As you're gearing up to boost sales this upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday, making returns easy for your customers might be the last thing you're planning for. The fact of the matter is, returns are a necessary evil. Even if you can lower your return rates, you’ll never be able to eliminate them altogether. So, how do you make returns work to your advantage?
In an ideal world, your customers would always buy exactly what they want, in the right size, and in the right color – and they would never have any second thoughts once they add it to their cart!
But we live in the real world. Sometimes customers change their minds, and decide that they don’t want an item they bought – and that’s okay!eShipper is here to tell you that, if you offer free returns to your company, you may even be able to boost your future sales!
1. Free Returns Helps You Compete With Large Online Retailers and Brick-and-Mortar Stores
Here’s the number one reason you should offer free returns – you can compete with larger, brick-and-mortar companies and retail stores.
Customers are, by and large, moving away from brick-and-mortar stores to online shopping, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are shopping from small online retailers. Most online shopping is done onlarge marketplaces like Amazon.com, which does 43% of all online sales!
All brick-and-mortar stores offer free returns, and so do most large online retailers like Amazon. Your customers expect to be able to return an item for free, with no questions asked.
This is especially true if the return is not due to their fault, but due to a shipping error or damaged item. According to the Huffington Post,over 60% of returns are due to shipper errors. It's crucial that you use a reliable shipping company to avoid issues like this. A good shipping company will also advise you on how to package your items to lower the risk of damage during the shipping process.
2. Going “Above And Beyond” For Returns Helps Spread Word About Your Company
When you provide customers with a simple, online return process that’s free and easy, you can provide better overall customer service.
Word-of-mouth is still one of the most powerful ways of marketing your business – and it’s free, making it absolutely invaluable to smaller online eCommerce stores. How powerful is it?
- 74% of customers place word-of-mouth as one of the top influencers in their purchasing strategy, according to Ambassador.
- 68% of people trust online opinions from other consumers as much as they trust the opinions of friends and family,according to Ambassador.
3. Simple Returns Interfaces Make Customers More Likely To Shop While Returning Items
If you send out all of your packages with pre-paid return materials, it’s easy for your customers to send items back.
But you should also make your online return interface easy to find, so that customers can quickly authorize a return, and begin shopping again. They’ll be more likely to use their refund to purchase a new item!
Free Returns – Worth The Investment!
Free returns are only free for customers, of course. But the price you must pay to offer free returns is well-worth it. You can compete with larger companies, boost customer satisfaction, and increase conversions.
That’s worth the price of entry!eShipper has created a simple returns process to help you offer your customers free returns to ultimately boost sales.
