Has adding a guarantee increased your profits?

[yousaint]

Hello,

I have recently added a money back guarantee to my product and feature this in bold on my website. My guarantee is designed to persuade potential customers to go on to buy, and the feedback any refunds generate will help the business to improve (to get the guarantee, customers need to list one real suggestion about how we could be better next time).

Some businesses (e.g Marks & Spencer in the glory days) have been built on the idea of easy guarantees, but how have you found them to be?

Do they increase trade for you, or is it just extra paper work?

[fastfences]

Hi there

Offering a guarantee (especially a lengthy one) is a sure fire way of easing the purchase decision for the consumer. Obviously, if the decision making process is simplified, with barriers as to quality/performance etc. removed, we, the vendor, will certainly enjoy more productivity and hopefully, profitability.

The mere adding of a guarantee is not enough to 'increase your profits'; the costs involved in honouring the guarantee must be taken into account.

Cheers, Nigel

[Coding Monkey]

Nope, I've had to mention it a few times to people to make them understand it. I offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on everything. If you don't like it, you don't pay for it. Never had anyone take it up. It comes a lot down to the fact that if I don't like it, I wouldn't give it to the client anyway, so I'm very fussy over everything we do.

I think it's a fantastic thing to offer and will give clients trust in you. Just be aware that many companies will offer it and not carry it out, so do all you can to get it across. One person said to me that it wasn't a selling point, then, in the same conversation, said they'd been screwed over before and wasn't happy with the service of another company, so I mentioned the guarantee again and suddenly it was considered a positive.

Just make sure it's clear exactly how it works. For example, I have a claus in the contract that says that you can only have what you paid for, so if someone does ever want their money back and then use the design, they will suffer pain!

[Bizgifts]

When I'm talking to a prospective client about embroidered clothing, particularly when they have already used an alternative supplier, I point out that If what I supply does not meet their satisfaction then then don't pay or get a full replacement.

Never had to to it yet but it does make the buying decision a lot easier for the purchaser.

Mark

[Coding Monkey]

Absolutely, Mark.

Main thing with me is that most people already have a badly designed website that they realise is doing them no good at all, so they need a lot of assurance