One of the biggest challenges faced by E Commerce providers is handling returns. The returns often cost a substantive portion of order completion and if mishandled can cause dissatisfaction with customer base.
However, without possibility of returns, customers would not take the risk of trying a product, more so if the cost of product is high. This is evident mostly in consumer apparel industry where unless the product reaches the customer, it cannot be tried and only then it can be scheduled for returns.
So how does an E Commerce portal owner solve this problem?
Let us outline a few of the steps.
Add as much fitment details as possible.
Retail clothing, shoes websites face this problem. The size fitment expectation is often different when the actual product is tried on. An E Commerce portal owner thus needs to make sure that the size is as standardized and as accurate as possible. That means listing out all the attributes that are used when the product is created. It may include for example, fabric type, height of the clothing, the width of the person that it is suitable for in case of clothing.
A good idea for example in apparel sales is to include a model wearing the cloth and attributes describing their height and width is clearly mentioned thus helping the buyer to understand the product details a little better.
You can also add a live customer help (an expert) or a chatbot which takes the query related to product and provide answers either in real time or by other channels a little later.
In case of other kind of products such as electronics, specifications should be clearly shown in a table. Also, all the salient points related to product should be mentioned in clear bullet points.
Clear Return policies
If I am buying a product, I sure want to look at the return policies mentioned in the website. If it is a costly product, I read through the return policies more carefully. By doing that, I avoid the heartburn that comes when I realize that policies prevent me from making a return.
On the E Commerce website’s side, it is important that return policies are easy to read and not made deliberately confusing. By creating difficult policies, you are only going to end up in arguments with a customer. Keep it simple.
Design a policy like
- what can be returned and what cannot be
- In what time return window closes (can’t keep it open forever) . PS: It should be reasonable
- In what condition the product should be returned (For example, unopened, unworn, untried etc)
- What will be the charges if any for returns pickup?
- Are products allowed for exchange only or refunds?
Having clear policies often help achieve a good ratio of return to ordered and helps in better profitability.
High resolution images
Have you ever felt the frustration when you pinch zoom a product image on the website and all it leads to is a blurry image. That is frustrating because the details than can be seen with eyes now is not clearly visible on the image. It may not be intentional to put up a low-resolution image that does not scale well but it tells the customers looking at your page that you are not professional enough to take good photographs of your product.
Use bright lights and good quality camera to take good photographs of your product preferably from multiple angels possible.
If you decide to add a video where you show the actual usage or assembly of the product, that aids the buyer decision in your favour.
Data Analysis to help reduce returns.
A scenario may be where a customer habitually orders a product use it and return it within the return window. While legally in their right to return, such customers may misuse the return process and cause you losses in your order delivery.
Another scenario may be that customer reports that your orders are not delivered in right condition or at agreed upon times.
Yet another scenario may happen that customers frequently report damaged or defective goods.
All the scenarios provide useful data that can helped to identify which part of the process needs tweaking. Is it an issue with production, shipping, website or customer themselves and return policies can be tweaked to made it easier and more effective.
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