Quite simply, a money-back guarantee DOESN’T make your offer “100% Risk Free.” As the post explains, people have more at risk than just money. Moreover, 100% Risk Free is an unsubstantiated claim, but things like a ONEconditional Guarantee ARE substantiated (and specific).

If you are tempted to use “100% Risk Free,” the best thing to do is to pull a Zappos and spend some time thinking about how else to eliminate and reverse risk and to include those additional – and specific – guarantees in your copy.

Lastly, the phrase “100% Risk Free” has become a cliche. It sounds like a pitch. ONEconditional guarantee upsets that expectation and raises enough curiosity to get visitors to read the specifics. That’s what I like about it.

Hope that clears things up for you.

-Jeff

- Jeff

Thanks for the comment. I just wanted to make clear (again) that risk reversal techniques and money-back guarantees are both crucially important and NOT the same thing as hyping “100% Risk Free”. To that end, your ONECondiational guarantee is brilliant. It uniquely brands your promise and creates just enough curiosity for the Web visitor to read the details.

Also, when you get down to the nitty gritty of your website, your “Risk Free Services” sub-heading comes under a “My Services” page and after a long list of different services. This is hugely effective as it looks like you have a different sub-section of risk-free services and then the reader learns that all of your services are covered by your ONEconditional guarantee. Nicely done.

You’ve provided a strong, substantiated risk reversal and done it in a manner that very much removes you from any association with the over-hyped style of infomercial deliveries.

-Jeff

My guarantee is, “If you’re not happy within the first 30 days of working with me (typically three or four sessions) for whatever reason, I’ll refund all of your money and we’ll move on.” My “one condition” is that they tell me how I could improve my services to better meet their expectations or needs. I do this with both my low-cost diagnostic services as well as my higher priced one-on-one mentoring offerings.

Now, I also spend a lot of time qualifying each prospect to better ensure that we’re compatible and on the same page with regard to roles, outcomes and expectations. This greatly reduces the chance of someone scamming me out of a few free sessions.

It’s just one element that makes it easier for the owner of a small/medium-sized professional services firm choose me. And since I don’t negotiate on fees, it helps me alleviate any price issues before they come up. It’s just the little nudge required to get them to sign on the spot.

I am a huge proponent of effective risk reversal techniques, as this post makes abundantly clear. If anything I would encourage online companies to more aggressively look at ways that they can reduce the visitors total perceived risk (in the style of Zappos.com), rather than relying on lazy – and untrue – generalizations.

Risk reversal techniques represent
the solid money-making side of infomercials. “100% Risk Free,” on the other hands, represents not so much a persuasive technique as the signature laughably cheesy delivery that has become synonymous with infomercials. And it’s that unsubstantiated, hype-filled delivery that I’m advising copywriters to stay away from.

As for hard data, I have to admit that I have no hard data on this specific claim, but plenty of testing experience with substantiated vs. unsubstantiated claims, or specific vs. general, claims. And, yes, specific, substantiated claims always outperform general or unsubstantiated claims.

What I can tell you though, is that I have participated in the redesign of at least one Direct Mail style site. This was a lead generation site that had enjoyed fabulous success when first released on the Web around 2000 or 2001. It worked extremely well.

Until it didn’t.

Then it failed to perform at all.

Sometime around 2004 or 2005 it tailed off and stopped generating any leads whatsoever. As in zero. None. The site redesign launched in the fall of this year and has already provided numerous leads that have turned into paying clients.

There is a new generation that is rapidly upselling its values to the rest of society, and those values are transparency and authenticity. “100% Risk Free” flies in the face of those values, as it represents exactly the kind of hard sell, overstated hucksterism that millenials are rejecting. It’s “Old School” Selling.

I stand by my advice in this series and in this post: Get specific. Get Substantiated. Get Real.

Dan Kennedy, one of the highest paid direct marketers / copywriters in the world, would probably disagree. To see how he use free trials and guarantees check out his web site.

He has been instrumental in writing content for some of the Tony Robbins and Guthy-Renker infomercials. These are huge money makers.

If the goal in business is to make money, it would be hard to argue with his success. He has over 100 personal clients that annually make over $1,000,000.00 per year income from his direct marketing approaches.

What data do you have to support what you are writing?

I was wondering do you have any real hard data regarding one using risk free vs. not using risk free in their copy and or website. Does one convert better than the other?

As I am not personally involved in infomercials I can only guess, but knowing what TV time costs I am fairly certain that infomercials and the methods used are extremely successful. So why wouldn’t they work online?

When venturing out in uncertain waters as a buyer, I have to admit I am an easier catch when the seller offers a strong guarantee. If all else fails I can always dangle a screen capture of the sellers “100% Risk free”-guarantee in front of him.

Anyway, my point is how do so many people think that they can get away with these ‘100% Risk-Free’ ads?

“100% Risk-Free” to me doesn’t seem to far removed from the inane spam emails we keep geting over here in UK from people in developing countries in Africa saying absurd things like a plane crashed in the forest and they would like to invest it in the UK and they request people’s bank details etc ..

One of the reasons I “hate” a lot of the self-anointed marketing gurus and “experts” out there – they sell lots of pre-packaged binders, CDs, forms, guides, etc. etc…all absolutely guaranteed! No risk! “Money back if not satisfied.” Yes, and the poor schlub has to wade through hours and hours of stuff before they know rather they’re satisfied or not. *Sigh* Sure, it’s no risk – to the seller.

Thanks for reminding me of the bass-o-matic. Made my laugh for the day!