I only buy products and resources on-line when a guarantee of a refund is offered. If there is no refund guarantee in place, I don’t buy.
Why?
Because anyone can sell on-line. Anyone can create a product, build a sales page, start promoting, start selling and that product could be rubbish.
And many of them are. I know, I’ve purchased quite a few over the years.
But I always try the product out before I ask for a refund.
And nowadays I know that if the seller isn’t offering a guarantee then the product cannot be worth buying.
By offering a guarantee you are making the potential customer feel secure, safe and relaxed at the same time.
Of course, some people will buy without a guarantee but some won’t (like me!). Maybe, those that buy have yet to purchase a ‘bad’ product without a guarantee!
So a guarantee is a must. And the ‘persuasion’ experts say offer as long a guarantee as possible. Not just 30 days, if you can offer up to a year, do so.
The longer your guarantee is, the more powerful and compelling it will be and the more sales it will make.
Plus make the refund policy non-conditional.
I have seen some sales pages say things like,
“You have a full years guarantee. You have up to 365 days to get a refund. Simply prove to me, the product hasn’t doubled your sales figures and I’ll give you your money back”
“Prove to me!”
How?
Give you a copy of my accounts?
This type of guarantee is almost worthless. Who’s going to bother to ‘prove’ their sales figures?
But even more scary is the ‘seller’ thinks they are providing a great guarantee and that will make more people buy.
Believe me it won’t.
You are better off just simply saying, “You have a full years guarantee. You have up to 365 days to get a refund. No reasons needed. No hassles. Simply let me know you’d like a refund and I’ll give you your money back, instantly”.
Based just upon the guarantees, what sales page are you gong to buy from?
Of course, the second guarantee is much more compelling and powerful.
But whatever length of or compelling guarantee you offer, you will always get some ‘returns’. That’s life. That’s just part of being on-line.
Your product will not suit everyone and that’s fine. As long as the sale page describes the product as best it can, there should be few refunds. Expect anything between 0% and 5%.
But there are some customers who will buy the product already knowing they are going to ask for a refund.
They are out to scam you, the seller. They come along like the look of what you are selling and abuse the refund guarantee.
I had such a customer yesterday.
They purchased the product at 11.12 am. An inexpensive product – 3 PDF’s. Over 200 pages of content.
At 11.16am I had an email from them asking for a refund.
It must have taken a couple of minutes to download the product.
So in 2 minutes they looked at over 200 pages of content and decided it wasn’t for them. Oh and within the same 2 minutes, they had written an email to both me personally and ClickBank asking for a refund.
Idiots!
A typical scam buyer!
So bear in mind when you offer a guarantee:
- Offer as long a guarantee as you feel comfortable with
- You will get customers who genuinely don’t like the product and ask for a refund
- You will get customers who are out to rip you off
- Expect a 5% return/refund rate
- Don’t take it personally
What are your experiences as a buyer and a seller?
I have been online since 1996 and in that time I have been involved in the development of almost 400 web sites for my clients. I have worked with a wide variety of vendors and I have to tell you that Andrew @ We Build Your Blog has far exceeded my expectations. In addition to his vast knowledge and expertise, he is a genuinely great guy, who always goes the extra mile. I highly recommend him, in fact I only recommend him now for web development.
I was introduced to Andrew by a dear friend Corinne Edwards and Andrew as transformed by blog in ways that have reaped results. My membership has gone up and my blog always looks clean and easy to read. Whenever I send Andrew a request to check out - it's ALWAYS prompt and easy to understand. In my humble opinion he is the BEST when it comes to knowledge of the blogging world.
Having worked with Andrew on and off over the last year, I have found him to be very patient, helpful and easy to work with. He is also very knowledgeable, supportive and a true expert.
Thank you Andrew for your patience in getting my website and on-line courses on-line and selling. You were fantastic in learning the delivery platform software that I had chosen and you were across the complexities quickly. Your detailed approach in setting guidelines and deliverables bought my focus back to where it should be and got the job done. Thank you for all your efforts it was a pleasure.
Without Andrew, I wouldn't even have a blog -- I would still just be sitting here, staring at my computer, feeling confused and helpless. With Andrew, I no longer fear confusion and it's impossible to feel helpless. He exerts any and all necessary efforts to resolve any problem or perplexity -- quickly, kindly, intelligently, up to and including IM exchanges in real time via skype. I would urge anyone at any level of expertise (or not) to make the most of his extraordinary talent.
