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  • Make them a oneconditional guarantee

    Risk FreeGuarantees have long served marketing organizations as a way to shift the risk from buyer to seller. By assuring that a prospect can get a 100%, no questions asked, no hassle full refund if not thrilled guarantee, the thinking is that the buyer has nothing to fear if the product doesn’t live up to expectations.

    I believe that every company can explore some form of a guarantee as part of their marketing offering. If you think about it you probably offer an implied guarantee of satisfaction to your customers whether you advertise it or not.

    There are many examples of simple, straightforward, unconditional guarantees but I think there is one very important condition that you must add to your offer of guarantee to make it a powerful marketing tool.

    When you offer a money back guarantee also clearly spell out that the only condition the buyer must meet in order to receive a full refund is that they suggest to you ways that you could make the product or service better or more in line with what they wanted or expected.

      I believe that this simple condition does several beneficial things:

    1. It helps you get valuable feedback that may indeed allow you build a better service
    2. It sends the message right upfront that you care about the experience in the future as much as you do about the sale in the present

    There are lots of marketers that offer guarantees simply to get the sale. They figure that they can handle the few who bother to ask for a return.

    With a “oneconditional guarantee” you invite participation and conversation – you and your products continually improve – and you will likely win back clients who otherwise would simply move on to another product and silence, or at least muffle, potential detractors.

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    Posted by: John Jantsch on Sep 12, 07 | 6:06 am
    Category: Guarantee | Tags:

    Comments
    • Requiring customers to offer suggestions when they return products is extremely insightful. Imagine how enthusiastically customers will talk about the product if they really do see their suggestions implemented in the next version. I'm going to use this “oneconditional guarantee” when I start selling Sorapot, a teapot I designed, this winter.
    • John Jantsch
      Joey,

      Nice - love to see photo of your tea pot.
    • Bravo! It always amazes me that some of my clients are so hesitant to offer such guarantees. I find myself sputtering at them -- "But, don't you believe in your product? Don't you believe customers will be satisfied?" Interestingly, by selling a product, a given company IS making an implied guarantee -- this is a fairly well settled feature of commercial law. So, in one sense, all you're recommending is that companies make explicit that which is already implicit...and since it's already implicit, why not make some marketing hay out of it? Finally, my wohle experience teaches me tha the vast majority (and I mean vast" >98%) of people are honest -- they don't come in for a refund unless something really was wrong with the product. The costs, as you point out, of fulfilling on the guarantee for this 2% is minimal in comparison to the benefits of reduced customer risk.
    • Since going self employed ( 8 years ago ) I have always offered a similar guarantee on the Linux Server installations for my clients. If within the first ear they are unhappy with using Linux as a server then providing all the windows licenses are paid up then I will install this for them at no charge on the labour.
      This safety net is great for them since it split the potential costs in two. They would have paid labour for me to instal Windows plus the windows charge. So if they try Linux and it works for them then they have made a significant saving in IT Delivery. If it doesnt work out theres no loss since they can pay for Windows and carry on as planned.

      In 8 years and 62 server installations I have only ever had 1 client request windows after a few months.

      A well planned Guarantee is a excellent marketing tool in its own right.

      Its a Great post thank you .
    • Excellent wisdom. Nuff said.
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