What Is The Benefit To Offering A Guarantee?

The guarantee has become a staple in our Direct Mail society. Any postcard, brochure or direct mail piece looks naked without it. In fact, some publications won't allow mail order ads to be placed in their publication unless they offer a guarantee.

Assuming your postcards or brochures are not written with the deliberate intention of grabbing some orders and then going out of business, both the “wording” of your guarantee and the “intention behind it” should be less casual than the average "throwaway" guarantees used by many local advertisers. Many local advertisers think they need to “play it safe” from being nailed by the consumer but that is "not" the way you need to be thinking, especially when offering a guarantee through Direct Mail. Instead you need to be on your customer’s side and make sure that your only goal is to make your customers get the very best guarantee they could possibly receive!

Some people have asked me what the difference is between a “guarantee” versus a “warranty.” The legal difference between a guarantee and a warranty is like the difference between a “promise to take something back” and a “promise to fix or replace something.” Of course that is an oversimplification, but I am writing this information for marketing experts like yourself, not lawyers or attorneys. For our purposes, a "Guarantee" is the umbrella word covering your covenant with the buyer of your product or service to let them know that your goal is to ensure they are 100% satisfied with their purchase from you.

In my opinion, direct marketers, unlike retailers, have to over-emphasize their guarantee when it comes to customer satisfaction. This is because when you are trying to sell something to someone through Direct Mail you do not have a “store front” the customer can walk into, a “public return counter,” or a “personal sales assistant” to whom they can voice their opinion.

When it comes to Direct Mail, if the buyer is unhappy with their purchase, they have to send the product back and “hope” that it makes it back to correct location, “hope” the item wasn’t damaged during shipment, and “hope” the company has no problem refunding their money. The same goes for the guarantee for a service. The buyer has to “hope” the seller will stand by his word, and if not, the buyer has to “hope” the seller will refund their payment. Otherwise, if the seller doesn’t fulfill his guarantee, the buyer has little recourse (a concern to everyone from time to time).

The most popular and most misused guarantee is "We Guarantee Your Satisfaction!" This type of guarantee is unacceptable in today’s society because of how it has been misused and abused. This is why it is now “unbelievable” to the average consumer. It creates a sense of skepticism in many consumers’ minds.

You have to remember that we live in the age of skepticism. If someone tells us he guarantees our satisfaction, our first thought is “Unless this guarantee ‘specifically’ offers a refund, it isn’t really true and is nothing but a sales gimmick (an UNTRUE guarantee, in other words).” This thought is especially true when the consumers are buying through Direct Mail because they have no physical connection with the seller.

So to overcome this skeptical “Too Good To Be True” attitude, I have given you 4 standard ways a copywriter can reach his target customer with a clear, easily understood, believable and acceptable guarantee. All four of the following guarantees include a refund provision.

Guarantee #1 - Their Satisfaction
“If for any reason you aren't 100% satisfied with your purchase, you can bring it or ship it back to us for a 100% refund. No questions asked!”

Guarantee #2 - The Quality of your Product or Service
“If for any reason at all you don’t think your product or service measures up to the quality you expected, just tell us and we will give you a 100% refund. No questions asked!”

Guarantee #3 - The Lowest Prices
“If within 30 days of your purchase you find the identical item advertised for less than the price you paid, bring it or send it back to us and we refund the difference in price. No questions asked!” *Note: would you want them to send back for partial credit, reword?

Guarantee #4 - 30 Day Guarantee
“If at any time within 30 days, if for any reason you decide you don't want to keep the product you bought from us, bring it or send it back to us undamaged for an immediate 100% refund. No questions asked!”

Now you are probably asking yourself, “Which of the 4 guarantees should I use for my business?” Well my answer is: “perhaps none of them.” Instead I challenge you to run wild with your imagination and put all 4 of those guarantees together into your own personal guarantee that goes along with your own personal business. Yes, it's possible to combine multiple guarantees into one guarantee to meet your customer’s personal satisfaction but really, all the guarantees except number 3 make the same promise: “If you don't like it, return it or voice your opinion to us and we'll give your money back.”

