Some product types are naturally more likely to have returns than others. The best example being women’s fashion/apparel as there are many more factors that consumers are critiquing during that post purchase evaluation stage, and these products are more often bought with the intention of returning part of the order (such as buying multiple sizes known as “bracketing”).
Compare this to consumer electronics for example and the evaluating factors are much simpler. Namely, does it do what I need it to do? You are unlikely to have many people buy multiple toasters to see how it looks in their kitchens and functionality is much easier to compare online so the reasons for returns are fewer.
Materials, dimensions, size charts, providing as much detail as possible on your listings will help to reduce returns caused by the product not meeting the expectations of the customer in terms of quality and size. Optimising the layout of your product pages and trialling badges and buttons enable you to draw attention to key information that may be regularly overlooked.
Having good quality product imagery is essential to getting customers to add an item to their basket. Consider adding lifestyle imagery to the gallery showing the product in a real life setting, for example on a model or in a showroom, or a video showing every angle.
Display customer reviews on your listings to provide potential customers with genuine opinions about the products value, fit and quality. This helps to give a more complete picture of the product before purchase so they select the right variant from the start.
For fragile items, ensure you are using appropriate protection for shipping. This could be packing paper, bubble wrap or reinforced cardboard boxes, whatever you decide to use it is a good idea to test this is up to task by sending yourself a test order or conducting onsite durability tests, and a process to ensure that this material is used when needed.
Technology has helped to increase the accuracy of the fulfilment process from end to end. Paper-less picking and organised, well-kept warehousing can all help to ensure you are storing SKUs in the correct locations and in good condition to aid the picking process. Huboo has a number of QA processes in place to ensure we are able to pick orders with 99.9% accuracy.
Returns abuse happens more frequently than we like to believe. Setting a threshold or acceptable returns percentage per customer can help you to identify customers that are potentially taking advantage of your brand so you can take action to prevent this from continuing.
To retain revenue from returned orders, consider offering store credit instead of refunds. This will help to ensure customers continue shopping with you after the experience and benefits your cash flow. In some cases this can also reduce returns as customers evaluate whether they would prefer another item from your store or the item they already ordered.
Bracketing is a term applied when customers order multiple sizes of the same item with the intention of returning part of their order. This often happens when offers are running to ensure they get the item in the right size or variant, at the same discounted price. One way to reduce this is to offer exchanges rather than refunds so that customers feel like they are less likely to miss out if they only order one.
Giving customers more time to decide can also help to reduce returns that may result from customers making an impulsive decision to return the item rather than keep it. This is particularly common for January for example, so people have time to make an informed decision whether or not to keep a gift, rather than returning it as soon as possible.
Tutorial videos can be a great way to empower customers to try a product and act as a conversion tool as well as a method to reduce returns. If your product has multiple components or requires application or assembly, a tutorial can help customers to feel more confident using it and therefore keeping the product. This is common for beauty and electronics brands but can be more widely applied when you consider the impact live streaming on platforms such as TikTok Shop has had on the customer journey.
Although asking for evidence creates friction to the returns process it is also a useful tool to ensure that returns for reasons such as damage are warranted and can mean the customer doesn’t have to return the item to you, saving you the cost of return shipping and processing. It also provides valuable feedback that you can pass on to other teams within the business to understand how they can improve future products.
As eCommerce sales continue to outperform bricks and mortar stores, returns rates are at risk of increasing with less opportunity for customers to see the products in real life before they buy. We are already seeing brands respond to this with returns fees and asking customers for more evidence when initiating a return but this also adds friction to the process so instead more focus could be given to implementing virtual try on technology, 360 product photography, size recommendations and chatbots to help customers make better shopping decisions.
To reduce reliance on customer support teams to initiate returns on behalf of customers and create labels, branded returns portals can be used to personalise the experience for customers and make it easier than ever for them to return items without speaking to an agent while also providing greater information about the reason for the return. This data capture is also improving the warehouse operation, making it easier to sort and grade items once they are received.
Returns is an important area for sustainability initiatives and innovation as they result in additional transport emissions getting back to the retailer for disposal – many times with items going to landfill due to the number of components and materials used, without being used. Retailers are beginning to offer buy-back or recycling programmes for pre-used goods as well as involvement in the resale market and providing repair/rework services to find alternative uses for returned goods.