What’s the smarter way to sell your $197 product using Facebook Ads?
Should you drive leads straight to your offer after a free lead magnet, or warm them up with a low-ticket tripwire first?
In this post, we’ll break down two proven funnel strategies — one simple, one slightly more advanced — and run the numbers to show you exactly which one puts more profit in your pocket.
If you’ve ever wondered how to structure your funnel for maximum ROI, keep reading.
🔁 Scenario A: Lead Magnet → $197 Core Product
🎯 Funnel Structure:
- Facebook Ad → Free Lead Magnet
- Thank You Page or Email Sequence → $197 Core Product
🧲 Step 1: Facebook Ad → Free Lead Magnet
You run Facebook Ads offering a free lead magnet — like a PDF, checklist, or cheat sheet — to attract attention and collect email addresses from cold traffic.
- Ad Spend: $1,000
- Cost Per Lead (CPL): $2
- Leads Generated: $1,000 / $2 = 500 leads
🛒 Step 2: Offer the $197 Core Product to All Leads
Immediately after opting in (via a thank-you page or email sequence), you present your main $197 product to all leads. Since these leads just signed up for a freebie and haven’t bought anything yet, conversion rates tend to be low.
- Conversion Rate: 2% of leads
- Buyers: 2% of 500 = 10 buyers
- Revenue: 10 x $197 = $1,970
📈 Scenario A Summary:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Leads Generated | 500 |
| Core Product Buyers | 10 |
| Total Revenue | $1,970 |
| Ad Spend | $1,000 |
| Profit | $970 |
| ROI | 1.97x |
✅ Strengths:
- Simple to build and launch
- Works best if your $197 offer is extremely compelling and matches the lead magnet well
❌ Weaknesses:
- Relies 100% on cold leads buying an expensive product
- You don’t recoup ad spend unless you convert enough people upfront
- No tripwire means fewer committed buyers in your funnel
💸 Scenario B: Lead Magnet → $27 Tripwire → $197 Core Product (Offered ONLY to Tripwire Buyers)
🎯 Funnel Structure:
- Facebook Ad → Free Lead Magnet
- Thank You Page or Email → $27 Tripwire Offer
- Immediate Upsell or Follow-up → $197 Core Product (only for tripwire buyers)
🧲 Step 1: Facebook Ad → Free Lead Magnet
Same as in Scenario A — you run an ad offering a valuable freebie to build your list.
- Ad Spend: $1,000
- CPL: $2
- Leads Generated: $1,000 / $2 = 500 leads
💰 Step 2: Tripwire Offer ($27)
After someone downloads the lead magnet, they see a low-ticket “tripwire” offer — a product related to the main offer, priced at just $27. This is designed to convert leads into buyers quickly and offset ad spend.
- Conversion Rate: 10% of leads
- Tripwire Buyers: 10% of 500 = 50 buyers
- Revenue from Tripwire: 50 x $27 = $1,350
🔥 Step 3: Core Product Offer ($197)
The $197 core product is now offered only to the 50 people who bought the tripwire — either immediately as a one-time-offer (OTO) or in a short email follow-up. These people are much more likely to buy again.
- Conversion Rate from Tripwire Buyers: 20%
- Core Product Buyers: 20% of 50 = 10 buyers
- Revenue from Core Product: 10 x $197 = $1,970
📈 Scenario B Summary:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Leads Generated | 500 |
| Tripwire Buyers | 50 |
| Tripwire Revenue | $1,350 |
| Core Product Buyers | 10 |
| Core Product Revenue | $1,970 |
| Total Revenue | $3,320 |
| Ad Spend | $1,000 |
| Profit | $2,320 |
| ROI | 3.32x |
✅ Strengths:
- The $27 tripwire recovers ad spend quickly
- Only showing the $197 product to tripwire buyers leads to a higher conversion rate
- You build a buyers list, not just a list of freebie seekers
- More profitability with similar ad spend
❌ Weaknesses:
- Slightly more complex to build (extra offer page, upsell logic, email flow)
- You may miss out on potential $197 buyers who didn’t buy the tripwire — unless you add them to a later campaign
📊 Final Comparison (Side-by-Side)
| Metric | Scenario A | Scenario B (with Tripwire) |
|---|---|---|
| Leads | 500 | 500 |
| Tripwire Buyers | — | 50 |
| Tripwire Revenue | — | $1,350 |
| Core Product Buyers | 10 | 10 |
| Core Product Revenue | $1,970 | $1,970 |
| Total Revenue | $1,970 | $3,320 |
| Profit | $970 | $2,320 |
| ROI | 1.97x | 3.32x |
🧠 Final Takeaway:
- Scenario A is clean and simple, but has lower overall profitability and ROI.
- Scenario B adds a small $27 offer to convert cold leads into buyers and increases overall trust. When you then show your $197 core product only to those buyers, you significantly boost your conversion rate and ROI — even with the same ad spend.
It’s a more scalable system — and you’re building a funnel of buyers, not just leads.
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