One of the best, most honorable guarantees I've read was from a catalog by Brookstone. It combines Standard Guarantees 1, 2, and 4 into one guarantee:

"You must be totally 100% delighted with your purchase or you get your money back. We sell only high quality products, and we describe them truthfully. Each item is carefully tested in actual use before acceptance for our catalog. We use these products ourselves before we provide them to you but you are always the final judge. If for any reason, or for no reason, you want to return an item to us, please feel free to do so. We will gladly exchange it or return your money promptly."

This guarantee not only provides the customer with complete confidence but it also builds confidence among those who don't even know the company and might be interested in buying from your company at a later date. My question for you is: “Wouldn’t you like all of your customers to feel totally 100% comfortable buying from your company without any doubt whatsoever?”

The third guarantee, concerning the guaranteed lowest price, is a specialty. Not every company wants to have the “lowball” price image. But for those that do, providing the consumer with a guarantee becomes an absolute must, and the very wording of the guarantee inspires confidence in the buyer as well as the future buyers.

Let’s take a look at a couple more guarantees. First, I want you to tell me if this guarantee sounds like a good guarantee to you or not.

"We guarantee that your set of speakers will deliver pure, magnificent sound that will delight you."

So does it sound like a good guarantee? ……… Well, I wouldn't consider it a true guarantee since we all have different levels of hearing and different personal opinions on sound quality. Also, there is nothing about a return or refund policy in the guarantee.

In fact, if you take away the first three words ( “We guarantee that …..”) and you leave the rest of the phrase (“your set of speakers will deliver pure, magnificent sound that will delight you.”) the guarantee actually is simply a standard piece of "puff" copy.

To rewrite the guarantee and turn it into a true guarantee, I would suggest rewording it. Take a look at the example below:

"We guarantee that your set of speakers will deliver the purest, most magnificent sound you've ever enjoyed from a set of speakers. If you don't agree, just send them back for a 100% refund.
No questions asked!"

The Key Question is: "What’s the catch and how long do I have to test the item before I have to return it?"

Some vendors offer 90-day guarantees because they think it appears to be three times better than a 30-day guarantee. Other people offer a 3 month guarantee instead of a 1 month guarantee. The big question is which is better?

Extensive studies by marketing experts over the years prove (and I have found this to be true from my own experience) any returns usually come back within 30 days. Therefore, the extended guarantee can become a valuable sales tool. The benefit to offering a “90 Day Guarantee” rather than a “30 Day Guarantee” is it provides a “safety bubble” to the consumers, making them more comfortable purchasing the product or service from you as opposed to your competition.

Take the following “Life Time Guarantee” as an example of a true “sales tool” that works to persuade the consumer to buy from you rather than your competition.

“BASF Computer Disks Are Certified 100% Error Free With A Lifetime Guarantee!”

This ad uses the "100% Error Free" plus the “Lifetime Guarantee.” The thought doesn’t even cross the public’s mind that it will cost more to send the disk back by mail than it costs to go to the store and buy a replacement disk. However, if you are selling something that is very expensive (hundreds or thousands of dollars), this type of guarantee would bring doubt into the minds of the consumer. This is due to the ad not specifying the true definition of their “Life Time Guarantee”. For instance, to whose lifetime is it referring to? My lifetime, the computer’s lifetime, the disk’s lifetime, or is it a Catch-22 Guarantee? (Meaning they aren’t telling you the real truth.) The same “hit and run” guarantee showed up on another ad I read by IBM. The ad read,

"IBM Diskettes are certified Error Free for Life."

Certified by whom? What's my recourse? Does certification mean pre-testing? What is the definition of “Error Free for Life”? My life or the disks life?

The key thing to remember when writing your guarantee is: “The more you tell, the more you sell. As long as it is compelling and applies to what you are selling.” Take the following guarantee as an example:

"We are so certain that you will be 100% pleased with our Diamond Jewelry that we will let you examine the jewelry in your home without risking a single penny. If for any reason at all you don't like our diamond jewelry after you have purchased it, just mail it back to us within 90 days (along with your receipt as proof of purchase) and we will return your postdated check to you un-cashed at no charge to you whatsoever."

