists are so popular.
A Low-Cost Trial
A low-cost trial is useful when your main offer is a monthly subscription or membership. The cost of your subscription may vary, but a typical range is between $30 – $75.00 per month.
You might promote your tripwire as low as $1.00 for a 7 or 30-day trial membership. At the end of that period – and if they don’t cancel – your customer gets billed the regular monthly fee.
Each of the above offers is hard to refuse.
That’s because they require little effort and cost on the part of your prospect, and they provide excellent value.
More importantly, these tripwire offers show your customers that you deliver what you promise.
Now, we’ll cover how to use a tripwire funnel.
How To Use A Tripwire Funnel
Step One: Your Lead Magnet Opt-in
This is the start of your tripwire funnel, and it’s exactly what it says – a magnet to generate leads.
Before you begin actively marketing to a prospect, you’ll need to build a list of email subscribers.
A lead magnet is a free resource that you offer in exchange for someone’s email address.
People discover your lead magnet:
- Organically – through a search that leads to your website or a particular blog post that offers your lead magnet
- On social media – from a Facebook ad or Google advertising.
Most businesses promote their lead magnets and free offers via paid advertising because it’s the fastest way to start promoting their paid products.
Once a visitor has signed up, they’re often sent directly to a “thank you” page.
Don’t do that!
Why?
Because you’re missing a great opportunity to sell something to a person who’s already shown an interest in your content.
That’s where step two comes in.
Step Two: Your Tripwire Offer
There’s nothing wrong with sending your new subscribers to a thank you page after they’ve opted in, but thousands of businesses ignore the chance to sell something here.
Present your tripwire offer immediately after someone subscribes to your list. You already have their attention, so make the most of it.
Step Three: Your Bump Offer
It’s always a good idea to include a bump offer in your tripwire funnel.
A bump offer is an extra purchase that is shown to your customer at checkout.
For example, someone decides to purchase your video course for $17.00 (the tripwire), and they get the chance to buy the worksheets that go with the videos for an additional $5.95.
The worksheets are your bump offer. There’s even better news for you because if your buyer purchases those worksheets, you’ve just increased the sale value by a massive 35%.
Step Four: Your Upsell Offer
When someone clicks to complete a purchase with the bump offer, you then send them to a new sales page that showcases your upsell.
An upsell is an incredible deal you’re offering on a larger purchase.
A sense of urgency is often conveyed to your buyer at this stage of your funnel, so that’s why you often see a timer on these pages.
You’re giving your buyer an incentive to act now and playing into the psychological effect of FOMO (fear of missing out).
One thing to keep in mind is that the upsells must be relevant to the core product you want them to purchase; otherwise, people will drop out of your funnel quickly.
Step Five: A Second Upsell Offer
You might choose to include an additional upsell in your sales funnel.
This would follow the one-click upsell above – after your buyer added that to their cart.
Of course, they wouldn’t see your second upsell if they refused the first one.
Step Six: A Downsell Offer
A downsell offer is used when a prospect has declined your upsell offer.
It is always a less expensive option, and we suggest using downsells sparingly.
That’s because you don’t want to give the impression that, if someone waits long enough, they will always see a better deal from you.
Downsell offers target buyers who said “no” by encouraging them to try your higher-priced offer at a low-entry cost.
You might offer a limited-time trial or a payment plan that allows your customer to complete their purchase in several installments.
These offers work well for membership and subscription-based programs. Downsells are usually delivered via an email drip campaign shortly after your initial tripwire funnel campaign ends.
Step Seven: Thank-You Pages
The “Thank-You” page always comes at the end of your tripwire funnel, e.g., after your upsell offers were declined or accepted.
It is the last page in your tripwire funnel because if it were the other way around, then very few people would stay to view your upsell.
Your thank-you page confirms that an order is complete and that your customer’s product is on its way or available to download.
Step Eight: Facebook Ads and Retargeting Ads
Facebook Ads:
When you place ads on Facebook or drive traffic using any other method, you direct all the traffic to the first page of your tripwire funnel – the lead magnet opt-in page.
It’s possible to run ad campaigns specifically for lead generation and to create a target audience for your ads.
Ideally, you already have a clear customer persona. This enables you to make your audience as specific as possible and direct your advertising towards those prospects most likely to buy from you.
Retargeting Ad Strategy:
Visitors who’ve been active on your site within the past 30 days are probably still interested in your offers and products.
Retargeting is your chance to convert some of those viewers into buyers. You do this by showing them ads for specific content that brings them back to your website or to your opt-in forms and tripwire offers.
Step Nine: Email Sequences
Every marketer knows that email provides the best ROI, so communicate regularly with your subscribers.
Your aim is to direct them back to your website – and offers – and encourage them to spend more money with you.
An email drip campaign is used throughout the sales funnel for:
- Promoting your tripwire to your opt-in leads
- Engagement with those people who bought your tripwire
- Marketing your core offer to those who purchased your tripwire
In the end, your tripwire sales funnel will probably look something like this:
The right combination of the above pieces in your tripwire funnel can dramatically increase the number of leads and sales you receive.
How To Test And Measure Your Tripwire Funnel
It’s great that your tripwire funnel is in place, but you can’t set it and forget it.
To analyse the results you’re getting from your funnel, it’s necessary to track a few metrics.
Some of the data to measure include:
- Opt-in conversion rate
- Tripwire conversion rate
- Upsell rate
- Cost per customer acquisition
- Average cart value
Another way to judge the effectiveness of your tripwire funnel is to A/B test for different elements. A few simple changes will enable you to find out which components work best.
Consider adjusting some of these details:
- Page layout design and form placement
- The copy language, as well as text sizes, colors, and styles
- The price of your tripwire product
- The price of your upsell offer
- The tripwire that you’re offering
- The down-sell product that you offer
- The copy and style of your email sequences
Your tripwire funnel is both a lead generation and a sales machine, so spend time testing different options to create a funnel that meets your targets.
Conclusion
The tripwire funnel we’ve outlined maximizes the amount of money you make per conversion and gets the prospect used to buying from you.
It’s up to you whether you decide on a basic funnel with a few pages or a more complex one with several extra pages.
Creating and optimizing a high tripwire funnel takes time. It’s hard work.
It requires a combination of professional copy, funnel and page design, and strategy. But it’s a proven and successful model in today’s competitive market.
We don’t doubt that using a tripwire funnel is a fast track to generating leads and sales because that’s exactly what we do for our clients.
If you’d like us to help you do the same, then contact us today.
