A few years a friend of mine and I were driving to my tennis club and I saw a huge hair recovery ad on a building. My friend is going bald, so I said, “Look, you should try that.” He replied, “No, that doesn’t work.” I asked him if he had tried it and he said “No,” but it “looked like BS.”
That’s when it clicked for me. I felt that I finally understood marketing. My friend was going bald; he would’ve given anything to get his hair back and money is not an issue for him. The only reason that was stopping him from taking the first step was skepticism.
“Interesting!” I thought. “If skepticism is the problem, then what is the solution?” I realized that there are two things your marketing message needs to accomplish in order for you to succeed:
- You Need to Provide PROOF that Your Product Works. By proof I don’t mean an anonymous testimonial from John A., NYC (which, of course, doesn’t include a photo). By proof I mean dozens of “before and after” shots, several video testimonials with full names and city, bank account statements showing how much money you made, proof of legal cases you won, etc. Don’t just TELL people you’re good. SHOW them.
- Your Customer Needs to Come Out on Top Even If Your Product Doesn’t Work. If you sell pink wigs and you offer a 100% money back guarantee, it’s not enough. If people don’t like your wigs, they’ll have spent time ordering online and they’ll have to spend time going to the post office to send it back. Who’s going to pay her for that time? And what about the disappointment of getting something that doesn’t meet her expectations? How are you going to compensate her for it? In this case, I’d offer a 120% money back guarantee AND YOU GET TO KEEP THE WIG. If your product is a high-ticket item, offer a 110% money back guarantee, let people keep part of the package (like a pillow if they bought a mattress) and you should pay for the return shipping. Your prospects should be able to answer yes to this question: “If I don’t like this, will I end up better than I was before this transaction?”
For all those who are concerned about losing a lot of money by offering an outrageous guarantee, I have two things to say:
- Some people WILL rip you off. But, if your refunds go up by 25% and your sales by 220%, doesn’t this make sense? (These are actual numbers gathered by one of my favorite direct response marketers.)
- If you think too many people will ask for a refund based on your product quality, then you should consider offering a better product or switch to a different industry. You’re not getting anywhere with a mediocre product.
Think about this:
- If your customer wins whether or not your product works…
…and…
- You put that message in front of the right audience…
…then you have a winner marketing strategy.