What it does. When the user wants to design, construct, or improve an offer — the thing they actually sell — including value framing, bonus stacking, guarantee design, scarcity/urgency, naming, and payment structure. Also use when the user mentions 'offer,' 'offer design,' 'build an offer,' 'grand slam offer,' 'irresistible offer,' 'value stack,' 'bonus stack,' 'guarantee,' 'risk reversal,' 'money-back guarantee,' 'scarcity,' 'urgency,' 'high-ticket offer,' 'productize a service,' 'naming an offer,' 'payment plan,' 'down-sell,' 'upsell offer,' or 'why isn't my offer converting.' Best for services, agencies, courses, coaching, info products, high-ticket B2B, and direct-response. If you run pure self-serve SaaS, read pricing first — tiers and packaging do more work there. For price level itself (tiers, freemium, value metric), see pricing. For the page that presents the offer, see copywriting. For the launch moment, see launch. For sales collateral, see sales-enablement. Part of coreyhaines31/marketingskills (marketing skills for agents) (coreyhaines31/marketingskills).

Upstream	coreyhaines31/marketingskills
Skill file	skills/offers/SKILL.md
License	MIT
Author	Corey Haines
Fetched	2026-09-10

Install

• npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills --skill offers, or copy the skill folder into ~/.claude/skills/offers/.
• Raw file: curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/HEAD/skills/offers/SKILL.md

SKILL.md (verbatim)

name: offers
description: "When the user wants to design, construct, or improve an offer — the thing they actually sell — including value framing, bonus stacking, guarantee design, scarcity/urgency, naming, and payment structure. Also use when the user mentions 'offer,' 'offer design,' 'build an offer,' 'grand slam offer,' 'irresistible offer,' 'value stack,' 'bonus stack,' 'guarantee,' 'risk reversal,' 'money-back guarantee,' 'scarcity,' 'urgency,' 'high-ticket offer,' 'productize a service,' 'naming an offer,' 'payment plan,' 'down-sell,' 'upsell offer,' or 'why isn't my offer converting.' Best for services, agencies, courses, coaching, info products, high-ticket B2B, and direct-response. If you run pure self-serve SaaS, read pricing first — tiers and packaging do more work there. For price level itself (tiers, freemium, value metric), see pricing. For the page that presents the offer, see copywriting. For the launch moment, see launch. For sales collateral, see sales-enablement."
metadata:
  version: 1.0.1

Offer Design

You are an expert in offer construction. Your goal is to help the user build offers that move — not by writing better copy on a worse offer, but by improving the offer itself.

Before Starting

Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing.md, or the legacy product-marketing-context.md filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

---

Core Philosophy

The offer is the thing, not the page. Better copy on a weak offer compounds slowly. A stronger offer with average copy converts immediately. Most "we need better copy" requests are actually "we need a better offer" requests in disguise.

This skill exists because the rest of the repo handles the expression of an offer — copywriting writes the sales page, cro optimizes the conversion path, pricing sets the tier structure, launch orchestrates the moment, paywalls shapes the upgrade prompt. None of them ask the deeper question: is the offer underneath any of that actually good?

When this skill matters

You sell:

• Services — consulting, freelance, agency retainers, productized services
• Courses — async, cohort-based, live
• Coaching — 1:1, group, mastermind
• Info products — guides, swipe files, templates, communities
• High-ticket B2B — $5K+ ACV with a sales conversation
• Direct-response — e-com promo offers, infomercial-style, paid-traffic-to-VSL

When pricing does more of the work

You sell:

• Self-serve SaaS with tiered subscriptions — the levers are mostly tier structure, value metric, and packaging; offer construction (bonuses, guarantees) is secondary
• Marketplaces — the offer is structural, not constructed

Skim this skill in those cases for the value equation framing, then go to pricing.

---

The Value Equation

The single most useful frame for offer design. Originally from Alex Hormozi's $100M Offers — internalized broadly across direct-response and creator-economy training since.

              Dream Outcome  ×  Perceived Likelihood of Achievement
  Value  =  ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
              Time Delay     ×   Effort & Sacrifice

You move the four levers like this:

Lever	What it means	How to increase value
Dream outcome ↑	What the customer actually wants	Connect to the bigger goal behind the surface ask. Specify and name it.
Perceived likelihood ↑	Do they believe they'll get it	Proof (case studies, named customers, data), guarantees, methodology specificity
Time delay ↓	How long until result	Faster onboarding, faster first win, faster end-to-end timeline
Effort & sacrifice ↓	What it costs them in time/work/risk besides money	Done-for-you, simpler process, fewer decisions, lower learning curve

Implication for offer construction: most "lower the price" requests are actually "raise the numerator or lower the denominator" requests. Price is the comparison, not the value.

For the full framework, examples, and how to diagnose which lever is broken: see references/value-equation.md

---

The Anatomy of a Complete Offer

A complete offer has six components. Skip any one and conversion suffers.

#	Component	Question it answers
1	Core deliverable	What do they get?
2	Bonus stack	What else do they get that makes the core feel undervalued?
3	Guarantee	What happens if it doesn't work?
4	Scarcity / urgency	Why now, not later?
5	Name	What is this thing called?
6	Price + payment structure	What do they pay and how?

Most weak offers fail on bonuses (none), guarantees (none or wrong type), or scarcity (none, or fake). Most aggressive-to-the-point-of-cringe offers fail on guarantee (over-promising) or scarcity (fake countdown timers).

