Every buying decision is a risk.
You could get ripped off. What you’re buying mightn’t be as described or live up to the hype. You may be over-charged, or billed more regularly than you expect.
Now of course the safest option would be to lock yourself away and never buy anything again; but that’s not the most practical solution to this problem.
So, for your potential members, you need to find a strategy to alleviate that risk.
Legendary marketing genius Jay Abraham describes this as “risk reversal” – the process of “shifting” the risk of the buying decision from the customer, to the seller.
Here are a number of ways in which you can implement risk reversal in your membership site sales process:
Give members a trial period
By offering your members either a free or a low cost trial, you’re enabling them to “try before they buy”.
This lets them verify that your product is up to scratch without them having to part with their hard earned cash.
If what you’re selling doesn’t live up to expectations or isn’t right for them, then all they’ve lost is the time it’s taken them to check your product out.
Offer a money-back guarantee
If your potential members know that they’re able to get their money back if it turns out they change their mind, then this can go a long way towards removing the risk of joining your site.
It’s up to you whether it’s a “no questions asked” guarantee, or a conditional one (i.e. where members have to prove they’ve taken certain steps) – however obviously the less hassle it is, the more appealing it will be.
As long as you’re upfront about any conditions you’ll still benefit from the risk reversal.
Ensure that it’s easy to cancel
While the idea of cancellations sends shivers up the spine of any membership site owner, they’re an inevitability.
People will cancel for all sorts of reasons – and in many cases they may very well return in the future.
However a sure-fire way to ensure that does NOT happen is to have an overly complex cancellation process.
Most membership plugins enable users to cancel their own membership – and giving them this option is a great strategy of risk reversal, since being in total control of your subscription takes care of a lot of “what if…?” objections that could be costing you sales.
Now you may be wondering why it should be you taking on the risk instead of your customer.
Why should you risk someone joining your site on a free trial, having access to your material and then leaving without paying anything?
Why should you risk someone asking for a refund after a month of being a member?
Well, because you know more than your customers do about what you’re selling.
You know that what you’re selling is good – your customer doesn’t, therefore it’s a risk to them.
You know that you’re not going to rip your customer off – your customer doesn’t, therefore it’s a risk to them.
If you’re confident in the quality of what you’re offering, then risk reversal presents minimal risk to you.
Sure, you’ll get the occasional person taking advantage – but guess what…
… that’s going to happen anyway!
The person that you’re worried will abuse your refund policy to get their money back will just do a chargeback through Paypal or their credit card instead.
The upsides of using risk reversal techniques as part of your membership sales strategy far outweigh the negatives – so if you’re looking to increase signups then consider implementing one of these tactics today.
