A few days ago, I got an email from a potential new client.
He’s a fitness trainer with 1) an impressively muscular body, 2) a couple of brick-and-mortar gyms somewhere in the UK, and 3) a pretty healthy online following, totaling around 50k people across various platforms.
Good stuff. But not nearly as impressive as one specific bit of this guy’s background:
He has consulted several A-list Hollywood stars, and helped them get in big-screen shape for superhero and action movies.
Hmmm…
Anyways, this fitness trainer has an online sales funnel he wants to improve. It runs like this:
Facebook ads -> free lead magnet -> thank you page with $17 ebook offer.
The trouble is, the thank you page isn’t really pulling its weight.
It only gets a 1% conversion rate.
And when I took a look at it, I could see a few reasons why.
So I gave the guy some simple suggestions — do better “above the fold,” highlight the sexy Hollywood stuff instead of burying it, rename the actual offer, etc.
The fitness trainer liked the ideas. And he wanted to know…
How much would I charge to write this up?
Well, I’ve lately been moving away from flat-fee deals.
For copywriting, that usually means asking for a royalty — a percentage of the revenues generated by the copy.
But in this case, I had a feeling the guy wouldn’t be open to a royalty structure. Maybe I had good reasons… or maybe I just chickened out. But the upshot was I made him two offers:
1. A flat fee of $x, which would make it worthwhile for me to work on this project
2. A flat fee (50% of $x) plus a bonus (another 50% of $x) for each 1% bump in conversions I could provide
Option 1 is safer for me and less attractive for the client. The client would rather have Option 2 (so he told me), particularly since the bonus he would be paying me would be “free.” It would be less than the increase in revenues he gets each day he runs traffic to this funnel.
On the other hand, this Option 2 is more risky for me. If I fail to produce, I get paid less.
But the upside is also greater — if I manage to get more than 1% increase in conversions (and I think I can), then I also get paid more in total.
So if you’re a copywriter, this payment structure might be something to keep in mind.
And if you’re a business owner, and you’ve got a great product, Hollywood-level social proof, and terrible marketing, then write me an email. Because I’ve got an offer I’d like to make to you.