For the full anatomy with worked examples: see references/offer-anatomy.md

---

Reference Library

Reference	When to read
value-equation.md	Diagnosing which lever is broken on a stuck offer
offer-anatomy.md	Building a complete offer from scratch
guarantee-design.md	Picking the right type of guarantee for your business model
bonus-stacking.md	Adding bonuses that raise perceived value without devaluing the core
scarcity-urgency.md	Creating real scarcity (and avoiding the fake patterns that destroy trust)
offer-formats.md	Format playbooks by business type — service, course, coaching, info product, SaaS lead magnet, agency retainer, high-ticket B2B
saas-offers.md	SaaS specifically — the discount trap (why discounting to acquire backfires) + four SaaS worked offers (AudienceTap, SaberSim, Teachable, Kit)
examples.md	Anonymized worked examples — before/after for each business type

---

The Diagnostic Loop

When the user says "my offer isn't converting" or "I want to improve my offer":

1. Identify the business type — service, course, coaching, info product, SaaS, agency, B2B. The right playbook is type-specific.
2. State the current offer in plain language — name, price, what they get, guarantee, deadline. Write it down even if it lives in scattered places now.
3. Run the value equation — score each of the four levers 1–10. The lowest is the binding constraint.
4. Audit the anatomy — which of the six components is missing or weak?
5. Pick one lever to fix this iteration — don't rebuild everything. The biggest lever is usually the one currently scoring lowest.
6. Draft the changed component — new bonus, new guarantee, new scarcity, new name, new payment plan
7. Project the lift, honestly — most single-component changes deliver 10–40% conversion lift. Anyone promising 5x is selling something. Two consecutive iterations on different levers can stack to 2–3x.

---

When NOT to Use Offer-Design Tactics

Some offer patterns work but cost more than they're worth:

• Manipulative scarcity — fake countdown timers, "only 3 spots left" lies. Short-term lift, long-term trust collapse. Don't.
• Over-promising guarantees — "double your revenue or refund + $1,000." Refund risk eats margin; the few cases that fail nuke your reputation publicly.
• Bonus inflation — stacking $50K of "bonuses" on a $497 product so it "feels like a steal." Sophisticated buyers see this. Treat bonuses as additive, not exaggerated.
• Course-bro aesthetic on a serious product — Gold logos, "secret method," fake urgency. Pattern-matches to scam. Wrong room.
• Discounting to acquire — discount-askers churn at ~2× the rate of full-price customers, and a coupon anchors the product as cheap. Discount only for upgrades/cross-sells (rewarding existing customers) or real seasonal windows — never to win a new one. Raise value with an offer instead. See saas-offers.md.

The repo voice: opinionated, but honest. Building offers well doesn't mean building offers loud.

---

Banned Vocabulary

When drafting offer language (sales pages, emails, headlines), avoid:

• "Game-changing," "revolutionary," "disruptive," "next-level," "10x" — pattern-matches to AI slop / course-bro
• "Secret," "hidden," "what they don't want you to know" — clickbait
• "Limited time" with no actual time limit — lying
• "Worth $X" or "$Y value" with no comparable — inflation
• "100% guaranteed" without specifying conditions — legally and brand-wise risky

Use specific numbers, named customers, concrete outcomes, real timelines. Specificity beats superlatives.

---

Related Skills

• pricing — for price levels, tier structure, value metric, packaging, freemium
• copywriting — for the page that presents the offer
• cro — for optimizing the conversion path the offer travels through
• launch — for the moment you ship the offer
• paywalls — for in-app upgrade-prompt versions of an offer
• sales-enablement — for the deck and one-pager that carry the offer into a sales conversation
• emails — for the email sequence that warms up the offer
• marketing-psychology — for the cognitive biases that make offers land or bounce

Other files in this skill

• evals/evals.json
• references/bonus-stacking.md
• references/examples.md
• references/guarantee-design.md
• references/offer-anatomy.md
• references/offer-formats.md
• references/saas-offers.md
• references/scarcity-urgency.md
• references/value-equation.md

references/bonus-stacking.md (verbatim)

Bonus Stacking

How to add bonuses that raise perceived value without devaluing the core offer.

What bonuses actually do

Three jobs at once:

1. Raise perceived value of the total offer
2. Lower perceived risk — even if the core underdelivers, "I still got X for free"
3. Close specific buying objections — each bonus can target one objection

The third job is the underrated one. Most weak bonus stacks throw four generic "extras" at the buyer. Strong bonus stacks read the buyer's specific hesitations and close them in order.

---

The core principle: bonuses-as-objection-handlers

For each major objection your buyer has, add a bonus that closes it.

Common objections → matching bonus

Objection	Targeted bonus
"I don't have time to implement this"	Done-for-you setup, week 1
"I don't know which tools to use"	Pre-vetted tool stack with discount codes
"What if I get stuck?"	30-day async Slack support
"I'm not sure my team will buy in"	Stakeholder pitch deck
"I've tried something like this before and it didn't work"	Case study from someone in your exact situation
"What about [edge case in my industry]?"	Industry-specific bonus reference doc
"Will I have to learn a bunch of new tools?"	Pre-built templates for the tools we recommend
"What if I don't finish it?"	1:1 accountability check-in at day 30
"My situation is more complex than the average buyer"	1:1 onboarding call to customize the plan
"Will this work in [region/language]?"	Localized version or addendum

A 4-bonus stack that closes 4 specific objections converts massively better than a 4-bonus stack of generic "extras."

How to find your buyer's actual objections

1. Read every refund-request email and sales-call transcript from the last 6 months
2. Read your own sales page out loud and write down every doubt that surfaces
3. Ask 3 recent buyers: "What almost made you not buy?"

The answers cluster around 3–6 objections. Build a bonus for each.

---

The math of bonus value

Each bonus has a stated value (what it would cost if you bought it separately). Bonuses should:

1. Have a stated value the buyer can verify. Compare to a comparable product or service. "$497 value — that's what the standalone template pack costs" beats "$5,000 value." (Standalone? Compared to what?)

2. Total to less than 2x the price of the core offer. A $1K offer can comfortably have $1.5K in bonuses. A $1K offer with "$25K in bonuses" reads as a scam.

3. Be things you'd actually sell separately. If you'd never sell the bonus as a standalone product, the stated value isn't real. Sophisticated buyers can tell.

4. Each have a specific named outcome. "Bonus: marketing toolkit" is weak. "Bonus: 12 pre-built Notion templates for your first 90 days, valued at $297 because that's what the standalone template pack sells for at [link]" is strong.

---

The 4-bonus pattern that works

Most strong offers stack exactly 3–5 bonuses. More starts to feel like padding; fewer leaves objections un-closed.

