Guarantees with Oomph
by Marcia Yudkin
Not
long ago a real estate appraiser asked my opinion of his new
brochure.
"'Guaranteed on-time appraisals,'" I read out loud.
"You mean that if it's
not on time, the customer gets a refund?"
"No, I couldn't do that," he
replied. "So many times things get
delayed for reasons outside of my
control."
"What do you mean, then, by 'guaranteed'?"
"Never
mind, then. Strike that out. We couldn't give people their
money back every
time an appraisal was late."
He'd come close to landing his business in
serious trouble. The
word "guarantee," like the word "free," has a
specific meaning
that the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys
general
enforce. Without any explicit qualifiers attached,
"guarantee"
means that the customer has the right to a 100 percent refund
if
the product or service disappoints them -- no "ifs," "ands"
or
"buts."
Further, because of the well-known strength of the word,
a
guarantee holds a powerful potential to increase business. I
explained
to the appraiser that an on-time guarantee would
probably boost his
business enough to cover the occasional
refund. We then restated his
guarantee to read, "We guarantee
that we'll deliver your appraisal by the
promised time, or it's
free." He'd cover his flanks by being careful about
the promises
he made.
Like a sharp knife, guarantees can cut through
a prospect's
skepticism and fears. Handle them with care, but include them
in
your business's toolbox.
* Try a long guarantee. The longer the
guarantee, in fact, the
fewer refund requests a business receives.
If your competitors
offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, extend
yours to 90 days, a
year or even a lifetime.
* Depending on
your business, consider a performance guarantee
instead of promising
a refund. For example, a termite-control
customer might prefer your
promise to make the problem go away,
no matter what it takes, to
getting her money back if the
treatment doesn't wipe out the
pests.
* If you can stand behind outrageous-sounding guarantees, go
for
it, as in, "We guarantee that your credit-card application
will
be approved by one of the listed banks, or we'll return
every
penny you paid us, plus $10.00 extra for your trouble."
Since
this company knows that only 4 percent of applicants get
turned
down, their offer motivates without bankrupting
them.
* Try guaranteeing some aspect of your product or service
rather
than the main product or service itself. One advertising
firm
promises that all calls will be returned in less than one
hour,
or the caller receives a $25 gift certificate to a
local
restaurant.
* Act graciously and promptly when a
request for a refund comes
in. See what you can learn from the
customer's dissatisfaction.
Software returns were killing one
catalog merchant until she
wrote the catalog copy more carefully and
tested it on her
friends for clarity. Customer service research
reveals that
people whose complaints are handled well often turn
into more
loyal customers than those who never had a
problem!
-----
The above is adapted from "Secrets of
Mouthwatering
Marketing Copy" by Marcia Yudkin, available from
http://www.yudkin.com/mouthwatering.htm . Marcia Yudkin
<marcia@yudkin.com> is the author
of 11 books, including
Persuading on Paper and Internet Marketing for Less
than
$500/Year.
This article presented as a courtesy of the SoHo Store Onilne... All rights reserved...
