The Art of Online Business

Why Your Self-Liquidating Offer Isn’t Paying for Itself (Yet)

• Kwadwo [QUĀY.jo] Sampany-Kessie

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Your self-liquidating offer isn’t broken—it’s just missing a key step. I walk you through why most $27 low-ticket funnels fail to pay for themselves and how a tripwire can bridge the gap. 

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I share what makes a tripwire work, how it reduces your ad costs, and why alignment between your main offer, order bump, and upsell matters more than you think. 

Learn the smarter path to making your ads profitable without gambling your whole budget on an SLO that isn’t ready yet.



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Kwadwo [QUĀY.jo] Sampany-Kessie’s Links:

Speaker 1:

So, as a course creator, you figured that creating a $27 low ticket offer and then running Facebook and Instagram ads to that offer would be a straightforward, easy way to begin to make profit in your business and achieve that holy grail of adding buyers to your email list, who would thus engage with your marketing emails and continue to buy things from your business, work with you, get transformation in their lives and you could cash all those checks, or stripe payments, so to speak. But instead the numbers are adding up and that offer is not profitable. And you're wondering, quajo, why aren't facebook and instagrams working for this offer? Well, it could be your ads, but most likely it's your self-liquidating offer structure. And in this episode I'll show you how to pick the right self-liquidating offer and structure it so that it has the best chance of being profitable. And I'll explain to you and show you why. Having a tripwire is usually the missing step on the way to getting a profitable Self-liquidating offer. And if you don't know what a tripwire is, just keep watching. Okay? So reality check on self liquidating offers.

Speaker 1:

The goal of a self liquidating offer I ESL, oie a main offer with an aligned order bump and then an upsell that's available on that next page after somebody gives you their name, their email, their credit card information. The goal is not to get rich fast. The goal is to first break even while building your email list with buyers, and then the next goal is to be able to well, sorry, hold on a second. When I say break even, I mean, within the context of running Facebook and Instagram ads, that you make your ad spend back okay. And then that next goal is to be profitable. And the problem here is that most course creators hop into creating a self-liquidating offer. You know 27 with a 10 order bump and then a 57 upsell. I'm just pulling out numbers. By the way, these are not set in stone. This is not a recommendation. I'm just telling you. Most course creators jump into that without proving first that their audience will even buy anything from them up front, and that's why so many flop. Let alone the fact that the order bump isn't really aligned to the main offer, let alone the fact that the order bump isn't even aligned super well to the offer and the upsell is not aligned either. So that's where a tripwire comes in right. Think of it as a self-liquidating offer's little sibling, with the same psychology, just it's a lot smaller and easier to do and the stakes are lower.

Speaker 1:

Now here's the thing what is a tripwire and why is the logic for a tripwire the same as a self-liquidating offer? Why should you start with a tripwire first? Well, a tripwire is a low-cost product, just like a self-liquidating offer could cost $7, $17, maybe $27. But that tripwire is offered immediately after somebody downloads your lead magnet. It's right there on the thank you page, like hey, you got this lead magnet Before you go away. Here's an offer that you can't resist. That, by the way, is aligned with a problem that I know you have because I'm an expert in solving the things that plague you. And you came to get the lead magnet, which tells me you need to solve problems, similar problems, right, here's why a tripwire can work. It gets people to pull out their wallet. That's why a tripwire can work. It gets people to pull out their wallet. That's such a cold term. It helps people get a win with you right away. It establishes your authority, right. I mean, somebody that buys a low ticket offer from you as a tripwire and gets a win is like wow, this person can really help me. It turns a percentage of your leads into buyers. Now, before you think, oh hey, I can set up a tripwire after leads into buyers. Now, before you think, oh hey, I can set up a tripwire after my lead magnet Quajo said, this is how I'm gonna get rich. No, but realistically, if you're able to reduce your lead costs by 40% over what they were with a tripwire, as in make back 40% of your money, that is good. Okay, that's actually quite good.