A common structure:

#	Type	Purpose	Typical value
1	Speed bonus	Removes time-delay objection	Templates, swipes, accelerators
2	Trust bonus	Removes likelihood-of-failure objection	Case study, methodology doc, examples library
3	Stuck bonus	Removes "what if I get stuck" objection	Office hours, Slack, on-demand support
4	Decision bonus	Removes "I have to choose between X and Y" objection	Tool stack with discount codes, pre-vetted recommendations
5 (optional)	Bigger-than-you-asked bonus	Adds dream-outcome surface area	Adjacent deliverable, related framework, partner offer

Example for a $2K B2B copywriting course:

#	Bonus	Closes
1	"30 winning sales page templates (last updated 2026-Q2)" — $297 value	"I don't have time to write from scratch"
2	"9 case studies from agencies that hit $250K MRR using these frameworks" — $0 (proof, not a saleable asset)	"Does this actually work for my situation?"
3	"60-day Slack access with weekly office hours" — $497 value	"What if I get stuck on a specific project?"
4	"The tool stack: 5 tools we use + discount codes (saves ~$1,200/yr)" — $1,200 value	"I don't know what to use"
5	"Bonus session: How to charge $5K+ per project" — $297 value	Pricing confidence (adjacent dream outcome)

Total stated value: ~$2,300 in bonuses on a $2K core. Math checks out (under 2x). Each bonus closes a real objection.

---

When bonuses backfire

Inflated values

"$50,000 in bonuses included today only!" on a $497 product. The asymmetry is the tell — every sophisticated buyer's bullshit detector fires.

Stated values must be defensible. If you can't point to a comparable price, don't quote the value.

Bonuses that devalue the core

If your core offer is "I'll write your sales page for $5K" and your bonus is "PLUS — bonus sales page edits for free for life!" — the bonus implies the core is incomplete. Now the buyer wonders why they should buy without the bonus.

Bonuses should be additive to a complete core, not patches on an incomplete one.

Bonus-stack-as-substitute-for-core

A weak core surrounded by amazing bonuses converts at the moment of sale but produces angry refund requests. The buyer bought the bonuses, got the core, felt cheated.

Order: strong core first, then bonuses to address specific objections.

Stacked too high

5+ bonuses with high stated values starts to read as a course-bro funnel. Premium buyers ignore the bonus list entirely; mid-market buyers feel they're being upsold; new buyers get confused.

3–5 bonuses, each with a specific purpose. Cap it.

Same-as-everyone-else bonuses

"BONUS! Private community access!" on every course in your category isn't a bonus, it's table stakes. If every competitor offers the same bonuses, none of them are differentiators.

Find bonuses that are specific to your buyer's situation. A SaaS bonus for a SaaS-focused buyer beats a generic "private community" every time.

---

Bonus delivery: timing matters

A bonus delivered on day 1 closes "what if I never use it?" risk. A bonus delivered at week 4 maintains momentum. A bonus delivered at completion rewards finishing.

Mix the timing intentionally:

• Day 1: speed bonuses (templates, swipes, toolkit)
• Week 2–4: support bonuses (Slack, office hours, check-ins)
• Completion: identity bonuses (certificate, alumni access)

A buyer who gets all bonuses up-front is more likely to abandon (they got what they wanted, lost incentive to finish). A buyer who gets some bonuses at completion is more likely to finish (and refer).

---

The audit

For each existing bonus on a current offer, ask:

1. What specific buying objection does this close? If you can't name one, it's filler.
2. What's its defensible stated value? If you can't point to a comparable price, drop the dollar amount.
3. Does the buyer get it on day 1, or at a meaningful point in their journey? Timing should support the customer outcome, not just the conversion event.
4. Is this bonus specific to my buyer, or could any competitor offer the same thing? If it's generic, replace it.
5. Is the bonus strong enough that the offer would still convert without the core? If yes, the core is weak. Fix the core, don't lean on the bonus.

Most stuck offers have either zero bonuses or too many generic ones. The right move is usually: cut to 3–5 specific objection-closing bonuses, name each one clearly, and put defensible values on them.

references/examples.md (verbatim)

Worked Examples — Before/After Offers

Anonymized examples drawn from real engagements. Each shows the weak version, the diagnostic, and the strong version.

---

Example 1: Fractional CMO service

Before

The offer (as it was):

Fractional CMO services. $15K/month. We'll help you grow.

Diagnostic:

• Dream outcome: 4 (vague — "grow")
• Perceived likelihood: 3 (no methodology, no case studies)
• Time delay: 4 (no timeline, indefinite engagement)
• Effort & sacrifice: 5 (unclear what the buyer has to do)
• Anatomy: only the core is present. No bonuses, no guarantee, no scarcity, no name.

Lowest binding constraint: perceived likelihood. Buyers don't believe an unnamed service will deliver.

After

Component	What was added
Core	"The 90-Day Marketing Reset" — 8-week audit + 12-week execution plan, delivered by a CMO who's run marketing at 3+ similar-stage companies
Bonuses	(1) Weekly 1:1s for 12 weeks (~$12K value); (2) Pre-vetted execution-partner intros (priceless); (3) Board-deck marketing strategy section template
Guarantee	"After the 8-week audit, if you don't have a clear 90-day plan you'd run yourself, you don't pay the audit fee."
Scarcity	"We take 2 engagements per quarter — next slot opens [date]"
Name	"The 90-Day Marketing Reset"
Price	$15K → $5K start, $5K week 8, $5K week 16

Same delivery, same person, ~3x close rate, longer engagements (because the buyer is clearer about scope).

Lesson: the price didn't move. The structure did.

---

Example 2: $1,997 cohort-based copywriting course

Before

The offer:

Learn copywriting. $1,997. Includes 6 modules and Slack access.

Diagnostic:

• Dream outcome: 5 ("learn copywriting" — surface ask, not dream outcome)
• Perceived likelihood: 3 (no case studies, no named methodology)
• Time delay: 4 (6-month course, no first-win)
• Effort & sacrifice: 4 (lots of homework, weekly calls, big commitment)

Lowest binding constraint: perceived likelihood. Buyers don't believe THEY can do it.

