Sometimes you find yourself with a product or service – that doesn’t sell.

At that time, you’ll begin to wonder. Why aren’t people buying?

You know it’s a great product (or service) and your business provides lots of value to its customers.

Before you doubt yourself and call your product a fail – know this. In most cases, the reason a product doesn’t sell is because of the lack of an irresistible offer. Sure it’s important to have a great product – but it’s the offer that makes it desirable.

Worry not, in this post, I’m going to share how you can create an irresistible offer and get your sales coming again.

What is an Offer?

An offer is a proposition for your product or service. It’s the most important element in your sales message.

Start with these questions.

1. What are you selling?
2. How much does it cost?
3. Who should take your offer?
4. How do you buy it?

Take my example:

Product: Gym Short Pants
Price: RM49.90
Who is it for: Men, who does weightlifting.
How to buy: Order it from the website.

At this point, the offer is quite general. We’re selling gym shorts to men. Nothing too special. Yet, this is exactly what most businesses do and they wonder why they don’t get any sales.

This is where a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) comes in, the factor that makes your product (or service) different from the others. Having a USP is important because, without it, your customer has no reason not to buy from your competitors – if all they are looking for is a pair of gym shorts.

First, figure out your product or service’s USP. Then we are going to add it to your irresistible offer.

During our digital marketing classes, I often ask students what their Unique Selling Proposition (USPs) are. What I found is many businesses have the wrong idea of what a USP is.

These are not USPs: 

• We offer great customer service.
• We have a fast turn-around time.
• Our product is top quality.
• We give the highest discounts in the market.

The reason they are not unique selling propositions is that those things are expected from clients.

These are some pretty good USPs: 

• Pizza sent to you in 30 mins, or your money back (Domino’s)
• Do you need animals to create meat? Why not make meat from plants? (Beyond Meat)
• I don’t just sell homes. I teach clients to save money on their home renovation too. (Property agent)

A unique selling proposition is a reason for some people to choose your business over your competitors. And having a strong USP is a must these days – in a world where businesses are quickly commoditizing.

Figured your USP? Alright, let’s now create an irresistible offer.

How to Create an Irresistible Offer

The rule to making an irresistible offer is to make one that your customer cannot refuse. Make it so crazy, that only foolish people will miss out on the deal.

Let’s say you’re a personal trainer.

If you google for personal trainers in Malaysia, here’s the website of one of the top results:

“Work It Like A Star With Our Star-Maker Instructors’. For most people, their offer sounds about right. That’s what they do right?

But you’re a better marketer. How can you turn the offer into an irresistible one?

How about these examples:

• “Come for a free training session & leave feeling 100% better. (No obligations. We’ve fired the sales team.)”
• “Look noticeable fitter in 45 days, or get free 1-year gym pass to Celebrity Fitness”
• “Fall in love with your body, again – without unrealistic dieting.”

Sure, we are promising a lot here. So before you put an irresistible offer out on your website, landing page, ads, or email – make sure to pull back and make sure that you can deliver that offer.

Start big, write your possible offers down, then take a step back to see if you’re confident of delivering the offer.

You might disagree about putting out an irresistible offer for your business. But think about it. There are hundreds of personal trainers and gyms all over Malaysia. What would make you any different? How would prospects be excited to choose you instead?

Four factors to create an irresistible offer: 

1. Your offer has to be specific. (Who is it for? What pain does it solve?)
2. It needs a risk-reversal. (Remove the risk for your customers.)
3. Immediate benefit.
4. Show don’t just tell. (Without social proof, an offer is weak.)

First, start by being specific about who your offer is for and what problem it solves. Most businesses write offer messages that speak too broadly and end up getting no leads or sales.

Your offer has to speak directly to a certain customer persona. The person reading your offer has to think, “Wow, this is me! How did they know I’m feeling this pain and this is exactly what I’m looking for?”

Take a look at SEAGM, an online store that sells game credits and reloads. There are many websites that also sell the same thing – but SEAGM is one of the few that provides 24/7 live support. Gamers are usually impatient as they are in the heat of gaming. When they buy game credits, they want it instantly so they can continue playing.

SEAGM understands who their prospects are and their pain. And they reflect it with an irresistible offer on their website – in the form of headline copy and chat pop-up.

Let’s take another example of creating an irresistible offer for mattress companies. I googled ‘mattress in Malaysia’ and found King Koil’s website. Take a look at their homepage:

‘Flax Linen Mattress For Healthy, Hygienic Sleep’. Okay, that’s alright for people who trust the King Koil brand (household name) and are in the market looking to buy a mattress.

But the offer is extremely boring. Not very different from other brands who are ALSO promising a healthier sleep. What’s worse is once you buy a mattress, you can no longer change it. You’re stuck with it.

Now, take a look at Sonno. And notice their irresistible offer:

‘Say ‘Hi’ to the best mattress ever. Free shipping. 100 nights trial, free return.’ 

Wow! Now that is an irresistible offer that would get people on the edge of their seats. The offer is specific, there’s risk-reversal, and is believable with the reviews. And if I don’t like the mattress after 100 days, I can return it, no problem. What a great deal.

Keep in mind that Sonno is a company that was founded in 2017, and King Koil, in 1898. How’s that for a younger company, using irresistible offers to eat into the market share of a household brand?

Is Your Offer is Strong Enough?

Now you should know how to create a strong irresistible offer for your product (or service). The last question – how do you know if your offer is strong enough?

A strong offer is one that will get people wondering. ‘How are they able to this?’ or ‘How is this possible? or ‘Is this company crazy?’. Generally, your offer must be eye-catching, yet believable. It has to provide upfront value, yet reduce the risk of the prospect.

Not to forget – make it easy for prospects to take action. Reduce the clicks a prospect has to take to checkout or keep it simple for them to get in contact with you.

Lastly, the only way to know if your offer works is to test it. Running ads on Facebook is one of the fastest most efficient way to test. Or post your offers in the comment section below and I’ll give you feedback

Good luck increasing your sales!