Tripwire Funnel Definitive Guide: Everything You Should Know

You have a good product, but bringing it into your customers’ hands and convincing them to pay for it is not easy.

To do this, we need a list of potential customers. One of those strategies is to give something really value for free and collect customer contact information (like name and email address) that we called lead funnels.

The truth is, converting leads into paying customers is really not easy. It takes time for you to build trust and nurture customer relationships.

The prospect is not the customer anyway.

In business, you are paying a lot of expenses every day. Therefore, business owners always want to get profits as quickly as possible with more straightforward methods.

And tripwire is the solution for you. In this post, you will learn:

• What is a tripwire? Why it can help you get more quality leads online.
• How to use it in your sales funnel (as we called tripwire funnel). Therefore, you can understand where it is on your value ladder and combine it with the lead funnels to get more results as possible.
• Simply process to create a tripwire and tripwire funnel
• Real examples, how people use tripwire funnel in their business, so you can get more ideas to apply in your business

Now, let’s get started!

What is a Tripwire?

Tripwire is a low-ticket product offering that solves a specific problem in your prospect’s life. And you put it at such a low price, and you add such high value to it that it becomes an irresistible offer.

What it’s meant to do is take people that are prospects.

That has just opt-in on your email list and hasn’t bought anything and turn them into buyers as quickly as possible.

Because once somebody’s opened up their wallet and bought from you, then you have a much higher chance of selling them other things on the back end.

So that’s why you’ll see many funnels start with like a $7-$27 price, and then they move people up the chain to higher products.

Because once they’ve bought it from you, they’ve gotten to experience the value you can provide to them with meager resistance. Then they’ll develop that trust with you, and they’re willing to buy some of your higher-end products from you down the road.

The difference between tripwire and lead magnet

While both will help you grow leads online, however tripwire and lead magnet are completely different.

A lead magnet is what you will use to attract potential customers by offering freebies. Whereas for tripwire, customers need to pay a small fee.

Here is an example of a lead magnet and tripwire

As you can see,  just leave the email address so visitors can download or receive a gift for free.

Pros: Since the offer is free, there’s a high chance people will leave their email addresses in exchange. This means you can build your email list quickly and easily.

If you still don’t know how to generate leads online, you can join the 5-day challenge for free here.

Now, let’s see the tripwire

The customer will pay a small cost.

Pros:

• Help you build a list of hungry qualified buyers without wasting time on “Freebie-Seekers” who rarely purchase anything!
• Compensate the cost of investing in advertising

The difference between tripwire and discount code/ coupon

While customers still have to pay for both tripwire and discount codes, they are completely different tactics.

Discount codes or coupons usually available for a special event or a short period of time. The customers have the opportunity to buy your product or service at a lower price than usual.

Here is an example of Astra discount (WordPress theme)

You can buy it at $47 instead of $59

$47 is cheaper than usual, but it’s not a low-priced product that high value enough to attract potential customers to purchase.

This is the reason why discounts or coupons are more difficult to convince than tripwire. Also, using the discount code should have the right time, right strategy. For example, Black Friday, Valentine, Halloween, Renew account, etc.

Meanwhile, the price of a tripwire unchanged.

If you keep reducing your product prices:

1. Customers will not trust the discount code anymore. They will think you are purposely raising virtual prices like most popular tactics today.
2. In case you really reduce the price in the long run, the profit will narrow, and over time it may cause you to lose money (because advertising costs are increasing).

Instead, a perfect tripwire is a low-priced but high-quality product. Since then, customers feel this is a bargain, and they are easy to buy.

Tripwire’s goal is not profit. It’s to gather a quality customer list. People took out their cards for a small fee. Then we’ll invite additional products, upsell, downsell, … That’s where we really make money.

Why should you have a tripwire in your Business?

At this point, you probably understand why we need a tripwire for our business. Below I will summarize for you easy to grasp. There are 2 main reasons you need tripwire:

1. Build a highly qualified customers list

Through the provision of a high-value service or product that’s provided at a very affordable cost.

This allows you to lower the entry barrier while also bringing in lower risks and commitment requirements from the customer’s side.

You can use tripwire if you are looking to increase the customer base. 

You can also rely on Tripwires to help you find those quality leads that will spend money on your offers. It’s an innovative way to generate sales, and with the right ideas listed below, you can increase your profit potential.

2. Compensate advertising costs

No matter what industry you are in, there are always many bigger competitors out there who are willing to spend more money on advertising than you do.

It would be completely wrong to think that customers will come to you automatically.

Therefore, depending on your company’s strategy, you need to use some platforms (like Facebook and Google) to promote, distribute content and convey your message to the market.

Tripwire will help you recoup part of that cost. Our goal is not profit. Just break even, so you are successful.

So why not promote the core product instead of tripwire so we can get more profits?

Compared to advertising a core product, buying a product with a low price but high value makes the customer feel like a bargain. From there, it is easier to purchase.

What is Tripwire Funnel?

It would be a waste if you only sell tripwire products individually and then hope they will come back and buy your other someday.