After

Component	What changed
Core	"Write sales pages clients pay you $5K+ for in 12 weeks" — outcome-framed
Bonuses	(1) 30 winning sales page templates (last updated Q2 2026) — $297 value; (2) 9 named case studies from copywriters in 6 industries — proof, not pitch; (3) 60-day Slack with weekly office hours — $497 value; (4) The tool stack with discount codes — $1,200 value
Guarantee	"Complete all 6 modules, submit the final exercise, and if you haven't written a sales page that lands you a $5K+ client within 12 months, refund in full."
Scarcity	Cohort scarcity — doors close Friday, next cohort in 3 months
Name	"The $5K Sales Page Bootcamp"
Price	$1,997 pay-in-full OR $797 × 3

Same modules. Same instructor. ~4x conversion. Lower refund rate (conditional guarantee qualifies).

Lesson: rename the outcome, add proof, install a real scarcity mechanic.

---

Example 3: $97 Notion template pack

Before

The offer:

Notion templates for marketers. $97. 20 templates included.

Diagnostic:

• Dream outcome: 6 (clear what you get, less clear what you achieve with it)
• Perceived likelihood: 6 (templates work for some, less for others — no proof)
• Time delay: 8 (instant access)
• Effort & sacrifice: 5 (setup work to customize each template)

Lowest binding constraint: perceived likelihood + dream outcome. "Will these actually save me time, for my setup?"

After

Component	What changed
Core	"The Marketing Ops Stack — 20 Notion templates that turn your scattered docs into a working marketing OS in one Saturday" — outcome-framed
Bonuses	(1) 10-minute "do this first" Loom — speed bonus; (2) "Stack the templates" flowchart (visual setup map); (3) Lifetime updates as templates are added
Guarantee	"30-day no-questions money-back" — unconditional, fits the price point
Scarcity	Founding-buyer pricing — $97 for the first 200 buyers, then $147
Name	"The Marketing Ops Stack"
Price	$97 pay-in-full

Same templates. ~2x close rate from the same traffic. The differentiator was the "in one Saturday" outcome anchor and the Loom that proves the speed claim.

Lesson: for low-priced info products, the dream outcome and a fast first-win are the levers. Don't over-engineer the guarantee.

---

Example 4: $50K B2B SaaS annual contract

Before

The offer:

Enterprise plan: $50K/year. Includes unlimited users, all features, dedicated support.

Diagnostic:

• Dream outcome: 5 (features-listed, not outcome-framed)
• Perceived likelihood: 5 (no roll-out plan, no time-to-value)
• Time delay: 3 (unclear when value starts; sales says "implementation varies")
• Effort & sacrifice: 4 (procurement + security review + IT integration + change management)

Lowest binding constraint: time delay. Enterprise buyers can't tolerate "implementation varies."

After

Component	What changed
Core	"Production-ready in 30 days, ROI by quarter end" — time-anchored
Bonuses	(1) Dedicated implementation engineer for 30 days; (2) Pre-built integration packs for top 5 platforms; (3) Custom training session for the buyer's team; (4) Quarterly business reviews with the buyer's CSM
Guarantee	"Not in production by day 30? You don't pay until you are." SLA-based.
Scarcity	Capacity-based: "We onboard 4 enterprise accounts per quarter. Next slot starts [date]."
Name	Tier name stayed "Enterprise" but added the engagement name "Strategic Onboarding"
Price	$50K annual → $50K annual with quarterly billing + paid 30-day pilot

Same product. ~30% higher close rate, 50% shorter sales cycle. The pilot + SLA combination removed the procurement objection.

Lesson: for enterprise B2B, time-to-value IS the offer. Solve it explicitly.

---

Example 5: $4K group coaching mastermind

Before

The offer:

Group coaching for founders. $4K/quarter. Includes 12 calls and Slack.

Diagnostic:

• Dream outcome: 5 (vague — "be a better founder")
• Perceived likelihood: 4 (one alumni testimonial, no methodology)
• Time delay: 6 (quarterly cadence reasonable)
• Effort & sacrifice: 7 (12 calls is real time)

Lowest binding constraint: dream outcome + perceived likelihood.

After

Component	What changed
Core	"12 founders, 12 weeks, one specific goal each — and a room that's seen it before" — peer-room positioning
Bonuses	(1) 1:1 onboarding call to set the personal goal; (2) Founder Library — 90 frameworks from past members; (3) 1:1 mid-quarter check-in; (4) Alumni access for 1 year after
Guarantee	"First two weeks — if it's not the room you wanted, full refund. After that, you're in."
Scarcity	Cohort size capped at 12 — once full, you're on the waitlist for next quarter
Name	"The Founders' Quarter"
Price	$4K/quarter pay-in-full OR $1,500 × 3

Same coach, same cadence. Higher close rate. Notably: members renew at ~70% (was ~35% before) because the "alumni access for 1 year" bonus changed the buying decision frame from "quarter" to "year."

Lesson: for coaching, the room IS the offer. Position the room, not the curriculum. Renewal-friendly bonuses lock in long-term LTV.

---

Example 6: Agency retainer — content marketing

Before

The offer:

Content marketing retainer. $8K/month. 4 articles per month + SEO strategy.

Diagnostic:

• Dream outcome: 4 (output-described, not outcome-framed)
• Perceived likelihood: 5 (no case studies linking content to revenue)
• Time delay: 3 (SEO is slow; client expectations misaligned)
• Effort & sacrifice: 6 (interviews, reviews, approvals all on client side)

Lowest binding constraint: dream outcome (vague) and time delay (misaligned expectations).

After

Component	What changed
Core	"We own the content engine. You get organic-driven sales meetings by month 9, with measurable revenue attribution." — outcome + timeline
Bonuses	(1) Persona research kickoff (one-time); (2) Quarterly content audit + republish list; (3) Pre-vetted freelance writers with QA layer; (4) Quarterly executive readout
Guarantee	"First 30 days is a paid pilot — 4 published pieces + 3 keyword roadmap. If at the end you don't see a clear 12-month path, we end the engagement, no balance owed."
Scarcity	Capacity-based: "We take on 3 retainer clients per quarter. Next slot is [date]."
Name	Tier name: "Growth Retainer"; engagement name: "The 90-Day Content Reset → 9-Month Growth Engine"
Price	$8K/month, 6-month minimum, OR $7K/month for 12-month commit

Same writers. Same SEO methodology. ~2x close rate. 60% of pilots convert to 12-month commits.

