How to deal with online sales returns

Returns are the bete noire of any retailer but the nature of ecommerce makes returns a real possibility with every sale. There’s even an unofficial “Returns Day”, 3 January – which according to UPS, has the highest level of sales returns of any other day on the year.

Of course, the ideal way of dealing with returns is to try and prevent them from happening but failing this, there are a few things you should think about when creating your returns policy.

You should always remember that a sale is never final – try and make returns as easy for you and your customers to deal with as possible.

1.    Make your returns policy easy to find

The harder it is to find out the information on how to return things, the more annoyed a customer will get. You certainly aren’t doing yourself any favours by hiding your returns page deep in the bowels of your site. A disgruntled customer simply won’t come back.

2.    Avoid legal jargon

Filing your returns page with legalese will not make you seem like an erudite retailer, worthy of trust. It will simply confuse matters and again, annoy the customer you are trying to win back for future purchasing opportunities.

Make it as easy as possible to follow and use language that everybody can understand.

3.    Make sure there are no hidden costs

If a customers does have to fork out money to send something back, make sure this is clear from the start.

4.    Work out a clear strategy for refunds

The customer is not always entitled to a full, cash refund. There are scenarios where store credit or exchanges are just as effective and within your rights as a retailer. Make sure you understand what your rights are and make them clear on the returns page. Shoppers might be perfectly content to receive store credit as long as it is clear why.

5.    Put in a time frame

The time frame between the sale and possible returns should be as clearly defined as possible. You really don’t want to be accepting returns two years later. However long you give your customers to return something make sure you factor in the time it takes for a product to reach them and get back to you.

6.    Offer in-store returns where possible

If your ecommerce business also has a brick and mortar store presence, you should encourage people to return their items to the store. It has been shown in research that if they physically visit the store to make the return, the changes of them buying something else are very high.

7. Analyse the data

If returns are going to happen, make sure you learn something from them. Always ask for feedback when someone returns something. If you understand the reasons behind a return, you can try and stop it from reoccurring. Have certain products been returned more than others?

You might need to revisit your product descriptions to make sure users are getting an accurate picture of what a product is.