Sunday Tip: How To Cut Returns Part 2

This is the second and final part of our Sunday Tips advice for online retailers who want to reduce the number of products returned by shoppers.

We've already looked at the importance of making your terms and conditions easy, friendly and clear; making them generous, including offering extended return periods; providing as much product information as possible; offering free returns and being clear on the FAQs (How To Cut Returns Part 1, April 28).

We'll be providing updates and perhaps focusing on some key product areas in the coming months. But, here, we concentrate on making your site and your business as easy communicate and interact with as possible.

1. Building a relationship - make yourself accessible

Smaller retailers have a distinct advantage here but there is no reason bigger retailers couldn't do something similar. Larger firms must have a detailed tracking system and a customer service team that has access to a single system. The more adept and personal your communications the more likely you are to get the order right first time and to get feedback on the process. When starting out, send individual emails and promote the use of the phone if that's what customers would prefer to do. Use opportunities to get to know your customers by asking questions about what they want and need. Not everyone is content to carry out a conversation electronically when they are ironing out issues or simply putting their mind at rest about information that isn't already there.

If your selling something technical or that might be unfamiliar you will also be acting as an adviser - so be prepared to be responsive, frank and upfront. Pumpsformums.co.uk, for example, is a great example of a site that offers all the information you need - with pictures - but recognises that new parents at their wits end, surviving on a few hours sleep a night, a phone number could be a lifesaver. The site even includes a mobile phone number with the person sunning the site at the other end with all the answers! 

Pumpsformums.co.uk homepage

Birmingham-based pumpsformums.co.uk prominently
advertises its office and mobile phone number

From first contact keep in touch about the order by email even if you have taken details over the phone. It gives the customer a record of your firm for future reference and allows you and them to track the order.

2. Free Home Trials

The list of products that require a free home trial is endless but its interesting to see which retailers actively promote them. Glasses Direct is top of a Google search for 'Free Home Trials' offering a 7-day free test. Arguably this could be extended to 14 days as returning products in as short a period as 7 days may prove problematic for some shoppers.

More awkward is Sleepcheaper's 60 day 'free' trial. It includes all mattresses on its site and rightly restricts shoppers to one test at a time. Its a great offer since mattresses, like underwear, appear on lists of things that some high street retailers won't accept back - and certainly not after two months. But the small print explains that the product has to be paid for upfront and the fixed delivery charge, which is included in the product price, is also deducted if you send the mattress back. In the 'terms' section the delivery charge is listed as £99 and there is also a implied cost of up to £49 for repackaging.

Sleepcheaper's trial offer

The small print

Payment of the fixed delivery charge - clause IX

The trial is also offered once only. Why? The mattress has been paid for and surely it would be a rare customer who sent more than one or two mattresses back? In reality, though, few shoppers are likely to return after they have spent £99 on a mattress testing out a mattress they didn't want and had initially been told was free. In fact, use of the word 'free' in this case is debatable because of the £99 return fee. Customers faced with that might worry there might be more devil in the detail as things progress even if they have thoroughly read the terms and conditions.

To argue its a delivery charge is neither here nor there. As a shopper, I'm not interested in how the product price breaks down. I am interested in how easy it is to return if things aren't to my liking.

3. Painless Returns - Ripping off the Plaster

As we can see from the above example, customers worried whether they have got the right product need to know they can return it as quickly and as painlessly as possible. Include full details of how this can be done in the terms and conditions, the FAQs or anywhere else. Try not to look like returns are something that you are not keen to discuss as some shoppers will assume that returning might be tricky if conditions aren't clear.

Include names of delivery firms, telephone numbers, extra packaging or even tape to reseal containers if  you think it might help. There are reusable boxes available and a clear sign on the top would help most customers remember not to tear packaging to shreds when it arrives. Not everyone is a professional internet shopping returner. Explain the process like you would explain making a cup of tea to an alien who had arrived on your doorstep this morning (we're assuming the first thing you would do is introduce him to the joys of making tea).

Include returns details with the receipt as well as on the email. Its all part of the transaction and if you are too worried about returns it may mean you are not doing enough in the first place to reduce the amount of product flying its way back to you.

Finally, regard returns in the same way as you do sales - something you'll deal with just as quickly and with the same enthusiasm - even if you don't feel it. If you take the money out of someone's account on the day of the order, why not refund it as soon as the product is returned? No one wants to sit around monitoring their account for 30 days in the hope you remember to return their money.

The faster it's dealt with the faster you can stop worrying about it and get on with the next job. The more pain-free the process, the more inclined the shopper will be to come back and the more smoothly your business will run.

4. Multichannel returns

Hopefully this goes without saying, but it is simply not acceptable any more to restrict returns to one channel or another. If it plays havoc with your accounting then add finding a solution to the to-do list. Online orders must be returnable to stores. For online-only firms, head offices must have a mechanism for people dropping by to return product and even warehouses. Why not?

Every block you put in the way of a return could leave your customer feeling you are trying to get something for nothing. For long-term customer retention, readily accepting returns and possibly taking a hit for something you cannot resell is a must. It is the way the online selling community is heading so you might as well be ahead of the game rather than catching up. Remember: leaving the customer out of pocket for a product they can't use is a big risk to you.

5. Maintain Contact - Feedback Time

Positive feedback is always good but its the negative feedback that will make you money in the long run. If you have done everything you can, you can expect your customer to do the same. Don't assume you know the reason that something was returned. Always ask for an appraisal and try to keep the process as simple as possible - allowing responses by return of email if necessary.

6. Reflect and Correct

Keep track of other sites and make reading other people's 'Terms and Conditions' a bit of bed time reading. If there is a site that people seem to talk a lot about there is probably more to the service than just great product and remember that ease of use is as much the key to success as having a nice homepage. If you're not sure you can make something work then try testing the idea before you announce it in black and white. Free returns could prove less painful than you think or they might expose other issues such as a lack of clear detail about the product. You might have to solve one set of issues before you plunge headlong into others.

As we said before, we'll be posting other ideas from time to time to fill in some gaps so keep an eye on the site. In the meantime, happy retailing and remember that a returned order doesn't mean the customer won't be back again. If you're doing the right things, quite the opposite.