I’m changing my domain name for this blog. You can find new posts here: http://www.copywritingdean.com
I decided Stephensblog.com wasn’t the best domain for my business. My name (Stephen) is kind of hard to spell. Many people spell it wrong. And it’s spelled differently than it sounds.
Yesterday’s post on banning refunders got several positive responses. It also got some serious criticism. Mostly from an Internet marketing forum (where it’s to be expected).
Some of these people were outright angry with me. Let’s see what they had to say.
Looks like you’re another Brausch disciple with this attitude towards customers: “Just give me the money; don’t bother me. It wasn’t what you expected? Screw you. You say the documentation is a rambling video instead of a well-thought out video and/or text combination? You’re an idiot. Etc.” ~ David Bean
If it wasn’t what you expected, screw you? Far from it! If it’s not what you expected you get your money back. You also won’t be able to purchase from me in the future. If you don’t think my products are quality, why would you want to buy from me in the future?
The fact is I’m getting rid of the tire kickers.
“I would never buy from someone with such a draconian policy. Hire help if customer service is such a burden.”
Good. You’re who I’m trying to weed out. I could hire customer service, but I’d prefer to fire bad customers, reward the good ones, and hire people to build my business (and not hire people to take care of tire kickers).
I’m never disappointed when it comes to the logic displayed by some marketers these days, lol.
“Buy my product, and if you think it sucks, or is unoriginal, or any other reason,even reasons that might actually be my fault, I will happily give you a refund, no questions asked. Of course, I will kill you afterwards, but I will never question your refund request. You can even keep the product afterward.”
I’m not taking any aggressive action towards refunders. I’m simply stopping to do business with them. It seems fair to me to let someone check out the quality of my products and request a refund if they’re not impressed.
But if they think the product “sucks” or is “unoriginal,” why would they ever want to buy from me again? Why would they care if I banned them?
There is no way you can just ban customers that request a refund, or you will lose them as potential customers in the long term.
That’s precisely what I’m trying to do! I’m afraid of their long term business!
From the people who were most offended, it makes me think of a recent interesting post on James Brausch’s blog: Being Offended.
I think I’m a great customer. If I do say so myself (and apparently I do).
I’ve been buying information products for at least 7 years. And I can’t recall even one time asking for a refund. Even when it turns out I already know much of the content inside the report… Even the time I bought a product that detailed how to pull off a joint venture that I believe I invented.
Why? You can usually find one or two great ideas from any competent product. I even discovered a cool original tip from the product that explained my joint venture.
I consider finding one or two cool tips a success. But people with a different mindset are outraged. They write emails like this,
“I bought your product a few minutes ago and realized I already knew most of what’s in your report. Please send me a refund.”
Fair enough. I usually offer a no-questions-asked refund. But that doesn’t mean I’ll continue to do business with you.
You’re banned!
I know the value of my products. If they didn’t provide value, I wouldn’t release them. If a refunder doesn’t see the value, then we’re probably not going to see eye to eye in the future. Seeya, do business somewhere else.
I also know that my products are original. I get my information from DOING this business, not just reading about it. So if I get an email saying they learned nothing knew, I can only assume they haven’t checked out the product yet. There’s no reason to continue doing business with a person like this.
So here’s what I do.
Sitting on my hard drive is a text file called “bannedIPs.txt”. This text file is only 208 bytes (not kbs) large, but it saves me a ton of headaches. It contains the IP address of people who have requested refunds.
These people will have a hard time purchasing from me in the future… in fact, they won’t even be able to see my sales page.
On the route directory of my websites, I have a filed called “.htaccess”. Inside this file you’ll find text that looks like this…
order allow,deny
deny from xxx.xx.x.x
deny from xxx.xx.x.x
deny from xxx.xx.x.x
allow from all
The “xxx.xx.x.x” lists the IP address of a refunder. This way they won’t be able to purchase from me in the future.
Why wouldn’t I want them to purchase from me in the future? Because “refunders” tend to be “habitual refunders.” They do it again and again. They ask for the most support. And they’re a drain on your business.
I recommend trying a banned IP list. Even if you don’t get very many refunds. Many of my products have never received a refund request, and yet I still see the value of adding this function to my business.
What do you think?
In copywriting, assumptions can end up costing you a lot of money. That’s not good.
In my latest report with Michel Fortin, Tapping Michel Fortin’s Brain: Volume 2, he discusses an interesting test result he couldn’t figure out. An unprofessional picture of the product creator was generating more sales than a professional picture. This shocked Michel.
If he wasn’t such an avid tester, he never would have discovered that his assumption was unprofitable.
I’m pretty sure all copywriters will relate to this: when I deliver copy to a client, they often make changes to the copy before publishing it to the web. When I challenge them on it, the response is usually “I just changed a few things to make it more (something), but it shouldn’t effect conversion.”
Why would anyone assume that?
Of course, testing is the best assumption killer. Are you testing?
It’s not just copywriting where assumptions can have negative consequences. I suggest dropping as many assumptions as you can, from all aspects of life.
Many people assume minimum wage laws mean the poor will receive a “fair” wage. Most economists (nearly 80% in one study I know of) believe minimum wage laws keep low skilled workers from finding a job… because they’re not worth a “fair” wage to the employer. In fact, it was this issue that helped turn my favorite economist, Thomas Sowell, in to a capitalist (from a Marxist).