A little while ago I wrote about 15 Awesome Marketing Offers to Bring Business In. One of the marketing offers I suggested was to give your customers a guarantee of some description. I called it the “no risk offer” and that’s exactly what a guarantee does; it reduces the risk around a purchase.
But does a guarantee really help to convince someone to buy?
Many businesses are hesitant to offer really strong guarantees, like 100% money back, because they are worried about losing money. If you don’t believe your product or your service is up to the scrutiny, then you shouldn’t offer a money back guarantee but that kind of flakiness sends a clear message to your customers.
If you do believe in your product or service, isn’t it worth putting your money where your mouth is? Do guarantees really help people make decisions to buy? The truth is …. yes they do. And here’s why.
Making a purchase usually involves a certain amount of anxiety. Whether you are trying a new brand of your favourite snack or spending a packet on a new digital gadget, it’s natural to run through the risks and weigh them against your potential happiness (post purchase).
A guarantee reduces the potential for an unwanted outcome for a bit more peace of mind. If I’m not 100% happy, I can return the product. If they don’t deliver my pizza within 30minutes I get it for free. So … why not?
The bigger you make your guarantee, the more inviting the offer is but you don’t have to offer everyone his or her money back. Find a guarantee that fits your business, your clients and your budget.
If you are going to offer a guarantee, here are some tips:
- Make sure you can stick to your guarantee
- Make sure you do stick to you guarantee
- Don’t have too many strings attached (as that kind of defeats the purpose)
- If you do have strings attached, make them clear at the time of purchase
Remember it’s the confidence and transparency around a guarantee that makes it effective so stand by your product and your word.
Have you used guarantees before? I’d love it if you shared it here. Or maybe you’re a bit nervous? Come now, we’re all friends here …
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12 Responses
I offer a guarantee but so far I’ve never needed to use it!
My guarantee is that I’ll meet the agreed deadline or the client gets the typing for free.
I hope it instills confidence in my clients that their transcripts and documents will be with them when expected.
That is such a powerful guarantee Bridie as I expect that a lot of your clients need their transcription done asap. Even they aren’t specifically interested in the financial aspect (of their money back), your guarantee tells them that you are motivated to meet your deadline!
Just taking a look at your website, I think you could even plug it more prominently on your homepage. Make it big and badge it, as I think it’s a real differentiator.
Great idea Belinda, thanks!
I plan to start offering a guarantee, but it is sometimes difficult to clarify what’s covered and what isn’t. The hurdle I face is that it’s heavily client-input based – so if they decided to not follow my recommendations, I can no longer guarantee my work.
It seems childish to say that, but what can you do! Scope creepers or control freaks so often ruin their investment for themselves, rather than following the advice they pay for.
I’m trying to come up with a way I can simply describe that I guarantee MY work and MY recommendations – but if you decide to stray from that, then it’s at your own risk. Does that make sense?
It’s an interesting challenge Chris. Rather than looking at the results end of the process, what about looking at elements of your service delivery? At Copywrite Matters, I guarantee I’ll turn the revisions around as quickly as possible as long as they get back to me within 30 days. This is really just a way of putting a time limit on feedback but “guarantee” is a very powerful word and it shows my revision process has a dedicated approach.
Having said that, offering a guarantee around a pain point is the best way to do it. Do you know what might make people hesitant to engage your services? A well placed guarantee would help get them over the line.
Cost is the biggest hurdle, confidence would be the second.
i.e. “That’s a lot of money to fork out now” and “What if I don’t like what you produce (design)”
The later is easy enough to guarantee, and I do it already if not formally. The former I can put a money-back guarantee on it, but truly it is speculative.
Perhaps I should break it down into multiple guarantees. I.e. this ‘package’ comes with our X, Y, & Z Guarantees. That way I can be more specific about what I’m guaranteeing to deliver, without leaving room for speculation.
This discussion reminds me of a very interesting debate we had when I studied business law. The tutor gave a great example: imagine you buy a brand new car and it comes with a 24 month warranty. You automatically assume that means that it’s going to be reliable for that length of time (after all, the car manufacturer won’t want to be out of pocket).
But what if, in actual fact, they expect that the odds are there will be a fault with it during the 24 months, which is why they offer the warranty?
I wasn’t convinced myself, but would be interested in anyone else’s thoughts…
Wow that does turn the reassurance of a warranty on its head doesn’t it! I bet it’s a matter of average faults vs average costs and they aren’t left out of pocket but it certainly does make you rethink they warm and fuzzies of a warranty.
I guess a good experience with warranty leave warm and fuzzy feelings still, even if they stemmed from a negative experience… Especially cars, I recently had a computer fault fixed free of charge by Hyundai. As much as I hated the fact I had a problem with my car, and had to go out of my way to take it to them, I left feeling good and well treated.
Using that as a marketing tactic? INTERESTING! Certainly makes sense…