As in so many things, communication is key when dealing with e-commerce returns. Marketers often discuss brand touchpoints, meaning the website, physical store locations, advertisements, sponsorships, and most crucially, when using, wearing or owning the product.
However, one under-appreciated and crucially important brand touchpoint is the returns process. By leveraging customer communication in returns, retailers can gather feedback, improve the returns experience, increase brand loyalty and lifetime value, and ultimately increase revenue.
So how do you talk to customers about returns? Let’s begin the conversation.
Emotional Investment
When a shopper returns something, they already have some skin in the game – they’ve purchased an item and committed to your brand, but for some reason are unhappy with their purchase and want a resolution. That automatically makes this a deeply engaging brand touchpoint, more so than seeing a TV spot, for example. Unsurprisingly, the experience also has a massive effect on customer loyalty. Customers who have a poor returns journey are more likely to lose admiration for your brand, with nearly 80% of customers not purchasing again after a bad post-purchase experience.
Yet, if you get returns right, 92% of customers will come back to buy more.
It seems a little strange then that retailers spend so much time and money on crafting the perfect ad copy and web design but let the returns experience suffer. Behavioral science tells us that our memory of an experience is primarily influenced by the peak moment (the most emotionally intense) and the end. The returns process is therefore very likely to form the customer’s lasting experience of a retailer. With this being the case, surely retailers should be doing everything they can to make the returns experience an easy and delightful one.
Returns Communication Starts Well Before the Return
Focusing on returns makes sense – they cause inconvenience for customers and expense for retailers. But returns are simply a part of the customer lifecycle, between the completion of a purchase and the next time they’re shopping. This after-sale period is crucial and offers retailers the opportunity to usefully communicate with their customers, keeping their brand and products top of mind for any next purchases.
For example, retailers can use follow-up communications like app notifications or emails to check that a customer has received everything in their order and is happy with their products. This can then direct customers to leave reviews (vital for SEO, conversion and attracting new customers), point them towards other relevant products (upselling), or offer resolutions for any issues before the customer takes themselves into the returns journey.
As you can see, returns are just one aspect of this after-sales communication, albeit a very important aspect. Using these follow-up communications means customers return items they don’t want faster, which is important for profitability as it means the goods are able to get back into inventory faster, giving retailers more opportunity to resell the item and reclaim revenue.
Communications in the Return Journey
Once a customer has decided to return a product, the retailer needs to provide them with a simple process to follow. At the same time, retailers should direct customers towards positive actions like exchanges instead of refunds. This initiation process must be digital, accessible and integrated into the retailer’s order management systems.
Within this digital return process, retailers can display order details, allowing customers to select which items they want to return and the relevant return reason. Then, the retailer can first offer an exchange as the preferred outcome, perhaps for a different size or color variant. Once these details are confirmed (which items, what reasons, which type of resolution) the solution can highlight the options available to customers for dropping off their return parcel. This can drive customers back to stores or use alternative pickup and drop-off (PUDO) locations to enable convenient return options. Of course, the portal can also allow customers to post back items using a returns label – although replacing this option with digital in-store and PUDO-based returns offers a significant saving on the printed returns labels, as well as improving sustainability by removing paper-based labels.
If the customer does hand the parcel over in-store or at a PUDO point, they should receive a notification immediately, acknowledging the parcel has been handed over. Leaders in the returns process, like Amazon, often refund the customer at this stage, acknowledging that the customer has done their part and immediately turning the inconvenience of a return into a moment of customer delight. However, a more cautious approach is to release refunds at the point of inspection in the warehouse. Sophisticated returns orchestration allows retailers to configure rules to base the decision of when to refund on the customer profile, rather than setting blanket rules for every return.
Regardless of the return method, customers should receive tracking information so that they can be confident that the return is in progress, as well as an estimated date for their refund. This immediately reduces the need to contact the customer support team where refund inquiries feature high on their inquiry list.
The more information you provide consumers about their return, the more reassured they are that it’s being handled and processed in the best way. On an emotional level, communication with the customer shows that they’re important, that they’re being heard, and that the retailer is working hard to resolve the situation.
After the Return
Once a customer has returned something, they may well still need a product. If I’m buying a pair of dress shoes for an event, and I return the first pair because they don’t fit, I still need some dress shoes.
There’s an opportunity here for the retailer to keep marketing to customers who haven’t found what they were looking for. In this example, if the customers books the return and drops off the shoes, the retailer should follow up with an email noting that they had returned some shoes that were too small and highlighting alternative products a size larger, perhaps with a discount code incentivizing them to return to their website and repurchase.
It’s a great way for retailers to increase loyalty and boost revenue, but it’s also a great way to show consumers that you can provide the solution they need—even if the first product wasn’t the best fit. They don’t have to go elsewhere to get what they want; they can stick with you.
Unlock the Power of Returns Communication
For customers to be able to pick out specific items from an order and book a return for them online, then receive personalized after-sale follow-up communications, the retailer needs a returns platform that can both gather and manage all this data and use it to create powerful communications at the right time.
At Blue Yonder, we have a platform that can do all the above and more, helping businesses implement more efficient and cost-saving returns that customers love. Interested in finding out more? Book a call with our team today.
