offers · offer-formats
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
pricingskill. - 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.
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:
- Who buys it, and how sophisticated are they? Premium B2B and direct-response cold traffic both buy, but they need different offers.
- 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.
Source: https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/skills/offers/references/offer-formats.md · v1.0.1 · MIT License (c) 2025 Corey Haines.