To run a profitable online business, one of the biggest challenges is to reduce consumer returns. Doing business in eCommerce is always challenging, and it gets even more complicated when you have to deal repeatedly with customer return issues.
According to Simicart, the return rates for the most common types of items bought online in 2021 ranged from 8% to 88%. 88% of people who bought clothes online used an online service to return an item. A recent survey in 2024 by shopify, according to Mailmodo, revealed that the average return rate for ecommerce is typically 20% to 30%.
So, you can be sure that your business is one of many facing this problem. But the big thing is that you have to figure out what to do now.
Because of customer returns, an online store’s sales can slowly decrease. Also, retailers’ profit margins may reduce significantly when customers return.
Then what should be done? In this article, we’ve tried to summarize some of the reasons why consumers return to eCommerce and what can be done about it. First, let’s look at what “customer return” means.
What Is the Meaning of a Customer Return?
The customer return is also known as the “consumer return.” It refers to a situation where a customer purchases something from a store and later wants to return it for any defects. In such a case, the purchaser may request a total refund or follow the business refund model to get their money back.
A widespread consumer return incident can happen both in brick-and-mortar and eCommerce stores. According to Invescpro, 30% of all products ordered online are returned compared to 8.89% in brick-and-mortar stores in 2024.
Reasons Behind Product Returns
Products are often sent back to eCommerce businesses, and this happens for many reasons. As a businessman, you must find out the reasons behind it. Product returns with total funding can be a reason for a significant financial loss. Here are a few of the reasons for the consumer return.
- The product failed to meet customer expectations
- Product details did not match the given description
- The product could appear damaged
- The shipping time needed to be corrected
- The confused customer
Reason 1- The Product Failed to Meet Customer Expectations
Online businesses are booming, and customers are also engaging. For example, according to Markinblog, there are nearly 27 million ecommerce stores worldwide, and that number is growing rapidly. The numbers are enormous. But you will be surprised to know that in this large market, customer dissatisfaction is also correlative high.
Many companies create and ship products within a day to increase their lifetime value to customers. Surprisingly, only 3% of items become successful in satisfying customers. while 72% of the top products fail to meet the customer expectations.
But what is the cause of this failure to meet customer expectations? Okay, there could be several reasons for this, such as misunderstanding your customer’s needs, the delivered product not matching the photo you provided, or your company misinterpreting the customer’s command.
If your business continuously faces consumer return issues, try to find the exact reason and solve them. For example, if you use Shopify to run an eCommerce business, you can reduce these problems by using third-party apps. You can get specific business-oriented, versatile applications for various issues on Shopify.
Reason 2- Product Details Did Not Match The Given Description
As the eCommerce business sector is huge, expecting professionalism from every business is like daydreaming. Many companies have been found to be just beginners and have yet to invest significantly. Even the number of dropshipping companies in eCommerce is also higher. For them, it is very tough to provide an exact description of offered product.
Customers sometimes know a lot about the product and will explain why they want to buy it before they do. On the other hand, in a few cases, customers can also be found with minimum knowledge about the product they’ll be buying. They are the ones who become puzzled after getting the product in hand. For this type of customer, you can do email listing and send them emails to let them know about their desired products in detail.
When starting an online business, the mindset of dealing with different customers should be considered with a priority. You must be well prepared and well equipped to face any challenge along the way. Whether you are a drop shipper or a newbie, try to add accurate descriptions and product photos from different angles.
A proper product description and original photos may decrease the rate of consumer returns.
Reason 3- The Product Could Appear Damaged
Another reason for consumer returns is poor shipping service. The loss of revenue due to damaged goods is surely unpleasant but unavoidable. In a physical store, it is possible to avoid selling and buying a damaged item for both parties.
In e-commerce, buyers can’t physically inspect the product for quality before ordering. Shipping fragile items, such as glass products, carries a high risk, as there’s a significant chance that the customer may not receive the item in perfect condition. To mitigate these issues, choose a reliable shipping service with the necessary capability to handle fragile items, ensuring your product is delivered safely and on time.
Reason 4- The Shipping Time Was Wrong
Shipping time is very significant in the eCommerce industry. To grab customers’ attention and keep them coming in retention, delivering products on time is essential. You will never know when your customer is busy and when your customer is free.
If you’ve been in the eCommerce industry for a while, you’ve probably noticed that some customers mention the exact time of their availability and keep reminding you of the delivery time. In such a situation, if the deliveryman of the shipping agency even goes to the right place at the wrong time for the delivery, it is evident that the customer will not take the products.
In such a case, the customer may want a refund, which is a significant loss for you. According to Invespcro, 79% of customers are very interested in free return shipping, implying that the majority of your customers expect free return shipping. So, try to match the given shipping time.
