Back in my days as a Kickstarter creator, I frequently offered a money-back guarantee to backers. I was asking customers to buy a product before they had the opportunity to try it–notably, a product that wasn’t 100% complete, one for which even early reviewers only had a nice prototype instead of the final version.
So in an effort to build trust and remove a barrier to entry, I told backers that if they decided the game wasn’t for them within a month of receiving it, they could return it to us for a full refund. Over 7 projects and tens of thousands of backers, I think we had a total of around a dozen backers take us up on the offer.
As a company that no longer uses crowdfunding, we’ve switched to a return policy. But I recently experimented with a twist on the original guarantee during a flash sale.
In mid-January, I sent messages to people who had responded to our annual demographic survey with a response regarding a game of ours they most want to try. I offered that game at a special discount for 48 hours, and I added the following for the first time:
“As an extra incentive to try this game now, if you buy it from us during the flash sale, play it within the next month, and discover that it’s not a good fit for you, you can donate it to a good cause and we’ll send you a $25 gift card to the Stonemaier Games webstore. Just email me with your order # if you do that.”
Notably, this wasn’t a full money-back guarantee. I thought that framing the offer with a specific amount might resonate best–basically, by playing the game, you have the opportunity to make $25. And for anyone who genuinely didn’t resonate with the game, I thought they would be more likely to take me up on the offer if they could share the good cause to which they donated the game when requesting the $25 gift card.
How were the results? In the US, for example, we had 141 people take us up on the sale. Over a month has passed, and only 1 person took me up on the offer. And honestly, I’m glad that they did. It felt like a win-win for both of us (the original money-back guarantee didn’t always feel like that).
I really like this method, and I plan to use it for some future flash sales. What do you think of it? Have you tried (or accepted) anything like this?
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Also read: 17 Sales Techniques Worth Exploring
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7 Comments on “An Experimental Twist on the Money-Back Guarantee”
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I think it’s great, I love the way you think and appreciate your efforts in pushing the norm of games companies relationships with the consumer. Keep up the good work
Thanks Carl!
If I was on the fence, the promotion would not be the deciding factor, but it would make me feel better about purchasing Stonemaier games when I do decide to buy.
When I buy or play a game from Stonemaier, I know what I’m getting. Maybe I don’t know the feel of the game itself until I play, but I do know some things: the components will have a good look and feel; the game will have undergone a fairly strong quality process (both design and production); and people who love this game and gaming in general will have been heavily involved from the beginning to the end.
My completely unjustified guess based on my own navel gazing is that this promotion experiment will have a stronger impact on your existing customer base than on attracting new customers.
The promotion is in line with your company ethos and culture of social goods (e.g., accessibility, eco-friendliness), which I would imagine resonates with your existing customers and builds on an already positive attitude about Stonemaier Games. If they’re going to buy a game, they will likely consider one of yours. Any money back guarantee will have limited effect because, for these purchasers, it’s less about the money and more about the experience, theme, mechanics, etc. The advantage of your experimental twist is that when your customers *do* buy your game, they are guaranteed to get what they care about: a satisfying experience, either the game itself or helping a good cause.
A new customer not familiar with your games, on the other hand, may be more concerned about the opportunity cost of what they’re *not* buying—another game or some other entertainment—and a traditional money back guarantee would more likely affect their comfort-level at purchase.
Cale: I agree. In fact, I’d take it a step further, because the only people who even know about these flash sales are those who (a) sign up for our enewsletter and (b) respond to our annual demographic survey. So it’s a niche within a niche. But it’s perhaps the most important niche for us to serve.
I think it’s a great idea. It engenders some real good will with the community at a pretty low cost (so far). If it increased your sales over what you’re used to seeing from similar flash sales you’ve had then it’s an even bigger win!
Are there limitations to what you consider a good cause? I would do it, but I don’t know that I get that many new games that fit that category for me. Also, if it was a non-local good cause, the shipping would take a big bite out of that $25, which might be one reason people wouldn’t do it. It may also be difficult for people to identify good causes that could make use of board games. I might even be inclined to buy an extra copy of a game specifically TO be donated, if you could ship it directly to them, but that feels like a different thing than what you are talking about.
Nope, I intentionally left that vague. It could be a gift to a friend who could use a pick-me-up; it could be a local game cafe, bar, library, or event. Or something different–it’s entirely up to the person.