Persuasion: Make your customer pick the option you want!

[DrkSide]

So about a month ago I started selling on Ebay again after a long hiatus. Everything was going good and I even imported a product from China and have been selling it. Quality was great but I wasn't checking each one before shipping.

Yesterday, I received an email from Ebay saying that a customer had opened a complaint that his item was not as described. My perfect feedback record was going to be ruined I though. The complaint was that the item was missing a screw. This is more of a cosmetic issue than anything but an issue non the less.

What I did was steer them pick the option that I wanted them to by simple persuasion. I gave them three options:

1. I can send the screw: I didn't want to have to go to the post office to send a tiny screw, plus they have a special head that needs a special bit. Win for him, lose for me.
2. He can send the item back and I can send a new one: This cost the buyer money, me money, and was a lose for both of us.
3. BUT WAIT! I told him that there was a third option of getting a partial refund: Customer had to do nothing and I just had to make a click. There was very little time involved so it didn't cost me money.

I knew, the way that I laid the options out that the buyer would pick the 3rd option. Due to the fact that he did not have to do anything and got money back. He did not know that this was also the best option for me and in fact it probably never crossed his mind.

Take Away: By laying out options in certain ways you can highly influence the persons decision and make it benefit each of you.

NOTE: If this had been my brand, and not another, I would have probably automatically sent him another without requesting the other back. This can create a loyal and vocal customer.

 

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[wwstewart]

That's pretty sweet. I will have to remember this next time I make a sell. So far, I've got perfect feedback scores...but you never know.