Why Merchants Fear the Dreaded Guarantee
The same psychological principle of the fear of loss that
causes buyers to hesitate on making a purchase causes
merchants to often be reluctant to offer a guarantee.
What the merchant fears is having to act on this guarantee
when a product is returned. A return is often a
psychological blow for merchants, especially when selling
their own self created products.
Rather than seize the potential of increased sales from
offering a bold guarantee, merchants dread the likelihood
of increased returns, and the feeling of rejection they
might get from having to deal with such a return.
This feeling is almost always foolish. A bold guarantee may
increase returns, but the overall increase in sales usually
more than makes up for this.
A merchant starting out with no guarantee may make 50 sales
a month and see 3 returns. By advertising a guarantee he
may see his sales rise to 80 a month and see returns rise
to 10.
His sales rate is up 60% but his return rate is now up over
300%! Is this is a wise decision? Yes! His overall sales
are now 70 rather than 47.
One might fear that this scenario may cost the merchant his
reputation due to increased returns. This is not true.
Customers will rarely hold a grudge against a merchant if a
return is handled properly.
We have received emails from people who have bought our
products and returned them, telling us it was not right for
them, but also saying they would recommend it to their
friends.
If you're afraid to make your guarantee bold - understand
that part of your fear may be purely psychological and like
the physicians in the Kahneman Tversky study, you're
operating on a natural human instinct.
You are more concerned with the fear of loss (in this case
the loss of a customer when he returns your product) rather
than the anticipation of gain. This is an instinct you have
to suppress to make a good business decision.
Create the strongest, boldest promise you can offer to your
customers and publicize it everywhere.
Unless you have a genuinely rotten product you have nothing
to worry about. Bold guarantees will create more overall
sales, happier customers and yes, even fewer complaints.
How a Bold Guarantee Can Boost Your Sales
People hesitate on buying from you because of one of the
following reasons:
· They are afraid they might make the wrong decision
and spend money (a limited resource) on a product that
won't help them satisfy their need.
· They are afraid the cost of the product is not
worth the benefit.
· They are afraid the quality of the product may not
be as advertised.
· They fear being "taken for a ride" - cheated by
unscrupulous sales methods.
· Buyers purchasing a product for a business or
organization fear that by purchasing the wrong thing they
will look bad in front of their colleagues or teammates.
At the same time, you must understand that a motivated
buyer WANTS to own your product, but these fears, all of
them expected, keep buyers from moving forward with their
purchase.
There is no better time to close a sale than during the
emotional "I want it now" moment after a customer first
reads your sales copy. Allowing the customer to hesitate
will likely make you lose the sale.
This is where the guarantee comes in. A good guarantee will
protect the customer against all 5 fears mentioned above.
Take a look at the guarantee we offer for this book.
Return on Investment Guarantee:
You have a full 90 days to try all the tactics. If this
product does not pay for itself by 500% within 90 days of
purchase, just return it to us for a full refund.
Best in Field Guarantee:
Furthermore...we GUARANTEE that you will not find a better
book, seminar, CD, or DVD on ecommerce at or below this
price. If you do, simply return the book to us within 90
days for a full refund. We truly believe this book to be
the best of its kind.
A guarantee effectively attempts to ease each of the
customer's potential fears for not making the purchase. In
addition to the usual "30 days to try and return" we expand
this to 90 days.
Furthermore, we guarantee that the customer will not find a
better a book, seminar, CD, or DVD on ecommerce. A customer
looking to shop around will likely spend hours on the net
researching various ecommerce products before settling on
the right one.
We're guaranteeing that customers have found the right one
and we'll allow a return and a full refund if they find
anything better (they won't).
What could be fairer than that? A bold guarantee makes it
easier for people to feel safe when they consider your
offer. You give them a compelling reason to buy today
without the fear of looking bad tomorrow.
You thus make it easier for people to buy from you and
you'll find your profits increasing dramatically.
----------------------------------------------------
Bjorn Brands is a successfull enterprenuer who transitioned
from having his own building company to a great online
business. Check out his site and see for yourself how he
can help you do the same at http://www.moneyacces.com
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