One of the questions many new Internet marketers ask is whether or not they should offer a money back guarantee. It is a question worth serious consideration because the answer could deeply impact your sales as well as your overall success. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. You don’t know the person or company on the other end of the computer screen. Wouldn’t you feel more comfortable knowing you could get your money back if you weren’t satisfied?
Of course you would. Most people do and you will most likely see your sales reflect that fact. This would actually be a great basis on which to test your offers. Just run two identical offers; one with a money back guarantee and one without. Then notice the difference in your sales and you’ll know which way to tailor your future offers.
Guarantee Limitations
If you decide to implement a money back guarantee into your offers, you may choose to limit the time in which you will offer a full refund. Most such offers are limited to either 30, 60, or 90 days, although you will find some money back guarantees that are good for an entire year. This may be another point you will want to test to see which time span converts the best.
Refund Limitations
Some marketers offer a full refund with no questions asked while others will refund the purchase price if the product is defective. If you require a reason to issue a refund, be sure you are very clear in your wording or it could cause problems and you will have unsatisfied customers. By the same token if you offer a full refund with no questions asked, make sure you honor that and don’t make your customers feel uncomfortable.
Make it Easy
If you do offer a money back guarantee, make it easy for your customer to get his or her money back. If you make it too difficult, your run the risk of destroying the trust you have worked so hard to build up. The fact that your customer is requesting a refund may have nothing to do with you or your product so don’t complicate things by making them beg for it. Perhaps they have simply overextended themselves or perhaps your product isn’t quite what they thought it was. At any rate, keep their confidence by issuing their money back promptly.
Conditions
If there are any conditions attached to the refund process, be sure and state that up front. For example, if you charge for shipping and you have paid to ship the product, you probably don’t want to refund the shipping cost or you could end up losing money on the deal. Do state that at the outset, though, to avoid upsetting the customer who may not realize that the refund will be for the amount of the product only and not for the amount of the shipping. You might also state that the product must be in resale condition in order for it to be accepted for refund. Whatever your specific policies are, be sure and state them at the point of purchase.
Just because someone else is already selling their similar product at the same price you have chosen to sell your product doesn’t mean that price is taken. You don’t have to make sure your price is cheaper and you certainly don’t want to overprice your product. You will, however, need to find a way to make your product or your company stand out in some way so that you will be the one that gets the sale. There are a variety of ways in which you can do this. We’ll discuss some of those methods here.
Free Shipping
If your product is a physical product that you will be shipping, you may decide to offer free shipping in order to gain an advantage over your competitors. Make sure you can truly afford to do this before you advertise free shipping, though, or it could seriously impact your profit margin. Even if you can’t afford to offer it all of the time, you might capitalize on offering free shipping at certain times. You might also check into the shipping options your competition offers to see how your offers compare. Do they ship outside of the United States? Do they offer expedited shipping? Try to find an area where you can either offer more or offer the same for less.
Variety
How many varieties does your competition’s product offer in comparison to yours? If they offer three colors, maybe you can offer five. What about sizes or versions? Look closely at every aspect of what your competition is offering to see how you can offer the same or similar product that does more, looks better, or in some way outperforms your competition’s product.
Digital Products
One of the most attractive things about digital products is that they can be downloaded and accessed immediately and the consumer doesn’t have to wait for the product to be shipped. There are thousands and thousands of digital products offered for sale online and you have an opportunity to make yours unique. Obviously, you won’t have to worry about sizes or colors or shipping but there are still many ways you can make your product stand out.
Do you offer any free bonuses with your product? Does your competition? How many payment options do you accept? What about testimonials? Online products with testimonials from people who include their names and website addresses lend a great deal of credibility to an unknown marketer. Some of the most convincing online testimonials include a picture of the person giving the testimonial and some of the most powerful testimonials are video testimonials.
Whether you are selling physical or digital products, there are a variety of ways you can make your products stand out. Study your competition to see what they are offering and what they may not be offering to see how you can gain the advantage.