If there is one thing an e-commerce
business is not new to – it is returns.
The moment an item is delivered to the
customer, it becomes the customer’s item. So any time after the item
is shipped and returned to the seller for several reasons all come
under the refurbished clause.
Just as a business handles its
customers in terms of sales, it also needs to have a mature returns
policy to retain customers. Bad exchange or returns policy means
losing customers.
Again, there are customers who tend to
misuse the returns policy. But that number is far from any major
concern.
Handling returns diligently will enable
businesses to retain customers and at the same time make sure that
their returns policy is not taken for granted.
Simple:
Keep your returns policy
simple and easy to understand. Avoid at all costs to use legal or
sophisticated terms.
Crisp:
Don’t use long sentences
to explain your returns policy. Keep the points in bullet form as
customers can use this as a ready reckoner. Also, don’t keep it
longer than necessary.
Communication:
Use clear writing
to define every thought in the policy. Don’t say ‘returns accepted
within 7 days’. Say ‘Returns made within 7 days from the date of your
receiving of the item will be accepted.’ Even mention an example of
the dates if necessary. It is all about the making the customer
understand and not let it be ambiguous.
Visible:
When you have received
a package after shopping online, haven’t you gone through a phase
where you just wanted to return the product but didn’t know how to?
Keep the returns policy as visible as possible. The customer needs to
know about the returns protocol without having to rummage for hours
together.
Generous:
When businesses charge
their customers for a product they want to return, it burns their
heart. Will we ever like to pay for things we don’t want? As simple
as that. Enable a pick-up system from your carrier company. Or ask
the customer to drop off at a convenient carrier location you are in
touch with, but at any cost don’t ask the customer to pay for the
returns, unless under exceptional circumstances where a charge on the
returns is inevitable.
High Definition:
In many
researches, it is seen that most returns happen because the customer
feels it is not what they show online. By providing high quality
images enveloped in professional-grade angles, the statistics of
returns could be brought down to a drastic level.
Information:
There is something
called understating and overstating. Products don’t need page-length
descriptions. Keep it minimum. Keep it crisp. Give points from the
customer’s standpoint. How it would be of help to the customer. Eg:
This raincoat is so portable you can fold it and keep it in your
wallet.
Even if a particular returns claim
appears outrageous, a business must always handle the situation
tactfully. Never show that you are doing the customer a favour.
Always keep in mind, as long as there
are sales, there will be returns. So as a business, just as much as
we are willing to sell, we must also be willing to accept the
returns. It is part and parcel of the business world.
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