Money back guarantees, rebates and the dilution of trust

About four months ago I paid for speed reading software.

I know. But I thought that if I learned one good tip or technique, it would be worthwhile.

And being completely honest, the company’s no-nonsense money back guarantee reassured me.

Fast forward a few months.

After realising that I wasn’t going to find the single tip I’d hoped for, I requested a refund. I did eventually get it, but to describe the process as no questions asked was laughable.

I also recently bought a new TomTom unit, as my old one had decided to commit suicide two days before we set of for France in our car.

Once I bought it I was pleased to notice that as part of a promotion, I could get £50 towards the cost of refuelling my car.

The steps involved in doing so were (1) register the unit, (2) take and upload a photograph of the TomTom’s receipt, (3) enter the serial number of the unit, (4) take and upload a photograph of the serial number, (5) scan and upload the receipt for the fuel, (6) enter my account details online after uploading the required evidence, (7) wait for up to 30 days for my claim to be (hopefully) successfully validated.

Many companies offer rebates, relying on a significant number of customers to simply not get round to requesting them.

Companies like TomTom choose to further weigh the odds in their favour by creating an inordinate number of hoops for the customer to jump through.

Rebates and money back guarantees used to be effective sales tools; often giving the slightly-hesitant purchaser that gentlest of pushes towards reaching for their wallet.

But the money back guarantee ain’t what it used to be.

The money back guarantee has unfortunately gone the way of quality.

If a person creates an item of genuine quality, it’s almost impossible to communicate this. Labelling the item as “high quality” cheapens it, as the phrase has been over-used to the point of it being rendered meaningless.

So what is an unconditional money back guarantee?

We’re not talking about complex ideas here. No questions asked should mean no questions asked.

And if your company offers a genuine no questions asked guarantee, you need a way to communicate this more effectively than the fake badge or button loved by so many.