Among the many things the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to our attention is the reality of our consumerist economy. With economic stability rocked by global fiasco, people around the world are suffering consequences — and so are businesses.
In the wake of COVID-19, returns skyrocketed and buying collapsed. It’s yet to be seen how the disaster will continue to affect our economy, as well as our shopping practices. As a business owner, you can’t predict the unpredictable. However, you can protect yourself as much as possible from economic detriment and customer fallout — and that starts with your shipping and return policy. - says Terry Stone, a business consultant from Buy Essay Club company.
With 92% of consumers willing to buy again based on a business’s returns process, a return policy has the power to make or break a business, now even more than ever. Take the time to revise or create the right return policy for your business now, to avoid disaster in the future.
To craft the perfect return policy, you first need to know the three most important parts — the when, why, and how of returns:
1. When
First and foremost, your return policy needs to detail your returns timeframes. Here are the three big when questions that your return policy needs to answer:
1. When can a customer return their product or service?
Can people return a product within 24 hours, 30 days, or 6 months? Failing to state this expressly will make your customers uneasy and could set you up for return fraud and opportunistic customers.
Return time frames are especially important if you offer customers a service or software that they could theoretically take advantage of and then return when they’re done using it.
2. When will they receive a replacement product or service?
If you offer product exchanges or replacements, your customers should know exactly when they can expect do receive their new item or service.
One survey found that two weeks is the average amount of time a customer waits for a product replacement.
Clearly specify the timeframe in which they should expect their product if you ship it to them, and indicate whether or not in-store pickups are offered.
3. When will they receive their refund?
Here’s a no brainer — everyone wants to know when they’ll get their money. If you offer a refund, you need to let customers know when to expect their money. This applies to full refunds, partial refunds, and even store credit.
If there’s one place where people really don’t want to be left in a gray area, it’s with their hard-earned cash.
2. Why
So customers know how long they have to make a return, when they’ll get their money back, or when a new product will come in the mail. But can anyone make a return? The next critical question to ask yourself when developing your return and shipping policy is why can customers make returns?
For most stores and service providers, returns and exchanges are granted when a product or service is defective, broken, or divergent from what the customer was advertised.
In fact, not allowing customers to make such returns would likely spell trouble for you business, and limit customer loyalty.
However, there are advantageous consumers out there who will return whatever they can. In fact, a study found that a whopping 41% of customers will intentionally buy variations of the same product with intent to return one or more.
While you may be inclined to support your customers’ buying habits, you need to gauge whether allowing these purchasing techniques is viable for your returns and shipping model.
Regardless of what returns criteria makes the most sense for your business, you need to clearly state those boundaries in your policy, so customers aren’t caught off guard.
3. How
Finally, your customers need to know how they can make returns. Here are some things to take under consideration when writing the how of your return policy:
Receipts
One of the big questions your return policy needs to answer is: Do I need my original receipt?
Customers need to know up front whether a receipt is required to make a return or request a refund. Not only should this appear in your return policy, but it should be disclosed elsewhere on your site (if you operate an ecommerce enterprise) — like on the shopping cart page.
Shipping & mailing
Shipping is where returns often incur the most costs. Whether you’re able to cover the costs of return shipping will depend on your shipping company, your location, and the product cost versus the mailing cost.
Make sure your return policy addresses:
- Who is responsible for the cost of shipping
- What address returned items can be shipped to
- How customers can print out a return shipping label
Keep in mind that 79% of surveyed consumers listed free shipping as a major factor in their decision to purchase a product.
In-store returns
Finally, your policy needs to state whether you offer in-store returns and where a customer can make said returns.
For example, if someone buys from your store in Paris, but wants to return it back home in Chicago, can they take it to the nearest store in Chicago? Or do they need to ship it all the way to Paris?
Similarly, specify whether items bought online can be returned at the nearest brick-and-mortar location.
What Now?
According to a UPS survey, 68% of shoppers look at return and refund policies before making a purchase. That means perfecting your return policy may be more important than you think.
Now that you understand what goes into every good return policy, it’s time for you to make your own. You can download a return policy template for free, or learn more about writing your own with this quick infographic guide to returns: https://termly.io/resources/templates/return-policy-template/
