Tips for Handling Returns (720 words)
Be fast, consistent and discreet, and you'll have happy customers who will come back again
By Chris Merritt
Put yourself in this customer's shoes: In the spring, Susan telephone-ordered an A-line jumper in the popular, seasonal color "shrimp" and in her usual size. When the jumper arrived, it fit too snugly in the hips. So Susan sent it back with a request for the next-largest size. A month passed. She had no jumper, no acknowledgment from the company and, when her credit card bill arrived, no credit for returned or exchanged merchandise.
She finally received an e-mail notice from the company three weeks later apologizing for being out of stock and informing her that they had refunded her charge. The e-mail contained Susan's credit card number: a security breach in the minds of many people. It was the first and last time Susan ordered from that catalog company.
Each time a new shopper orders from your catalog or Web site, they bring a sense of excitement and fresh expectations to the experience. But at each stage of the ordering process, there is a chance to sour all of the positive impressions your catalog has made. The last likely point for a potentially satisfied customer to become an ex-customer is in the handling of returns.
The secret to success when handling returns can be summed up in a few simple words, well suited as a cataloger's returns mantra: be fast, be consistent, be discreet. Each aspect of this mantra has a measure of common sense behind it …
Be Fast
Customers need a reasonable expectation of how long a return or exchange will take. Every catalog retailer should know how long it takes the company to handle a returned item and be able to convey that information to the public with confidence. Retailers need to keep abreast of outright returns, exchanges and undeliverables, know the number of items handled in each category and how long it takes to process each type.
Although statistics on returns are critical, many catalog retailers do not know how long returns processing takes. Neither do the retailers have in place the tools to measure returns handling. A simple first step is setting up and applying a measurement system to get accurate and timely data for future benchmarking. The information will allow a retailer to accurately determine the average length of time it takes to complete a return and to convey that information to customers.
Be Consistent
Conflicting information is the kiss of death for credibility. All company media must consistently and clearly convey the returns policy. A common source of mismatches is Web versus printed information. The Web site might be updated more frequently than printed materials are reissued. Policy changes incorporated in one place may not be stated clearly elsewhere. But mismatched information can also occur among different printed pieces, such as invoices, real-time customer service interactions and printed or Web materials.
To be safe, have all printed materials date- and time-stamped for easy reference. That way, when a Web site is updated or a change occurs in the policy of handling returns, the date stamp can be checked against the time of the policy change and needed adjustments made in all media.
Be Discreet
Privacy remains one of the chief concerns that customers have with catalog and Web ordering. Catalogers need to give assurances about handling of sensitive information at each step of the way—including the returns process.
How secure are customers' credit card numbers and other personal information during the period of transaction? How is the information handled at the retailers? How does the retailer use its e-mail addresses? Use of e-mail and written correspondence to confirm the receipt and handling of a return or exchange is a welcome touch. But that effort can be sabotaged, for example, by a returns agent's quoting back the customer's credit card number on an unsecured e-mail acknowledgment or letter.
As with every step in the physical handling of a return, common sense applied to human action will yield a higher degree of customer satisfaction—and a greater chance that the customer will shop with your catalog again.
Chris Merritt is a principal at Kurt Salmon Associates, a fulfillment consulting firm in Atlanta, GA. He can be reached at (404) 898-7916 or by e-mail at csm@kurtsalmon.com.
- People:
- Chris Merritt
- Susan
- Places:
- Atlanta, GA.