Affordable, reliable
web hosting solutions

> > > HOME / PROFIT / SELLING PRODUCTS OR SERVICES / INCREASING SALES / ARTICLES /

How to Use Guarantees to Increase Sales
Article by Michel Fortin

Guarantees Increase Perceived Value
Chris Ayers, an Internet Marketer and publisher of the FREE newsletter "Unlimited Traffic!" (see unlimitedtraffic.com), gives an astonishing real-life example. Writes Ayers, "One of my first direct mail products years ago was a self-study program that I marketed to engineers preparing for a certification exam. (...) When I first offered the program in a trade magazine, my sales weren't even enough to cover the cost of the ad."

He continues: "I changed my ad and sales letter to include a guarantee and the results were amazing! The number of responses to the same ad increased by a factor of 20. And my conversion rate from my sales letter rose from 10% to almost 40%... Just by adding a guarantee!"

Take for instance the story of the Monaghan brothers. The two ran a pizzeria in order to pay their way through college. While one worked the day shift in order to attend school at night, the other did the converse. After about a year in the money-losing venture, one of the brothers sold his share of the business for a beat-up old car "and drove into the sunset." The other, however, with a good dose of stick-to-it-iveness, decided to make something of his fledgeling pizzeria.

According to some interviews he recently gave, Tom Monaghan said that, at the time, he wasn't quite sure that his decision to put a guarantee on his pizza delivery would change much. But obviously, history tells us that his decision was the greatest one he ever made. By simply marketing the strength of a guarantee, i.e., "Pizza delivered fresh in 30 minutes or it's free," Domino's Pizza became the multimillion dollar franchise operation we know today.

Guarantees Reduce Returns
Guarantees will increase sales. And the stronger the guarantee, the larger the increase. But unbeknownst to many marketers, one of the most important benefits of using a guarantee is the fact that it can actually reduce returns. According to certain successful cybermarketers such as Ayers, a strong guarantee results in fewer returns. For instance, Ayers got fewer returns with a 90 day guarantee than he did with a 30 day guarantee. Others got fewer returns when they offered to let clients keep some bonus items if the product was returned.

The parallel obviously dictates. While people order from the Web do so because of the convenience it offers, a site that offers a no-hassle return policy (or risk-free promise) adds to the convenience factor and instills a greater confidence in the buyer's psyche.

If you offer a product or service, find ways to offer a guarantee along with it. Rather than taking a risk by removing it from your potential clients' decisions, you will likely be decreasing it. In other words, use guarantees to guarantee your success.

 

1 2