GUARANTEE FOR SUCCESS
If you're trying to get a new online business started, and you
don't have a clearly stated guarantee policy, I can GUARANTEE
you that a year from now, you'll still be trying to get your
business OFF THE GROUND, unless you've gotten discouraged and
given up!
Even in the traditional brick and mortar world of off-line
sales, people need to touch and see a product before they have
enough confidence to buy. That's why stores like Sears and JC
Penny do so much more walk-in business than catalog sales. In an
online business, this consumer apprehension is intensified by
not having a physical store, or in many cases even a phone
number to turn to if a product doesn't meet expectations.
Add to that the common fear many consumers have about credit
card transactions in cyberspace, and it's not hard to see that
you need to put your prospective customers at ease if they're to
become buyers.
How can you make your customers feel that doing business with
you is not a risky proposition? The answer is incredibly
simple...offer a money back guarantee!
Let's take a look at the up-side of offering a guarantee. First,
it provides a statement of personal confidence in your product.
To be blunt, if you lack confidence in your product - you
shouldn't be selling it anyway!
The same is true even if you're marketing someone else's product
for a commission, or an affiliate program for a multi-level
marketing sales program. If the parent company doesn't eliminate
risk by offering to refund fees within a clearly stated time
frame, find a different program to market. You'll be amazed how
much easier it will be to sign up new affiliates if you
eliminate the risk.
More on the up-side - A solid guarantee policy gives your
enterprise a clear image of professionalism. After all, only a
legitimate business would offer to give dissatisfied customers
their money back, right?
There are so many entrepreneurial start-ups on the Net today,
that many opportunity seekers are skeptical of any program
giving the appearance of being a small home business. The
assumption is: "They're no bigger than I am, and may not be in
business next month, so why risk my money with them?"
Offering a money back guarantee dispels the small
entrepreneurial image, and alleviates skepticism more than you
can imagine.
Now let's take a look at the downside. If you offer a money-
back guarantee, you'll be deluged with refund requests, right?
This is only true if you're selling something that is not as you
describe it in your sales literature. If you've done an accurate
job of explaining the features of your product to the customer
before they make their purchase, there won't be any surprises
that will trigger their refund reflex. In other words, give them
what they paid you, and they'll be unlikely to complain about it.
Overall, the percentage of buyers asking for refunds from
reputable online businesses is very low. A 10% return rate would
be surprisingly high, and you would want to take a hard look at
either your sales material, or your products themselves, to try
to determine what was causing the dissatisfaction. Be sure
you're not promising something you aren't delivering.
Of course, from time to time, you will probably get a refund
request, people being generally a fickle breed. What to do?
Process it immediately - no questions asked! Make it as painless
for your customers to get a refund as you do for them to make a
purchase. Stand behind your guarantee policy. Flaunt it -
cheerfully take care of dissatisfied customers. Make it a
pleasant experience, then request a testimonial about your
guarantee policy...turn it into a positive part of your
marketing literature.
Don't be concerned with losses; they'll be minimal. If you're
shipping hard goods, of course, wait until the customer returns
the product before you process the refund. However, if you're
selling downloadable software or website access, you'd be
hard-pressed to convince me that you experienced a measurable
financial loss even if a customer dishonestly didn't destroy the
software they downloaded. With a website membership, of course,
you should deactivate their password, but whatever you do, don't
let pettiness or greed cloud your judgment and delay prompt
processing of refund requests.
You should try to seek out comments from dissatisfied customers
as to the nature of their complaint, so that you can take any
action necessary to improve your product, but don't make this a
condition of the refund. Send the refund notification in an
e-mail, and then close by politely requesting comments as to
where your product failed them.
A word of caution...DO NOT make your guarantee policy complex or
vague...the cleaner and simpler, the better. Best is: "If you
are dissatisfied with your purchase for any reason, we offer a
100% money-back, no questions asked, refund of your purchase
price." It is acceptable to set a time limit if you must, but
make it reasonable. If it will take them a month to use and
honestly evaluate your program, don't limit the guarantee to a
week.
Vague, unclear guarantees will place you under a blanket of
suspicion, and will do more harm than good to your sales
efforts. Leave the conditions out...simply accept ANY REASON, or
even NO REASON, for customer dissatisfaction.
Don't nitpick in your policy. Even if your credit card
processing company doesn't refund the service fee to your
account, give the customer 100% of their money back. Losing a
few dollars on a refund is far less costly than losing hundreds
of sales with a convoluted refund policy.
The boosted sales that a liberal guarantee policy will give you
far outweigh any minimal losses you might incur from processing
infrequent refund requests.
There is simply no better way to increase sales than to make
doing business with you a completely risk-free proposal for your
customers. A guarantee is essential to a sound business plan.