The Money-Back Guarantee
by Jason Ryan Isaksen

A good money back guarantee is another thing your reader will be looking for. These days everyone has a guarantee so if you don't, you'll look like you're not very sure of your product. Don't make it something unrealistic like "I offer a 50 year money-back guarantee!" This sounds like a kid wrote it because it's just way too long. The reader isn't even sure if he'll still be alive in 50 years. Make your guarantee something realistic like between 30 days and 1 year.

Don't make your guarantee less than 30 days. The problem with making your guarantee less than 30 days is that you'll end up making your reader feel like they don't have much time if they decide to return it, so they'll just panic and return it fast. There's a condition you may have heard of called "Buyers Remorse" and it happens quite often.

 Buyers remorse usually occurs within 72 hours from the time a customer makes a purchase. What happens is the buyer suddenly feels like he/she might have made a mistake in purchasing what ever item it happens to be that they purchased from you. At that point the buyer looks at the guarantee the product came with. If it's a 7 day money back guarantee, the customer is going to feel like there isn't much time left, so they better return it now. Even if it's a 10 or 14 day guarantee, the customer is still going to feel a little short on time and be more likely to return it immediately.

You never want to make your customers feel like they're on a strict time limit or time schedule to return your products.

When you offer an extremely long guarantee, your customer will feel more relaxed and confident that your product will be as good as you promised.

But if you give the reader a good amount of time like at least 30 days, they won't feel such as strong sense of urgency to make a decision. And eventually the buyers remorse they felt will go away and they'll become comfortable with their purchase and keep it. I even like to some times offer a 90 day guarantee or even a year. By offering such a long guarantee, the customer feels almost no sense of urgency and no panic to return the product. They figure "Heck, I've got a whole year to keep trying this thing out and using it." So they just keep hanging on to it and eventually they just feel like they've had it so long and used it so much that it would not even be fair to the company at this point to return it. They may even feel embarrassed to return something after such a long time.

Here's a secret weapon you can use for guarantees that most consumers and marketers don't know about. There's a Federal Postal Law that says all goods shipped by U.S. or Canadian Postal Services. Not many people know about that law, but here's how you can turn it into your own secret weapon.

First, you must understand that many consumers have been lied to about money back guarantees in the past. Yah, it shouldn't come as a surprise to you that many marketers are con artists, crooks, and frauds that don't honor their own money back guarantee. Sure they made the promise, but when the customer asks for his/her money back, the marketer often time comes up with some technicality why you can't have your money back.

You've probably experienced this yourself. I know I have. Anyway, by telling your prospects and readers about this automatic Federal Law that exists, they'll trust you more. Mostly because they know that a con artist wouldn't tell them about Federal Laws that are designed to protect consumers against con artists and fraud. Your prospects, leads, customers, and web visitors know it takes a pretty honest person to let potential customers know about this law.

You might just add a little disclaimer like this one below to the bottom of your website or sales letters to make your customers feel well protected.

"Federal Law mandates that all orders shipped within the U.S. come with a built in, unconditional 30 day money back guarantee. Know your rights as a consumer and exercise your rights by returning any and all goods sent to you that are not as described by the seller."

Below is a sample of my own guarantee that I use as my main guarantee.

Order at my risk! That's right! I'll assume all risk so that you can order without any doubt or concern. My course comes with a no risk, satisfaction guaranteed, 100% unconditional, money back guarantee. There is nothing for you to risk since your course comes with an automatic 100% money-back-lifetime-guarantee. I'd like you to order my course today, read it, use it, and if for any reason you're not completely satisfied, just return it for an instant refund of the price you paid. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I assume all risk for you!

And don't forgot, I offer a lifetime guarantee because of that famous rule of thumb I told you about earlier: The more time you give your customers to return your products and services, the less refunds you'll get back. Yes, a 30 day money-back guarantee will cause you to have more returns than a one-year guarantee. This is just a time tested and proven fact of marketing and human behavior.

Also there are certain words that sound very glamorous when included in your guarantee such as: "100% unconditional", "No Risk", "No Hassle", "Risk Free", etc. These words all make your money-back guarantee sound even more irresistible to the buyer.