Andrew is an asset to our ongoing website and social media needs. He responds quickly, accurately, and cost effectively. Andrew plays a consultative role in many aspects to our online needs.
Andrew Rondeau is the genius behind http://www.webuildyourblog.com.
The
end result is a fantastic site that is attracting a lot more attention
and visitors than my old one.
Andrew
at WeBuildYourBlog.com is the most responsive and flexible person
I've worked with.
I wanted a stylish website that presented my original abstract art in a visually attractive way. Andrew came highly recommended to me as a "no nonsense" practitioner. He does exactly what he says he will do: I give him the parameters to work within and he provides a quick and precise service. You will receive nothing but the best from Andrew!
I
was impressed with the excellent service. 
The best blog builder, and the best blog maintenance, I've ever met is Andrew Rondeau. This fellow is an authentic professional in every sense of the word. He's lightning fast, knowledgeable, competent, a skilled listener. He goes the extra mile. He's able to share his passion for his work and products without being pushy. He as other great internet skills, too, but his most impressive attribute is mastery of website building.
I happened to stumble upon Andrew's website (WeBuildYourBlog.com) while searching for blogging services that would help me start my very own blog. I was a total newbie when it came to the blogging world. Fast forward 3 months and not only do I have my own awesome blog, but friends and family are actually asking me how to start their own blog and I am able to set their blogs up for them! In only 3 months under Andrew's guidance I went from total newbie to being sought after. Thanks Andrew!
I
am very happy to provide a testimonial for Andrew Rondeau. All the parts of
the process of working with Andrew were a pleasure. He clarified what I was
wanting and he delivered it without fuss. He was courteous and prompt in all
his dealings with me. I have no hesitation in recommending Andrew to anyone
who wants work done on their blog.
Andrew was kind enough to offer up his own time as part of an initiative to make the world a better place, and I was one of the beneficiaries of that effort. He spent an hour with me working on improving my bounce rate; he suggested several helpful strategies. Most importantly, he helped me with some key processes to help speed up my site, which had bogged down considerably with overuse of graphics. Andrew helped me get set up with Rackspace, which helped so much. From a load time of almost 30 seconds, the site sped up to about a 6 second load. Thanks so much, Andrew!
I
approached Andrew in February 2010, because I needed to enhance the way I communicated
my business. 
I've spent insane amounts of money in the past with former webmasters until I discovered Andrew Rondeau.
Andrew is the real deal and he knows his stuff! His customer service is superb and he gets your work done FAST! You won't need to wait around for endless weeks to see results. Most importantly he works on the site as if it's his own, thus you are assured that you will get the best quality service. I now give Andrew all of my new and old sites to work on. Trust me; you cannot go wrong with this gentleman!
Andrew
has extensive knowledge about internet marketing, SEO and building web
sites/blogs. His course explained everything in an easy to understand
way and I now have a web site that is generating me new clients and
producing income from internet product sales.
Andrew
is highly knowledgeable about blogs, and you can get your blog up and running
successfully and fast. Andrew has helped me immeasurably with
my blog and he is patient and good natured and a wonderful teacher. 
Andrew is highly knowledgeable about blogs and very customer service focused. I knew nothing about blogs and Andrew was very kind, patient, pleasant to work with, receptive and responsive. Work was delivered in timely manner and if I need anything done for blog again I would use Andrew. If you are looking for quality work, excellent customer service and someone that really gets YOU and your needs, I recommend Andrew!.
Hi, Andrew Rondeau here and this blog, my blog, will not lie to you. I will give it to you straight.This blog is about blogging, the Internet and sharing my experiences and advice on
As a buyer, things been good. As a seller, well we will see soon enough.
.-= Deneil Merritt´s last blog ..Flashback Monday – Income Report And Review =-.
Guarantees with no hassles are awesome to have. I have seen some products that offer conditional guarantees, but that is usually when they are tracking your progress. Then they can see if you did everything they said. I wouldn’t buy from that kind of guarantee otherwise, because as you said, it would be a hassle.
.-= Gerlaine´s last blog ..Being a Kid Again! =-.
Yes. Guarantees are good. It convinces your potential buyers that your site is authentic. Plus, having a “https” in your url gives them the assurance that your site is secured for any payments that’s made online.