Full Money Back Guarantee
June 15th, 2010 by Lior ShamirDean Rieck, one of America’s top direct marketing copywriters, writes:
“You didn’t used to see many guarantees for online services and digital products.
But today’s new generation of bloggers and entrepreneurs have discovered that this age-old offline technique can be one of the most powerful routes to more sales.
They know that online buyers are plagued by fears and doubts. And there’s nothing that will kill a sale faster than doubt.”
It occurred to me that I have never purchased a CD or MP3 directly from an artist who offered me a full refund if I was in any way dissatisfied with my purchase.
I wonder if the following guarantee – on the back of your CD case or in red font on your web store – would inspire more music fans to give your music a chance:
I work really hard to write and produce the best songs that I can. If you don’t absolutely love what you hear, or dissatisfied with your purchase for any reason, I’ll reverse the charges on your credit card for the full purchase price. No questions asked.
June 15th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Interesting, sort of, but to me this is what streaming is about. Listen for free, if you like it, but it, if not, no sweat!
http://www.jeffshattuck.com
Lior Reply:
June 16th, 2010 at 9:28 am
I’ve been to many shows where the performing band blew me away. I would purchase their CD only to get home and discover that it sounds nothing like what I expected after hearing them live. And what about the T-shirt I bought at the show which began to fade after one wash? Or the branded coffee mug that wasn’t water-tight? I’ll take the leap and buy something from a band I like… but I think I would do it with greater confidence if I knew that the quality of the product was personally guaranteed — not by the venue, retailer, or label, but by the members of the band. That’s powerful. That tells me that they care about me.
June 16th, 2010 at 9:08 am
In Texas, and when Texas artists (mainly solo singer-songwriters) go to Europe or elsewhere on tour, most of our CD sales are made “out of the truck” that is, we’re at the gig, people like what they hear, and buy a CD or two. It can add another couple of hundred dollars (or however much) to the night. The people who buy those, of course, know what they’re getting and want to take some of it home with them. The other thing we have in Austin is that at, for example Waterloo Records, a great independent music store, a listening booth where you can listen to a CD before you buy it (for as long as you want, within reason). I’m sure there are stores with similar policies in other cities, at least the “hip” ones? But to address the core of your question: I think any artistic creation (a book, a CD, a painting) represents the artist’s “very best work” by definition. If your own instinct (if not experience) as a purchaser, with this artist doesn’t lead you to buy it, don’t buy it. I think it strikes at the very core of artistic expression, to offer this kind of comment; it feels cowardly and — sorry I can’t think of the right word — like “sucking up.” Have the courage to put your art out there, if it sells, great. I think some people do bring back CDs, and books, to stores, saying (or because) they didn’t like them — not many, but it does happen. Some retailers will give their money back (it varies). I’m pretty sure CDs bought online at for example, amazon can be returned like anything else they sell. But my point really is, artistic work is not just a product (like a blender or coffee pot); it’s an artistic creation, and thereby sacred — the act of paying for it is a donation to the artist to continue his/her work and a sign of approval of it (or expectation thereof). It’s not a purchase in the traditional sense of, again, material goods. Thanks for the opportunity to think about this interesting topic but overall I would find such a disclaimer, degrading.
Lior Reply:
June 16th, 2010 at 9:19 am
In the artist/fan dynamic, I think most artists perceive ‘loyalty’ as a one-way street: The fan is loyal to the artist. But what about the artist’s loyalty to the fan? Why not do everything possible to exude confidence in the music you’re selling and ensure that you have your fan’s back, should he not absolutely love what he paid for? Why should art be in a class of its own when it comes to consumer confidence? Perhaps the lax attitude toward music fans has contributed to the decline of recorded music sales…
June 16th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
I understand fully what Mandy was talking about in terms of art being in it’s own class. But I do think that if the artist wants to take this route given his audience fits the demographic that would respond well to this type of marketing or good will gesture it could be very beneficial to building trust and a loyalty factor could be strengthened.
This doesn’t negate that the artist must first offer good product and create trust by consistently delivery “the goods”. I think a lot of it is how you word things. As musicians we are in the sales & marketing industry. & in sales, (I know a lot of musicians don’t realize they are in sales… & I’m sure that contributes to lagging sales for some) there are certain techniques/principals that work across the board no matter what we’re selling. Building trust is one of them. How fast this happens is up to us for the most part.
Good topic.
June 17th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
I agree with this 100% – we hand make all our merchandise: CDs, socks, t-shirts, lyrics books etc. and with everything we sell we put a little slip in it saying we’ll happily refund or replace anything no problem, and give them our website address.
For one thing, we don’t want to rip anyone off – we want them to be happy with their purchases 100%. It’s people like this that we’re making music for!
From a more level-headed business side of things, if people do contact you then, it gives you a chance to wow them with how nice you are – one free t-shirt here and there will buy a hell of a lot of good karma for you…
Bandcamp (which we use as our online store) has a great section where you can put return instructions in, yet one more reason why we love it:
http://iamnotlefthanded.bandcamp.com/policies