Let me run something by you.
Let’s say you go to a website, and see a beautiful shirt that you just have to buy.
Only problem? You don’t know what size to get. Because every store, annoyingly, has clothes that fit a bit differently. So much could go wrong. (This is more true for women’s sizing than men’s - but that’s a topic for a different day.)
But after you read the reviews about sizing, and check the sizing chart, you see they offer full money-back refunds, and will even pay for all of the shipping costs if you have to send it back.
Sounds way more safe and easier to buy, doesn’t it?
That’s what a guarantee is all about. It’s an incredibly powerful way to earn trust and to make the sale.
But when it comes to your copy it’s often left out or it gets only a brief mention.
This is a mistake. Don’t underestimate the power of a strong guarantee. It shows you have some skin in the game.
Before I start talking too much about guarantees, let me back up a little and explain what’s going on with our brains here.
In the book, Habits of a Happy Brain, author Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD writes that our brains are entirely focused on keeping us alive. Many of the decisions we make are because of our need for survival.
When our brains sense that something isn’t safe, we get anxious and stressed - and we try to get away from that anxiety or stress. Now, obviously our survival isn’t at stake if we get the wrong size of shirt. But our brain is processing it as a ‘bad feeling’ even though this doesn’t really match up with our survival needs.
We don’t want people to experience bad feelings or stress when they’re on our websites. We want to make things as easy and enjoyable as possible.We want to create the ‘slippery slide.’ This is what legendary copywriter, Joe Sugarman, said we should be creating in our copy. We want our reader to be so engaged and excited about what they’re reading that it will be like sliding down a slippery slide right to the bottom where the sale lives.
Any bad feelings or anxieties will act as speed bumps or obstacles in getting our reader to the bottom of the slide.
Good guarantees need to be specific and meaningful to your customers. You don’t want vague wording that creates more questions for your readers. And, really, what does a ‘satisfaction’ guarantee really mean?
Meaningful means that you’re eliminating as many objections as you can. A money-back guarantee isn’t as meaningful if they’ll have to pay for shipping and arrange a courier.
This is where you need to show them that you have skin in the game - that it will be
Good guarantees need to be specific and meaningful to your customers. You don’t want vague wording that creates more questions for your readers. And, really, what does a ‘satisfaction’ guarantee really mean?
Meaningful means that you’re eliminating as many objections as you can. A money-back guarantee isn’t as meaningful if they’ll have to pay for shipping and arrange a courier.
This is where you need to show them that you have skin in the game - that it will be
Your guarantee shouldn’t be in tiny font in your footer, deep in your FAQ page, or a quick blurb on your customer service page.
Make it prominent so that it can’t be missed. It should be placed near a point of conversion, aka a button. This helps to reduce any anxiety about clicking.
Your guarantee can also be placed with your other “trust bling” or badges. Like I said, it should be prominently displayed so your browsers feel safe.
If you don’t have a guarantee, what are you waiting for? Adding one will instantly help improve trust with your readers. And if you do have one, is it somewhere prominent? If not, be sure to add it near a point of conversion. It should also be placed strategically throughout your website and landing pages.
