How to frame your Startup’s Offer so that Customers BUY!

Arunima

9 min readJun 3, 2024

Make an offer so good, that they can’t say NO. Learn to write juicy headlines along the way

The best businesses fail because they can’t get their value across.

Imagine reading “Transforming your content game to supercharge your growth”

You’ll scroll right over it.

Now instead of that, let’s say

“Create viral content from our library, 10 times faster”

That’s interesting, isn’t it?

Most startup founders think that if their idea is good enough, they’ll come. But they never do.

A great product doesn’t matter if…

You’re not able to convince the audience it is great
You’re not able to show the value you bring
You’re not able to get them to take action

That’s it.

A single block of text has the power to stop your phone ringing with stripe notifications.

The block of text where you couldn’t convince them that your product was worth their money and time.

So, in the next 10 minutes, you will learn…

How to create an offer so good that they can’t say no (No.. you don’t have to add more features)
How to write a great headline from your offer creation
Bonus — Awareness level

I’ve concluded this knowledge from reading several books and watching great founders build products. Let’s start

How to create an offer so good they can’t say no!

Alex Hormozi in his book $100M offers shares a value equation. Before we can come to that, let’s understand what “value” is.

There’s a product advertised with the following titles.

“How to lose weight”

You understand that this product tells you how to lose weight.

“How to lose weight to get the bikini body you want”

Okay, it seems more realistic because now you’re imagining yourself in great bikini.

“How to lose weight to get the bikini body you want even if you are 100lbs over”

Okay, now this lets go of the objection that you’re too heavy to try it”

“How to lose weight to get the bikini body you want even if you are 100lbs over in next 2 months”

This got way better. This is becoming increasingly possible and making you imagine your dream in next 2 months.

“How to lose weight to get the bikini body you want even if you are 100lbs over in next 2 months without sacrificing pizza”

Okay, I don’t know about you, but I’d def click this. I don’t even want a bikini body but this sentence just screams value. It makes me feel like it has some secret value, something I don’t know, and I wanna grab it.

Now what happened with each sentence that I wrote?

First I added the simple How to
Then I added the DREAM outcome
Then I added the objection. Or anything that makes you feel an increased likelihood of achievement
Then I decreased the time delay.
And finally, I decreased the “efforts and sacrifice” I am asking from you. You don’t have to sacrifice pizza, how cool is that?

And that is how I gradually increased the value of the offer.

So the equation of value would be -

Technically, if you decrease time and effort to 0 you can infinite the value.

That means, if they can use your product and get healthy instantly, that’s AMAZING, right? But that’s not possible.

However we can try to minimize it when we are building our service/product!

So now,

Before you start selling create what you offer in this way. Infact, before you start building your startup, or adding more features think about what part of this equation it changes.

Not changes any? Huh? Will your users care?

Infact, it gives a direction as well when you now wanna add more features.

Now let’s create formulas for great headlines!

How to write seductive headlines

Let’s figure out how to write a great headline from the offer- this headline can be used on your landing page, in your copy, in ads, and anywhere where you wanna talk to the user.

I’ll end it with an example for a super techy startup.

My only ask?

Throw the marketing jargon like “SUPERCHARGE” “TRASNFORM” in dustbin. Use words your users know.

Like if it’s a dating app, use the words “red flags” since that’s the lingo everyone uses!

Now let’s build formula…

Part 1- Basic Offer — I’m the ONE

This part is more for helping you niche down and be specific in your offer

What? The only
How? that
Who? for
Why? Who want
When? in an era

Part 2 — Components of Value Equation

Let’s convert the value equation into words.

Dream outcome

Get [Dream outcome in simple words your audience uses everyday
Increase [Positive Metric] by [Number or percentage)
Decrease [Negative Metric] by [Number or percentage)

Perceived Likelihood of Achievement

[Benefit] Guaranteed or your money back
Join [Number] people who have successfully [Achieved]
Even if you [Common objection]

Time delay

In Just [Time Delay]
Immediate Access to [Benefit]
Start seeing results in [Time Delay]

Effort/Sacrifice

Without [Common effort/sacrifice]
No More [Pain point]
Reduce [Common Objection] by [Percentage/amount]

Okay so, once you have filled it, here are 5 headline variations you can try!

[Get Dream Outcome In Simple Words] For [Who] Without [Common Effort/Sacrifice] — [Increasing Positive Metric] In Just [Time Delay]
[Who], No More [Pain Point]. Helping [What], [How]. [Dream Result] In Just [Time Delay]
[Number] [Who] Are [Achieving Dream Outcome] With [What]. Your Turn: [Benefit] Without [Common Effort/Sacrifice]. Start [Time Delay]
[Who] Wanting [Dream Outcome]? We’ve Helped [Number] [Achieve Dream Outcome] By [How]. Your [Benefit] In [Time Delay], No [Common Effort/Sacrifice].
The only [What] that [How] for [Who] who want [Dream Outcome] — [Decreasing Negative Metric] by [Number/Percentage] without [Common Effort/Sacrifice]

Not only this, since each of the 4 components has 3 ways of writing, you can make countless combinations.

Now let’s try to apply this on a random startup I found.

