ScottsMiracle-Gro saves on consumer refund costs and reaches 99% digital payouts adoption with Tremendous

Highlights

• The consumer services team at ScottsMiracle-Gro (SMG) processes refund and appeasement payouts as part of its no-quibble guarantee program. 

• When its previous vendor stopped supporting consumer payments, SMG evaluated multiple alternatives and chose Tremendous for its self-service portal and no platform fees. 

• Since launching, SMG has moved from 75% to 99% digital payment adoption, reducing backend workload by about 50%.

• The team is now using Tremendous across multiple programs, including pro landscaper rebates and internal employee incentives.

The challenge

ScottsMiracle-Gro is the leading marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden care products in North America. Its consumer services team manages a refund program tied to the company's No-Quibble Money Back Guarantee program: if a customer isn’t fully satisfied with a ScottsMiracle-Gro product, they can get a refund. 

For years, that meant paper checks. In 2022 alone, the team issued thousands of them. A shift to a digital payout vendor in 2023 introduced some alternative options and pushed digital payments adoption to 75% within the company. 

But then, in 2025, the vendor announced it would stop supporting consumer service payments. The SMG team needed a new solution quickly. As part of the search, the team wanted to solve some longstanding operational pain points that emerged during their previous process. 

Too much back-and-forth before a refund could go out

Under the old process, SMG agents had to collect detailed information from consumers before they could issue a payment: name, address, email, preferred payment method, and receipt documentation. 

Mistakes were common. Consumers would mistype email addresses, provide emails that weren't linked to their Venmo or PayPal accounts, or give incomplete information.

"There was a lot of back and forth on the front end before it ever even got to the payments vendor," says Adam Sherrick, Operations Manager for Consumer Services. "Now, as long as we get the right email address, everything kind of takes care of itself."

No visibility into failed payments

When something went wrong with the previous provider, the team had no way of knowing until the consumer called to complain days or weeks later. There was no pre-authorization to validate payment details and no notification system for failed deliveries.

"There was no way to tell when a payment failed," says Elizabeth Kronk, CRM Knowledge Specialist. "We had no way of knowing until the consumer contacted us."

High costs for a limited service

SMG was paying its previous vendor significant fees to handle consumer payments, but the team still had limited control. Changes to messaging or payment options had to go through a client specialist, which added delays to every update.

The solution

The SMG Consumer Services team evaluated seven or eight vendors, one of which had an existing relationship with their finance department. However, that vendor couldn't provide the digital capabilities or self-service tools Adam and his team needed.

After comparing options, SMG chose Tremendous for two main reasons: the self-service portal and free-to-use pricing model.

"There are two pieces that really sold us on Tremendous," says Adam. "The portal that we get to manage ourselves and the zero platform fees."

SMG completed the switch to Tremendous in December 2025 with an API integration into Salesforce. Once the technical integration was in place, the transition was easy.

“We've had a pretty smooth transition to Tremendous and we love the tool,” says Adam. 

Tremendous benefits for ScottsMiracle-Gro

From 75% to 99% digital adoption

The shift to Tremendous moved SMG from 75% digital payment adoption under its previous vendor to approximately 99%. That jump has fundamentally changed the consumer experience. 

"We went from 75% to 99% digital," says Adam. "That's where we're seeing a lot of the efficiencies. We're just not seeing that back and forth with the consumer because it's so easy."

For Canadian consumers in particular, the change has been dramatic. Paper checks that once took four to six weeks to arrive have been almost entirely replaced by digital options. The team now issues fewer than 100 Canadian checks per year.

"The 99% digital adoption is a game changer for our Canadian consumer experience," Adam says.

Operations Supervisor Amber Smith notes an added benefit of the gift card redemption options for consumers: "Now they can choose Home Depot or Walmart, where we actually sell our products. So I think that's a win when we think about getting them to where they could repurchase our product."

A self-service portal that puts the team in control

Under SMG’s' previous vendor, every change to messaging or branding had to be routed through a client specialist. With Tremendous, the team manages everything directly.

"Within five minutes, we can completely change our messaging around, add different logos," says Adam. "It's just really simple."

Elizabeth adds that the biggest difference is being able to solve problems before consumers even know there's an issue. "Now I know within a minute if a payment has failed and I can fix it the same day,” she says. 

The ability to cancel and resend payments without waiting on a vendor has been a huge win too. "The resend is my favorite," says Elizabeth. "I don't have to have someone else resend it and wait a week or two to get it done."

Fraud detection the team didn't know it needed

SMG’s robust guarantee program can be a target for fraudsters. Tremendous' built-in fraud prevention tools have given the team capabilities it didn't have before or even expect to need.

"We've already caught some [bad actors]," says Adam, pointing to device ID-based fraud detection that flagged multiple email addresses tied to the same device. "The first couple got through and then after that, they were stopped. Those are things that we probably would not have caught before."

The fraud tools have drawn interest beyond the consumer services team. SMG’s internal security and fraud teams are now exploring how to connect Tremendous data with other internal systems for broader fraud investigations.

"That was something that we had not thought about going in with Tremendous, but it's been a benefit that we found that we didn't know we needed," says Adam.

Expanding beyond consumer refunds

The ease of setting up new programs within Tremendous has led SMG to expand the platform beyond its original consumer refund use case. The team has since added a pro rebate program for professional landscapers who purchase ScottsMiracle-Gro products, as well as an internal associate rewards program.

"We're finding different areas of the business to support outside just consumer payments," says Adam. "Now we're offering rewards and incentives and stuff like that."

ScottsMiracle-Gro has even more uses for Tremendous planned for the future, including fraud-resistant "digital appeasements" to replace paper coupons, micro-incentives to support newsletter sign-ups, and adding a scottsmiraclegro.com digital gift card as a redemption option within the Tremendous platform. 

Impact

Since launching with Tremendous in 2025, ScottsMiracle-Gro has transformed its consumer refund program from a manual, vendor-dependent process into a streamlined, self-service operation.

• 99% digital adoption, up from 75% under the previous vendor and 1% in 2022

• Thousands of dollars saved annually by avoiding platform fees for consumer payments

• About 50% reduction in backend workload related to payment processing

• 25 to 30% reduction in consumer outreach and fewer support email exchanges

• Same-day resolution of failed payments

• Expanded Tremendous to three programs: consumer refunds, pro landscaper rebates, and internal associate rewards

The results have prompted Adam to present internally to other business partners, seeking additional use cases for Tremendous across ScottsMiracle-Gro’s operations. 

"I'm just glad we found you," says Elizabeth.

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