3,000 miles or your money back | Nudge Newsletter


Money-Back Guarantees

​Read online​


I love this ad.

"If the soles wear out before 3,000 miles, we'll replace the shoes free."

Customers have become so used to false promises and unrealistic claims that a money-back guarantee like this really stands out.

But does it work?

The Evidence

In 2011, a paper published in the Journal of Retailing studied money-back guarantees¹.

200 consumers saw ads for eight different products.

Sometimes the product had a money-back guarantee, plus a guarantee logo. The control group saw the identical ad, without the guarantee.

Turns out, the money-back guarantee boosted the perception of the ad in almost every way.

Those who saw the money-back guarantee ad were:

  • 6.1% more likely to buy
  • 4% more favourable about the product
  • And 2.9% less likely to regret the purchase

A money-back guarantee reduces the perceived risk, makes people feel less pressured and makes them more likely to actually buy.

It worked for all product types, but even more strongly for products that are hard to evaluate until you buy them (like running shoes and fridges).

Which is why I offer a no-questions-asked 30-day money-back guarantee for the Nudge Vaults.


There are 575+ more insights like this in the Nudge Vaults​

Everyone gets a 30-day money-back guarantee. I've had three customers request it. All received their money back the next day, with no questions.

Get access to the Vaults right now →​

Or you can preview your first 50 insights for free →


Cheers,

​Phill​

¹Suwelack, T., Hogreve, J., & Hoyer, W. D. (2011). Understanding money-back guarantees: Cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes. Journal of Retailing, 87(4), 462–478.

As a behavioural science practitioner, I believe in the peak-end rule.

​Tune into Nudge | Advertise with Nudge | Unsubscribe

Nudge Newsletter

I spend 18 hours each week turning marketing psychology into readable newsletters.

Read more from Nudge Newsletter
Beyond Provocative: How One AI Company's Ad Campaign Betrays Humanity -  Roger Wong

Anchoring Read online In Alex Edmans' great book The Madness of Markets, he writes about how the bookshop Computer Literacy, Inc changed its name. The store, in 1999, became Fatbrain.com. But why? What's wrong with Computer Literacy, Inc? According to Alex Edmans, it was to profit from the dot-com bubble. And it worked. Fatbrain's stock climbed 36% after the name change. A Bloomberg article about the name change. But was the Fatbrain spike in earnings a one-off? To find out, Cooper, Dimitrov...

Mere Exposure Read online In E.T., director Steven Spielberg planned a scene where the alien creature was coaxed out of hiding using sweets. Keen not to miss a profitable opportunity, Spielberg approached Mars to use M&M’s for a small fee. Mars turned Spielberg down. Undeterred, Spielberg asked Hershey’s for product placement. Hershey’s had just launched Reese’s Pieces, so they jumped at the chance to feature the new chocolates on screen. Reese’s Pieces were used to lure out the alien. After...

Concrete Phrases Read online Take a look at this satellite photo. What do you see? Most see a busy Walmart car park. But stock market investors see earnings. RS Metrics sells daily satellite images of parking lots at 44 of the USA’s largest retailers. They photograph 67,000 locations every day (assuming no cloud cover). To a layperson like me, this seems ridiculous. Surely there’s a better metric investors can use to gauge business success? But investors place a high value on these images....