offers

Offer Design

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 "we need a better offer" requests in disguise.

Scope check first

This skill earns its keep for services, agencies, courses, coaching, info products, direct-response, and high-ticket B2B with a sales conversation. For self-serve SaaS with tiered subscriptions or marketplaces, the levers are tier structure and value metric: skim the value equation below, then go to pricing.

The value equation

Value = (dream outcome x perceived likelihood) / (time delay x effort and sacrifice). Popularized by Hormozi's $100M Offers, internalized across direct response since.

Most "lower the price" requests are actually "raise the numerator or shrink the denominator" requests. Price is the comparison, not the value.

Anatomy of a complete offer

Six components. Skip one and conversion suffers.

1. Core deliverable: what they get
2. Bonus stack: what else makes the core feel undervalued
3. Guarantee: what happens if it does not work
4. Scarcity or urgency: why now, and it must be real
5. Name: what the thing is called
6. Price and payment structure: what they pay and how

Weak offers usually fail on bonuses (none), guarantee (none or wrong type), or scarcity (none or fake). Cringe offers fail on over-promised guarantees and fake countdown timers.

Diagnostic loop ("my offer isn't converting")

1. Load .agents/product-marketing.md or .claude/product-marketing.md if present.
2. Identify the business type: the right playbook is type-specific.
3. Write the current offer in plain language: name, price, deliverables, guarantee, deadline. One paragraph, even if it currently lives in five places.
4. Score each value-equation lever 1-10. The lowest is the binding constraint.
5. Audit the six anatomy components: which is missing or weak?
6. Fix one lever this iteration, usually the lowest-scoring one. Do not rebuild everything at once.
7. Project the lift honestly: single-component changes typically deliver 10-40%, two consecutive iterations on different levers can stack to 2-3x. Anyone promising 5x from one change is selling something.

Lines not to cross

• Fake scarcity. Countdown timers that reset, "3 spots left" lies. Short-term lift, long-term trust collapse.
• Over-promised guarantees. "Double revenue or refund plus $1,000" eats margin and the failures go public.
• Bonus inflation. "$50K of value" on a $497 product reads as a scam to sophisticated buyers. Bonuses are additive, not exaggerated.
• Course-bro aesthetic on a serious product. "Secret method" and gold badges pattern-match to fraud in professional markets.

Banned in offer copy: "game-changing", "revolutionary", "10x", "secret", "limited time" with no actual limit, "worth $X" with no comparable, "100% guaranteed" without conditions. Specificity beats superlatives every time.

Verification

Do the plain-language read-back: state the offer in one sentence, "You get [deliverable] plus [bonuses], in [timeline], backed by [guarantee], for [price], if you act by [real deadline]". Expect every slot filled with something concrete and true. Any slot empty or fudged: that component is the work, fix it before touching copy.

Good vs Bad

Bad: "Growth coaching, $2,000/month, month to month, book a call to learn more." No outcome, no proof, no guarantee, no reason to act now.

Good: "The 90-Day Pipeline Sprint: we rebuild your outbound system, first 10 qualified meetings booked or we work free until they are. $6,000, half upfront. Two client slots per quarter because delivery is hands-on, next slot opens <MONTH>."

Completion checklist

• [ ] Business type identified, pricing deferred to the pricing skill where it belongs
• [ ] Current offer written in plain language before changes
• [ ] Four levers scored, binding constraint named
• [ ] All six anatomy components present or consciously excluded
• [ ] Scarcity and guarantee are real and honorable
• [ ] One lever changed this iteration, lift projected honestly

Any box unchecked: not done. Fix or say so.

Footguns

• Polishing copy on a broken offer. Weeks of page tweaks cannot fix a missing guarantee. Fix: run the diagnostic loop before any copywriting.
• Rebuilding everything at once. Change five components and you learn nothing about what worked. Fix: one lever per iteration, measure, then the next.
• Guarantee mismatched to the business model. Unconditional refunds on high-cost-of-delivery services invite abuse; conditional guarantees ("do the work, get the result, or refund") protect both sides. Fix: tie guarantee conditions to customer actions you can verify.