Speaker 1:

Now, heading further on in this episode, starting now, we're going to talk about how to choose a tripwire or a self-liquidating offer. But remember, if you start out with low stakes as a tripwire, you're still going to get leads regardless, and then a percentage of those leads will purchase the tripwire. You have to know that. Yes, a percentage of people will get your tripwire after they download your lead magnet, but that percentage is going to be small. Okay, because people are coming to you for something for free and then they see paid on the thank you page and your messaging will have to be very good. Okay, it's always going to come down to very, very, very, very, very good messaging. As in what the issue is, empathize with them on that issue, either because you've experienced it or you've helped people who've experienced it, but make that issue real in a non-triggering way. And then why are you qualified to help them solve that issue and why do you align with them? Start there with your messaging.

Speaker 1:

Okay, now to pick a topic. Right, because tripwires and SLOs, they're effectively the same thing. Okay, so both solve a high demand problem, a simple, quick win. What else is the same? Both are priced like at an irresistible low brainer, low brainer, no brainer, oops price yet high enough to signal value. And they're not random topics, but they're stepping stones, usually stepping stones into your mid-tier offer. You know the 597, the $797 offer that you might sell later on in your funnel. Okay, so yes, making a tripwire is a bit like training wheels on the way to building a successful self-liquidating offer. It allows you to test in a low stakes environment.

Speaker 1:

So how do you pick a successful self-liquidating offer or tripwire? In this case, I would like you to start with a tripwire, okay, so think about it. You already have a program or a course, let's say, with people inside of it. Why don't you choose the most sought after part of your course, pull that out, build a decent sales page and go ahead and let people get that, since clearly you can look at the metrics inside of, let's say, if you host your course on Kajabi or maybe on ThriveCarts, learn software, then you can look and see which of the lessons are being watched the most. Or you can just look inside of your community that's related to your paid course and see what are the questions that you get over and over and over again. Maybe you look in your DMs, right, and you find what people are constantly DMing you about. I know you know. Spend 10 or so minutes in a quiet spot and think about that, because this matters, since you're basically choosing a demand driven, already validated, easy to pull out some sort of topic and packaging that up for sell. Here's the bottom line. You want to get something that's driven by demand. Create something that people already are asking, something that's driven by demand. Create something that people already are asking for, that's already been validated, so to speak, because of the demand for it, and something that's easy to create.

Speaker 1:

Now, self liquidating offers, or let's just say tripwire, since we're talking about a tripwire, that's on the Thank you page of your free lead magnet. They usually do not break even on their own. I do have some clients who are the exception to the rule, right? I'm thinking of a client who sells a $67, and, by the way, don't price yours this high, but it works for her business and we have tested lower price points, actually, and they haven't worked as well as the $67 price point for this offer that she has. And get this. It's not like even the standard amount of buyers end up buying her order bump or upsell. Her self-liquidating offer breaks even just on that first $67 offer. Now will yours Probably not.

Speaker 1:

So what you really want is to, in addition to that main offer, have a natural add-on. Okay, call this an order bump. Right, it needs to be low-priced and super duper aligned to your main offer. Okay, cool. And then you want to have an upsell, which would be the logical next step or next problem that somebody would have if they got your main offer and or the order bump. Now here's some benchmarks. All right, you should expect to cold traffic, as in if you're showing Facebook and Instagram ads to cold people who do not already know about your business. They have not watched any videos about your business or from you on social media Instagram and Facebook. They have not been to your business website. They are not on your email list. Okay they're not following you on Instagram or Facebook. You would expect 15 to 20% of people who buy that main product to also get the order bump. Then you would expect another, let's say, 5 to 10 percent of people who buy that main product to also get the upsell. So if you do not have a tightly aligned order bump and a tightly aligned upsell, you are leaving money on the table.

