Suede Offers

---
name: suede-offers
description: "Suede-affiliated offer design for value framing, bonuses, guarantees, risk reversal, honest scarcity, naming, and payment structure. Use when the user is building or diagnosing a service, course, coaching, information-product, agency, or high-ticket B2B offer. NOT FOR: SaaS tier and value-metric architecture (use suede-pricing), sales-page copy (use suede-copy), or in-product upgrade prompts (use suede-paywalls)."
metadata:
  version: 1.0.0
---

# Suede Offer Architecture

Suede separates the offer underneath the page from the copy used to present it. Improve the real value exchange—outcome, proof, effort, time, scope, bonuses, guarantee, price structure, and honest constraints—before polishing language around a weak proposition.

## Before Starting

**Check for product marketing context first:**
If `.agents/product-marketing.md` exists (or `.claude/product-marketing.md`, or the legacy `product-marketing-context.md` filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

---

## Core Philosophy

**The offer is the thing, not the page.** Better copy on a weak offer compounds slowly. A stronger offer with average copy converts immediately. Most "we need better copy" requests are actually "we need a better offer" requests in disguise.

This skill owns the offer underneath the expression. Route sales-page language to `suede-copy`, conversion-path work to `suede-site-alchemy`, tier structure to `suede-pricing`, launch orchestration to `suede-campaign-in-a-box` (creator and artist launches) or `suede-marketing-plan` (product and service launches), and upgrade prompts to `suede-paywalls`.

### When this skill matters

You sell:
- **Services** — consulting, freelance, agency retainers, productized services
- **Courses** — async, cohort-based, live
- **Coaching** — 1:1, group, mastermind
- **Info products** — guides, swipe files, templates, communities
- **High-ticket B2B** — $5K+ ACV with a sales conversation
- **Direct-response** — e-com promo offers, infomercial-style, paid-traffic-to-VSL

### When `suede-pricing` does more of the work

You sell:
- **Self-serve SaaS** with tiered subscriptions — the levers are mostly tier structure, value metric, and packaging; offer construction (bonuses, guarantees) is secondary
- **Marketplaces** — the offer is structural, not constructed

Skim this skill in those cases for the value equation framing, then route to `suede-pricing`.

---

## The Value Equation

Suede uses a four-lever value equation to diagnose whether the outcome, perceived likelihood, time delay, or required effort is constraining the offer.

```
              Dream Outcome  ×  Perceived Likelihood of Achievement
  Value  =  ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
              Time Delay     ×   Effort & Sacrifice
```

You move the four levers like this:

| Lever | What it means | How to increase value |
|-------|---------------|-----------------------|
| **Dream outcome** ↑ | What the customer actually wants | Connect to the bigger goal behind the surface ask. Specify and name it. |
| **Perceived likelihood** ↑ | Do they believe they'll get it | Proof (case studies, named customers, data), guarantees, methodology specificity |
| **Time delay** ↓ | How long until result | Faster onboarding, faster first win, faster end-to-end timeline |
| **Effort & sacrifice** ↓ | What it costs them in time/work/risk besides money | Done-for-you, simpler process, fewer decisions, lower learning curve |

**Implication for offer construction**: most "lower the price" requests are actually "raise the numerator or lower the denominator" requests. Price is the comparison, not the value.

**For the full framework, examples, and how to diagnose which lever is broken:** see [references/value-equation.md](references/value-equation.md)

---

## The Anatomy of a Complete Offer

A complete offer has six components. Skip any one and conversion suffers.

| # | Component | Question it answers |
|---|-----------|---------------------|
| 1 | **Core deliverable** | What do they get? |
| 2 | **Bonus stack** | What else do they get that makes the core feel undervalued? |
| 3 | **Guarantee** | What happens if it doesn't work? |
| 4 | **Scarcity / urgency** | Why now, not later? |
| 5 | **Name** | What is this thing called? |
| 6 | **Price + payment structure** | What do they pay and how? |

Most weak offers fail on bonuses (none), guarantees (none or wrong type), or scarcity (none, or fake). Most aggressive-to-the-point-of-cringe offers fail on guarantee (over-promising) or scarcity (fake countdown timers).

