This is the set of conditions that apply to all product exchange and returns processes that may be carried out by buyers in a store.
Within this policy, the following two scenarios are differentiated:
Ideally, all sales would result in happy customers and you would never need to bear the expenses of any errors or regrets. However, in the real world, it’s not just possible that your customers may be unsatisfied – this is in fact quite common. Returns rates for digital purchases continue to be higher than those of physical sales, reaching an average of up to 20% of total sales.
There is always the possibility that you will ship a defective product, that it will become damaged during transit, or even that the buyer will realize that the product they have received is not what they expected or does not serve its intended purpose.
In both cases, there’s no need for the situation to turn disastrous. An exchange or return to an ecommerce store is also an opportunity to get to know your customers better, discovering what difficulties they are experiencing in finding what they need, and convincing them to buy again with excellent service and customer experience.
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66% of online consumers read ecommerce exchange and returns policies before buying anything. Two out of three consumers are likely to abandon any potential purchases if the store does not offer free returns. And this research is all the more exhaustive when it comes to periods of the year with higher rates of exchanges and returns, such as January – after Christmas and the annual sales.
As you can see, it is crucial for buyers that your store has a well-defined exchange and returns policy. What’s more, according to the country of sale you may be legally obliged to offer certain conditions and rights for exchanges and refunds, for both digital and physical sales.
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If you don’t yet have a policy defined, or think it might need a review, get to work now and make the most of these advantages:
1. Decide which products can be returned and/or exchanged. During particular times of the year you will need to remove this condition (such as during periods of significant discounts or during clearance sales).
2. Indicate the returns period and through which means customers can make exchanges and returns. This period is normally 30 days, although some brands offer 90 days: as customers feel more relaxed if they see a longer period. Decide if these processes can be carried out in physical stores or via an email, form, automatic link, or from the customer’s store account.
3. Protect yourself from fraud. Many buyers purchase a product to use it and return it before the end of the maximum returns period. It is impossible to inspect the product in advance over the internet, so protect yourself with conditions that make it very clear how exchanges and returns will be accepted:
In this section, we recommend offering tracking for all orders, to make sure they arrive at their destination.
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4. Indicate if returns are free or to be paid for by the customer. This will affect shipping costs, customs fees (if shipped internationally), and any costs should the package be lost.
5. Specify your returns conditions:
6. Indicate the exchange and returns processing deadlines. This way, customers will know how long to wait for their refund or replacement item.
7. Ensure that your exchange and returns information is visible:
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Hook customers with a 10/10 experience:
As we have already noted, it’s impossible to avoid exchanges and returns in digital sales. However, you can reduce their frequency by developing these aspects which affect the customer experience.
This is key to ensuring customer satisfaction as soon as they open the product page. Many returns come as a result of incomplete or incorrect information on the product card, such as incorrect measurements, poorly labelled sizes, a lack of information about materials, or photographs that do not accurately represent colors, etc.
Perfect product information is the key sales driver for brands and sellers, and systems like PIM (Product Information Management) software are becoming increasingly popular in order to display a perfect catalog across all sales channels.
There are also many unsatisfied customers who will never return their purchase, through laziness or a reluctance to complain. By carrying out regular satisfaction questionnaires with your buyers, you can discover clues as to why they have not continued to make purchases from your store or tips for which aspects you can improve with regard to your site or products.
Sometimes, a high volume of returns may be due to a batch of defective products leaving your warehouse without you realizing. Looking at how often the same products are being returned can indicate a faulty product.
At other times, a pattern of returned products may be due to the fact that the item does not satisfy buyers or has become outdated. As such, it may be a good time to discontinue this from your catalog and save yourself the expense of these situations.
Today, digital shopping experience should be focused on the buyer. This means that your ecommerce exchange and returns policy should make things easy for the customer and remain clearly accessible during browsing.
To ensure this, create a simple and easy-to-understand policy that can be easily located from various pages on the online store, and which offers a straightforward and attractive process for the user.
Remember to protect your business too, by assessing the costs inherent to these processes and avoiding fraud. Above all, better prepare yourself to avoid returns and exchanges by ensuring that your customers are well informed, with precise product information.
Implement all this today with a free trial of Sales Layer PIM and see how this can improve the quality of your ecommerce business and translate into more satisfied customers.