There are a number of factors that influence the chance of making a sale. Perceived value, price point, bonuses, and more. When a vendor or affiliate is putting together an offer they are likely to put some thought into each of these, but one factor that is probably given least thought, where we follow the herd, is the guarantee.

The principle of offering a guarantee associated with the sale is risk reversal. This means if a product or service doesn’t work as promised, it is not the customer that has something to lose, but the vendor.

The most common guarantee in online marketing is probably the money back guarantee. This makes a sale more likely by promising the buyer that the vendor will return their money if the product or service does not work as advertised.

However there are variations on this promise based on the ‘does not work’ part of the guarantee.

Probably the weakest guarantee used in internet marketing is the 30 day money back guarantee. If the buyer can discover whether the product or service works within this time period the guarantee is appropriate. However if it takes more than a month to produce impressive results the guarantee is unlikely to persuade a prospect to buy and may leave purchasers with the impression the guarantee lacks authenticity.

 

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All our products are covered by our cast-iron money-back guarantee. If for any reason (or no reason at all) you’re not completely satisfied, simply contact our helpdesk within 90 days of your purchase for a full refund.

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This type of guarantee can be improved by increasing the period in which the guarantee can be claimed. The most common alternatives to the 30 day period are 60 or 90 days, or even one year. Another way to improve the guarantee is to increase the circumstances under which the buyer can claim a full refund. This is where the buyer can activate the guarantee “for any reason, or no reason at all”.

A guarantee that is valid over a long period of time and has no conditions related to claiming a refund is one of the best risk reversal strategies. However it could be argued that it places too much risk on the seller’s income.

Statistics show that many people who buy the books and courses online often do not complete the material they have bought. It’s even quite common for people to purchase an information product and then never access it. This means it is possible that a customer can purchase a product, leave it untouched on their hard drive, find it just before the guarantee expires and claim a refund without ever trying the product. This and similar scenarios have led to the use of conditional guarantees.

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Use our course, go through all the material and follow the steps to make more money.If you don’t see immediate and consistent results, contact us within 1 year of your purchase date for a full refund of your money.

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The conditional guarantee promises a full refund in the event of the product or service underperforming, but only if the customer can demonstrate they have used the product as intended and taken the appropriate actions.

This means the validity of the guarantee depends on the customer following through and taking action. However, as mentioned above a percentage of buyers will never take action and therefore will never be in a position to claim a refund. This makes the vendor’s income more secure, so they can consider offering a bolder guarantee.

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Download the ebook today. Read it from cover to cover and see for yourself just how much (and how fast!) your results improve once you start using our methods. Then, if you don’t make at least 10 times what you paid for the ebook within the next year, just email my team and we’ll refund you twice the amount you paid. That’s double your money back!

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Did you spot the conditional part of the guarantee? Offering something like double your money back can appear to be an impressive way to reverse the risk to the prospect and help encourage the sale.

The key to creating a powerful guarantee is to consider your offer from the perspective of a sceptical prospect. What risks will they see to buying? What worries will stop them purchasing?

Unfortunately there are some worries you won’t be able to address with a guarantee. The consequences of a product not delivering as promised can be more serious than loss of the purchase money. Using an advertising method that does not work can waste far more money than the cost of an information product, following poor SEO advice can drop your website from the search engines, yet another money making method that does not work can put a strain on your relationship with your spouse, and online strategies that don’t work can waste time that you’ll never get back.

Many of these worries can’t be addressed by a normal guarantee, but they can be overcome by building trust in your integrity and expertise. A blog with impressive content, a social media presence that shows you to be honest and helpful, impressive but believable testimonials and case studies related to your offer can build a perceived guarantee in the minds of your prospects.

Work on these factors and then take each perceived risk and try to reverse as many as you can so that it is you the seller who stands to lose instead of the customer. However if you want to stay in business don’t stand to lose too much.