#28 Guaranteed to Improve Your Sales?

Guaranteed to Improve Your Sales?

By Chris Maher

Do you offer a money back guarantee on your work? If you normally sell through a gallery or directly to your clients in person the idea of a guarantee may sound strange. But your gallery on the World Wide Web is different. The trust implicit in a money back guarantee may be critical to the success of your online sales efforts.

Back in the early days of mail order a similar situation existed. People wanted the nice things that they saw in the mail order catalogs, but how could they be sure the merchandise was everything it was represented to be? The key element that won the public trust was the money back guarantee. When folks feel that they can examine the item before the sale is truly final, their comfort level rises dramatically.

In fact, you should make your guarantee a major selling point. Draw attention to it on your home page, as well as on your order page. It's a confidence builder, and a reassurance to first time buyers. And it clearly demonstrates your own confidence in the quality of your work.

Be sure to state the terms of your guarantee clearly. Will you refund shipping expenses? What is your policy if the work comes back damaged? Put all this information on your order page. Unconditional, 100% satisfaction guarantees are the most powerful, but you must decide for yourself. It's reasonable to set a time limit for refunds, 30 days or perhaps 60 days if you ship overseas. A client should be able to tell if a work is what they expected in that period of time.

Will many pieces be returned to you? Probably not, but a few may be. When I queried David Wilfong, of the World Wide Art site (http://www.world-wide-art.com) he told me that they don't get many returns, but they do have some.

Offering a guarantee is good business. If your gallery states "100% Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back" and your competitors terms are "all sales final", you'll have a fine advantage, and stand to make more sales because of it.

So, what do you think? Is a guarantee a good idea for your web site? E-mail me and let me know if you've had any good or bad experiences with online guarantees.

This page last updated: 09/02/04

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