One mistake marketers make is offering products or services, then sending daily emails to customers to nurture relationships, sell other products, and hope they will buy.

This is not entirely wrong.

However, you will want to be able to sell as many as possible right away. Because you never know when the customer will come back to buy from you or maybe never.

Therefore, we need to use the sales funnel – Tripwire Funnel.

Here is a tripwire funnel map

Depending on your strategy, your funnel can be different. It will basically have 4 pages.

• Landing page
• Order Bump
• Upsell or downsell page
• Thank You Page

How Tripwire funnel work?

The very first thing you’re going to see is you typically have an opt-in page.

It’s maybe a free plus shipping offer, give away free samples of your product or create a fantastic white paper report on your industry and give it away for free.

After that, you maybe have an order form.

This is one of my favorite pages after they are purchased, and you can also create an order form bump on this page.

And if they purchased that, you take them to the OTO page or a one-time offer page. We also have a one-time down sale.

This is the secret to increasing profits behind the Tripwire Funnel.

According to Dan S.Kennedy shared in The Ultimate Marketing Plan book:

IN EVERY BUSINESS, there are always customers who “Buy now”. But sadly, most business owners do not make any special efforts to sell to them.

These customers are precious, so instead of redirecting them to the thank you page, you should convince them to buy more products. Not all but a certain percentage of them will purchases. This helps you to increase your profits significantly.

Nowadays, although this approach is not new, however, very few people do it.

Because of that, you will get a huge advantage.

To understand what I said, you can scroll down to Tripwire funnel examples to see how famous marketers used it in their business.

What makes your tripwire successful?

When you create a Tripwire for your business, there are certain things you must be focused on, depending on the situation. While the cost is low, you want to offer a high perceived value and a money-back guarantee.

Show that there’s no risk in trying it out, and people will be more enticed to spend money on your offer. 

Of course, the product/service quality still needs to be very high, although you can leave your customers wanting more. Offering some of the free content and then requiring customers to pay for the Tripwire can help a lot. 

Plus, you always want to generate a sense of urgency, making you generate more customers quickly. Keep the Tripwire relevant and specific, study your competitors, and always try to add more to the offer to make it irresistible.

Tips to create a great Tripwire

• First, you want to have a perfect lead magnet. You must then find Tripwire offers that relate to the lead magnet and show its value and quality.
• Identify the type of Tripwire you want to offer if you’re going to deliver a quick win, if it focuses on skills or if you are prioritizing any rapid consumption via a downloadable Tripwire.
• When you choose the Tripwire name, try to be very creative and make it distinct, rewarding, and easy to understand.
• You should always create outstanding visuals for your Tripwire. Eventually, you can use a lot of red because it generates a sense of urgency.
•  Design a great landing page and make sure you address all customer requirements on it. You also want to have a call to action at the end, eventually boosted by an excellent deal for your Tripwire product.
• Always keep the Tripwire price point entry-level, as it will help you bring in more sales.
•  Establish a powerful email campaign that will make people buy your Tripwire offer. You should also follow up with customers to ask for feedback. Don’t step over this since it’s a crucial part of the process. You want to be 100% sure that you’re getting the best value and quality. 

How to use a tripwire funnel in your business?

In the value ladder post, I talked about the sales funnel inside the value ladder. You can see that the tripwire funnel will be in the middle (buyer funnel) and can be completely combined with other sales funnel to get the highest profit.

There are two ways that you can use for Tripwire funnel:

1. Use Tripwire funnel directly

First, you will attract potential customers through tripwire. Then build a relationship and nurture them to sell more products and services on a higher tier of the value ladder.

Pros: Build a list of hungry qualified buyers without wasting time on “Freebie-Seekers” who rarely purchase anything. Persuade people who already buy to buy more easier than persuade people to buy your product or service in the first time.

You can watch the video below to see Peng Joon revealed the secret behind his tripwire funnel that helps him earned  over $10M.

2. Lead Funnel + Tripwire funnel

This model applies to business owners who have a low budget. First, you will attract potential customers through the lead magnet. Then you will invite them to buy tripwire on the thank you page, as shown below.

Pros: The cost to generate a list of potential customers will cheaper and easier. After getting their email address:

1. Use tripwire to upsell directly to filter out qualified buyers.
2. Nurture and build relationships to sell other products and services in the long term.

Here is an example

The 99 Instagram Secrets is an affiliate funnel that I have used. In fact, the idea behind this funnel is learned from the 99 Marketing Secrets Blackbook of Russell Brunson

This is a combination of the lead funnel and the tripwire funnel together.

The first page provides an ebook with 99 tips to help you increase followers on Instagram.

Visitors just need to leave their email addresses so they can download the ebook for free. On the second page, I will fulfill my promise by sharing the link to download in step #1

Additionally, in step #2 is a link to the tripwire offer (the product I’m promoting as an affiliate).

After clicking on the link, the visitor will be redirected to the sales page (free + shipping).

