Your company’s return and refund policy is part of your customer service. Don’t make it hard for your customers to return a product that does not fit them. How you handle your after-sales service says a lot about your company policies. It shows that as a company, you’re not only after sales but also after nurturing a relationship with your consumers. But what kind of return policy speaks well for customers?
Get a Management Platform
Invest in a reverse logistics platform that will manage your returns and refunds. This platform will make it easy for you to keep tabs on the products that have been returned—whether they are in good condition or have been sold again. If your policy is to sell these returned products for a discounted price, then you should be aware of how much you lost in that cycle.
Understand What Your Customers Want
Your customers don’t want a miracle—okay, some do, actually. They want the return policy to be a breeze. Make it so. They want you to have a return policy that’s pro-customer rather than pro-company. That’s okay, too.
Remember that it costs five times as much to bring in a new customer than to solve one customer’s problem. You might want to keep remembering this tidbit of information as you process a customer’s return policy. If you lose this customer because of bad policies, you’ll spend five more times to bring in a new one to replace what you have lost.
Publish Your Return Policy
No matter if you allow a 30- or 300-day money-back guarantee, you should have that policy published. Post it on your brick-and-mortar store near the cashier. Post it on your website and social media pages. Have it printed on your receipt. Make sure that there’s a visible site about a detailed explanation of your return policy on your website.
Your customers need to be aware of what they are getting into when they buy products from you. That way, if they decide to return it, they know what to expect and how to handle it. If you have a generous return policy, you can use it to market your company. Customers love companies that are generous to their clients.
Train Your Staff
A simple line after paying for the products will endear your store to your customers. Make it a habit for your salespeople to inform the customers that the products can be returned in 30 days or 90 days as long as they bring the receipt or the product in full packaging. A simple line like this, “If you have any problems with the product, you can bring it back within 90 days in complete packaging,” won’t hurt.
When they do come back to return the products, make sure that your staff is well-trained to handle the customer’s demands. It is frustrating for customers to return a product. No one wants to do it. But if you can turn that experience into something positive, these customers will do business with you again. And who knows? Maybe they won’t ask for a refund and will simply buy another product while they’re there.
More than 90% of customers believe that convenient return policies are essential for them to support a company. They want the process to be fast and easy. They believe that they must have access to a stress-free return policy from the businesses that they support.