Lesson: for slow-cycle services (SEO, brand, content), the offer has to address the timeline explicitly. "Trust us, results in 6 months" doesn't sell; "paid pilot → milestone at day 30 → ramp" does.

---

Pattern across all six examples

Look at the changes side-by-side:

Example	Core change	Most important other change
Fractional CMO	Named it, added scope	First-milestone guarantee
Copywriting course	Outcome-framed, added proof	Case studies bonus
Notion templates	"in one Saturday" anchor	First-step Loom bonus
B2B SaaS	Time-to-value commitment	SLA-based guarantee + pilot
Coaching mastermind	Positioned the room, not the coach	1-year alumni access bonus
Agency retainer	Outcome + timeline framing	Paid pilot guarantee

The pattern: in every case, the price barely moved (or didn't move at all). What moved was the structure of the offer — naming, framing, guaranteeing, sequencing.

The price is the comparison. The value is the offer.

references/guarantee-design.md (verbatim)

Guarantee Design

A guarantee directly raises perceived likelihood of achievement (the buyer thinks: "they'll only offer this if they're confident") and lowers effort & sacrifice (less emotional risk). It's one of the highest-leverage levers in offer design.

The wrong guarantee hurts more than no guarantee. Pick the type that matches your business model.

The eight guarantee types

Type	What it promises	When it works	When it backfires
1. Unconditional money-back	"Refund anytime within X days, no questions"	Low-priced info, high-trust audience	High-priced/high-touch; refund risk eats margin
2. Conditional money-back	"Refund if you complete X and still don't see Y"	Courses, programs requiring effort	Sophisticated buyers; harder to honor publicly
3. Better-than-money-back	"If it doesn't work, full refund + $X"	Confident delivery, ample margin	If you fail; the few failures explode publicly
4. Service-level / SLA	"If we don't deliver X by Y, your money back"	Productized services, agency work	Vague SLAs you can't measure
5. Performance-based	"Pay only when X happens" (rev share, results-based)	Sophisticated B2B, high-confidence delivery	Long cycles, hard-to-attribute outcomes
6. Anti-guarantee	"No refunds. Make sure you want it."	Premium audiences, mature buyers	Confused / first-time buyers; reads cold
7. Outcome-or-extension	"If you don't get X by Y, we continue free"	Coaching, services with extendable time	Open-ended cost; choose with care
8. Comparison guarantee	"Beat [competitor]'s result or refund"	When you can credibly compare	When you can't measure the competitor cleanly

---

Picking the right one

Decision tree:

1. What's your buyer's biggest perceived risk?

   • "What if it doesn't work?" → money-back family (1, 2, 3)
   • "What if you don't deliver on time?" → SLA (4)
   • "What if I pay and get no results?" → performance-based (5) or outcome-or-extension (7)
   • "Is this real or scam?" → comparison or specificity-based (8)

2. What's your refund tolerance?

   • Can absorb refunds at scale → unconditional (1)
   • Need to qualify refunders → conditional (2)
   • Confident enough to add a bonus on top → better-than-money-back (3)
   • Can't afford refunds at all → anti-guarantee (6) or no guarantee + strong proof

3. What's your buyer sophistication?

   • Premium / mature buyers → anti-guarantee can work; "we don't do refunds" reads as confidence
   • First-time-in-category buyers → strong refund guarantee; they need permission to try
   • Sophisticated B2B → SLA or performance-based; they expect commercial terms

4. How measurable is the outcome?

   • Clean and measurable → performance-based, comparison, or outcome-or-extension
   • Fuzzy / subjective → money-back family with a conditional gate (you completed the work)

---

Examples by business type

Course / cohort

Strong: "Complete all six modules within 60 days, submit the final exercise, and if you haven't [specific outcome] we refund in full." Conditional on effort, clear on outcome.

Weak: "100% money-back guarantee." No conditions = refund magnet for buyers who never engaged.

Coaching / consulting

Strong: "After the first two sessions, if you don't think the engagement will deliver, we end it and refund the unused balance." Mid-engagement off-ramp builds trust.

Weak: "Satisfaction guaranteed." Means nothing.

Productized service / agency retainer

Strong: "First month is a paid pilot. At the end, if you don't see [specific milestone], you don't pay for month 2 and we end on good terms." Clear gate, clear out.

Weak: "We'll work until you're happy." Open-ended cost. Don't.

High-ticket info product (community, mastermind)

Strong (premium audience): "No refunds. The application process is rigorous because the value is real. If you're not sure, don't apply yet." Anti-guarantee works here.

Weak (premium audience): Generic 30-day refund. Reads cheap.

Low-ticket info product (template, swipe file)

Strong: "30-day no-questions refund." The transactional bar is "I bought it, looked at it, didn't want it." Unconditional fits.

Weak: No guarantee. The buyer's risk is too high for the price.

SaaS

Strong: Free trial or annual-prepay-with-money-back-in-first-30-days. Reduces friction without locking in unhappy users.

Weak: "Cancel anytime" alone — not a guarantee, just standard SaaS terms.

Direct response / paid traffic

Strong: Double-your-money-back or comparable risk inversion. Direct-response buyers expect risk-reversal-heavy offers.

Weak: Vanilla 30-day refund. Doesn't differentiate from every other ad on the platform.

---

Writing the guarantee

The guarantee text matters. Patterns that work:

Specific terms:

If, after completing the first 4 weeks of the program, you can't point to one specific business outcome you've achieved, email us and we'll refund 100%.

Confident tone:

We know this works. If it doesn't for you, we don't want your money.

Acknowledge the awkwardness:

Guarantees feel slimy. Here's ours anyway: if you do the work in modules 1–3 and don't see meaningful traction, we refund.

Patterns that don't work:

• "100% satisfaction guaranteed!" — generic, low-trust
• "Lifetime guarantee" — meaningless without conditions
• Multiple stacked guarantees — sophistication-collapsing
• Guarantees full of legalese — buyers skim and assume the worst

---

Common mistakes

Promising more than you can deliver

"Double your revenue or your money back + $1,000." If even 1 in 50 buyers fails and gets the bonus refund + writes a public review, the offer is permanently damaged.

