The conversion stage is all about an entry-point offer.
In other words, we need the prospect to make a micro-commitment. The best way to do that is through a high-value, low-risk offer that lets them sample your wares without putting too much skin in the game.
Out of all of the stages, we truly believe that this one is the most critical. It’s also the one that marketers have the biggest difficulty with because it is by design a bit of a hybrid stage.
They’re not customers yet, but they’re not merely prospects. A lot of that ambiguity is why it works. We need a way to progress the relationship in a timely, appropriate, and sequential manner.
How can we get our prospects to make a micro commitment that gives us the opportunity to deliver the aha moment? How do we get our prospects to meet us for coffee?
The two methods of commitment that we as humans recognize is: Time and Money. The time on our calendars and the money in our wallets.
Lets brainstorm some Entry Point Offers (what we call the deliverables at the convert stage, because this is the offer that you’re making at the entry point of the relationship.) We’re not looking to propose marriage on the first date we’re simply looking to meet for coffee, a micro commitment.
The question we’re asking here is: What is something that your ideal prospect would only buy or register for if they had a very specific problem or challenge that you could solve?
The most obvious answer here is giving a demonstration. If anyone registers for a demo then they recognize that they have a problem that you could potentially solve.
If you are a software company a demo is a great entry point offer. But let’s think about another way. What’s the kind of thing that if someone purchased you would know they were interested?
For example, we once had ownership in one of the largest survival and preparedness communities on planet earth which also had an e-Commerce store. Our store sold all kinds of different items from water purifiers to fire starters and flashlights, and things like that. We found that not all of these products would necessarily suggest that someone was interested in survival and preparedness.
For years our entry point offer was a very simple fire starter, a tool that could start fire even when wet. This entry point offer was very effective, but it wasn’t converting as high as we expected. Next up we tried a flashlight.
Our flashlight offer exploded, sales went crazy, we sold out of these items. But no one who bought the flashlight was ascending into any of our other survival and preparedness offerings. What we found is that a flashlight is a very poor indicator that someone has a specific problem we can solve. The reality is that everyone would like a flashlight, regardless of their pains and problems, and doesn’t necessarily qualify them as a customer.
We then went back to our firestarter. It didn’t sell as quickly as our flashlight, but it delivered a much higher quality of customer. Remember, only the people who have a specific problem or challenge that we can solve are the people interested in purchasing from us.
What is your fire starter? What is the thing that only your ideal customer, if they saw it, would be interested in and everyone else would just pass it by?
To do this for Hazel & Hem Boutique, you just need to offer a low-cost item to get them involved in the brand. In this instance, we’ll have them offer one of their most popular bracelets for only $10 if you’re a first time customer.
For Cyrus & Clark’s Media agency, once the trust has been established through the subscribe stage, it’s time to show your prospects what you can do. They’ll offer their $5,000 90-Day Strategic Plan for just $500. $500 may sound like a lot for an entry point offer, but it’s appropriate if the average target avatar is generating millions in sales.
