Customers are sometimes cautious towards making purchases online due to discrepancies in sizing and other factors. Having an easy-to-understand return policy will boost your customer’s confidence in their purchase and trust in your product offerings.
Here is a list of 8 simple tips you can follow to help create a return policy that keeps your customers happy:
- Allow for returns. The first step in creating your customized return policy is to clearly state that you accept returns and that all sales are not final. Remember that one bad experience could steer a potential repeat customer away forever.
- Avoid confusing legal jargon. The easier your policy is to digest and understand, the easier your customer will find the checkout and buying process.
- Don’t hide your policy or costs. Point your customers to your return policy and have it clearly visible during the checkout process to avoid any surprises later. The more straightforward you are upfront, the less headache you will have later.
- Set expectations for an acceptable return time frame. If your policy is specific to a time frame, for instance within 30 or 60 days, make that factor very clear in the verbiage.
- Personalize for your business. Do what is best for your business and your brand. If you have certain brands that you won’t allow returns for, or sales products, be sure and state this in multiple places on your website and product descriptions.
- Be specific. Don’t leave anything to the imagination or open for different interpretations. Clearly state your procedure and policy out right. Include variables like time frame windows, pricing, and any exceptions you will allow.
- Own (and correct) your mistakes. A customer should never have to pay for a faulty or incorrect order. Make this super clear in your policy to establish a trusting relationship. Ultimately this will save you from bad reviews in the future - whether by word of mouth or online postings. Include what a customer should expect in case a mistake happens and clarify if you will refund the amount to the original form of payment and/or send a corrected order.
- Know your policy. Be sure that all aspects of your business’ return policy are shown consistently throughout your various selling platforms including social media. Inform your staff of any updates or changes to ensure everyone is on the same page in case of phone call inquiries.
