Sell again after the first sale 4 of 25 in this group
SOP 62
Design a decoy offer
What this page is for. Use it to advertise a small, free or cheap version of what you sell, and to put a premium version beside it the moment somebody responds. The page carries how to build the lesser version, what to advertise and what not to, the order the two offers are presented in, the question that gets you permission to lead with the expensive one, and the test that tells you the contrast is too small.
SOP-62-Design-a-decoy-offer.md
1. The shape
Advertise something free or discounted. When the lead asks to learn more, present that offer and a more valuable one beside it, with more features, more benefits, bonuses and guarantees. Put side by side, the premium version shows its own value.
Three steps are given, in order:
- Advertise a lesser, smaller or simpler version of your premium offer.
- When leads engage, offer both — and emphasize the premium one.
- Close the additional people on the bonuses, the added value and the guarantees.
Why it closes everybody. The lead either takes the lesser version or takes the premium one, and both are outcomes you wanted, so the structure is named as an assumed close. A lead who takes the lesser version is still a customer or still a lead, and there is a later sale to make to them.
2. Where the money is
The model is stated to be 100 percent based on the upsell. That is the whole economics of it. The target that goes with it: run properly, 70 to 80 percent of people should take the premium version.
The test for a broken one. Where the free version keeps winning, it has been made too good and the paid version not good enough. The bigger the contrast, the more customers take the premium. Widen it until the premium is the obvious choice. If you are not making money fast, that is the lever named.
3. Building the lesser version
Take what you already have and remove from it. Three ways are named, and a fourth is visible in the worked pairs below:
| Way to strip it | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Fewer components | One session a week instead of unlimited |
| Older models | A previous version of the same thing |
| Less personalized | A general plan rather than one built for the customer |
| No support, no guarantee | The premium keeps both |
The instruction on what to strip is specific: peel off the features that cost you the most.
4. What you advertise, and what you owe
The advertised offer only has to get somebody to engage. Nothing more is asked of it.
Advertise the outcome, not the vehicle. The stated benefit of doing so is that it leaves you free to choose the vehicle and attach the price in the sales conversation. Advertise benefits rather than features.
Whatever you advertise, you deliver. An upsell sits inside this cleanly as long as what was advertised is still offered free, so you may advertise the free version without also listing everything the premium contains. If you do name the extra things in the advertisement, you have to hand them over.
Discounted works as well as free. A cheap paid version is offered as an alternative to free — the same offer at a small price, credited toward the premium if the lead moves up.
Flag: the worked credit is given a period that its own total contradicts. A $21 entry credited toward a $421 offer needs $400 more, and $21 plus $400 is $421. The extra $400 is attached to a day, which would not produce the total beside it. The total and the increment agree; the period does not. This page does not settle which reading is right.
Show rates. Discounted offers are named as producing higher show rates than free ones. Where show rates are a problem in your market, run the small paid version rather than the free one.
5. Four ways to say the same discount
One worked set, all of them the same money on a service at $100 a month sold as a year:
| How it is said | The figure |
|---|---|
| A percentage off | 25 percent |
| An amount off | $300 |
| Free time | Three months |
| Two prices side by side | One year at $900, against $1,200 |
They are named as useful here in particular, because decoy offers are often discounts.
6. The order of presentation
Present the premium first if you can. The reason given is an observation about leads: almost nobody remembers what they opted in for, and they barely remember the advertisement. What they remember is that the thing addressed a problem they have. Where the lead does remember, tell them about the advertised offer.
If they ask for the advertised offer, present it. An obligation is stated to present it on request.
The sorting question gets you permission. Ask, before either offer is on the table, whether they are here for free things or for lasting results.
| Their answer | What you do |
|---|---|
| Lasting results | Go straight to the premium offer |
| Free things | Present the lesser offer, then go immediately into the contrast |
The stated effect is that the lead has selected the premium presentation themselves, before hearing either offer. If they say free things, do not pause for a yes on the lesser offer — move straight on.
After both are on the table, ask one question. Three interchangeable forms are given: which will get you to your goal faster, which would you prefer to have, and which is more likely to help you reach your goal. Each of them forces the same selection, and the sale closes on a shared agreement rather than on a push.
If they say yes, stop selling. Nothing else needs to be offered.
7. How the premium is presented
Be visibly enthusiastic about it, assuming it genuinely is the better thing for the customer. Talk to the lead as though the premium is already decided. The register named is flat rather than loud: no hype, friendly, almost bored at how routine this is, moving straight to the paperwork.
The counter-example given is a question shaped to be refused — asking somebody whether they do not want a thing invites a no. Leads read tone and body language for which option they are meant to pick, so the delivery is part of the offer.
