Ready to turn more leads into customers (and really, who isn’t?) Then you need to implement a tripwire into your marketing plan.

A tripwire is simply an enticing low-risk offer that provides low cost entry into your sales funnel. Leads and prospects are immediately turned into customers. These customers can then be turned into repeat customers through strategic upselling. And the best part? Customers who buy once are more likely to buy again…you just have to get that first sale.

The Psychology Behind Tripwire’s Effectiveness

Tripwires utilize the persuasion principle of consistency. People have a need to rationalize their behavior as consistent, whether they are aware of its impact on their decisions or not. After they agree to a small request, they become more likely to agree to a similar but larger request. They start to feel safe with your company and products. It’s why you may find yourself picking your friend up from the airport a few weeks after you agreed to pick him up for a social outing. As long as the second larger request is similar in nature to the first smaller request, it’s likely individuals will comply.

So let’s apply this to sales. Buyer Bob buys a low priced guide to optimizing blog posts for SEO from a marketing business. A week later, they receive information on a thorough content marketing course. Because Buyer Bob already purchased the tripwire (the smaller request), he is more likely to purchase the service (the larger request).

The Components of a Tripwire

A tripwire needs to be enticing. Your buyer has a problem and is looking for a solution. You need to offer value to help ease her pain point. Leads should look at your tripwire offer and see how it’s perfectly tailored to meet their need, and how they can’t pass up this great resource.

A tripwire also needs to be low risk. It’s great if a costly service meets the need of your leads, but if you can break that service in to something more low-risk for the buyer, they can dip their toes in the water before dunking their heads. The cost needs to be low to kickstart the lead-turning-into-a-customer process. A tripwire sale ideally is $20 or less (more if your services and products are on the high end of pricing). Rarely does a sale of a tripwire result in a profit (and can even show as a loss), but the value in a tripwire sale isn’t in the immediate financial gain, but it’s ability to form a foundation for an upsell. Many marketers think of this more as paying for a lead.

A small upfront cost usually works better than a free offer. This shows your leads are good and serious about what they need. People often question the quality of a free offer, while they view a lower priced product as a quality item on sale.

Making a Tripwire Sale

Begin by creating the tripwire, which meets the needs of Buyer Bob related to the larger product/service you’re wanting to sell. Find their pain point and how you can solve it. The tripwire can be physical or digital. You can sell a product/service that stands alone (a health food store selling a cookbook hoping to upsell high-end kitchen appliances) or use a fragment of your product/service (a yoga teacher selling a lesson from her course hoping to upsell the entire course).

Once you’ve got your tripwire, pitch the sale to leads. After the leads purchase the tripwire, you can either make the upsell pitch immediately or wait a set amount of time. Whichever way you choose the important piece is to follow up. You have a hot buyer…check in when him. Certain tripwires are set up well for an immediate pitch (while you’re buying this dog teeth cleaning, get your dog groomed and covered with flea and tick prevention at the same visit). Others work better as a follow-up (now that you’ve completed our first course, sign-up for the entire program). Find what meets your sale best.

Not all tripwire sales will result in repeating customers, just like not all lead pitches result in sales. The key is focusing on leads with the best possibility of converting from a tripwire sale to an upsale. You’ll be surprised, though, at how effective tripwires can be in creating new and lasting customers. This is where you are starting to build that bond with customers. Make them love you from the start and create a brand evangelist.

If you’re ready to implement tripwire sales into your marketing plan, but could use some guidance, we’re here for you! We can assist with any aspect of business building and strategy, including creating and marketing effective tripwire sales. Simply shoot us an email or give us a call today.