Stress-test: what happens if 10% of buyers invoke the guarantee?

Conditional guarantees with too many conditions

"Refund if you watched all 24 modules, completed the 6 exercises, attended every live call, and posted in the community at least once per week."

Buyers read this as "they made it impossible to actually get a refund." Trust drops.

Two conditions max. Three only if they're closely related (e.g., "completed the course AND submitted the final project AND emailed us a question").

Hiding the guarantee in the fine print

If your guarantee is your strongest perceived-likelihood lever, put it on the sales page in 24pt text. Move it above the buy button.

Forgetting to test it

Re-read your guarantee text every six months. The wording that worked a year ago may now be undermined by something you've changed about your offer.

Treating guarantees as a substitute for proof

Strong proof + weak guarantee > strong guarantee + weak proof. Order matters. Build proof first, then layer on the guarantee.

---

The honest case for NO guarantee

Anti-guarantees ("no refunds, this is final") work when:

• Buyer sophistication is high
• Application or qualification process precedes the sale
• Price is premium-to-luxury
• Brand is established
• Proof is overwhelming

What you're saying: "We don't need a guarantee because the work is real, the buyer has self-qualified, and we won't engage in transactional refund games."

The wrong audience reads this as cold or scammy. The right audience reads it as confidence. Know your buyer.

---

The diagnostic

When auditing an offer with no guarantee (or a weak one), ask:

1. What's the buyer's actual risk? Make it concrete. ("$2K and I might not get more clients.")
2. What guarantee structure reverses that specific risk? Match it to one of the eight types.
3. What's your honest refund tolerance? Calculate refund rate × refund cost; can you sustain it?
4. Does the guarantee match your audience sophistication? Premium buyers want anti-guarantee; first-time buyers want unconditional.

Most offers don't have the wrong guarantee — they have no guarantee at all. Adding any guarantee is almost always a lift. Adding the right one is the lever.

references/offer-anatomy.md (verbatim)

Offer Anatomy

A complete offer has six components. Skip any one and conversion suffers — usually noticeably.

The six components

#	Component	Question it answers	Where it fails
1	Core deliverable	What do they get?	Too vague, or pitched as features instead of outcome
2	Bonus stack	What else do they get that makes the core feel undervalued?	Either no bonuses, or inflated/fake bonuses
3	Guarantee	What happens if it doesn't work?	None, wrong type, or over-promising
4	Scarcity / urgency	Why now, not later?	None, fake, or destructively manipulative
5	Name	What is this thing called?	Generic, internal-jargon, or no name at all
6	Price + payment structure	What do they pay and how?	Single number with no payment flexibility

---

1. Core deliverable

The thing they actually get.

Define it as an outcome, not a feature list

• Feature-pitched (weak): "6 modules, 24 lessons, weekly calls, private community."
• Outcome-pitched (strong): "A working customer-acquisition system that brings 5 qualified leads per week within 60 days — built with you, not handed to you."

The features still matter — buyers want to know what they're getting — but the frame is the outcome. Features support the outcome, they don't replace it.

Define the scope explicitly

What's in. What's out. What's optional. Buyers buy clarity; ambiguity erodes perceived likelihood.

Example scope statement:

Includes:
- 90-day program with weekly live calls (recorded)
- Private Slack with daily founder access
- 12 fill-in-the-blank templates
- 1 90-minute strategy session with a senior strategist

Doesn't include:
- 1:1 calls outside the strategy session
- Implementation of the work (you/your team does this; we coach)
- Tools and software (you provide; we recommend specific stacks)

Match the depth to the buyer's stage of awareness

Sophisticated buyers want the methodology and scope. New-to-category buyers want the dream outcome and proof. Read your audience.

---

2. Bonus stack

What you add to make the core feel undervalued at the asking price.

Bonuses do three jobs at once:

1. Raise perceived value of the total offer
2. Lower perceived risk — even if the core underdelivers, "I got X for free"
3. Close specific objections — each bonus can target a different buying objection

How to construct bonuses

For each major objection your buyer has, add a bonus that closes it:

Objection	Targeted bonus
"I don't have time to implement this"	Done-for-you setup, day 1
"I don't know which tools to use"	Pre-vetted tool stack with discount codes
"What if I get stuck?"	30-day async support
"I'm not sure my team will buy in"	Stakeholder pitch deck for your team
"I've tried something like this before and it didn't work"	Case study of someone in your exact situation

A 4-bonus stack that closes 4 specific objections converts massively better than a 4-bonus stack of generic "extras."

Don't inflate

"$50,000 in bonuses!" on a $500 offer reads as scam. The asymmetry destroys trust.

Bonuses should:

• Have a stated value the buyer can verify (compare to a comparable product)
• Total to less than 2x the price (e.g., a $1K offer can have ~$1.5K in bonuses comfortably)
• Be things you'd actually sell separately if you wanted

For the full bonus-stacking framework, see bonus-stacking.md.

---

3. Guarantee

What happens if it doesn't work.

A guarantee directly raises perceived likelihood of achievement (the buyer thinks: "they'll only offer this if they're sure"). It also lowers effort & sacrifice (less emotional risk).

The wrong guarantee can hurt:

• Over-promising guarantees attract refund-seekers
• Generic "100% guaranteed" with no conditions reads as legally unenforceable
• No guarantee at all signals you're not confident

The right type depends on your business model, refund risk tolerance, and buyer sophistication. For the full taxonomy, see guarantee-design.md.

---

4. Scarcity / urgency

The reason to buy now, not later.

Two flavors:

• Scarcity — limited quantity (cohort size, seats, inventory, batch)
• Urgency — limited time (cohort deadline, season, bonus expiry)

The bar: the scarcity has to be real. Fake countdown timers and "only 3 spots left" lies work once and torch trust permanently. The internet is small; you will be caught.

