Crafting guarantees to increase conversion and reduce refunds
From: Bryan Kumar
Cyberwave Staff Writer
Dear Subscriber,
The most powerful way to convert more prospects into clients is to increase credibility and eliminate the risk of doing business with you. Prospects today are more likely to have been burned and are more skeptical than ever before. They need to feel confident the decision they're making is the right one.
Offering a guarantee will increase your credibility and can instantly double the power of an effective sales process. A guarantee shows your confidence in your product and this alone can increase your conversion rate dramatically.
Risk reversal
When a prospect is interested in doing business with you, there’s a risk involved, and someone has to take that risk - you or them.
Often, it is the prospect who takes the risk since many businesses believe offering a guarantee will open them up to a large number of refunds. But, in reality, the opposite is true.
If you offer a quality product, we’d advise you to take the risk, not your prospect. The increase in your refund rate will pale in comparison to the increase in your conversion rate.
Don't be surprised if your sales double when you start offering a guarantee. People will favor you rather than a competitor with no guarantee.
Strategies for crafting a powerful guarantee
State your guarantee with confidence. A wimpy guarantee is the same as nothing at all. Since offering guarantees can dramatically increase your business, why not make it a powerful statement!
- Make your guarantee strong, bold, specific, and as risk-free as possible! Don't hold back. Offer it with confidence, as if you're making a challenge. Then, sit back and let the response amaze you.
- Make the guarantee period as long as possible. Offer at least a 30-day guarantee. If your product requires more than 30 days to be thoroughly evaluated or to produce verifiable results, offer more time. Studies have shown that return rates drop as the guarantee period increases. Remember, if you are selling on Clickbank your guarantee will be limited to 90 days also check with your merchant account for any time restriction.
- Tell prospects about your guarantee as soon as possible. While most traditional businesses are shy about guarantees, you should share yours confidently. Put it in the headline of your sales materials if appropriate! The sooner your prospect finds out about your risk-free offer, the easier it will be for you to sell your product.
- Be quick to process refund requests. Offering a guarantee is not enough; you have to back it up just as confidently. In doing this, you will establish a reputation that will often turn initially refunders into repeat loyal customers.
The elements of a powerful guarantee
As mentioned above, having a wimpy guarantee is as good as no guarantee at all. To get results:
- If your guarantee is risk-free, make it clear to the prospect. Convince them you mean what you say, and stand behind your offer 100%.
- Make it clear the customer will experience no discomfort in returning the product should the need arise. There will be no hassles, no hard feelings, and no questions asked if they decide to ask for a refund; you will respect their decision.
- State the specifics of the guarantee, including time period and any other conditions or restrictions that exist for it to be valid.
- Give a "reason why" you are able to make such a powerful guarantee. Explaining the reason behind your action is a powerful motivator. People love honesty and openness and this is a great place to flaunt it. Tell your prospects you want the first buying experience with you to be a positive and pleasant one so they will want to do business with you again and again. Let them know you understand the risks involved in working with a new business, and you want to eliminate them.
Four types of guarantees that work
Let’s review some proven examples, here are a few tested guarantees that work:
- The Standard "Moneyback" Guarantee: This is self-explanatory; you simply offer the customer their money back if the product is returned within the time period specified in the guarantee.
- The "Pay For Results" Guarantee: In this case, the customer is allowed to put your product to the test without risking any or all of the money. If the product is satisfactory, the customer then buys it and/or pays the remaining balance, depending on how you structure the offer.
- The "Keep the Bonuses, Regardless" Guarantee: This is where you offer a standard money-back guarantee, plus you let them keep all the bonuses. The customer sees this as a win-win situation no matter what the product turns out to be. To use this effectively you should offer bonuses that cost very little but hold a high perceived value.
- The "We Will Give You An Extra $X" Guarantee: This one, while very powerful, is obviously not for every business. It's where you give them their money back plus a few extra dollars "for their trouble." This technique grabs their attention, it clearly shows you're confident about your product, and it rewards them for giving your business a chance.
