A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Profitable Satisfaction Guarantee

Warranties, money-back guarantees and satisfaction guarantees have been around for a long time. There’s nothing new or flashy about the concept, but it still provides great benefits to your business. Satisfaction guarantees help customers feel more comfortable about trying out new products; they also encourage businesses to focus on providing excellent customer service and show commitment to quality. Now that you’re ready to implement a guarantee program for your business, here’s a step-by-step guide to help create it.

Determine What You Can Guarantee

When you’re creating a satisfaction guarantee for your business, you need to determine what aspects you can control and promise to your customers. Don’t promise the world to your customers if you can’t deliver. Harvard Business Review claims that guarantees should be unconditional so customers know exactly what to expect. They explain that if you can’t control every element, guarantee what you can control. For example, an airline can’t control the weather causing flight delays, but they can guarantee that their customers will be satisfied with their service.

Make it Easy to Understand

Because you know that you can provide a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee, it should not be difficult to write your statement. It should be simple, clear and easy to understand. Cabela’s provides a good example of this with their Vortex VIP Promise. Their promise states that they will replace or repair your product no matter how it got damaged at no charge. There’s no question that the guarantee covers the entire product, and you don’t need to have someone at the company explain the terms.

Make it Profitable

You can’t please everyone all the time. If you want to create a satisfaction guarantee you need to make sure it is specific enough that you won’t attract bad customers or scammers who will hurt your bottom line. Although this doesn’t happen often, you need to protect your company to make sure you aren’t promising something you can’t fulfill.

Harvard Business Review suggests making your guarantee precise so customers know exactly what to expect. Instead of having an ambiguous promise that your service will be “fast,” it should have a specific guarantee such as “under 30 minutes.” Xfinity is a good example of this type of guarantee. They state that they provide two-hour appointment windows seven days a week. This is a clear and precise statement that they can provide without risking their bottom line with picky or dishonest customers.

Train Your Employees

Once you have everything decided and written out, you need to train your employees on your satisfaction guarantee. Make sure they understand what it entails and that they’re set up to implement it successfully. If you offer to serve food at your restaurant within 10 minutes, make sure your chef and waitstaff are able to keep this promise and understand their time limits. Answer any questions or concerns your employees may have, and be sure to address them fully. If they aren’t positive they can fulfill the guarantee, discuss ways you can help them be successful or go back to the drawing board with their comments in mind. Remember, your employees will be the ones following through on your guarantee, so their training is critical.

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