Reason 5- The Confused Customer
One of the most common reasons is that your customer needs to know what product they should order. They might still be in a dilemma on the color or size but still would place the order. Once the product arrives, they might change their mind and want to return it with a full refund; which could be annoying for you..
You can decrease the ratio with clear communication and a standard return policy.
How to Reduce consumer returns in eCommerce
- Analysis of the Reason for Product Returning
- Provide Correct Product Information
- Create an Effective Return Policy
- Use an application that allows customer involvement.
- Ensure quality customer service.
- Errors can be avoided by using automated processes.
- Work on modifying
1. Know Why Customers Return Products
When you first enter the eCommerce world, you should prepare for all the challenges your business may face. Consumer return is one of those tough challenges you'll have to deal with. If you only encounter consumer rights issues, try to identify the gaps and work on them to reduce consumer returns in the long run.
If needed, manage resources and plan accordingly. It’s not that the challenge may arise from your side, it could be from the other integrated factors. It could even be your delivery provider! In such situations, you must stay calm and make a move with all the available alternatives according to your plan.
2. Write Clear Product Descriptions
At the beginning of the content, we discussed the importance of product descriptions. Because of the inappropriate and unstructured online business model, some merchants care little about product descriptions. They mostly prioritize the selling procedure only. But a wrongly defined and incomplete product description can create miscommunication and misunderstanding among the customers, making it harder to reduce consumer returns.
Customers who cannot touch products online make decisions depending on written descriptions. A well defined product description will state all the relevant facts about the product , such as the materials used, specific care recommendations, and other reasons why the product is unique.
Customers these days like to do their research before committing to a purchase. According to Salsify, 87% of online shoppers are interested in seeing detailed product descriptions and want to know why they should buy the product.
3. Create a Simple & Fair Return Policy
Roughly 18% of retailers let customers return items for a different size or color, and the same percentage offers gift cards for future purchases. There are high customer expectations regardless of the sort of refund a store provides. Around 62% of buyers want to return an item within 30 days.
To reduce consumer returns, you should have a well crafted return policy when you are into online retail business. You may offer a dynamic return policy where customers can choose from different types of return policies. Refund, exchange, warranty exchange, and store credit are all examples.
You can pick any of them or all of them based on how you run your business. If you think giving a refund will hurt your sales, you can offer the exchange option. You won’t lose money by doing it. You will be able to make your customer happy with a little effort. Also, an exchange offer is better than a refund, so a warranty or exchange offer is a subtle way of negotiation in such scenarios.
4. Let Customers Design Their Products
Businesses requiring regular customer communication are hard to manage in this progression of the internet. There are many scope of getting misunderstood in this kind of business. Are you getting it? Which company am I referring to?
If you need help, let me give you a scenario. Let’s say you have a product customization business on Shopify and you offer your customers web-to-print products. Usually, customers would give you instructions about the design they want through email or other communication medium.
During this process, there could be miscommunication, and when you deliver their product, it might not even reach their point of expectation. And at the end, it will turn into a consumer return. To reduce consumer returns, you need to eliminate this gap in expectations.
You can design your products using a third-party product personalization application in your Shopify store to solve this issue. By using this application, you can let your customer to become a designer of their own desired product.
Here you can see a configurator with several options and valuable features so that their dissatisfaction will decrease when your customer designs their product. There are thousands of applications available in Shopify to help you grow your business. Here this picture is taken from InkyBay-Product Personalizer. You can choose your preferred one.
5. Help Customers with Friendly Support
Poor customer service is another reason for consumer returns. When a customer faces difficulties while placing an order, he may seek help from your customer service. In such a case, if your customer service is subpar, the customer may place an order randomly and then, when he receive the incorrect product, try to return it and request a refund.
So make sure you have an active customer service team to help your customers and reduce consumer returns.
6. Use an AI chatbot to Avoid Mistakes
Sometimes human support is not enough. To increase the growth of your eCommerce business, using a chatbot automation process can be an alternative. An automated process can reduce the chances of consumer returns because your customer can get the answer to his queries in a minute, which minimizes the ratio of customer returns. Automation systems can be applied to a personal message or email to send bulk information automatically.
7. Keep Improving Your Return Process
Perhaps you've already done everything possible to reduce consumer returns. But keep changing your policy on returns and your business strategy. Also, check out the plan policies of your competitors and how they handle customer return issues.
To make returns simple, you can use apps like AfterShip or Loop. These apps help you keep track of returns, do the work automatically, and let your customers know what’s happening.
Bottom Line
Dealing with consumer returns is part of running an online store, but it doesn’t have to hurt your business. When you give clear product info, help customers get what they really want, and make your return policy simple and fair, things start to turn around. Add good customer support and smart tools, and you’ll build a business that people trust and keep coming back to. These are the key ways to reduce consumer returns and achieve long-term success in the e-commerce business.
