Overcoming The Fear Factor In Online Sales
No I am not talking about the classic board game, that Aunt Hester bought you the past two years for your birthday! Risk is what first time visitors to your website views your product as. Before they spend their hard earned money they want to know that your product is worth it. Shoppers today see so many offers, so many sales pitches that they are trained to be skeptical about many products.
This is even more the case when selling over the internet because many of your potential customers do not know you. In the offline word they could walk into your store and talk to you, online you are just another person fighting to take their money.
It is proven that if you alleviate the fear associated with making a first time purchase your initial sales will increase by 10% and these customers are more likely to purchase from you in the future. Why? Because you stand behind your product and they know if they are unhappy you will give them a full refund!
If you are confident in your product, show it to your customers by offering a strong guarantee that removes the risk associated with the purchase. If you can offer a lifetime no hassles, zero questions asked guarantee do so! I know you think this sounds risky, but it really is not.
How do I know this? I did an extensive test with very similar products offering different lengths of money back guarantees. I was surprised when I found out the longer the guarantee the less returns I received.
Having a short guarantee makes the customer rush through using your product, so if they are unhappy they can return it within the allotted time period. With a longer guarantee they can use your product at their own pace which will allow them to see the great results of owning your product.
So what is the absolute shortest guarantee I would offer? Well 30 days is too short, the bare minimum I would say is 90 days, but remember the longer the better!
Are you still scared about offering the longer guarantee? Shame on you! Not really, that is a valid concern. In general most customers use the guarantee as an additional reason to buy your product; it makes them feel safe and secure. Unless they simply hate your product or service people are usually too lazy to return it, or they put it off until tomorrow, which usually never comes. But just in case the guarantee is their shining like a big block of gold!
All in all, as long as your returns are under the 10% that you have increased you sales by (which any quality product should be) you have nothing to lose by offering a RISK FREE guarantee.
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