Product Return in Small E-commerce: How to Do It?

How a small business handles the request for product return defines your customer service and the success of your business.

A fair and well-designed return policy shows that the store is not just interested in making a sale, but also in nurturing a customer relationship.

Product Return: What to do before it happens

Good customer relations create positive and free word-of-mouth advertising for your business, which is extremely helpful for the promotion and growth of small businesses.

To obtain this advantage, care and attention are required in customer service, which includes developing a clear and simple product return policy.

Here are some tips on how to create these guidelines to ensure that your store provides good customer service, rather than a disservice.

Choose the “Right” Return Policy for Small Business

What is the right product return policy for small businesses? Answer: It’s the one that gives customers what they want.

Figuring out what your audience wants when it comes to merchandise returns isn’t rocket science; they want the same thing you and I want when we try to return something we bought: exchange the item or get our money back without any hassle.

The consumer wants the return of a product to be simple and quick. So that’s exactly what your product return policy needs to do.

Yes, this may cost you money, but remember two things when crafting your small business return rules:

• This is a worthwhile expense if you consider that it costs five times more to bring a new customer to your store than to deal with an unhappy one. Keep in mind that your goal is to provide the type of service that keeps customers coming back.

• A store’s product return policy weighs on the consumer’s purchasing decision, who may choose to shop elsewhere if they don’t like yours. According to a Newgistics research, 90% of US adult shoppers said a convenient returns policy was important in the purchasing decision.

Publicize your product return policy

Your return policy needs to be published clearly, preferably on the homepage of your website.

To avoid future hassle, add a link to your description on your Facebook business page, other social networks and email marketing campaigns.

Talk about your return policy to your customers

Train your sales team to get into the habit of referring to the product return policy when completing a service.

It’s easy for a salesperson to say something like, “And if you have any problems with our product in the next 90 days, you can return it for a full refund as long as you send us an invoice.”

A proactive phrase, even if it is just written on the homepage of your website, can generate trust and considerably increase the number of sales.

Product Return: What to do during the return process

Is your company small? One more reason not to complicate things.

Train your entire team to handle product returns

Small businesses have few employees, so there’s no excuse for not training everyone on the store’s operating policies.

In this way, everyone is able to serve the customer in the best way possible, which speeds up the operation and pleases the consumer.

If you have a clear, written return policy, it’s just a matter of going over it with your team and asking everyone to study the material. You can even do that with a simple online training that every new employee can watch.

Eliminate long and verbose questions

Endless questions about when the person purchased the product, what was the reason for the return, when they first noticed the problem with the product, etc., are one of the reasons why trying to return a merchandise often becomes torture.

Of course you want to know why the customer wants to return an item, so just ask that. Once.

Like in the checkout process, less is more.

Maintain a calm and friendly demeanor

People are typically not in their best mood when they are requesting a product return. They can even be rude, obnoxious, and foul-mouthed. And this happens frequently.

Therefore, it is imperative that the retailer is trained not to respond at the same level, remaining calm and friendly throughout the return process.

This type of behavior can calm an angry person and is often what makes the customer return, even though they have made a purchase that did not go as expected.

Make the process as quick and simple as possible

Having a clear return policy is the basis for accelerating the return process.

It is essential that your team does not need to make decisions when dealing with these cases; they just apply already established guidelines.

Keep paperwork simple too and make sure your staff is trained to use any programs needed for this purpose.

Hire an experienced delivery partner

Facilitating the process of sending the order back to the store is essential to guarantee customer satisfaction.

If they have to go through several steps and loops to be able to send the product back, it is very likely that they will become irritated, give your store a negative review and not buy from you again.

Which, especially in the case of small companies, which depend heavily on good reviews, it’s terrible.

To avoid this, nothing better than hiring experienced delivery people, which can provide both delivery and collection services.

Importance of return service in e-commerce

No matter what you sell and how good your product is, there will always be someone who will be dissatisfied and request a return.

So make the return process simple and turn it into a pleasant transaction rather than an unpleasant chore.

This way, you will not only keep customers, but encourage them to post positive reviews about your business – which will attract new buyers.

The transportation of goods is a fundamental part of a company’s Return Policy. 

In addition to ensuring that the product returns to the store, in this process it is even more important to ensure fast and safe delivery, so that neither the company nor the customer suffer new unforeseen events and possible losses.

Through the app Delivery365, the online store can organize delivery and collection of  products at the buyer’s home, quickly returning the goods to the supplier.

Specialized in e-commerce, the Delivery365 app enables the creation of your own e-commerce, also offering tracking technology, online shipping calculation, ways to receive payment online and direct connection with a base of hundreds of delivery people.

To learn more, visit our website, learn about our services and guarantee the best delivery service for your client.