Mike,

I have a friend who is an actress with a lot of training in psychology. For a while to make ends meet, she had a telemarketing job. She lost the job because she was TOO GOOD at it. Her return rate was too high. She was so good at convincing people to buy that a very high percentage of people realized when they got the merchandise that they hadn't really wanted it.

What made this rate too high? One factor not noted in the discussion here is that it takes a lot of customer service time and effort to deal with dissatisfied customers and returns.

Another factor not mentioned by Sugarman and that almost everyone who's responded in this discussion seems to feel is the effect on the reputation of the company and one's own integrity. A good friend of mine sold some reports by someone else that got about a 10% return rate, and she stopped selling those reports very quickly because the comments made it clear that the buyers expected better quality from her. She felt that in the long run, her business would be more profitable if nearly everyone who bought something felt happy with the purchase.

Finally, it's vital to note that for every dissatisfied customer who returns a product for a refund, there are probably two others who felt the same way but did not request a refund. With a 30% dissatisfaction rate, I think most of us would not be happy, even if it was the road to profit.

Marcia Yudkin


High-priced reports with a low return rate