Two or three refund requests per 100 new clients is a good rate. Under five is fine. Every one of them gets a call first.
Most refund requests are people giving up, and it is a chain. Something in marketing or sales set an expectation that did not match what they received. Or an objection was not handled on the sales call, or they were not ready. Fear and doubt lead to the request, and the call finds out which.
What does the contract say?
In most offers we run there is no refund in the contract. No refunds no matter what, in a contract from a lawyer who understands coaching businesses, so a refund is not an option to ask for.
Some offers write "if we do really well on day one there is a refund". Not smart.
The closer frames it at the close: this program has no refunds. Offers that do this get very few requests. With no refund line in the contract, a request becomes a conversation about the goal instead of a transaction in Stripe. That conversation is the call.
Why a call before anything else?
Always a call, to find out why. Most people asking for a refund got scared: they spent a lot of money and now realise they have to do the work.
On the call the client success manager is understanding first, then clear. "There are no refunds, but let's figure this out. Your goal has not changed." Handle the objection positively, leave the call positive, and be clear on the next step.
Make clear this should not be a conversation again, then hand-hold and check in as much as possible over the following weeks. That turns most of them around.
Note. The best defence is immediate onboarding. Do the 15-minute onboarding call as fast as possible after the sale and show the client everything. They see what they bought is real and valuable, and the chance they stay goes up. No guarantee.
When do you refund anyway?
When the case is legit: if the sales team promised something the business does not do, refund. The contract says no, and you refund anyway, because you have to be fair. Many in the coaching space are too egoistic or too scared of losing a client to do it, even when they messed up.
The restaurant version: you reserved because of the best steak in town, you paid for steak, and you got fish. Maybe the fish is good and you stay. Maybe you do not eat fish. Respect it.
Mistakes happen, and your offer should be good enough that a refund does not hurt.
Every refund decision goes by email, so it is official. Being sued has basically never happened in any offer I ran. When you promise a refund, do it fast. Every day you delay raises the chance of a bad review, and Trustpilot can wreck an offer fast. It says a lot about you as an entrepreneur whether you refund when you clearly should.
What numbers should you expect?
| Situation | Refunds |
|---|---|
| Very big offer, with the call in place | One or two a month |
| Per 100 new clients, good | Two or three |
| Per 100 new clients, still fine | Under five |
Chargebacks can happen any time, depending on who you let in, what you charge and how things are framed. A lot of chargebacks is usually a sales problem: the sales team promised something the business does not do.
Three things fight them: good contacts at your payment processor, Whop or Stripe, a solid contract, and a recording of every sales call. With those, a chargeback is simple to fight and the processor is more likely to rule for you. Without the recording it is the client's memory against the closer's.
Watch out. Do not hand the refund conversation to whoever is free. One person owns it, takes every call, and writes every decision by email. Some coaches give refunds because it is faster than a call, and the number shows it.
Further reading: Refund requests in a coaching business: a process, not a fight · Chargebacks in coaching
