the guarantee - for downloads

[elmer328]

I understand the 110% guarantee concept...it make a lot of sense. Yes, most customers are not likely to return a product, especially if it requires them to go through several steps, ie repack, go the post office or UPS and ship the goods back.

But what if the purchased product is a download?

Is it wise to offer a 110% guarantee on a product that a user could download, then use then discard when they are through with it?

I've been looking around at other sites and software downloads...seeing a mixed bag.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

[JBandit]

Personally I think that the number of people you may convince to buy your product by offering them a 100+% guarantee will be greater than those who will take advantage of it and ask for it back even though they have already used it. I would do tests with 100% 110% and no money back guarantee's to see how it affects your sales. That's the only way you'll ever really find out for yourself.

[4hourworkweak]

Try it out then get back and tell us!

Honestly, I think a 100% guarantee is enough to instill confidence in the buyer of a digital product, but why not offer a 110% for a couple of weeks and find out how it goes? If it doesn't work and costs you a few dollars, just stop doing it.

[dvdwlsh]

Remember two things.

First, people are generally not going to spend the time to rip you off and take advantage. I wouldn't recommend a 110% for digital goods for one reason: "returning" a digital product is as effortless as sending an email to you. It makes it very tempting and all-too-easy for someone to take advantage of the genuine guarantee you're offering. When you have to pick up a phone and call, or have to physically mail back a product, the barrier is much higher and its far less likely you'll see the return.

Second, it never actually costs you anything if you have to refund a digital goods purchase, since the product doesn't have a cost per-unit (as compared to sending out physical merchandise). So, worst case scenario, a refund doesn't hurt you, even if the person keeps the product and derives value from it.

David

[elmer328]

Thank you for the insight.

I was and still am leaning with David. I've never sold a digital product before and this was one of the first concerns I had.

Part of it will also depend on the price of the product. If the product is $100, there's a greater potential that someone would buy then return and make $10 bucks.

My gut feeling on this one is to go with a 100% and perhaps try modifiying testing the return period as well as the 110%.

jeff

[dvdwlsh]

You can't go wrong with a 100% guarantee. It's highly compelling and comes across as reasonable to the reader.

To give you some real-world insight, I've been consistently selling my digital learning product for over 6 months and only received 2 refund requests against my 100% guarantee -- and these were only due to the buyer having technical issues when trying to place the course on their music player or similar.

People simply don't go out of their way to take advantage of your guarantee, as long as you provide some level of value.

Keep cranking on the muse, look forward to seeing it.

David

[FreedomFinder]

One thing I'd recommend trying is offering a 110% Money-back guarantee but making them make a phone call to return it, if you have an outsourcer or company who can do that. Also, tracking WHEN they bought it, and not allowing them to return it until they've had it for at least 5 days will drastically reduce refunds, they'll just forget about it.

@ Dvdwlsh... Awesome man, could you link your site? Also, has it successfully reached your TMI?

[David-Andrew]

Originally Posted by FreedomFinder

One thing I'd recommend trying is offering a 110% Money-back guarantee but making them make a phone call to return it, if you have an outsourcer or company who can do that. Also, tracking WHEN they bought it, and not allowing them to return it until they've had it for at least 5 days will drastically reduce refunds, they'll just forget about it.

There are some good ideas in this tread!

One of my muses has a 100% 30 day guarantee. I dont mind giving someone money back if the product doesn't do what it should, but i hate giving money back when the product doesn't do what they THOUGHT it would do because they didn't read.

First it was "no questions asked guarantee" but people would ask the money back quickly, or try the product, ask for loads of support and then decide it wasn't good enough.

Now I changed it to "if the product doesn't do everything we claim and our technicians cant fix it". I get almost no refunds, but sales are up and people keep telling me they bought it because they were feeling save with the refund.

Its not a crime to add reasonable "rules" to the guarantee.

[Matthew Connors]

Do some split testing, identical PPC advert, have two landing pages one with a 100% MBG and the other with no MBG....

Don't second guess when its so easy to test and be sure..

Drive 200 - 300 clicks to each via an adwords split test. Your data will tell you exactly..

Lots of niches have better results with a 100% MBG but not all so test it. 400 clicks at 5-10c = $20_$40 and you will know for sure, plus should get 3-12 sales if your product and landing page are good. This will pay for it anyway.

[FrozenCanuck]

I agree with David. 100% is enough but if you can actually find a way to implement a 110% test then it's better to know for sure. I use ClickBank and PayPal, and there is no way to do a 110% refund on these platforms.

Getting a refund from me is as simple as sending an email. My return rate, after selling since November, is one unit. And the customer said she had a computer meltdown and would be back to buy again when it was fixed. I didn't really believe it but whatever ... ONE refund after selling well over a hundred copies of my product. Not an issue.

I think the biggest hurdle is to get people to believe that the refund is REAL. I think most people assume it is a hassle. There is a fine balance of convincing them it is real versus making them so sure it is real that it attracts serial refunders.