Speaker 1:

My name's Quajo, by the way. If we don't know each other yet, say hi to me on Instagram. I'm at Q-U-A-Y-J-O and ask me a question. I might make a video about it, but I've been coaching online I should say established as in high earning online course creators for you know, three years since the pandemic started, a little before that and I've been running Facebook ads for the same demographic, high earning course creators for about that long. That's like five to six years of experience now, and I'm a Facebook and Instagram ad strategist, that's if we don't know each other. Hi, good to meet you. I've seen so many funnels and I'm attempting to take what I've seen work for established online course creators and distill it into very easily digestible information for you. If you wanna see me on YouTube, because there's lots of visual teachings that I do like inside of Facebook Ad Manager. Then go down to the show notes below, click there and watch this on YouTube.

Speaker 1:

So I was going to say if your order bump or upsell is not converting as in, if you don't have the percentages of people getting those that I just laid out for you, it's usually because it feels disconnected from that main offer. So you're gonna start with a tripwire. I recommend you start with a tripwire. You don't have to listen to me. In fact, I do want you to understand.

Speaker 1:

Disclaimer incoming that Facebook and Instagram ads is not an automatically guaranteed get rich kind of quick strategy. Nope, in fact, most likely you will eventually, at one point or another, lose money on Facebook and Instagram ads. But as long as you're willing to put in the work to test your ads and test your offer, eventually you will make the equation work, or I should say eventually you can make the equation work such that you are profiting. But this does take work. If you cannot make a $7 to $17 tripwire work, scaling a $27 self-liquidating offer with Facebook and Instagram ads will be an uphill battle. Okay, tripwires allow you to get feedback in a low stakes environment and they allow you to generate some cash flow from day one. Don't sleep on setting up a tripwire. Even if you can reduce your lead cost by 40%, that still is generating some cash in your business and it's still something to be paid attention to, and I know you know.

Speaker 1:

The downside of having a lead magnet is that it attracts people who are looking for something for free, and yet having an email nurture sequence that nurtures people who got onto your email list for free is a tried and true way to eventually sell your offer. In fact, in an upcoming episode, we're going to talk about launching your course with a webinar and I'm going to distill into a very compact episode a checklist of everything you would need so that you can run Facebook and Instagram ads to this webinar and dial everything in so that you have the best chance possible at selling your course in a profitable way. The thing about the Tripwire is it trains your audience to buy. People who may have come to you for a free lead magnet with a I'm gonna get this thing for free mentality, some of them will see your paid offer and choose to make that leap to work with you. Have success because your paid offer gives them success, because you're an expert at what you do and that does help feed your business right, because more people on your email list will already have worked with you in a paid capacity and thus are more likely to work with you in a greater paid capacity further down on in your funnel.

Speaker 1:

If you're realizing that your SLO self-liquidating offer is struggling because you skipped the step of creating a successful tripwire, well, that's why I have this course called Tripwire Mastery and I don't talk about it often, so you probably haven't heard about it and you probably won't hear about it in another episode. So take a moment to really listen and think is this for you or not? And that link is in below. You will learn how to choose a main offer and then how to choose an aligned order bump and how to choose an aligned upsell. Plus. You're going to look at the perfect price formula and quit guessing what you should price your offer at. You'll be able to make a very good, educated decision from me on what to price your offer at. And then also I have proven templates you know. So basically, you'll be getting advice based on what I've seen high earning course creators do, so that your tripwire, one that you can finally make it super quick, and two so that you have the best chances possible of it actually reducing your lead cost by a substantial amount.

Speaker 1:

So you can grab that course. It's normally at $57. It should be a little bit less expensive than that. If you head down to the link below again that's in the show notes it'll show you how to build Tripwire so you can make some money back immediately. So make sure that before you go to a self-liquidating offer, that you set up a tripwire and make sure you go through the steps to get some money back, as in that tripwire is selling, and that your stats as far as the percentage of people that get the order bump and the upsell, are on point or at least on par. Okay. Once you get that tripwire nailed, then you have something that could be a successful self liquidating offer and you can go and run Facebook and Instagram ads to that. Until the next time you see me or hear from me. Take care, be blessed, and I'll see you in the next episode. Goodbye.

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Kwadwo Sampany-Kessie

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