Why Return Policies Matter

A return policy can either make or break your business. Almost 80 percent of online shoppers say they check a return page before making a purchase. If they don’t like what they see, they won’t buy. Despite this statistic, many business owners are hesitant to have a robust return policy. The fear of an overwhelming (and expensive) amount of returns causes many business owners to have a return policy that is not customer-centric. Not having a customer-centric return policy will backfire. 

Here are just a few of the reasons to think of your customers first when crafting your return policy. 

• People will pay more for your product if they have the option of returning it. 
• Great return experiences will net you customers for life 
• Fewer customers claim returns when given a longer window to return 
• 60% of online shoppers make at least one return/exchange yearly and 95% will make another purchase if the return experience is positive
• Stores that offer free returns see customers spend up to 457% more than they did before initiating the return 
• 55% of online customers will tell friends and family if they are dissatisfied with return process 

When return rates of online purchases are as high as 30%, it is important to build trust with a robust return policy. Online shoppers have many options to purchase products, don’t give them a reason to look elsewhere because of a lacking return policy. Make your return policy clear by setting expectations and answering key questions that customers may have. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. What questions might you have if you were to return a product? Once you have come up with your list of questions, make sure that your return policy answers each of them clearly. 

Don’t give your customers any excuse to not buy your product by having a less than stellar return policy. Think of your customers and build the kind of return policy that you would want to see if you were purchasing from an online store for the first time.