So these are 2 ways that most people do. Depending on business models, products, and services, tripwire funnel usage difference:

Author/ Speaker/Coach/Consultant.​

You could use this funnel to run a ‘Free + Shipping’ offer to sell my book, reports, or case studies. Your one-time offer would be additional info products that complement the Free + Shipping offer.

Network Marketing / Affiliate

 Use this funnel to give away free samples of your product when they pay the costs of the shipping. Your upsells would be about getting on a subscription of the product at a discount or about joining my opportunity

B2B (Business To Business)

You’d create an amazing white paper report on your industry and give it away for free when they pay to ship. You easily upsell your core product.

Professional Service​

You’d create an ‘in-home kit’ version of my services on a Free + shipping model. Your OTOs would include the purchase of your regular service.

Retail / Brick & Mortar Business​

Take your most popular, lower-ticket product and offer it on a Free + Shipping model to those in your community. You’d be sure to offer a walk-in coupon on your Order Confirmation page too.

ECommerce​

Figure out which of your products was the best tripwire offer and sell it on the Two-Step Sales Page. Then look at your OTOs as “my cart” – what would be the next logical thing that these customers would want to purchase? You would make those all one-click upsells.

Best 3 tripwire funnel examples

Here are some examples of how to apply the tripwire funnel in online business that you can consult

1. Perfect Webinar Scripts Funnel – Russell Brunson

Website: Perfectwebinarsecrets.com

Price: $7

Why it’s work?

For just $ 7, you’ll not only get the framework and script that helped Russell Brunson and his students create scripts for the webinar with high conversion rates and get massive money from that but also training videos to guide you every step inside.

I have talked about this product in the Perfect Webinar Script review. You can click here to read.

Suppose you are someone who loves selling onstage or selling high-priced products like consulting services or real estate. You won’t miss the chance to create a perfect presentation, script for just $ 7.

In fact, the profit he earned is in the Upsell. Check out the image below to see Russell Brunson’s funnel structure.

2. Instagram Mastery Ebook

Website: Yesocialmediaagency.com

Price: $7

Why It’s work?

Similar to the perfect webinar script funnel above, the Instagram mastery book funnel starting at $7 too. He gives you 7 Steps To Master Instagram.

There are so many similar products and ebook people giveaways out there for free, and you might think this is nothing special and hard to attract potential customers well.

However, if you know the author owns one of the Instagram accounts with more than 250k followers, you will think this is a real bargain.

Follow his Instagram profile @the_boss_entrepreneur_inc here.

On the checkout page, there are two options: $ 7 and $ 25 (plus Audio book).

Not stopping there, in the order form, he will invite you to upgrade your order through a one-time offer for $ 37.

After completing the payment, you will be redirected to the Upsell page with an incredible offer Instagram Mastery For Business ebook one time offer$ 297

Besides, on the Thank You page, he also linked to another sales funnel.

To make it easier to understand, see the funnel map below.

3. Sell Like Crazy Book – Sabri Suby

Website: Selllikecrazybook.com

Price: Free + $6.95 for shipping

Why It’s work?

In case you don’t know, Sabri Suby is a CEO of King Kong (Digital Agency) and one of Australia’s fastest-growing businesses.

Sell ​​Like Crazy is one of the best-selling marketing books on amazon with a current rating of 4.6/5.

And ranked # 6 in Industrial Marketing (Books). Very impressive, right!

Instead of spending up to $ 24.78 to buy a book on Amazon, you can get this book for free and pay a small fee of $ 6.97 for shipping (cheaper than the Amazon Kindle) when signing up on the sales page of the author.

Also, you will receive other bonuses that are completely free.

Therefore, for $ 6.95, this is so cool and could attract many small and medium business owners.

You know, he cannot make profits with $ 6.95. The real profit is inside the sales funnel. This is also a Tripwire funnel (some people will call it Free + shipping funnel or book funnel), but the process behind it is the same.

After click on the “Claim special offer” button at the checkout page, you can easily upgrade your order through an order bump form for $ 37

Similar to sales funnels above, after you press the check-out button, the customer will be redirected to the upsell page with other one-time offers so they can upgrade their orders.

After watching the video, the call to action button will appear.

What is different between this funnel compared to the cases above is if you clicked on “No thanks, I don’t want this once…” You will be redirected to the downsell page.

The same goes for the upsell #2 page. To analyze each page will be very long, so that we will talk about it in another post. In this case, to save time, you can see the funnel map below to understand how his funnel works.

Exclusive Bonus: Tripwire Funnel Template Free Download

• Funnel #1: Click here to download
• Funnel #2: Click here to download
• Funnel #3: Click here to download
• Funnel #4: Click here to download
• Funnel #5: Click here to download

Conclusion

Establishing a suitable tripwire funnel to generate more leads and customers can be difficult. But the tips listed above will make it easy for you to generate lots of sales while also delivering the maximum support and assistance. 

It’s never easy to adapt and implement the right solutions, which is why you always need to think outside the box. Use these ideas and customize them based on your business. 

It will help you push the boundaries and reach a vast customer range. In the end, you will have a better way to bring in more customers to your business, thus growing your brand and expanding your reach naturally!