The Health Jerk

Part Ten:  Guarantees and your Health

I asked the question:  Who do you believe? 

Is your email spam box full of offers for every treatment under the sun?  Do people you barely know push promises of improved health and income opportunities at you?
Did you ask for some health related information on the internet and now your snail mailbox and your e-mailbox are overflowing with offers for every health related elixir in the universe?  Worse yet did you supply your telephone number and now your phone rings dozens of times a week with offers of health and wealth?

Here is the simple truth…

No matter what someone claims about a health product…
No matter how many testimonials you hear, read or see…
No matter how many claims of marvelous income streams you are promised…
No matter what, with the digital technology available today, one cannot believe what one reads, hears or sees, possibly even feels and smells.
It all comes down to trust or faith.

        I do not know you.
        You do not know me.
        Why should you believe me?
        Why should I trust you?

There is no objective reason for the offer of trust in either direction.

Now the marketers out there are jumping up and down and shouting at me.  But we have a money back guarantee.

Now we all know about guarantees…
Using a guarantee is a marketing strategy.   It is used to offset the natural cynicism of a prospect.   It is perceived to remove the risk from a transaction, so that if the transaction goes south (you are not 100% satisfied), then they promise to refund your money.
That’s ideally how it works.

Have you ever asked for your money back?   Smart marketers have tracked the frequency of refund requests.  Depending on the type and cost of product, the results vary, but it is fair to say that over 25% of the people would not ask for their money back, even if they got a rock in a box instead of what they ordered.  Through apathy, lost receipts, inability to face confrontation, whatever, they never even ask.
On the other end of the spectrum, there is a small percentage of unethical people who always take advantage of 100% money back guarantees even when they are completely satisfied.   Again, depending on the product type and cost, these thieves make up less than 5% of the total number of customers.

Now all of the above is assuming that the company is playing fair.  I am certain that you have heard of a someone who experienced a failed refund request, maybe some like these:


OK, what do we have so far…

Point One – The government has some unusual ideas about how to protect us from unsafe health products.  Overdose toxicity seems to be as important as the ability to treat.  The reasoning here escapes me.

Point Two - The government has decided that no one but people authorized by them can diagnose, treat, cure or prevent a disease.

Point Three - The government has decided that every ache and pain should now be identified as a disease so that all health issues large and small will then fall under points one and two.

Point Four – Technology today has made it almost impossible for the everyday person to validate any product claim or any potential income claim.  This leaves us vulnerable to unethical marketing practices:  especially bait and switch techniques; especially 100% satisfaction guarantees; and especially just flat out fraud.

Point Five – Whether it is the government, doctors, alternative medicine practitioners, reputable companies or MLM pitchmen, who do we believe?

OK that was guarantees and a summary of where we are so far.  In the next part we will discuss health industry economics and how to move forward from here.



Later sheep.