It’s no longer sufficient simply to include a money-back guarantee with your offers. There is nothing remarkable about a money-back guarantee, since all marketers include it.
Snoresville.
The challenge is showing your reader that your guarantee means something, that it’s real. This reminds me of the Chris Farley line from the movie “Tommy Boy”: “Look, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will.”
That’s about how much credence your readers place in the word “guaranteed” today.
How do you make your guarantee mean something? How do you make your readers pay attention to your guarantee?
What’s required today is a super-charged guarantee — a guarantee, frankly, that requires brass balls (if you’re a guy).
Nordstrom’s guarantee is one of the most famous.
Nordstrom promises that you can return a Nordstrom product anytime and get a full refund, no matter on long you’ve had it, no matter how much you’ve worn it.
There’s a story (probably an urban legend) about a guy who brought in a set of tires to Nordstrom, asking for a refund. Nordstrom gave the refund even though Nordstrom has never sold tires. Even though this story is probably myth, the fact that the story is out there just underscores the legendary fame the Nordstrom guarantee has achieved.
Everyone knows about the Nordstrom eye-popping guarantee. The Nordstrom guarantee is so famous that it’s now part of the Nordstrom brand. This extraordinary guarantee is what people think of when they think of Nordstrom.
The Nordstrom guarantee communicates far more than just that the purchase is “risk-free” to the customer. This super-charged guarantee communicates that Nordstrom has confidence in the quality of its merchandise, and also that Nordstrom trusts its customers to treat Nordstrom fairly. A relationship of trust is established.
Nordstrom is telling customers that the store is staking its entire business on the quality of its products and on customer satisfaction. In a sense, Nordstrom has built its business and reputation on the attention-getting strength of its guarantee.
And what a brilliant marketing strategy this is, because without this memorable guarantee, Nordstrom would not stand out in people’s minds as any different from Nieman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Fields, Saks Fifth Avenue, or a dozen other department stores that offer the very same merchandise. The stunning Nordstrom guarantee is what makes Nordstrom different . . .
To read the rest of this article (and a whole lot more), you must be a member of my Inner Circle Roundtable for $1.
But that’s easy to do by [Clicking Here]
Happy Improved Marketing,
Ben Hart
