5 Brands with Superior Customer-Centric Returns Policies

A recent study from Shopify showed a staggering 75% of shoppers think refunds and returns are the most painful part of buying online. In today’s market, customer service is king! and your customers expect world-class customer service throughout the entire order life cycle when shopping online.

Your online returns process can be one of the most pivotal moments in a relationship with even your most loyal customer. While payment processing, shipping, and delivery are all important post-purchase touch points,  it’s the return and refund experience that can make or break a customers loyalty to your brand.

But never fear! Returns don’t have to be a point of frustration for your customers, with the right elements in place, returns can actually help to increase brand loyalty and your overall retention rate. We've found that there are 5 key elements that make a good return policy: clarity, the human touch, speed and processing times and preventing returns in the first place.

Don’t believe us? Here are 5 brands that are paving the way with their customer-centric returns policies.

Clarity on the Returns Policy | Culture Kings

Rule number one when displaying your returns policy is to make it as clear and customer-focused as possible. Known for their exclusivity and superiority in the streetwear, Culture Kings also dominates the customer service game with their lighting fast, clear and easy to navigate returns policy.

Culture Kings make their return process for their customers friction-free. It's effortless to understand what, when and how an item can be returned. Any question or concern one might have before they follow through with a purchase has been answered on their returns policy page.

Take a page out of Culture King's book and provide your customers with simple and easy to understand T&C’s, detailed FAQ’s and a highly informative returns policy page. This will make for a smooth customer experience in today’s digital-first world.

The Human Touch  | AQUILA

Talk about fantastic customer service and assistance! Its the human element with AQUILA that makes their customer service experience so special. Live chat, over the phone, or via email – there are so many ways customers can get in contact with AQUILA's customer service team. The best bit? They provide free return shipping on all returns if you are a Aquila+ loyalty member. This gives their customers purchasing confidence knowing that they won't have to pay to return their item if it's not right fit.

Why is the human element so important? Well us humans would rater deal with other humans over bots when it comes to making a return or raising an order issue. Especially when it comes to getting a refund! You might have a customer that's upset or maybe they just want to see how an issue can be quickly corrected. These types of enquiries are ones that require a human touch. Learn from AQUILA and train your customer service team with the tools they need to have a customer-first approach.

Preventing Returns in the First Place | Verbose the Label

Abbie Chatfield's brand, Verbose the Label prevents their customers from having to return something in the first place by providing them with detailed sizing guides. You know Abbie Chatfield would be all over the all-inclusive top notch sizing charts. Their easy to read, well-constructed and includes detailed recommendations. Verbose is world class in providing their customers highly detailed sizing charts. They go the extra mile by displaying a variety of images from all angles of their models in all their styles and sizes on their PDP. This gives their customers an accurate sense of what the clothes will actually look like on their particular body shape.

Fast and Easy to Process Refunds | Sass and Bide

The return experience is the difference between a one off or gaining a repeat loyal customer. Thats why Sass and Bide have sped up their returns process with the right technology, to give their customers the fastest and easy to process refund experience. They’ve done this by using Refundid to provide their customers instant refunds and a reliable returns experience.

The result? They’ve seen an increase in repeat customers who have re-purchased after experiencing a smooth returns experience. Why? Customers are left with less friction and a positive refund experience which in turn increases their size of cart and repeat customer rate.

If you want to offer your customer instant refunds to help streamline your online returns and drive your brands long-term customer retention and loyalty. Refundid is here to help.

Length of Time to Return | Adore Beauty

The length of time a customer has to return an item plays a huge role in how customer centric your returns policy is. Even with the fastest returns processes, exceptional customer service and detailed sizing guides in place, you could still be losing repeat customers when they go to return something - only to find they’ve missed the return window. That’s why you need to go above and beyond to make sure your customers are receiving the most convenient and practical returns window.

Adore Beauty accepts returns within a cool 130 days of purchase. They seamlessly couple this with providing instant refunds if a customer has a change of heart, ordered an incorrect item or colour match (foundation). To top it all off they also provide an extensively detailed support page, FAQ and live chat. The level of information, care and connivence tells their new and existing customers that they are committed to making sure their end- to end shopping experience is a positive one.

While a great landing page and storefront experience attracts customers initially, customers won’t become loyalists if they have a poor experience returning an item on your online store. Consider reducing the frictions of your customers return experience – by mirroring your returns policy off of the brands mentioned above. This will drive your brands long-term customer retention and loyalty.

Want to streamline your online returns and drive your brands long-term customer retention and loyalty? Refundid is here to help.