Ways to Reduce Online Customer Returns

According to recent studies, online customer returns have increased and topped those of brick-and-mortar stores over the past few years. Now if you run an online store and are facing the same problem, you will know that there are several factors that contribute to these online customer returns. If this is news to you, read and to discover what those are and how you can counter their effects.

The Reasons Behind Online Customer Returns

Of the numerous reasons behind the growing number of online returns, the following three reasons rank the highest.

#1 The Product is Not What the Customer Expected

When asked, customers state that they returned the products they have bought online because they were not what they expected. The main concern of these customers is that the product being delivered to them is not what they expected in terms of quality or other aspects.

Often, clothes are being returned because the online picture that was displayed failed to present the actual color of the clothing, which is why the buyer had to return their purchase. In other instances, these products were returned because they didn’t offer the durability and sturdiness that was expected.

#2 The Product Was Not the Right Size

Clothes and shoes are commonly returned by customers because they didn’t fit and were the wrong size. A lot of the online customer returns of this kind occur because the size the client requested may differ from one region to the other. Therefore, if someone in the United States was to order something from Canada or another part of the world, their size would be different as what they originally wore.

#3 The Product Focused Too Much on Descriptions and Marketing

Another major reason behind the occurrence of customer returns is the online descriptions and marketing associated with online products. Most of the companies that sell these products focus too much on the descriptions such as the depth, length, and width of the product. As a result, the customer is hardly aware of the tangibility of the product, forcing them to return the product once they actually hold it in their hands.

Tips to Help Reduce Customer Returns

Now that you are aware of why products bought online tend to be returned often, you may be worried about how your liquidation business will fare. However, you don’t need to worry about a thing; the solution you seek lies in the following tips for reducing the number of online returns.

Give Your Customers Great Images and Videos

As you now know, one of the top reasons why customers return products is because they don’t have a decent idea of what the product is going to be like when they order. Therefore, when the product does arrive and isn’t what they expected, it has to go back to where it came from.

To make sure that this doesn’t happen to you, you need to provide in-depth images and videos of the product that you are selling. Use 360 views and instructional videos as they will help your customers look at what they are buying and not just read about them.

Provide Detailed Product Information

More than a handful of companies focus on their marketing instead of giving the customer more information about the product that they are interested in. Providing your customers with product information will make them less likely to return an item because they will be clear about what they are purchasing. This product information, combined with the images and videos will help you reduce the customer returns by many folds.

Offer Detailed User Reviews

User reviews aren’t only good for boosting sales; they will also help in reducing the number of returns. Good and detailed customer reviews allow customers to know about the experiences that real people have had with the product, giving them more confidence when buying the product.

So, get at least a couple of good reviews so that your customers can know what your product is all about. However, add a few light, refutable cons so that they sound more believable. For example, in the case of a funky mouse, you can write a con like “bulky structure but easy on the eyes”.

Provide Fitting Tools

Another tool that will help you with the online customer returns is the fitting tool. If you look at well-known fashion websites, you will find that they have adopted these fitting tools to ensure high satisfaction and low customer return rates. According to one online footwear retailer, their customer returns were reduced by 23% when they started using fitting tools. So, if you run a clothing or footwear store, make use of these tools and watch how customers stop returning your products.

Consider Free Home Trials

Even though it may sound a little outlandish, you can always consider offering free home trials to your customers if you are getting too many returns on your products. Some companies have even given their customers the option of selecting and taking home up to four products, trying them out and then making a final decision depending on their preference and taste. You may need to strategize though to prevent being conned.

Have Good Customer Service

Finally, one thing that will help you in reducing or even stopping customer returns entirely is providing good customer service. A lot of people end up returning the products that they bought because they were unable to contact the company and ask it the queries they had.

Therefore, strengthen your customer support system and you’ll feel a noticeable change in the returns. To handle this efficiently, have at least a couple of employees who are online and ready to help any customer who may have questions to ask. Set up chats, e-mails and phone numbers so that people can communicate with you through whatever channel they like.

Use these tips when running your own online store and you will be greeted with new customers instead of old ones who come back to return the products.

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