Ecommerce companies are about as common these days as people with ideas to sell things online – because it's just that easy. It shouldn't be all that surprising that the age-old business practices of having a good product and treating your customers well will get you to stand out from all these players.As a small business owner, particularly in ecommerce, you'll need to understand the significance of customer satisfaction to see how to make your business stand above the rest. And, as an ecommerce business owner, you're likely well aware of the cost of returns on your bottom line. Customer satisfaction feeds directly into reducing the number of online returns your customers are making – and the cost associated with them. In this article, we'll explore several ways to reduce the volume of returned items generated after people have been online shopping at your store. We'll discuss optimized product pages, personalized products, keeping availability data up to date, maintaining high customer service standards, and offering a tailored returns policy. Let's dig in.
Returns can be a frustrating and costly part of the business for an online retailer. But it's unlikely you'll ever be able to eradicate them completely – check out the difference between controllable and uncontrollable returns in this comprehensive article on returns we released previously.There are a number of reasons a customer of yours might choose to return something, and in most cases, you shouldn't take offense – they're par for the course! Some of the most common reasons for higher-than-average e-commerce return rates include the following.
The effects of returns include high costs due to shipping back and forth, restocking, holding inventory, and even customer refunds. Since the pandemic caused an ecommerce activity explosion, absolute numbers of returns are higher than ever. When returns strike, you’ll also experience the following:
In the balance of this article, we'll look at ways to reduce the cost of returns and ensure you're running a smoother business.
This is your best hope of ensuring that what the customer gets matches their expectations. Accurate product images and descriptions can help reduce the number of returns of wrong items sent (even if it's just wrong in the customer's eyes!) because it gives customers an accurate idea of what they are buying. In the worst case, poor images and/or descriptions may deter a shopper from making a purchase at all. In the medium case, the shopper still buys but returns due to description misalignment, and in the best case, the shopper buys and doesn't return because the description and images are an accurate reflection of the item. Here are some best practices for writing compelling and accurate product descriptions and including the best images.
As a final tip, browse a few listings on sites like Amazon and Zara to see how they’re doing things.
Personalization can take countless forms, from allowing shoppers to customize items with their name or initials to offering a range of color and fabric options for clothing.Personalization can be especially effective for apparel companies as it offers customers the chance to get an item that better matches their size and style preferences. Offering personalization can also reduce the number of returns due to sizing issues. If the level of customization goes beyond what's available elsewhere, you'll a) more than likely make the purchase and b) minimize the chance of that item being returned (due to its uniqueness and improved customer experience). Here are a few ideas for personalization of physical items:
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Managing product availability data is a surprisingly difficult task for online retailers. It's a system with changes that affect stock values on four fronts: new stock coming in increases stock and availability, customers shopping decreases it, returns increase it, and exchanges tend to decrease it.Though complex, it pays to have a system capable of keeping track of all these changes so that the availability a customer sees online is a true reflection of reality. Accurately reflecting product availability positively affects purchase decisions in real-time: if a shopper knows something is available, they're more likely to buy it than if it's out of stock or on backorder.Here's the effect that this all has on returns: if a product is out of stock or only available on backorder, but the system erroneously shows the customer that it is, in fact, available, the customer may purchase it, part with their money, and be given hope that the item will soon arrive. When your operations team realizes there is actually no stock, the customer will need to be notified, a return logged, and, most likely, a refund or exchange processed. That's a lot of unnecessary work that could be avoided if the system accurately represented availability data.
Like we said at the beginning, treating your customers well is a tried-and-tested means of earning their trust and, as a result, retaining their customer loyalty. The positive spinoffs of a happy and retained customer include collecting positive reviews, more referrals, more sales, and higher average sales totals.Some of the most important aspects of customer service, particularly in e-commerce, include the following.
A tailored return policy and process can go a long way in helping to reduce returns. It's especially effective when combined with all of the other strategies we've mentioned.Your return policy should always be based on your unique product, customer base, and operational capabilities. For example, some products can have a shorter return window than others (e.g., perishable items). Be sure to include clear information on the item page and in the checkout process. Some of the key elements of a successful return policy include the following.
What have we learned? Well, returns are bad; they eat into your profits, how they are handled affects customer satisfaction, and even in the best case, they cannot be entirely prevented. But you do have hope of materially reducing how often they occur and their negative effect. You can provide good images and descriptions for products, offer customized products, ensure product availability is up to date, maintain high customer service standards, and design a tailored return policy.One of these return complexities, managing the entire returns process, is a task you need to make software responsible for so that you can focus your human mind on more important things. Rich Commerce is one such tool – it's a powerful, integrated Shopify returns management app that makes the process pleasant for your customers and hassle-free for you.Businesses are really just large sets of problems that need to be solved, and many of those problems can be solved nowadays using purpose-built software. Don't reinvent the wheel. Use something off the shelf like Rich Commerce, and make a concerted effort to improve customer satisfaction so that returns become the smallest problem possible for your business.