L.L. Bean’s 100% guarantee

9 INCH AXIOM – Guarantees

‘Standing behind your product and service with a 100% money back guarantee speaks volumes about your commitment to quality and customer satisfaction’

I just received my fall L.L. Bean catalogue yesterday.  The cover immediately caught my attention.  There was a picture of a rust heather fitness fleece pullover.  Next to it was a circular cutout with a fabric swatch and the callout ‘feel the softness’.  I was immediately drawn to touching the soft fleece.  Just another smart move using ‘tactile marketing’ from the KING OF CATALOGUES.

Back to the Beginning in Maine

L.L. Bean was an avid hunter and fisherman in Freeport, Maine. During his outdoor activities he noticed that his boots would become soaked. In 1911 the 39 year old Bean set out to solve this problem and developed plans for a waterproof boot.

The Bean boot was a combination of lightweight leather for the upper part of the boot and rubber on the bottom. He brought the plans to a cobbler, and the first boots were made. Bean felt the boot produced to be of good quality, and obtained a list of non-resident Maine hunting license holders and prepared a descriptive mail order circular (His first catalogue was a whopping 4 pages). He promised 100% money back for anyone who was unhappy with the boots. Because of this, Bean had to refund 90% of the costs of the first 100 sets of boots made, when the rubber on the bottom developed cracks. Bean seemed not to mind returning the money, and the popularity of the boots was clear.

The rest is history.  The company now distributes 55 catalogues a year with sales of $1.5 billion.

3 Marketing Takeaways from L.L.

1. Focus on a core audience – Bean’s first list consisted of licensed non resident hunting license holders.

2. No questions guarantee – Bean didn’t want anyone to have his product that wasn’t satisfied.  Send the product back in any condition and you get 100% of your money back.  This is L.L. Bean’s signature ‘lagniappe’.

3. Commitment to Innovation –  L.L. Bean took his problem solving skills from the Bean boot and applied it to other products.

Today’s Lagniappe (a little something extra)  - trivia on the founder L.L. Bean and future of the catalogue

Trivia – What does the L.L. stand for in both L.L. Bean and LL Cool J? Answers in the first comment.
Future – Here is an interesting article from NPR on the future stylings of L.L. Bean.

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