6 Elements to Create Compelling Offers

How do you get prospects to say “yes” to your offers?

When an offer is exclusive, scarce, or in high demand, it becomes more desirable. Whether they are guides, checklists, whitepapers, free trials, memberships, sales promotions, or downloads, these tempting elements can overcome a lead’s typical friction, doubt, or concern.

Why do these elements work? Because they trigger a physiological reaction that makes an offer more valuable. People need to perceive the value of your offer to be greater than what you’re asking for in return. The higher the perception of value, the more irresistible the offer. So how do you create the right elements?

Use the Element of Scarcity

Scarcity has a psychological influence on us, making us want something even more if there isn’t enough to go around. Scarcity is great because it creates a fear of shortage, and thus a sense of urgency.

Limited Time Offers

Limited time offers are among the most popular in the scarcity category. Retailers offer 20% off website till end of month. Or, get your free guide by a particular date, then it is no longer free.

Limited Quantity Offers

When something is of limited quantity, it suddenly becomes more unique or exclusive. In some studies, limited quantity or supply offers have outperformed limited time offers. Why? Because it’s hard to tell when an offer of limited quantity will suddenly become unavailable, while a time-based offer has a known end time. Limited quantity offers are great for not only getting people to say “yes” to your offer, but to avoid procrastination completely. Think about webinars being promoted – register now as seats are limited!

Limited Time and Limited Quantity

Together they are a very powerful combination. For instance, Groupon deals end within a certain time frame, and they limit the number of people who can buy a Groupon. The site also packages these scarcity tactics with discounting, which is another great value-add, especially for ecommerce businesses.

The Bandwagon Effect

It’s a natural tendency for humans to copy one another, even without realizing it — we like to be a part of tribes and social communities. So, when we notice our social circle is doing one thing, we tend to follow suit. One great way to make an offer more valuable is to show that other people are participating in that offer.

Proof in Numbers

Indicate how awesome an offer by mentioning the number of people who have purchased, downloaded, signed up, or donated. For instance, show how many people have signed up for your newsletter or blog This is proof that it’s a highly trustworthy and popular to follow. Just make sure your claims are not only true, but believable

Leverage Newsjacking

When something is buzz-worthy, it creates high demand. You can align offers with “what’s hot” and companies will often leverage newsjacking for this type of technique.

As an example, back in 2013 people couldn’t stop talking about Pinterest. HubSpot capitalized on this craze by creating the first Pinterest ebook for business owners and marketers, How To Use Pinterest for Business. It quickly became one of HubSpot’s most successful ebooks as it was the first and only ebook available on Pinterest. It made the offer more unique and thus more appealing– that’s the power of leveraging both timing and popularity!

Focus on Creating An Amazing Title

Brian Snider, The GRI Marketing Group’s CEO and co-founder, once said that “you can have a great offer with a bad title and no one will download it. But if you have an amazing title, suddenly everyone wants it.” Yes – people do judge a book by it’s cover.

If your offer is a piece of content, such as a whitepaper, ebook, or presentation, put effort into creating an amazing title. For an experiment, we changed the title of an ebook and ran an A/B test to see which one would perform better. We took the original title “The Productivity Handbook for Busy Marketers” and changed it to “7 Apps That Will Change the Way You Do Marketing.

As you can see, the revised version outperformed the original by 776% at generating leads (first time submissions). Not only that, but it resulted in more customers as well. If you’re struggling to come up with the perfect headline, try using the Headline Analyzer Tool by Advanced Marketing Institute or read 7Proven Headlines that Convert.

Create Offers For Different Buying Stages

The most common offer on most websites is “Contact Us.” Sure, you want all your prospects to talk to sales, but not everyone is ready. As you know, buyers are more likely to do their own research before even engaging with a sales rep. And every prospect is at a different stage of exploration. Some may need more education than others. That’s why it’s important to develop different offers at different buying cycles.

Someone at the top of the buying cycle may be more interested in an informational piece like a guide or an article, whereas someone more committed at the bottom of the cycle might be more interested in a free trial or demo. You don’t need to pick and choose; create offers for each phase and include a primary and secondary CTA to these offers on various pages throughout your site.

Avoid Certain Jargon Terms and Phrases

A professional image is necessary, but you still want to avoid certain jargon terms and phrases that have been over-used and abused rendering them meaningless These words are meant to add more emphasis of a particular subject but instead they make your eyes roll.
Avoid these words when describing offers:

• Next Generation
• Flexible
• Robust
• Scalable
• Easy to use
• Cutting edge
• Ground-breaking
• Best of breed
• Mission critical

It’s important to test different types of offers with your audience to determine what works for you. Using great offers with your CTAs, optimized landing pages and forms in multi-channel environments – can improve ROI.

About the GRI Marketing Group Inc.

The GRI Marketing Group’s mission to help organizations acquire, retain and upsell/cross their customers. Most our clients are in Professional services, IT/Information services, publishing, education/non-profit and financial services.

The GRI Marketing Group, Inc. was founded in 1987 and designed around creating marketing campaigns that drive engagement and produce a greater return on investment for our clients.

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Contact: Brian Snider [email protected] Tel: 203-261-3337 x 111