1. “Replace it or Redo it Til You’re Happy” Guarantee
Professional service firms often use this form of guarantee. It’s much better than NOT having a guarantee at all and can certainly set a business services firm apart from its competitors.
Here’s an example of the wording of a guarantee for a business planning consultancy:
If, once you have fully completed the business planning process, you are not 100% delighted with the value you have received, all you need to do is let us know and we’ll fix it to your delight. If then, for whatever the reason, you’re still not 100% happy, we will refund your money in full.
NB. When used for products this guarantee is quite weak because it simply offers an immediate replacement if the customer isn’t delighted. Most people expect a product to be replaced if it’s faulty so there is very little power in this type of guarantee when used to sell products.
2. Straight, No-Questions-Asked Money Back Guarantee
This type of guarantee enables people to return the product or service for an immediate refund regardless of the reason. It is used frequently by mail order companies. All that they ask is that the product be returned in good condition within a certain period of time.
You’ll see phrases like the following mentioned:
• No questions asked
• Risk Free
• Iron Clad
• No matter what the reason
• Unconditional
3. “Keep the Bonuses” Guarantee
If you offer some FREE reports or add-ons with purchase, these soft-dollar items can be used to further increase the sales power of a guarantee.
For example, a business might offer, say $500 worth of free reports, consultations and bonuses when they purchase a certain product. These bonuses have a very low hard cost yet the perceived value is quite high. To add extra weight to the guarantee, allow the customer to keep the bonuses even if they return the product.
“Try our product for 14 days. If at the end of those 14 days if you decide that the product isn’t for you, just return it and we’ll happily refund your money in full. The $500 worth of bonuses are yours to keep no matter what you decide. They’re our gift to you for just agreeing to try the product.”
4. Results Guarantee
A result guarantee focuses on the fact that you are so convinced that your product or service is great you’re willing to guarantee that a customer achieves a certain result.
When Domino’s Pizzas first opened its doors the pizza industry had a poor reputation for taking huge amounts of time to deliver and when they did deliver those pizzas they were often cold and soggy. With that, Domino’s implemented a guarantee and it dramatically increased their market share.
The guarantee stated:
“Delivered to your door in 30 minutes piping hot or its free”
Another business that offers a results guarantee is Care-Free Water Conditioners.
They state:
“Care-Free solves your water problem or your money back”
5. “Better than Risk-Free” Guarantee
This is a guarantee that gives the customer MORE than their money back. If you are absolutely convinced that your product or service will deliver a certain result for a customer, offer a better than money back guarantee.
The greater the pain, the greater the result.
Let’s say you sell a business improvement product, and you know that if customers follow your instructions they WILL, without fail, experience a 20% increase in sales. It’s well worth your while then to offer a double-your-money-back guarantee because you know that if customers follow the instructions they will experience an amazing result and you won’t get any refunds.
Take that a step further and imagine what kind of impact featuring
“Double your money back” guarantee would have on your sales.
Travel Clearance is a web-based travel wholesaler. So sure are they can beat any price, they offer the following guarantee:
“We are so confident of our low prices that we even guarantee them. If you book any holiday with Travel Clearance and then find your exact same holiday for a lower price from an AFTA travel agent we guarantee to refund you 110% of the difference.”
6. “Bottom of the Jar” Guarantee
Next time you’re burning the midnight oil switch on the television and watch a few infomercials. They offer great ideas on what works in marketing. One of the initiatives that the cosmetics mail order companies offer is a “bottom of the jar guarantee”.
A fantastic example of this is Guthy-Renker’s infomercial for Principal Secret Reclaim® who say:
“We are so confident you will love Principal Secret Reclaim®, we give you our 60-day money-back guarantee. If you are not delighted with the results, simply return any Principal Secret® product for a refund of your purchase price (less P, H & I), even if the jars or tubes are empty.”
Wouldn’t that make you want to purchase the product? After all, you know the product must be good if they’re willing to put their necks on the line to offer that kind of guarantee.
7. FREE Trials and Post-Dated Cheque Offers
What’s even better than a guarantee is a FREE trial. It completely eradicates any risk in the mind of the buyer. They know that they can try your product with no risk, without handing over any cash, for a period of time. All they do is leave their credit card details or a post-dated cheque and you won’t process it for a period of time.
And they know that at the end of that time they can return that product and you won’t bill them. It’s the ultimate in risk-reversal.
If you can offer a free trial with your products or services, you’ll find that your sales increase even higher than they would if you had a money back guarantee in place.
You don’t need to decide now. Just take the widget home and trial it free for 7 days. Use it, play around with all its features, and see what you think. If during that time you find that it’s not for you, just return it and we won’t bill you. After the 7 day trial period if you do decide you like it you don’t need to do anything, we’ll just bill your credit card after the 7 day trial period expires.
BONUS…. Double or Triple Decker Guarantee
If customers have concerns across a number of areas, a double or triple decker guarantee works wonders. Let’s say that ensuring the product is delivered on time is vitally important to your customer. Let’s also say that it’s vital that the product achieves the results promised. And finally, let’s say that in the mind of the customer it’s vital that the product lasts for a specific period of time.
So – instead of offering one guarantee, offer three:
• Guarantee that they’ll achieve a certain result … or their money back
• Guarantee that the product/service will be delivered on time … or their money back
AND
• Guarantee that the product/service will last for a certain period of time … or their money back
Offering a three way guarantee shows that you’re super confident that your company excels in all areas.
A Surprise Benefit
Guarantees are not only great for increasing sales, there’s something else they do that has an incredible effect on the reputation you have in the marketplace as well as your word-of-mouth sales.
Research shows that only 1 in 27 people make a complaint when they’re not happy with a company’s product or service. The challenge with that with the 26 people who don’t complain, they’ll tell 10 people (on average) about the terrible experience they have had dealing with your company. That’s a whole lot of potential customers that you have lost simply because they didn’t have an opportunity to have their complaints solved.
With a guarantee in place you give genuinely disgruntled customers an opportunity to have their concerns addressed. And when you address those concerns you have the opportunity to turn that annoyed customer into a raving fan. And we all know what happens with raving fans … they tell the world how great your service is and they refer up a storm.
It’s a fact that the greatest referrers are people who have made a complaint and the company went out of their way to not only handle that complaint but overcompensate for that error. Wouldn’t you rather more opportunities like this one … to fix any problems so you can turn an angry customer with a big voice into a raving fan.
According to research 84% of people who have purchased from a company, intend to come back and buy again. The really interesting thing though is that 92% of people who purchased from a company and had a problem that was resolved satisfactorily, intend to come back and buy again. But only 46% of people who have a problem that wasn’t resolved, intend to come back. Fascinating, isn’t it.