Common honest scarcity formats:

• Cohort closes Friday (because the cohort actually starts Monday)
• Founding-member pricing for the first 20 customers (because you're capacity-constrained)
• Seasonal product or service (because demand is seasonal)
• Bonus expires at launch end (because the bonus is your time)
• Capacity-based service tier (because you literally can't take more clients)

For full guidance on creating real scarcity, see scarcity-urgency.md.

---

5. Name

What this thing is called.

A named offer beats an unnamed offer for three reasons:

1. Repeatability — buyers can tell their friend about it
2. Distinction — a name makes it a thing, not a generic service
3. Pricing power — branded offers can charge more than the same delivery sold as a service

Naming patterns that work

• Outcome-named: "The 30-Day Activation Sprint" — names what they get
• Methodology-named: "The VAULT Framework" — names how you do it
• Identity-named: "Founder Marketing OS" — names who it's for
• Compression-named: "5-Day Cohort" — names the timing/structure

Naming patterns that don't work

• Generic descriptors: "Marketing Coaching Program" — forgettable
• Internal jargon: "Tier 2 Standard" — buyer can't repeat
• Course-bro: "The Money-Making Machine" — pattern-matches to scam
• Pun-overload: "GrowthGoGetter" — reads as low-status

Practical test

Can a buyer text a friend: "I just signed up for the [name]. It's $X and you get [one-line outcome]"? If yes, the name works. If no, rename.

---

6. Price + payment structure

The price is the obvious part. The structure is the underrated part.

Price isn't a number, it's a comparison

Buyers compare the price to:

• The dream outcome (does this get me the result I want?)
• The next-best alternative (what else could I buy?)
• The cost of doing nothing (what does the status quo cost me?)
• Other items in your own catalog (anchor pricing)

You can move price perception without changing the number by:

• Showing the cost of doing nothing more vividly
• Anchoring against a higher-priced alternative
• Sequencing other items in your catalog at higher prices first

Payment structure is its own lever

Same total price, different structures convert very differently:

Structure	When it works	Trade-off
Pay in full	High-trust buyers, lower price points	Highest perceived commitment, smallest buyer pool
Pay in 2-4 installments	Mid-range price, hesitant buyers	More buyers, payment defaults
Monthly subscription	SaaS, ongoing services	Annuity revenue, churn risk
Pay-after-results	High-confidence delivery, sophisticated buyers	Cash flow lag, fewer disputes
Down payment + balance on delivery	Services with milestone-based delivery	Balance risk on backend
Free trial → paid	Low-friction SaaS, info products	Conversion drop-off

Often the right move isn't lowering price — it's adding a payment plan. Same $6K price, "$6K today" vs "$2K × 3 monthly" converts very differently.

---

Putting it together: an example

A B2B fractional CMO service.

Component	Weak version	Strong version
Core	"Fractional CMO services"	"8-week marketing audit + 90-day execution plan, delivered by a CMO who's done it for 3+ similar companies"
Bonuses	None	(1) 1:1 weekly check-ins for 90 days; (2) pre-vetted execution-partner introductions; (3) board-deck for marketing strategy section
Guarantee	None	"If after the 8-week audit you don't have a clear 90-day plan you'd run yourself, you don't pay the audit fee"
Scarcity	None	"We take 2 engagements per quarter — next slot opens [date]"
Name	"fCMO Consulting"	"The 90-Day Marketing Reset"
Price	"$15K, paid up front"	"$15K → $5K to start, $5K at week 8, $5K at week 16"

Same delivery. Same person. Different offer. Different conversion.

The point: most "we need to lower our price" conversations are actually "we have one of six components missing or weak" conversations.

references/offer-formats.md (verbatim)

Offer Formats by Business Type

The right offer format depends on what you sell. The same six components (core, bonuses, guarantee, scarcity, name, price) get assembled differently by business type.

This reference is organized by business type. Find yours, then use the format as a starting point — not a fixed recipe.

---

Service / freelance

You sell your time and skill.

Default format

Component	Default
Core	A scoped engagement with a specific deliverable and timeline
Bonuses	Templates, frameworks, post-engagement support, tool stack
Guarantee	First-milestone gate (paid pilot or first-deliverable refund)
Scarcity	Capacity-based (next slot opens [date])
Name	Methodology-named or outcome-named (e.g., "The 30-Day Activation Sprint")
Price	Project-based with down-payment, or monthly retainer

What to watch

• Naming matters disproportionately — services without named offers compete on price; named services compete on positioning
• Scope creep is the offer killer — define what's in, out, and optional, in writing, before the engagement starts
• Bonuses should compound the deliverable — templates and frameworks that make the buyer self-sufficient after the engagement, not during

Productizing the offer

Move from "I sell consulting" to "I sell the 8-Week Marketing Reset." Same delivery, different offer.

The productized version:

• Has a name
• Has a fixed scope and timeline
• Has a fixed price
• Has the same bonuses every time
• Has a defined gate (week 4 check-in, paid pilot, milestone review)

Productizing raises perceived value, simplifies sales, and creates a repeatable case-study factory.

---

Course (async, cohort-based, live)

You sell structured learning.

Default format

Component	Default
Core	The curriculum + delivery format
Bonuses	Templates, swipe files, case studies, community access
Guarantee	Conditional money-back (completion-gated)
Scarcity	Cohort scarcity (enrollment closes [date])
Name	Outcome-named or methodology-named
Price	Pay-in-full or 2–4 installments

Async vs cohort-based

Decision	Async	Cohort
Pricing	Lower ($297–$1,997)	Higher ($1,497–$5,000+)
Scarcity	Bonus expiry, price increases	Cohort start date
Guarantee	Generous unconditional	Conditional on completion
Conversion mechanic	Email funnel, evergreen webinar	Launch window + cohort deadline
Default bonus	Templates, swipes	Slack + office hours + 1:1 review

What to watch

• Completion is the marketing asset — every completer is a case study. Engineer the first win in week 1.
• Cohort scarcity must be real — if "doors close Friday" is followed by "doors reopen Monday because we extended the cohort," the trick gets noticed
• Refund design matters more than refund rate — a generous-sounding guarantee with smart conditions converts well and refunds rarely

---

Coaching (1:1, group, mastermind)

You sell access to your expertise applied to their specific situation.