Let’s say I have Next.Js Boilerplate for creators who aren’t coders, launch their priced courses on their separate website instead of using shopify, etsy, gumroad.

Whew, I chose a tough one. It’s very technical and so, it makes an interesting example.

So, let’s do it.

Part 1

What? The only Bolierplate Course

How? That can launch courses on a 100% owned website without learning how to code

Who? For creators

Why? Who want to sell courses, own 100% of what they make, and customize everything as per themselves

When? In an era where everyone uses same stores, gives away 22% of hard earned money, and have to use 10+ SaaS for waitlist, upsell, testimonials

Part 2

Dream Outcome

Launch your course on your own platform and own 100% of it
Increase profits by 20%
Decrease the SaaS subscriptions you take to manage your funnel

Perceived Likelihood of Achievement

Increase in Profits guaranteed or your money back
20 Creators have Tried this, and saw an increase in sales by 10x
Even if you don’t know how to code

Time Delay

In just one hour
Immediate Access to our boilerplate and a valet to onboard you
Start seeing results in 2 days

Effort/Sacrifice

Without spending thousands on domain names, testimonial services, and gumroad
Without learning how to code
No more splitting your profits
Reduce the time you spend to intergate your funnel

Now let’s assemble our pizza, uh I mean headline

Launch Your Course and Own 100% of It. For Creators. Without Spending Thousands on 5 Different Apps — Increase Profits by 20% In Just One Hour
Creators, No More Splitting Your Profits. Helping Launch Courses On 100% Owned Websites Without Learning To Code. 10X Increased Sales In Just 2 Days!
20 Creators Are Launching Their Courses On Their Own Platforms With Next.js Boilerplate. Your Turn: Profits Increase Guaranteed Without Learning To Code. Start In 1 Hour, and have a Valet Onboard you!
Creators! Wanting To Own 100% Of Your Course Revenue? We’ve Helped 20 Creators 10X Their Sales By Launching On Custom Websites. Your Profit Increase In 2 Days, No Coding Required.
The Only Boilerplate That Can Launch Courses On 100% Owned Websites Without Learning To Code. For Creators, Who Want To Maximize Revenue — Decrease SaaS Subscriptions by 80% Without Giving Away 22% of Profits

This might seem heavy, but you don’t have to use all the components in one go!

Just use them throughout your landing page or website.

Best part? You don’t have to be a copywriter to write these. Just put words in the formula and you’re good to go.

Now let’s come to the BONUS section!

BONUS — Awareness Levels

Let’s say you are hungry and you want pizza. And then you see the ad that says…

“With our artisanal sourdough crust, hand-stretched and wood-fired to perfect leopard char, our Margherita pizza delivers an authentic Neapolitan flavor experience like no other.”

As someone who just wanted a damned pizza, you would think — “Huh? I just want some good pizza, not sure what leopard char is.”

Now how this would be?

“Craving an authentic, mouth-watering pizza? Our oven-fresh pies use quality ingredients for a delicious taste.”

Better, right?

That’s the difference.

The difference is in awareness levels. How aware are you of your problem and solution?

Most people suck at selling because they do the pizza thing. Not using the correct words for the correct audience.

Now before we go beyond, I’ll explain the awareness levels in the simplest language

Unaware: People don’t know they have a problem or need.
Problem Aware: People know they have a problem but don’t know there are solutions. That they even exist!
Solution Aware: People know there are solutions, but not your solution.
Product Aware: People know about your product, but they aren’t sure if it’s right for them.
Most Aware: People know your product well and are ready to buy.

The best people to sell are “most value aware” but the hardest to sell to are unaware. They don’t even know they need you?

So, if you are running ads on facebook, where no one knows you..you are with an unaware and problem-aware audience.

While if you are running ads on a particular Facebook or Reddit group of people dealing with these problems, you are in solution solution-aware audience.

Finally, the goal of your marketing funnel is to take your audience from unaware/problem aware to most aware so they buyyyy from you!

Some simple formulas for each audience

Unaware: [Highlight the unknown problem/need] and you’ll miss out on [major benefit]
Problem Aware: Finally, a solution for [their problem] — without [major pain point]
Solution Aware: The [differentiated benefit] [product name] that [solves their problem]
Product Aware: See why [number] [target customers] chose [product name] to [obtain desired outcome]
Most Aware: Don’t miss this [limited window]: Get [product name] today for [major perceived value]

Know the audience. Know what words they need. Use them.

Lemme wrap this up real quick!

Think about the value you are providing when you start building your business
Don’t think about it in terms of features or even simple benefits but Dream outcome, perceived likelihood, time spent, sacrifice needed
Use the formulas across your website to get your value across. That simple wall of text will convert to stripe notifications!
There are 5 awareness levels, and based on that level — you need to pitch or advertise your business — Most makers don’t know this
Be empathetic. Think why should they care about your business and how you can help them?

Hey, thank you so much for reading! I know this was a long read but I hope it helps you in making money down the line.

If you liked this, I’d appreciate a clap so it reaches more founders.

I’m also doing SaaS marketing deep dives over 30 pieces of content, so follow along if you loved it :)

Cheers! (5/30)

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