If you offer your patients a �satisfaction guaranteed� refund policy, how long a period of time should it cover? According to practice management expert Jerry Hayes, O.D., careful research in the direct marketing field shows that mail order companies with a 90-day satisfaction guarantee generally get fewer returns than those offering a 2-week or 30-day return period.

This sounds counterintuitive, but there are two good reasons:

• First, the longer the return policy, the less anxiety the consumer has about making the purchase.

• Second, the shorter the return period, the more compelled the buyer feels to act quickly if he has any doubt whatsoever about keeping the product. On the other hand, once he�s kept a purchase for a while he�s much less likely to return it, either because he�s decided that he likes it, or out of sheer laziness.