8. The surprise, for the ones who took the lesser version
Optional, and it earns its place. Hand a decoy customer one or two of the premium features that cost you nothing or nearly nothing, named as a deliberate throw-in. Four effects are claimed: goodwill; proof that you meant it when you said the other option was better for them; delivering more than was promised; and probably a higher chance they take the next offer.
The next offer is expected either way. A lead who took a free version is still a lead; one who paid is a customer; and the instruction is to make the next offer partway through whatever they took. The worked instance runs a consultation for the decoy customer and sells $300 of product inside it.
9. Three worked pairs
| Business | Advertised | The lesser version | The premium version |
|---|---|---|---|
| A drinks stand | A free week | Warm, artificially sweetened, and named as something that may give digestive trouble | Organic, all-natural, vegan, gluten-free, imported, cold-distilled, delivered |
| A float center | A free six-week stress-release challenge | One float a month, with at-home exercises | Two floats a week for six weeks, one-to-one consulting, a journal, a sleep routine, a satisfaction guarantee |
| A gym | A free or $21 twenty-one-day transformation | One workout a week — three over the term — plus a general plan, watched recordings, no support, no guarantee | Unlimited workouts, a personalized plan, accountability, and a results guarantee |
The origin case ran the same way on a five-day pass sold at $5. What made it work was that the customer could not know how many sessions the result takes; the consultation established the number, and the choice became per-session at $25 or unlimited at $19.99 a month with the $5 credited.
Flag: the guarantee in the gym case is given as two different numbers. The premium version's guarantee is stated as at least ten pounds, and as fifteen, with the same twenty-one-day window and the same remedy of another twenty-one days free. This page does not settle which reading is right.
Flag: the float example's lesser version is measured on a different clock from its term. The challenge runs six weeks and the lesser version is written as one float a month. This page does not settle which reading is right.
10. What this page does not decide for you
- The size of the price gap. The contrast is to be widened until the premium is obvious; no ratio is given.
- The price of the lesser version. Free, $19 and $21 are all worked.
- How many premium features to strip. The instruction is to remove the expensive ones. This page gives no figure for how many.
- What take rate below 70 percent means in practice. The target is given; the remedy named is contrast. Not established on this page.
11. The checklist
| Question | The answer |
|---|---|
| What is advertised | The lesser version, free or discounted |
| When the premium appears | The moment the lead engages |
| What the premium adds | Features, benefits, bonuses, guarantees |
| Where the money is | 100 percent in the upsell |
| Target take rate | 70 to 80 percent on the premium |
| Diagnosis if they take the free one | The free one is too good, the paid one is not good enough |
| How to build the lesser version | Strip the features that cost you most |
| What to advertise | The outcome, not the vehicle |
| What you owe | Anything you named in the advertisement |
| Free against discounted | Discounted is named as showing up more often |
| The permission question | Free things, or lasting results |
| After both are presented | Ask which one gets them there faster |
| If they say yes | Stop offering |
| For the ones who took the lesser version | Throw in a low-cost premium feature |
| Worked four ways to say a discount | 25 percent, $300, three months, $900 against $1,200 |
| Whether the premium take rate holds across markets | This page gives no figure for it. |
12. What this page does not cover
Where this offer sits in a deliberate order is settled on SOP 59 — Assemble a money model from four prongs. The rest of the family, which the page does not rank: SOP 60 — Design a win-your-money-back offer; SOP 63 — Design a buy-X-get-Y-free offer; SOP 61 — Run a giveaway as an acquisition offer; SOP 64 — Design a pay-less-now-or-pay-more-later offer; and outside the original set, SOP 65 — Convert a free consumption asset. The upsell this page's whole economics rest on is SOP 66 — Run the classic upsell and choose the moment, with the prescribing form on SOP 67 — Run the menu upsell and the expensive-first form on SOP 68 — Run the anchor upsell. Building the premium side by adding to an offer is SOP 5 — Cut costly pieces from an offer and bundle the rest, the bonuses on it are SOP 6 — Build and present a bonus stack, and the guarantee on it is SOP 7 — Choose and condition a guarantee. Cutting an offer down as a response to a no, rather than as an advertised entry point, is SOP 73 — Feature-downsell customers before they cancel. Free trials with conditions attached are SOP 71 — Run a free trial with a penalty.
Paying salespeople and setting appointments are not covered on this page.
Terms defined on this page
- Contrast (decoy offer)
- The gap between the lesser and premium versions. If the free version keeps winning, widen the gap; the aim is 70 to 80 percent choosing the premium.
- Decoy offer
- Advertising a lesser free or discounted version of your premium offer, then showing both side by side when the lead responds, so the premium shows its own value. All the money is in the upsell.