Here are a few examples effective guarantees
- The first one is a well-known product catering to online business owners: http://www.7dayebook.com/
It illustrates the popular use of the "Keep the Bonuses, Regardless" guarantee that's common within this niche. Notice the use of very high-perceived bonuses. Pay particular attention to the wording on the site:
- By the way, these bonuses -- valued between $525 and $875 -- are yours to keep even in the unlikely event you decide to take advantage of our ironclad money-back guarantee:
Your satisfaction is assured through our no risk, you-can't-lose, 100%, no-questions-asked, iron-clad money-back guarantee.
If for any reason, you aren't thrilled and satisfied with your purchase, just contact us within 30 days and we'll refund 100% of your purchase price.
What we're saying is don't decide now if "How to Write and Publish your own eBook in as little as 7 Days" is right for you.
Try it out for one full month - risk free.
- This next example is one of my sites:
http://www.bryankumar.com/expert/index.htm
It sells a package in a niche where most other businesses would not offer a money back guarantee. Yet this site boldly offers the guarantee. So, it’s a great way to differentiate yourself from your competition. Notice the text:
- Listen...typically, most marketers are very hesitant to offer a 'moneyback' guarantee on a package like this one because it includes 'private label' rights to so much powerful information. And, I really don't blame them for not wanting to offer a guarantee.
There are many blood-sucking leeches out there who are just waiting to get "something for nothing." But...I'm not going to punish you because of those other 'scarcity-minded' individuals.
Let's get back to you...the person who can see the incredible value in what I'm offering here...
Since you're the kind of person who is willing to take action and go after your dreams, I want to do everything I can to take all the risk away from this deal.
Try my "Instant Marketing Expert" package for a full 90 days, completely risk free. If it doesn't give you at least 5 instant ways to make money online, just let me know within 90 days of your date of purchase, and I'll immediately refund your payment in full.
- Our Double Money Back Guarantee
If, within 7 days of the date of your order, you provide proof that with the same type of search, and using the same information you gave us to process your order, more current, more complete or more accurate information was obtained legally through any other similar service advertised on the Internet, we will promptly refund double what you paid us. It's just that simple...no gimmicks, no tricks, no hype. Just a straight-forward guarantee offered with one purpose in mind - to demonstrate our confidence in our abilities, our honest intentions, and to help you feel confident and secure when using our services.
How CAN we offer Double Your Money Back?
We know what we're doing - no brag, just fact! Aaron's Research Services has been in business since 1989. Over the years, Aaron's has developed contacts and built working relationships with the absolute best sources of personal data that currently exist in the United States.
And, because we have access to such powerful sources, we are confident that it simply is not possible to provide more current, more complete, or more accurate reports than ours. It is that confidence in our abilities and our sources, based upon over fourteen years in the business, with an exceptionally high rate of success, that makes it easy for us to offer a Double Money Back Guarantee with no reservations.
- Finally, here's another site that establishes it's uniqueness by doing something that none of it's competitors do:
http://www.backforlife.com
Here's what the site says:
- The ONLY back and neck pain treatment in the WORLD with a money back guarantee
Built on the unshakable belief that "If I can't help you, why should I get paid anything?" led me to the decision that Back For Life comes with a 'no questions asked 30 day money back guarantee'. This guarantee, to the very best of our knowledge, is the ONLY money back guarantee in back pain treatment anywhere in the world. No-one would refund ANYTHING for me, but I will for you.
Conclusion
The most successful businesses have proven, that offering a powerful guarantee can dramatically increase their sales and profits.
Prospects are skeptical, they don’t want to make a bad decision and regret it. The prospect wants to believe your claims are true, and if they are, a prompt no-hassles refund is an expected part of your guarantee.
When you eliminate the risk of doing business, you put
the prospect's mind at ease. Offering a powerful
risk-free guarantee will do that!
It’s probably the best way to boost your credibility and dramatically lower the risks in the prospect's mind. It's extremely easy to put to use and, it really doesn't cost you anything!
If you're not using a guarantee, you're flushing half your profits down the drain. It's really that simple. Add one now and you'll see your conversion rate easily double or triple.
To your increased profits!
Sincerely,
Bryan Kumar
|
|
|
|
