When Is It OK To Refund Information / Training Products?

It was recently discussed about how some marketers feel awkward asking for a refund after they’ve purchased a marketing information product.  Here are my thoughts:

Legitimate reasons to be disappointed with an info purchase include:

1. An obviously poor quality product
2. Sales letter was too “enthusiastic” and virtually impossible to live up to
3. Sales letter cast too broad of a net looking for buyers and was sold to people who can’t benefit from it

Non-legitimate reasons to be disappointed include:

1. You’re already familiar with a topic you purchased information on, and already know 90% of what’s presented, but the other 10% is new… and valuable if you apply it. Smart marketers consider a couple of tips that will make them money to be well worth the cost even if they know most of it.
2. You’re accidentally discarding valuable information because you don’t recognize it as being valuable.
3. You’re a serial buyer/reader and never apply anything to find out if something has value or not.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, and it’s all on a case by case basis.  If you don’t refund on poor quality products that fall incredibly short of the sales letter, you’re a chump.  And if you habitually refund well-made products because, *sniff*, “I’ve seen this before”, then that’s obnoxious and you should stop buying products on that topic and admit to yourself that you know enough about the topic to stop buying and start doing.

On a side note, I certainly know what it’s like to get an incredibly un-detailed description of how to do something that is so vague that it doesn’t appear to be of any use. You are allowed to request a refund for something that, in your judgment, is not of value to you.

However, when someone says they want valuable information “explained thoroughly”, that means different things to different people, and there’s a portion of people who will never be satisfied because they expect a product to be able to drive itself to the bank and deposit the money it made for them. 

As a buyer, try to do your best to confirm that it’s the product’s fault, not yours. As a marketer, try to create a product that delivers on its premise, and market it towards groups who will benefit from it.