Famous guarantees:
- “You’re going to like the way you look. I guarantee it.” — Men’s Wearhouse
- “If we can’t guarantee it, we won’t sell it.” — Les Schwab
- The “Lowest price or it’s free guarantee.” — Mattress Discounters
- “We’re going to win Sunday. I guarantee it.” — Joe Namath
Famous warranties:
- “America’s Best Warranty.” — Hyundai cars
- “30 Year Warranty.” — Benjamin Moore paint
- “Lifetime Warranty.” — Craftsman tools
In general, guarantees deal with replacing the entire product if it becomes unsatisfactory within a given timeframe, where warranties deal with repairing it or replacing certain components.
Guarantees are simple and can be somewhat subjective. For example, a “30-day satisfaction guarantee.” It can be hard for the company to prove your satisfaction.
Warranties, on the other hand, are more complex legal documents with responsibilities and obligations spelled out for both the seller and the buyer. Yes, your car may come with a 10 year warranty, but if you go 9 years without an oil change, you’ve effectively voided that warranty.
From the customer standpoint, guarantees are usually better than warranties, but for some purchases you’ll get both. Perhaps a store will offer some sort of 30-day satisfaction guarantee, and after that the manufacturer warranty will kick in.
Both guarantees and warranties are good selling tools, but shouldn’t be relied on too heavily. A couple years ago Chrysler offered lifetime powertrain warranties on their cars with surprisingly few restrictions, but it did little to improve their sales. Since most customers don’t buy a product expecting to be dissatisfied with it or expecting it to fail, the guarantee or warranty can sometimes be an afterthought. It’s a must-have to show a company stands behind their product, but in most cases, it won’t be the most important feature.
I don’t know how much legal weight guarantees carry in advertising. I got the idea for this post after hearing three different mattress stores promoting their 4th of July weekend sales, all “guaranteeing” the lowest prices. At least two of them are lying. Wonder how that sort of thing gets enforced.
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Tags: marketing
I think the mattress companies can say they and mean it because each company carries different specific models of the big brands, so you can’t really shop apples to apples. So while one store has Sealy model 4526, another store won’t carry that but will have 4536. At least this is my recollection from many years ago. Let me know if you hear differently.