Buckle up, folks, because what we’re about to tell you might leave you shook. What if we told you there was a way to 10x your chances of a freebie subscriber purchasing your core offer? There is a way, and it’s tripwires.

In marketing, a tripwire is an irresistibly low-cost, high-value offer that entices your audience members into becoming paying customers. We’re going to dig more into what a tripwire is, what it aims to do, and give you some examples. Then we’ll discuss funnels and how tripwires can change that customer journey for the better.

Both tripwires and funnels can help drive conversions and ultimately boost your business success. Music to your ears, right?

What Is a Tripwire?

In the context of marketing, a tripwire is a product or service priced so low that it offers a very low barrier to entry for people to become customers. It’s a strategic play that offers real value at a small investment, thereby capturing your audience’s attention and making them feel like their first purchase from you is basically a no-brainer.

Here are some examples in different industries:

🔥In e-commerce: Offering a significant introductory discount on a product or service.

🔥In fitness and wellness: Offering an affordable starter package that includes a limited number of fitness classes, personal training sessions, or wellness consultations.

🔥In coaching: Offering a mini course or workshop that’s packed with value but available at a reduced price.

🔥In restaurants: Offering a happy hour with discounted prices on select food and beverages.

🔥In automotive: Offering a discount price for an oil change for first-time customers.

In all of these examples, the tripwires get customers in at a reduced price, giving them a taste of the value the business can offer. The ultimate goal is not to try to make millions off the tripwires themselves. Rather, the goal is to be a first step toward getting people to engage further with your business.

The goals of a tripwire include:

✅Capturing potential customers’ attention

✅Building trust

✅Initiating a relationship with your new PAID customers

The goal of a tripwire is NOT:

🚫To make your living off selling low-ticket offers

By turning a potential customer into a paid customer, you’re increasing your chances of that person buying your core product by a lot, and that’s because people who have bought from you before are most likely to buy from you again.

Think of a tripwire as a gateway to bigger and better things. It’s like a first date. You really want it to go right so your relationship can move on to the next level.

Again, you’re not attempting to make a living off of selling tripwires, just like you’re not trying to make a living off your freebies (obv). Freebies or lead magnets and tripwires are the entry points to your sales funnel, and the sales funnel is ultimately what’ll bring home the bacon by directing your tripwire customers to your higher-ticket offer(s).

What Is a Funnel?

Here’s some more marketing lingo for you. The funnel, in the context of marketing, is the process of nurturing potential customers and guiding them from awareness to interest, consideration, and action—ideally, a purchase, also called a conversion. A funnel encompasses multiple steps, each one moving prospects along on this metaphorical journey.

When building out a funnel, your goal is to maximize conversions by optimizing each step along the way. If you use a tripwire in your funnel, it changes the customer journey—and often accelerates it.

For example, here’s what a funnel might look like without a tripwire:

Audience ➡️Freebie/Lead Magnet ➡️Email Subscriber ➡️Welcome Sequence ➡️Paying Customer

And here’s what a funnel might look like with a tripwire:

Audience ➡️Freebie/Lead Magnet ➡️Tripwire Purchase! ➡️Email Subscriber ➡️Welcome Sequence ➡️Repeat Customer

As you can see, adding a tripwire has the potential to convert your audience members into paying customers much earlier in their customer journey, which can lead to repeat sales down the road. More sophisticated funnels would include cross-selling, as well as upselling/offering higher-priced products after that first glorious tripwire sale.

What You Need and What You Don't Need to Leverage Tripwires

Perhaps you’re ready to change your customer journey by adding in a tripwire, but you don’t know where to start. We’ve got you!

Here are a few things you need:

✅Lead magnet: A lead magnet is your freebie that’ll help you get email subscribers and grow your audience. While having an audience on social media can be helpful, it’s more important to have an audience in the form of an email list, because those people have opted in to hearing from you. Your freebie is the ticket to attracting people to your list who actually want to hear from you.

✅Tripwire product: You’ll need a high-value product that you can sell at a low cost for your tripwire. Think of this as a teaser trailer for the full film.

✅Higher ticket offer(s) or upsells: If the tripwire is an appetizer, you’ll need to have a main course to serve up to your paying customers—because, remember, the tripwire sale is not the end goal here.

And here’s what you don’t necessarily need:

🚫Lots of followers on social media: Sure, this is nice, but it’s not always that helpful (dang it, algorithms!). If you have an engaged audience, social media can help you by attracting that audience to your email list. But you don’t need to be an influencer to have a successful freebie and/or tripwire.

🚫Ads: Again, this can be nice, but it’s not necessary. Let your freebie do its thing by getting people to knock on your door, and then let your tripwire do its thing by opening the door and ushering customers inside.

When designing a tripwire (or a freebie, for that matter), make sure you’re creating something that has a high perceived value and is very relevant to your audience’s needs. And then stick a super low, no-brainer-level price tag on it.

So, Why Tripwires?

A well-executed tripwire is a classic win-win scenario, because your customers benefit from the value they receive, and you get the chance to show them what you’ve got. Once you woo your customers with your tripwire, they'll give you the time of day when you try to sell them more expertise, products, or services that they will find equally (or even more) valuable.

Tripwires can enhance conversions and boost sales. They are often super-successful gateways into a sales funnel, and they change the customer journey for the better—both on your end and on theirs. If you’re looking to up your conversion AND foster long-term relationships at the same time, try tripwires!

If you’d like to learn even more about tripwires and how to create them, snag our Tripwire workshop for only $15!