Has your company ever had to deal with returns? How efficiently was the process handled? Goods purchased through the Web or catalogues are often returned. Depending on your industry, the rate of returns may be high, so it is important to operate your business in a manner that will be conducive to customer satisfaction.

There needs to be an effective policy instituted or a poorly structured return process can result in a bad reputation, lost customers, and your company suffering a poor rate of sales. ALOM would like to offer some assistance in orchestrating a great returns management process to ensure customer satisfaction.

How to handle returns

- Make sure your customers know all policies. All return and other policies related to the business should be outlined on the Web site or on literature sent to the customer. Customers will feel more confident in making a purchase and will not have to contact the business call center.
- Make it painless for the customer to return merchandise. Make options available for the customer. Have return labels accessible through Web pages and offer returns through the post office, multi-channel retailers, or courier collection.
- The return process must be done in an orderly fashion. Returns entail unloading, identification, processing for re-sale, a return to the manufacturer, or disposal.
- A process needs to be instituted that utilizes the product in its entirety. It will be less costly to refurbish a product than to order another or produce another of the same. If a piece of merchandise can not be refurbished, different components may be able to be salvaged to open other areas of revenue generation.
- Make sure to factor in the cost and likelihood of returns. It is also wise to think about having extra workers at hand during times a high number of returns are expected (like after holidays) so the ultimate business process is not stymied.
- Retailers may want to outsource fulfillment needs to a specialist. This will ensure the process will be operated smoothly and efficiently.

How to reduce the occurrence of returns

- Offer clear descriptions and pictures of products in catalogues and on Web sites. Options such as providing multiple views, showcasing different colors, and giving other customer feedback will be well appreciated and will increase a customer’s sense of confidence in making a purchase.
- Make sure that goods are picked and shipped correctly and efficiently. Receiving damaged or wrong orders will greatly reduce the likelihood that the customer will be making another order with your business.
- It is a great addition to offer “real-time” stock availability. This means that Web sites are updated to list the availability of goods so the customer will not be disappointed if something is out-of-stock or unavailable.
- It is always good practice to over-estimate the delivery time of items. It is better that the customer be pleasantly surprised that the order came earlier rather than its arrival being after the quoted date.
- It is always good to get as much customer feedback as possible. Though catalogue purchasing has been around for some time and Web purchasing is becoming more prevalent, consumers still feel more reluctant to make purchases they can not see “in-person.”