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Refunds - How to Handle Them No one likes to get refunds. You work hard to find prospects, build a relationship with them, create the perfect product, sell and deliver it to them and then they send it back?
That's not the happy ending anyone was hoping for. When you do get returns, make sure to get the refund out to your client ASAP. Also, make sure that you find out why the client wanted to return the product so that you can learn to do a better job next time. Return Prevention There are lots of things you can do to prevent returns. Here are a few things to practice: • Give your clients long guarantees. It has been proven that the longer the product is guaranteed the less likely it will be returned. It seems backwards, but the reality is that a 30-day guarantee product will have fewer returns than a 14-day guarantee, and a 1-year guarantee will lead to fewer returns than a 6-month guarantee. We can only speculate as to why it works this way, but it's likely that a combination of increased initial confidence in the product due to the strong guarantee combined with less pressure to make a quick decision about weather to keep or return the product leads to more time going by without taking any action at all. What's the rush when you have lots of time to decide anyway? Eventually, the lack of pressure to return the product quickly leads more people to keep it indefinitely. • Make your clients comfortable with the purchasing process and their decision to buy. Most returns are not caused by defective, ineffective products, or a client no longer looking for its benefits. Instead it's general confusion and frustration or a feeling that they were pushed into purchasing without adequate information. You can eliminate a large degree of this problem by being concise, and providing complete information. Start by creating clear concise material. Then make sure to answer all of the potential questions your prospects may have on your sales page. Even address the "elephant in the room." Bringing up all of their potential concerns will prove you can relate to your prospects, be honest even when it's difficult, and you will have an opportunity to ease their concerns. If you ignore them and hope that they won't notice the potential downfalls and risks it will only hurt you. • Remove the risk by providing a guarantee that the client can exercise for any reason. By not limiting the criteria for exercising the guarantee you remove more risk from your client. • Build your clients confidence in their purchase by following up. Send them periodic e-mails containing success stories from other clients, tips for how to use the product to maximize their benefits and access to help when they need it. • Make your guarantee a minimum of 100% money back. I would recommend including shipping costs as well. You will loose money on some people who choose to exercise it, but the increased sales likely will far outweigh the minor expense of a few returns. And if you treat your client well, they will be more likely to give you another shot later. • Provide at least one physical entry-level product. When dealing with clients who have never worked with you before they are less likely to return a physical product than they are a virtual one. In my experience, once the customer becomes a repeat client this effect dissipates. • Send a surprise gift to your client a week after their product shows up. Make it something that will help them achieve the benefits they purchased your initial product for. The unexpected gift will increase goodwill and remind them that they have your support.
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Written by Erica Joneson
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