Your promotional guarantees have the potential to close deals and establish confidence in your product; join us for a few tips to help you optimize those guarantees and avoid common pitfalls.
Few methods encourage more conversions than a powerfully crafted guarantee. Promotional guarantees address both the carrot and the stick of the decision-making process: they minimalize risks (costs) and reinforce value (benefits).
They can, however, easily backfire if they overreach or if stipulations are poorly communicated. You can reinforce the persuasive power of your guarantees and avoid common pitfalls by following a few simple guidelines.
- Establish clear time frames. If your guarantee is good for 30 days, be sure to clearly state as much each time your guarantee is mentioned, and include the 30 days in your visual marketing when you can. This is also where you will be reinforcing the value of your product. You are probably already familiar with the format: “If you aren’t satisfied with the new you after the first 30 days,” etc. By setting these expectations, you are also encouraging your vistitors to image the ways that they will benefit in the first 30 days of using your product.
- Openly state any fees associated with the return. If customers must pay for return shipping, you will want to be as upfront as possible about this fact as well. Ideally, returns should be rare, but poorly communicated time frames or unexpected costs will almost certainly result in devastating reviews of your company that can undercut the trust established by your guarantees.
- Establish the conditions for a return. Whether you require an empty tube, photos of defective products or another form of proof, make this condition part of your marketing. The easier the process, the more likely your guarantee is to convert and the more confidence you convey in your product.
For more tactics that encourage visitors to become customers, be sure to explore Chapter 5 of our Ultimate Field Guide to Ecommerce Conversions.
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