How To Boost Program Sales With Bonuses And Time-limited Offers

If you’ve ever bought an online course, you’ve no doubt seen how bonuses and early-bird offers are used as an incentive to get you to purchase.

Providing time-limited offers creates a sense of urgency and incentivises potential clients to make their purchase decision faster. And, when you’re throwing free bonuses in the mix, it can sweeten the deal just enough to get someone “off the fence” and click that register button.

If you’re selling an online program such as a cleanse, I can confidently tell you that using time-limited offers will help bump up your sales. And by-the-way, if you’re feeling a little hesitant to employ this technique because you don’t want to be (or feel) salesy, don’t worry, you can do this with class and integrity.

Here are a few strategies you can try…

Early Bird Pricing

Early bird pricing is when you make your program available at a discount for people who buy in the first few days of your promotion.

Everyone loves saving money, so putting a deadline in place to get a deal triggers a perceived benefit for acting quickly, which can be enough to make a person buy.

If someone is at all interested in your program, early bird pricing will entice them to make a decision faster so they don’t miss out.

How to use this tactic:

Decide on a reduced price for your program that you’re happy with – don’t under-price yourself! This reduced early bird price may end up being the amount you were planning to charge for your program.

For example, if you’re offering a cleanse and were thinking of charging $97, you can make $97 your early bird price and then increase your pricing to $147 when the early bird offer expires.

Typically, early bird pricing is a 20-30% discount. You want to promote your program at this deal for the first 7 days.

Be sure to promote it as an early bird price so your audience knows that …

1. This deal is going away soon so they need to act FAST, and
2. Your program is worth more than they will be paying for it, so the perceived value of your program remains high.

If you offer early bird pricing, you’ll see that this is the period when you have the most sales.
 

Time Sensitive Free Bonuses

Free bonuses are a great way to take people from on-the-fence to all-in on your program. Who doesn’t love getting something for free?

There’s a right way to do free bonuses. Giving away just anything is not a good game plan. You want your bonuses to relate to the program you’re promoting and enhance the experience of the customer by either improving their results or making things easier for them (or both!). At the same time, your bonus should not be CRITICAL to their success in the program. If this is the case, you want to make sure everyone has access to it.

Your bonus might be an extra guide, a mini-course, another course/product of yours, or access to an exclusive group.

A well-planned bonus will trigger the same perceived benefit as a discount, but instead of paying less, they’re getting more.

The right bonus will enhance the value of your program, so even though a client is paying full price, they feel like they’re getting a great deal. A bonus can also boost the confidence of your clients because more resources equals better results.

How to use this tactic:

You don’t have to spend a bunch of time creating something from scratch for your launch. Chances are, you already have materials that you can package as a bonus that will compliment what you’re teaching in your program. Or, you may have a course or guide that you would normally sell separately.

Another option is to work with a colleague or partner to include one of their programs as a bonus.

When using bonuses, it’s important to remember to promote them AS BONUSES. Selling your program plus 2 extra courses for a bundled price, say $497, is less effective than selling your program for $497 and including 2 bonuses for free. Again, it’s all about perceived value.

Like early bird offers, bonuses work best when they’re only available for a limited time.

You can set up your bonus offers to expire in 48 hours after your registration opens, or go for the first 7 days. Either way, you want to create the feeling of urgency and reward those early action-takers.

Bonus Time With You

A different kind of bonus you can offer is your time. This can be particularly enticing for a program that takes place primarily online, or for a large group program. Your clients will feel as though they’re getting extra personalization and attention, which will improve their chances of success.

You can offer a bonus kickoff call, extra group calls during (or after) the program, or even a VIP day if you have a high priced offer. For coaches who use our Ready-To-Launch cleanse program , I recommend they offer a bonus one-on-one post-cleanse or post-detox 30 minute wrap up call.

This allows them to provide more value and personalization to their clients, while deepening their relationship and getting to know their clients more personally. (These calls are also a great opportunity to invite your participants into a private coaching program with you, as a next step at the end of your group program.)

With this strategy, you’ll want to decide how much bonus time you can (and want) to give away. If 30 people purchase your program, can you carve out 30 half-hour spots in your calendar to speak to them? What about a few extra group calls over the course of your program? Make sure that whatever you choose doesn’t cause you to burn out!

How to use this tactic:

Bonus one-on-one time can work really well as a super limited time offer. You can offer a bonus call to only those who purchase 24 hours after your webinar, or only to the first 10 buyers. For bonus group calls, promoting them like any other bonus is the way to go.

No matter which bonus or pricing strategy you decide to use, make sure to highlight the ADDED value that your clients are going to receive. This keeps the perception of your main offer high, and everything else is icing on the cake.

You can increase the sense of urgency in your clients with a big countdown timer on your sales page and in your promotional emails. This is the one I use in emails and this is the one I use on our sales pages.

 
If you’re still on the fence about using these strategies, for fear of feeling or looking salesly, I want to leave you with this thought….

Being salesly is when you convince someone to buy something that they don’t want or need. Bonuses and time sensitive offers won’t convince people to sign up for your program if they don’t truly want what you’re offering.

But what it will do is help procrastinators make a decision and move them “off the fence.” So really, you’re being of service to these people because you’re motivating them to invest in something that you know is going to truly help them. And, it’s a way for you reward action takers – who, by-the-way, are almost always the best clients.

Now I’d love to hear from you!
What special offers have you used (or would like to use)? How has this worked for you?