Shockingly, over 30% of online purchases are returned. The hits retailers are taking on returned merchandise are alarming. What can deter this high number of online returns?

Inbound Logistic claims that the average retailer spends ~8% of sales on returns. When retailers are paying to take back unwanted merchandise, it affects their bottom line. However, a bad return policy will likely cost merchants more in lost sales. 67% of consumers check the return policy before making an online purchase. 79% of those consumers want free return shipping.

What's the Big Deal with Returns?

You probably already know why you should care about people sending things back, but just in case: returns are one of the big three modifiers (along with allowances/closeouts and discounts) that reduce your net sales figures. More returns mean more disappearing revenue, and that's never any fun.

Plus, the return process costs money and time—a lot of it. In 2018, return delivery costs added up to $381 billion in the United States alone, and that's just parcel service. That huge figure doesn't even take into account the receiving, inspection, and restocking processes.

Returned products also increase the chances of breakage and lost product, adding more cost and lost profits.

The main point is that you want gross and net profits to be as close to each other as possible. You might not think you have much control over reducing returns—at least not compared to discounts—but you might be surprised at how effective and simple certain messaging and marketing techniques are at reducing return rates and increasing your net profits.

Why Do Online Shoppers Return Items?

People return things for a number of reasons. Sometimes they just change their minds—everyone has been there. That said, there are some general patterns with returns that you can work toward changing on your end. Here are five of the biggest reasons customers return items:

1. The item doesn’t fit, or they bought the wrong size.
2. The merchandise doesn't match the description provided.
3. The product came damaged.
4. The customer no longer needs what they ordered.
5. The item is of poor quality or doesn't meet the customer's expectations (see number two above).

Some of these things seem like they're out of your control. Some should be major red flags if they happen often, telling you it's time for an audit of your product descriptions and images.

1. Bad Fit

Online clothing shoppers are well-known for using poor fit as a reason for a return. Sometimes it's valid. The size could be misrepresented, or not the fit they are used to for that size. I have seen for myself that a large from some brands and countries is not the same as a large from other brands.

Sometimes, the bad fit is from botched alterations or people who do not know their size— a return due to customer error, to put it another way.

Sizing is one of the most common Q&A and review topics for clothes, shoes, protective equipment, dog costumes, or basically anything else with multiple size options. Good pictures with human models, and reference to scale using a standard item or reference point helps. Adding rulers and color charts to your photos helps to give a sense of scale and thorough descriptions that people can relate to.

2. Wrong Description

Bad news: 91% of questions in Q&A sections are not answered in the original marketing or product description copy. This means that when people are reading these descriptions, they're not always getting the info they need.

The first step should be checking your product descriptions and photos. You want everything displayed in a way that accurately, clearly, and objectively describes what you're selling. 

3. Damage

Yes, when customers return for damage, there's a possibility that they dropped their items and then decided they wouldn't pay. It could even be a random accident during shipping. The problem is when too many of these types of returns start coming in on a regular.

Videos often help here, especially if you have a complicated assembly procedure. You might want to make unboxing videos in this case.

Reviews can also give you some insight into what's happening. Do customers talk about the box arriving beaten up? Do they mention your product arriving in powder form when it's supposed to be a lovely crystal vase?

Listening to reviews can help you pinpoint the stage in your process that needs attention.

4. No Need for the Product

Unnecessary purchases are a fact of life. Maybe someone bought equipment to work on a car that's been sold—situations and needs change.

Sometimes there's an opportunity to convince the customers to make creative use of the product they bought. Your sales and customer service teams might not think to recommend baking authentic Detroit pizza in that unnecessary drip pan once the car's been sold, but there's a chance that customer reviewers might have just the right creative reason not to return the merchandise. If your brand voice is a little playful, you can also have some fun with your product reviews or instructional videos.

5. Poor Quality

Fact: budget items are typically not built to last a generation. While you may not be able to say your products are "worth the money" or "decent quality for the price," customer reviews can and often do say these things.

Even if brutal honesty isn't part of your voice, sometimes it is exactly what people need in order to set realistic expectations. Reviews give you the option to temper and moderate the discussion while giving prospective customers access to objective information. Comparison videos are great for this too.

The reasons given above are just a few of those that customers give to justify their returns. The underlying cause could be something you have a great deal of control over, however. With that in mind, here are five ways to reduce returns:

1. Customer-generated question-and-answer sections (Q&A) with customer-service involvement.
2. Product reviews that are useful, consistent, and independent.
3. Demo videos on unpacking, review, and comparison (a video is worth a thousand pictures, and a picture is worth a thousand words).
4. Skilled, professional photography with models, real-world comparisons, scale, and so on.
5. Accurate, detailed product descriptions: Features, specifications, ingredients, materials, origins, and the highest level of brand-appropriate honesty possible.

That's it for the lists. The rest of this article will look at the big return generators and how some of these solutions could apply to your e-commerce operation. We will address two of these five issues specifically:

1. The merchandise doesn't match the description provided.
2. The product doesn't meet the customer's expectations. 

How Do You Reduce Ecommerce Returns?

Many times, products are returned simply because the description was not adequate to give the buyer a true understanding of the product quality, specifications, capabilities, materials, etc.

There are two amazingly simple and effective ways to provide more accurate, useful, and convincing product descriptions that will increase sales, and customer satisfaction and reduce returns.

1. Product Reviews

"Incorporating product reviews is such an effective return prevention strategy that Petco reported that products with customer reviews had a 20.3% lower return rate than those that didn't.” That's from a pretty impressive product review case study from Business Wire.

Product reviews represent one of many simple additions to your ecommerce site that can make a big difference in returns. The Business Wire article went on to say that products with lots of reviews—over 50 per listing—had a whopping 135% lower return rate than products with just a few or no reviews—under 5 per listing. So, not only does having reviews make a big difference in the first place, but having more is better.

Product reviews help answer product questions that shoppers have, from the unique perspective of actual users. This gives invaluable insight and information that help people determine if the product is right for them.

But there is often a lot more information that customers both need and want.

2. Q&A

Q&A is a critical tool to help shoppers find the answers to their questions regarding shipping, return policy, privacy policy, guarantees or warranties, and of course, very specific product questions.

Consider a searchable Q&A tool that allows users the ability to find answers to their questions using a keyword-driven search bar. The best Q&A tool will also search-optimize your qustions and answers to give you page 1 organic search results, resulting in more organic traffic as well.

Using a Q&A tool that allows the customer community to both ask and answer questions will give you the most content the fastest, while also providing the objective, authentic voice of the customer that most shoppers love. 

Why Do People Keep Products?

Finally, something else to think about is why people keep the products you sell. In this, there is a result that rises above all others: They knew what they were getting, and they loved what they got.

And your chances of people at least being satisfied with their purchase will dramatically increase when they can reference authentic customer reviews and Q&A that give them the decision-making information they were looking for. 

These stats and considerations may be your cue to take a look at your return policy and weigh the benefits of making it more convenient for your consumers.