Risk reversal

The pattern

This still is filed under Risk reversal.

Define

The cost of being wrong moves from the buyer to the seller. The buyer can try. The seller eats the failure.

Mechanism

Inverse risk. A trial, a refund, a pay-after-it-works clause. Distinct from a guarantee stack: here the whole bet is flipped, not itemized.

Verdict

The main objection is what if it does not work for me

Why it works

Addresses the buyer's primary objection (risk of poor quality/fit from a mail-order catalog) head-on with an aggressively strong guarantee and a logical explanation for their low prices (no traveling salesmen).

The big idea

A maker selling without travelling salesmen guarantees the fit, promises 20 to 40 per cent savings, and offers to prove it with a sample line merchants can send back.

The offer

A sample line of clothing sent to the merchant; if it does not save 20 to 40 per cent, the goods go back within five days at the seller's expense, freight both ways.

The proof

The fit of every garment guaranteed; from smallest to largest clothing maker in five years; merchants who reorder season after season; return freight paid both ways.

Lines from the ad

DISAPPOINTMENT IMPOSSIBLE!

As we manufacture our own clothing, we guarantee the fit of every garment.

Would we make such a proposal if we were not absolutely sure of selling you? We guess not.

Steal this when

You are selling B2B wholesale via mail and need to overcome the entrenched habit of buying from traveling salespeople.

The emotion

Written to Trust. It makes the Say move.

A sample line the merchant can return within five days, freight paid both ways, lets him check the promised 20 to 40 per cent saving before any real commitment.