We explain why it is important to sell a lot of value to a client at a low price and how to avoid mistakes when creating a demo version of a product – a tripwire.
What is tripwire and what is it for?
Tripwire tasks and its place in the sales funnel
Types of tripwires
Tripwire examples
How to create an effective tripwire
Possible mistakes when creating a tripwire
Expert advice
What is tripwire and what is it for?
Table of Contents
A tripwire is a paid trial or demo version of a main product or service. The point of a tripwire is that a person does not immediately buy a product or service, but can buy a small part of it inexpensively, something small with high value, to check whether it suits him or not.
Unlike the main service, the tripwire cost is very low: the difference can reach 10-20 times. The insignificant cost of the tripwire does not cause stress when buying – unlike the more impressive cost of the main product. And the buyer gets a lot of value and benefit – thus forming a trusting relationship with the seller.
A seller needs a tripwire to attract the client’s attention and convince him to make the desired choice. Attracting clients is becoming more difficult and expensive, competition in the market of goods and services is growing, so more and more sellers are using tripwires.
From the buyer’s point of view, a tripwire is an opportunity to try a necessary product or service for a small fee. If a person doesn’t like something or the product doesn’t suit them, they won’t feel a loss or deep disappointment due to the low price of the tripwire.
Typical tripwires are trial workouts at a reduced price in a gym, the first session of something at a discount, a subscription for 1 ruble, for example to Yandex Plus, Bookmate or another service, a monthly Internet connection for 100 rubles with a subsequent increase in the tariff, etc.
In the online learning industry, clients are often offered a trial lesson or a test module at a reduced price. Having completed the necessary lesson, the cost of which is significantly higher, for a conditional 500 rubles, a person will feel that he has received a lot of value for himself – and it will be easier to decide to buy the entire course.
In the online world, tripwires are often placed on websites, landing pages, and apps. In advertising, they are used in email newsletters after customers have left their details, for example, for a lead magnet. Having received the contacts of potential buyers, the seller uses this database to offer tripwires via various channels: SMS, push notifications, letters, special offers in a personal account, etc.
On an online bulletin board, a tripwire can be an ad placed for a nominal 10 rubles. A person used it, sold an unnecessary thing, was satisfied and next time will be ready to place an ad either for a fee or with additional services.
The course “Internet Marketer” will help you learn how to attract new clients using tripwires and other relevant tools . We reveal non-standard ideas, come up with fun campaigns and promote startups in various fields – from e-commerce to medicine.
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Tripwire tasks and its place in the sales funnel
A tripwire should solve a certain problem for the client, even a small one, inspire confidence in the product and help overcome the fear of buying. The buyer pays a small amount, but gets much more benefit, so the thought is deposited in his head: “The product was useful to me, I solved a real problem, I can take the main product.”
For example, a painting studio offers a trial master class for 500 rubles, while the standard price is 2,500–3,500 rubles. The client comes, meets the teacher, paints for two hours under his guidance, and takes his painting home. Satisfied with the lesson, a few days later the client buys a four-month course “Painting for Beginners” for 25,000 rubles. Without a trial lesson at a nice price, he would hardly have decided to make such a purchase so quickly.
In the sales funnel, the tripwire is in second place, after the lead magnet. The purpose of the lead magnet is to obtain the potential buyer’s contacts in order to lead them deeper into the sales funnel. To do this, the user is offered to subscribe to notifications, join a community, get a free guide, etc., that is, they give something of little value.
The main task of a tripwire is to push the client to buy the main product, goods or service. It is important to remember that a lead magnet can be free, while a tripwire is always a paid thing with a low price and high value.
Types of tripwires
Let’s look at the most common types of tripwires.
1. Online instructions for solving any problem, from warm-ups and yoga to laying tiles. These can be guides, video tutorials, lessons, PDF documents, etc.
2. Attending a class or session with a significant discount, so that the price ends up being much lower than the market price. This can be a creative or sports lesson, a Pilates or vocal lesson, a massage session, etc.
3. A promo code for a discounted subscription or a grace period in various online services – those same offers to buy a subscription for 1 ruble, for example, from Ivi, Okko, Litres, Yandex Plus, etc.
Tripwire examples
Let’s look at an example of a tripwire organically integrated into a sales funnel. Anna went to a new studio for a massage for the first time. She was attracted by the symbolic price of 500 rubles with a standard price of 3,000-5,000 rubles. She was satisfied, plus the administrator gave her a discount certificate for 1,500 rubles for her next visit. When Anna came for the second time, she again paid less than the market price of the service. The stress from the purchase will be less, because the client is aware of their benefit and the value received. Plus this time she was also given a gift – a face mask. Anna went through the sales funnel with the help of the tripwire – and as a well-prepared client, she is ready to pay for the full massage course.
How to create an effective tripwire
When a seller creates a tripwire, he should have an internal feeling that he is giving away a lot of benefits practically for free. If it seems that the cost of the offer exceeds its value, then the tripwire is a success. You should not use obviously useless and unnecessary things as a tripwire, for example, checklists or guides made up on the fly like “Packaging a pet for the dacha: 10 things that will come in handy for your little dog.”
It is necessary to ensure that the tripwire always solves some, albeit small, problem of the client. For example, you can offer a test drive of a drinking fountain or another gadget for animals for 300-500 rubles: an automatic feeder, a self-cleaning tray, etc. The owner will be able to understand whether the device will really be in demand by a picky cat, evaluate the pros and cons and will be able to make an informed decision about the purchase.
In order for a seller to come up with a working tripwire, the following is needed:
Step 1: Describe your target audience and the potential problems they face.
Step 2. Describe the existing product matrix. We look at what can be offered to the client and what part of the benefit of the entire product can be packaged in a tripwire.
Step 3. Based on the data obtained, find a problem that the buyer has that can be quickly solved, or a need that can be quickly closed. The tripwire will be based on this problem.
Let’s say a person has a request to become a marketplace manager, but he is not ready to pay for the training in full right away. In this case, the tripwire can be an online lesson or workshop for a symbolic amount, where a practicing expert will analyze the pros and cons of the profession, explain who it is more suitable for, and give examples of work tasks. As a result, the client will “touch” the desired profession and understand whether it suits him or not.
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Possible mistakes when creating a tripwire
Let’s list the main possible mistakes when creating a tripwire.
● Replacing a tripwire with a lead magnet
A bad tripwire is essentially a lead magnet, i.e. a free and low-value item that the buyer is nevertheless forced to pay for. Thus, a person buys something for a low price and receives little value. Such a tripwire cannot be called high-quality and effective: the client is unlikely to return for the main product.
● Tripwire that is too complicated
This happens when the seller tries to fit too much value into the tripwire. For example, offering a trial lesson on design, designed for 5 hours, with a large block of theory and a large homework assignment. Such a tripwire can become stressful for the buyer and even discourage them from making a purchase. Therefore, the tripwire should not be overloaded and complicated.
● Tripwire that requires extra effort
The offer should not require large resource expenditures from the buyer: spend 10 hours of life, travel to the other end of the city, go to the post office (with all the ensuing consequences in the form of a queue and other negativity), spend an hour sorting out the registration process, etc.
● Unbuilt sales funnel
For example, a client purchased a tripwire and then either they are not offered the main product, or they are offered it too early. On average, it is worth giving additional advertising, collecting feedback and further moving along the sales funnel 5-7 days after using the tripwire.
● Stretched out over time
Most often, a tripwire is an easy and quick impulsive purchase, so you shouldn’t stretch it out over time. A person should take a few simple actions and quickly benefit from the tripwire.