This ad is a very clever ad, because any defects in a diamond, mined or synthetic, are apparent at once, not 1 or 2 years later. Defects don't appear gradually, as they would with a set of tires. So is this type of guarantee a good marketing ploy? Unquestionably it helps sales volume, but is it ethical? You bet it is! Wouldn’t you prefer to see what you are purchasing from the Direct Mail piece or from the catalog prior to making your payment for the item? I know I sure would and that is why this guarantee is the best type of guarantee you can offer when selling anything through Direct Mail.

If you have a product that is too pricey to offer this kind of guarantee, then I highly recommend you offer a free sample of some type that the consumer can test at no charge to them. Once they see, smell, feel, or hear that sample of your product or service, they will feel much more comfortable buying from you since they will know exactly what they will be getting. Then, along with the guarantee, you might also add a free discount or a free coupon for placing their first order with you. This serves as a great way of motivating them to place their first order before it is too late.

Obviously, the company takes a considerable risk on their part, since these "diamonds" sell for as much as $60, and fake checks are epidemic in today's mail order jungle, Therefore, at least two of these four factors must dictate this marketing decision:

1: The company is extraordinarily courageous.
2: The company has an enormous markup and feels credit card sales will more than cover any losses from bad
     checks.
3: The company feels the powerful guarantee will increase total sales far beyond any possible individual losses.
4: The company depends on typical buyer indolence to prevent complaints and returns from those whose
     dissatisfaction is based on Buyer's Remorse rather than product deficiency.

So don’t think that you need to copy one of these guarantees and apply it to your business. Instead I recommend you use these guarantees as examples to follow by for creating your own personal guarantee for your own company.

Take PrintDirectforLess.com for example. Back when I first began marketing PrintDirectforLess.com I found that many people were skeptical of our printing because it was so much cheaper than what they were used to paying. They were fooled into thinking that because we provide our printing as such a great price that our printing must be very cheap in quality and not worth purchasing. That was why I created the free sample pack for PrintDirectforLess.com and along with the free sample pack you also receive a FREE $100 OFF in-store credit coupon with your first several purchases too.

This sample pack plus the free coupon allow our customers to see, feel, and experience the quality printing we provide and the coupon serves as a marketing tool to bribe them into buying from us now opposed to later.

But what if the buyer returns the product not in the original condition? What if a shirt or dress has sweat marks under the sleeves? What if a toy is broken? What if the Disk has a huge scratch on it from the buyer? …….. Then what?

You have to realize that offering a guarantee with your product or service does not offer you more protection against returns, because even without the guarantee you will still get the same amount of returns. However if you offer a 30 day, 90 day, or even a 1 year guarantee with your products or services, you will soon realize that your sales will increase by up to 50%, whereas you returns may increase by 5%. So you do the math and tell me, which way is better?

You also might have noticed how I mentioned offering a 1 year guarantee as opposed to a 30 day guarantee or a 90 day guarantee. You might think that offering a 1 year guarantee is too dangerous financially for your company. However, statistics have proven that offering a 1 year guarantee “decreased” returns by 65% when compared to offering the same products or services with a 30 Day guarantee. Again, this is nothing but a marketing gimmick. The reason the 1 year guarantee worked better than the 30 day guarantee was because by the time the owner had the diamond jewelry for 1 year they had either lost the sales receipt or they felt guilty returning it (after using it for one full year).

However, the real reason the 1 year guarantee turns out so much better than the 30 day guarantee is because people slack off and always think they have plenty of time to return the item, and that they will get around to it when then have more time. By the time “1 year later” finally approaches, the consumer has either decided they were happy with their purchase and are not interested in going through the return process, they have lost track of the receipt and cannot return it, or they have had the product or service for so long that they feel guilty asking for a return.

So take all of this information regarding "guarantees," and use it to create your own personal guarantee for your own company. By doing so, I guarantee that you will see a huge increase in sales, all due to the wording that makes up your 100% No Questioned Asked Guaranteed Guarantee!

Sincerely,
Stephen Shellabarger
www.PrintDirectforLess.com