**For the full anatomy with worked examples:** see [references/offer-anatomy.md](references/offer-anatomy.md)

---

## Reference Library

| Reference | When to read |
|-----------|--------------|
| [value-equation.md](references/value-equation.md) | Diagnosing which lever is broken on a stuck offer |
| [offer-anatomy.md](references/offer-anatomy.md) | Building a complete offer from scratch |
| [guarantee-design.md](references/guarantee-design.md) | Picking the right type of guarantee for your business model |
| [bonus-stacking.md](references/bonus-stacking.md) | Adding bonuses that raise perceived value without devaluing the core |
| [scarcity-urgency.md](references/scarcity-urgency.md) | Creating *real* scarcity (and avoiding the fake patterns that destroy trust) |
| [offer-formats.md](references/offer-formats.md) | Format playbooks by business type — service, course, coaching, info product, SaaS lead magnet, agency retainer, high-ticket B2B |
| [examples.md](references/examples.md) | Anonymized worked examples — before/after for each business type |

---

## The Diagnostic Loop

When the user says "my offer isn't converting" or "I want to improve my offer":

1. **Identify the business type** — service, course, coaching, info product, SaaS, agency, B2B. The right playbook is type-specific.
2. **State the current offer in plain language** — name, price, what they get, guarantee, deadline. Write it down even if it lives in scattered places now.
3. **Run the value equation** — score each of the four levers 1–10. The lowest is the binding constraint. Say the lowest lever out loud, with the specific evidence gap behind its score ("perceived likelihood: 4 — no named customer, no before/after number"). Do not score all four above 6; if the offer genuinely looks that strong, the score is not the finding — name what would have to be true for the current conversion rate to make sense, and go get that instead. A flattering scorecard produces no binding constraint, which means step 5 has nothing to work on.
4. **Audit the anatomy** — which of the six components is missing or weak?
5. **Pick one lever to fix this iteration** — don't rebuild everything. The biggest lever is usually the one currently scoring lowest.
6. **Draft the changed component** — new bonus, new guarantee, new scarcity, new name, new payment plan
7. **Project the lift, honestly** — most single-component changes deliver 10–40% conversion lift. Anyone promising 5x is selling something. Two consecutive iterations on different levers can stack to 2–3x.

### Output: Offer Brief

Return the result of the loop in this exact structure — the same headings whether
the offer is new or being repaired:

```markdown
# Offer Brief — [offer name]

## Name
## Core deliverable
## Bonus stack
[Each bonus, and the objection it removes. No invented "$ value" figures.]
## Guarantee + conditions
[Type, the exact conditions, and who eats the cost when it's claimed.]
## Real constraint behind the deadline
[The actual reason now beats later — capacity, cohort start, price change.
 If there is no real constraint, write "none" and drop the deadline.]
## Price + payment structure
## Lever changed this iteration
[Which of the four, its score before, and what evidence moves it.]
## What I did not change and why
```

---

## When NOT to Use Offer-Design Tactics

Some offer patterns work but cost more than they're worth:

- **Manipulative scarcity** — fake countdown timers, "only 3 spots left" lies. Short-term lift, long-term trust collapse. Don't.
- **Over-promising guarantees** — "double your revenue or refund + $1,000." Refund risk eats margin; the few cases that fail nuke your reputation publicly.
- **Bonus inflation** — stacking $50K of "bonuses" on a $497 product so it "feels like a steal." Sophisticated buyers see this. Treat bonuses as additive, not exaggerated.
- **Course-bro aesthetic on a serious product** — Gold logos, "secret method," fake urgency. Pattern-matches to scam. Wrong room.

The Suede voice is direct, specific, and honest. Building offers well does not mean building offers loud.

---

## Banned Vocabulary

When drafting offer language (sales pages, emails, headlines), avoid:

- **"Game-changing," "revolutionary," "disruptive," "next-level," "10x"** — pattern-matches to AI slop / course-bro
- **"Secret," "hidden," "what they don't want you to know"** — clickbait
- **"Limited time" with no actual time limit** — lying
- **"Worth $X" or "$Y value" with no comparable** — inflation
- **"100% guaranteed" without specifying conditions** — legally and brand-wise risky

Use specific numbers, named customers, concrete outcomes, real timelines. Specificity beats superlatives.

---

## Boundaries

- Do not invent outcome evidence, comparable value, scarcity, deadlines, testimonials, guarantee economics, or refund terms.
- Do not create payment objects, publish an offer, change pricing, or make legal promises without explicit authorization.
- Do not recommend coercive urgency, inaccessible cancellation, or conditions hidden from the buyer.
- Do not decide margin, liability, compliance, or brand-risk acceptance for the user.

## Routing

- Use `suede-pricing` for tiers, packaging, and value metrics.
- Use `suede-copy` for the sales page and `suede-site-alchemy` for the conversion path.
- Use `suede-campaign-in-a-box` (creator/artist) or `suede-marketing-plan` (product/service) to launch the offer; `suede-launch-packaging` only when the thing shipping is software and its install path. Use `suede-paywalls` for in-product upgrade prompts.
- Use `suede-sales-enablement`, `suede-emails`, or `suede-marketing-psychology` for approved execution.