Default format

Component	Default
Core	Sessions + asynchronous access + specific outcome focus
Bonuses	Resources from your library, intro to network, post-engagement check-ins
Guarantee	Outcome-or-extension or first-two-sessions out
Scarcity	Capacity-based (N spots / quarter)
Name	Identity-named or outcome-named (e.g., "Founder Marketing Mastermind")
Price	Monthly retainer or 3/6/12-month engagement

1:1 vs group

Decision	1:1	Group / mastermind
Pricing	$1,500–$10,000+/mo	$497–$2,500+/mo
Scarcity	Capacity (4–10 1:1 clients)	Cohort size (8–30 members)
Guarantee	First-two-sessions out	Trial period, no refunds after
Bonuses	Custom resources, intros	Group access, peer accountability, library access
Default delivery	Weekly or biweekly sessions	Monthly group calls + community

What to watch

• Identity is the offer — group coaching is often more about being in the room with peers than about the coach's instruction. Name the room, not the coach.
• Onboarding is part of the offer — a sloppy intake destroys perceived likelihood
• Renewal is the real conversion event — design for the 6-month decision, not the first-month decision

---

Info product (guide, swipe file, template pack, community)

You sell packaged knowledge or assets.

Default format

Component	Default
Core	The asset(s) + lifetime access
Bonuses	Adjacent assets, walkthroughs, templates
Guarantee	Generous unconditional (30-day no-questions)
Scarcity	Bonus expiry, price-increase scheduling
Name	Outcome-named, often punchy and specific
Price	$29–$497, pay-in-full

What to watch

• The first-impression matters disproportionately — the buyer opens it once. If the first 5 minutes don't feel premium, they don't engage with the rest
• Quick-start is a bonus — pair the asset with a 10-minute "do this first" walkthrough
• Lifetime access is implicit pricing — clarify what "lifetime" means (yours, the product's, until you sunset it)

---

High-ticket B2B ($5K+ ACV, sales-led)

You sell to companies with a sales conversation.

Default format

Component	Default
Core	A multi-month engagement or annual contract
Bonuses	Onboarding, training, integration, dedicated CSM
Guarantee	SLA, performance-based, or pilot-gated
Scarcity	Quarter-end pricing, capacity (N onboardings/quarter), tier limits
Name	Internal-stable (e.g., "Enterprise Plan") + named engagement type (e.g., "Strategic Onboarding")
Price	Annual contract with quarterly payment, often custom

What to watch

• Buying committee, not buyer — the offer has to land with the champion, the economic buyer, and the influencer simultaneously
• Procurement is the offer — your terms (payment, NET 60, security review, MSA) are part of the offer; rigid terms lose deals
• Pilot offers convert sophisticated buyers — "30-day paid pilot, decide to continue at end" reduces decision risk
• The CSM is part of the offer — buyers consistently rate post-sale relationship as part of the offer-perceived-value

---

Agency retainer

You sell ongoing service delivery.

Default format

Component	Default
Core	Monthly deliverables + dedicated team + reporting cadence
Bonuses	Strategy sessions, tool access, audit credits, library access
Guarantee	Month-1 paid pilot or 90-day out clause
Scarcity	Capacity (N clients / vertical / quarter)
Name	Tier-named ("Growth," "Scale," "Enterprise") + service line
Price	Monthly retainer with discount for annual commit

What to watch

• Onboarding velocity is the offer — agencies that take 6 weeks to start delivering lose to agencies that deliver something in week 1
• Reporting is part of the offer — clean, monthly, action-oriented reporting reduces churn more than additional deliverables
• Tier upgrades are the easiest revenue — design tiers with clear value-step-ups so upgrade conversations are obvious

---

Self-serve SaaS

You sell a tool with tiered subscriptions.

Default format

Component	Default
Core	Tiered subscription with clear feature differentiation
Bonuses	Free onboarding, templates, integrations, partner discounts
Guarantee	Free trial OR annual-with-30-day-refund
Scarcity	Founding-pricing for first N customers, or seasonal launches
Name	Tier-named ("Starter," "Pro," "Team," "Enterprise")
Price	Monthly or annual with discount, value-metric-based

What to watch

• Pricing tier > offer construction — for self-serve SaaS, packaging and value metric do more work than guarantees and bonuses. Use the pricing skill.
• Free trial design IS offer design — length, gated features, credit-card-required vs not, automatic conversion. Each is an offer decision.
• Annual prepay is the offer lever — same product, different commitment, often 20–40% discount. Many SaaS conversion lifts come from improving the annual offer, not the monthly.

For SaaS, this skill is supplemental. Read pricing first.

---

Direct response / paid traffic

You sell from a sales page or VSL to cold traffic.

Default format

Component	Default
Core	The "thing" + clear payoff
Bonuses	Heavy bonus stack (5–7 bonuses, layered values)
Guarantee	Aggressive risk reversal (better-than-money-back, double guarantee)
Scarcity	Real time-bound (launch window, evergreen with hard close)
Name	Hooky, often pattern-interrupt
Price	Often single-payment with payment plan offered

What to watch

• Direct-response buyers expect aggression — quiet, premium-feeling offers convert badly on cold paid traffic. The aesthetic of the page matters as much as the offer.
• Refund rates can be 10–20% — bake this into the math. If margin can't survive 15% refunds, restructure.
• The first 7 seconds determine the rest — hook, then offer

This format is high-skill. If you're not from a direct-response background, hire someone or partner with someone who is.

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Choosing your format

If you're not sure which format applies, pick the closest match and adapt. The biggest mistake is borrowing a format from a different business type (e.g., applying direct-response bonus stacking to a premium B2B service — wrong audience, wrong aesthetic).

Two diagnostic questions:

1. Who buys it, and how sophisticated are they? Premium B2B and direct-response cold traffic both buy, but they need different offers.
2. What's the dominant constraint? Service businesses are capacity-constrained, SaaS is pricing-tier-constrained, courses are cohort/season constrained. Match the scarcity format to the real constraint.

For worked examples by business type, see examples.md.

Back to coreyhaines31/marketingskills (marketing skills for agents) or Agent skills.