In case you haven’t noticed more and more companies have been using ‘guarantees’ in their marketing.

The art and power of the guarantee is nothing new. Direct marketers and advertisers the world over have included guarantees in their offers for centuries.

While I surely wasn’t around back then…I’d wager that 200, 300, heck, probably even 500 years ago people tradesmen (yes, I’m sure there were tradeswomen as well, but allow me to keep this simple for now) were offering guarantees of satisfaction on the products and services they sold in one form or another.

No, I’m not implying they all did, likely there were only a few in each town that were brave enough to place a guarantee on that which they sold.

These days there are still only a few in each industry that incorporate a guarantee into their business models. But that is slowly changing.

Again, direct marketers, in print and on the TV are well known for doing this. The most commonly seen is probably during infomercials.

But now non-infomercial type commercials are also incorporating guarantees into their ads. Just a few examples are the now infamous Head-On, CLR (whos guarantee sounds just like Head-On’s) and President’s Choice brands.

Head-On states that if you are not happy their product “We will give you your money back.” President’s Choice does pretty much the same thing. I don’t remember their exact copy, but it’s along the lines of “If you are not satisfied that this is the best Apple Pie you have ever had, we’ll happily refund your purchase.”

What’s even more interesting to note, and contrary to what I wrote above, many companies have guarantees. Almost every food and beverage product has a claim of quality or freshness on the label. The idiotic part of this is that these guarantees are often not called guarantees, but yes, “claims” which doesn’t create an image of trust and openness like “guarantee” does. Secondly, the text on these products is so small, it’s like the companies are trying to hide their guarantees rather than communicating them.

Sure, these companies face limited space on their packaging to ’say something’ but if your product is really fresh than go ahead and make a guarantee like “We think you’ll find these organic vegetable chips the freshest and most delicious chips you’ve ever had. If you don’t, just let us know and we’ll return your money.”

If you’re looking for a snack doesn’t that sound tempting. Would you think, “Gosh, if these guys are guaranteeing these chips to be the best…why not try them.”

Now the result may be that I won’t think these chips are the freshest and most delicious chips ever. But 8-9 times out of 10 the buyer won’t return to the store demanding their money back. Most of the time they’ll think, “Hey those were pretty good. Not the best, but not bad at all.” Now, if the chips are really the best you’ve ever had, than great!! You’ve got a lifetime customer. Most people will fall into one of these two camps.

Again, very few will ask for their money back.

So if this sounds so promising, why don’t more companies create and then communicate their guarantee.

A little bit of ignorance and a whole whack of fear.

You see, most companies fear that if they offer a guarantee, they’ll end up losing money for all the people that don’t like what their selling and ask for a refund.

This is flawed thinking for two reasons…

The first reason this doesn’t make any business sense is because if you are really THAT concerned about people not being satisfied with your product – you have a MAJOR problem. It’s not an issue of marketing anymore. It’s an issue of your product needing some serious improvement.

Look at it this way, if you’re confident that your product or service is that much better than the competition, you have no reason to fear excessive returns and refunds. If you don’t see your product sitting heads and shoulders above your competition, it’s time you take a long look at your product, your offers, marketing…pretty much your whole business needs to be reviewed.

If you’re feeling stuck and can’t figure out what to do to make it better and get your offering to stand out, get an external marketing professional to help.

Now back to the second reason the notion that guarantees will lose you business is a farce…

The second one, my friend, is the law of numbers. If you’re testing and tracking the key elements of your business and promotions than you’ll clearly be able to see what is working and what isn’t.

If you’re using one guarantee now in a promotion, change it to a different guarantee (a better one) next time you send that promotion and see if it really is a better promotion. It could add thousands of extra dollars to your business each time you mail it, or it might not work as good as the other. But you’ll know.

If you haven’t been using any kind of guarantee up until now, craft one and communicate it. Then start tracking your numbers and you’ll see how the guarantee has increased your business.

You see, there will always be some people that take you up on your offer for a refund. They may give you a crazy reason on why they want their money back. In some cases they are scamming you, in others they genuinely disliked what you offered.

But that’s business. Your offering won’t appeal to everyone. It’s not uncommon to have a 15-20% return rate on products sold to a new customer group. Sure, at first that number is a bit daunting. So many companies make their decision at this point.

Their missing the big point…

…that is that while 15% of your customers may ask you for a refund, your overall sales may increase 50-100%. And when you add up your numbers, you’ll see that the guarantee not only makes sense, it makes you a lot more money.

One way I’ve differentiated my work from other marketers and copywriters is by providing my clients with a guarantee. During our first or second meeting we set targets for growth. If the business doesn’t hit those targets by the time we’ve agreed upon, I work for that client for free until those targets are met. And I’d do it with pleasure. It’s very hard for the owner of a company to say No to that. And while I’ve not yet had to work for free for a client, if I ever do, I’d be happy to do it as part of my guarantee.

Because my guarantee tells my clients what they really want to know. That if I take on their project, they’re guaranteed to see results.

Are you using a guarantee in your business? If so what kind? And if not, why not give it a try?

To your success,
Michael