OK, let’s get down to some specific strategies you can use to dramatically lower your return and refund rate. Each of these strategies takes little effort or time. The reason most business owners don’t do them is because they have not become “institutionalized” in their business processes.
Whatever strategy you choose to overcome buyer’s remorse, do it consistently for each and every purchase. Measure it, report it, discuss it, make it a part of your “standard operating procedure.”
Strategy # 1 — Package It Right
Tests have shown that the packaging itself can lower return rates. The harder you make your package to open, the less likely you are to get a return. Remember my story about my stereo? It had a ton of packaging with special Styrofoam wrapping and plastic coverings. After I ripped through it, I had the feeling that I couldn’t return it. You’ll find that many of your customers will feel the same way.
Strategy # 2 — Include a Special Note With Your Product
How many times have you received a product with just a shipping label attached? I’ll bet that most of your packages arrive that way. Consider inserting a personal note from you thanking your customer for their business and assuring them that they just purchased the best product available.
With the hundreds of amateur audiotaped information products that I have shipped out to customers, I have not received one back. Not one! The recording is ugly, my voice is ugly, there isn’t any musical score at the begging or the end, and you can easily tell that it wasn’t recorded in a studio. In fact, you can hear the places on the tape in which I paused the recording to correct a mistake or take a break.
The reason I haven’t received one single return is because I send a note with each audio product that says, “This is NOT a studio recording. I learned a long time ago that GREAT
CONTENT is much more important than pretty music and that’s exactly what you’ll be getting… Great content!”
Strategy # 3 — Send an Immediate Thank You Note
Because buyer’s remorse happens the moment your customer pulls out their wallet, you should immediately reassure your customer that they made the right decision by telling them so.
People don’t expect to get a thank you note from anybody, let alone from the person they just purchased something from. It will be a pleasant surprise and will exceed their
expectations.
Make sure that you include the following in your note:
1. A sincere thank you for buying from you and acknowledging that they had a choice and that you are flattered and honored that they chose to purchase from you.
2. Reassurance of the reason they bought the product or service in the first place — restate the benefits that they’ll receive by using your product or service.
3. Additional tips to help them take advantage of the product or service they just purchased.
4. An assurance that you will be there for them if they need help or get stuck.
5. A reminder that they made a wise choice purchasing from you and that many others made the same choice as they did, and were happy that they did so.
6. Testimonials from other customers that are successfully using your product or service.
Strategy # 4 — Include an Extra Surprise Gift in Their Package
There are few things that engender goodwill more than surprising your customer with even more than you originally promised. This called “over-delivering”, and is an important principle.
The sure formula for success is to “under-promise and over-deliver.” I call this the
“Scotty Principle.” For all you Star Trek fans out there you might remember all the times Captain Kirk asked Scotty, the ship’s engineer, how long it would take to make a repair.
Scotty always answered Captain Kirk by saying that he would be done in a longer time than he knew it would really take to get the job done. Then he got the job done faster than expected.
You can do the same thing by including an extra gift to your customer. Include something that is low cost to you but has a high perceived value.
This could be a special report on video or audiotape. It could be something that you bought as an overstock item or at a clearance sale.
My brother sells hot tubs and they send a basket of cookies shaped like a hot tub to their customer after each sale. If you sell a high ticket item, go to my favorite gift store, www.harryanddavid.com and give your customer a year round gift basket.
Strategy # 5 — Give them a Phone Call
Depending on the size of your business you might want to give your customer a phone call just to say thank you. Last year I was having severe lower back pain. I dragged myself to the chiropractor’s office to get worked on.
He gave me some electrolysis stimulation and a great lower back massage with deep heating rub. I felt a lot better walking out than I did walking in.
That night I was shocked to get a phone call from the doctor. He was following up to make sure I was feeling a little better and to give me a few tips to sleep better. Wow. I became a big fan and have been seeing him off and on ever since.
Strategy # 6 — Ask for their Testimonial
A couple of years after my wife and I were married our old, worn out Toyota Tercel
“gave up the ghost.” We decided to go down to a dealership and buy a relatively new Honda Civic.
After we had signed the papers and before we had gotten out of the dealership, the finance person asked us to fill out a survey, which asked how satisfied we were and what we liked most about our experience.
Before we knew it, we had written a raving testimonial. We were giddy and excited about the thought of owning our “almost new” Honda Civic.
Not a week later the dealership sent us a thank you letter and included our glowing testimonial. We felt a warm fuzzy inside seeing our testimonial in writing. Even if we had a problem later on we probably wouldn’t have make a stink about it. We would have been too embarrassed. After all, how smart could a person be if they publicly raved about the dealership and their experience, and then turned around and complained?
Once consumers make a public statement supporting you and your product or service, they will go to extraordinary lengths to maintain that posture. The chance of them returning a product or asking for a refund decreases dramatically.