Will your returns policy delight or irritate your customers? Find out how to grow your business with ways to handle goods returned by customers.

Managing customers who want to return their goods should be a standard practice of an e-commerce business - especially when more than a quarter of retailers have seen a rise in the number of online-purchased items being returned by a customer¹.

So, it’s important to make sure you have a reliable returns policy that supports the preferences of your customers. This means making it as easy as possible for customers to return their products.

Optimizing returns
The best way to minimize returns is to give the customers exactly what they want. Unfortunately, that’s not always possible as customers are only able to gauge when they can physically inspect the goods.

The best you can do is to build a digital experience that’s similar to the in-person experience. For example, some fashion retailers now provide customers with apps where they can virtually try on garments. Others use “bracketing”, a service where they send customers a product in a range of sizes, colors, and other variations - and the customers then choose which they like best and return the rest.

Part of the overall experience
Many studies show that shoppers are inclined to shop with brands that offer free returns. In other words, not offering free returns could cost your business’ future sales.

And regardless of which refund type you are offering, there are strong customer expectations to compete with. Some 62% of customers expect an exchange or refund within 30 days of purchase. Add a hurdle or delay and it turns into a negative experience¹. Get the experience right and 92% of customers will return to buy again¹.

The return cycle is also important to your e-commerce business, especially if your items are seasonal or are a trending piece. If that’s the case, a shorter return window might work best to avoid saddling you with a heap of unsellable items from last season. On the other hand, it helps to have extended holiday returns policies that give your customers more time and flexibility.

How to make returning shipments, pain-free
The simplicity of the returns process can affect how likely customers are to shop from you again. Providing pre-printed address labels, example forms, and even reusable packaging can help smoothen the process at a relatively low cost.

Creating a great returns policy can take time, and it’s more than just trial and error. Get ideas from what your competitors and other industry peers are doing, talk to your customers about what they want, and work with partners who can help you streamline the back-end process. It’s worth taking the time to get it right - a good returns policy often means more return customers.

Learn other ways your business can deliver a truly great customer experience, like having a rewards program.

^1. Shopify, The Plague of Ecommerce Return Rates and How to Maintain Profitability, 2021