HOW TO IMPLEMENT A RETURNS STRATEGY

A GUIDE FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
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OFFER YOUR CUSTOMERS A RETURN OPTION



With many retailers offering a returns option as standard and often for free – today’s consumers have come to expect that they will be able to return items which they’ve bought online.

If you are a small business owner who is looking to offer a returns option to your customers but are unsure where to start, we can help.

In this guide, we look at the benefit of introducing a returns offering and show how you can easily implement a simple returns service and get items sent back to you with DHL eCommerce UK.

 

BENEFITS OF RETURNS

 

You may question what the benefit of offering a returns service is – at face-value, a return appears to be a lost sale. However, a simple and effective returns policy can actually do the opposite for your business – increasing brand loyalty, conversion rates and profit.

Returns are particularly important when selling clothes as shoppers want to try-on before making their final decision – 30% of shoppers over-order knowing they can return orders they don’t need*, while 19% order several versions of the same item so they can decide which to keep later*.

It’s perhaps not surprising, therefore, that 58% of shoppers will look at an online store’s Returns Policy before deciding whether or not to buy an item* – if you don’t have one, you risk losing a large proportion of potential customers who have visited your site.

30%

OF SHOPPERS

over-order knowing they can return items they don’t need*

19%

OF SHOPPERS

order several versions of the same item so they can decide which to keep later*

58%

OF SHOPPERS

say a retailer’s return policy plays a role in their decision to make a purchase*

*Metapack - eCommerce Delivery Benchmark Report 2020: Fast-track to the All-Delivery Era

 

HOW TO OFFER RETURNS
ON YOUR WEBSITE


Your returns policy should be clearly displayed on your website. Remember, this can influence a shopper’s decision to purchase the item or not so you want to make sure that your ‘Returns’ link is prominent and easy to find – we recommend adding to the footer website so it’s available on every page.

Your customer wants simple returns and this should be reflected in your policy. With DHL eCommerce UK, your customer can drop-off at any of our 3,500 ServicePoints across the UK and they don’t even need to print a label – make sure you highlight benefits like this on your returns page.

Should customers want to return a product, ask them to send a request for you to process – you can either have a form on your website which captures all of the information needed or ask them to send an email to a dedicated email address. You’ll then just need to generate a label on the DHL eCommerce UK website and send to the customer.

 

HOW MUCH TO CHARGE FOR RETURNS?


Larger retailers have the resources to handle returns and absorb the costs. However, this is probably not the case if you are a small independent business. In order to stay profitable as a business, you may decide to charge the cost of the return back to the customer.

Before introducing a returns option, we recommend crunching some numbers to work out how much your business can afford to charge. To help you do this, go on to our Quick Quote and enter the dimensions and weight of your parcel to find out how much it will cost to send it back to you.

To bring down the cost of the Return you can ask your customer to drop-off their parcel at their local DHL eCommerce UK ServicePoint – this is cheaper than a home collection and with 90% of the UK population living within a 10 minute journey of a shop, it is still convenient.

 

HOW TO GENERATE A RETURNS LABEL


It’s quick and simple to create a return on the DHL eCommerce UK website, simply follow the steps below:


Step 1:
Login to your DHL eCommerce UK account and go to the ‘My Orders’ page. Don’t worry if you used guest checkout, you can register for an account at any time and all of your order history from before registration will be available.

Step 2:
Click on the order you want returned back to you and select the ‘Generate Returns Label’ button.

Step 3:
We’ll automatically fill in our booking form with all of the details of the original booking but in reverse. If you dropped off at a ServicePoint and it was delivered to your recipient’s door, the reverse order will be for a home collection and ServicePoint delivery. Don’t worry, these details aren’t fixed – just click ‘Amend’ to select a different service.

Step 4:
Once you are happy with your booking, click ‘Send’ and pay for your parcel delivery.

Step 5:
A PDF of the label will be generated. Save this to your computer and send to your customer.

Step 6:
Your customer should then print the label and attach to the parcel.

Step 7:
The parcel will be collected from their home or dropped off at a DHL eCommerce UK ServicePoint or depot (depending on the option chosen when generating the label).
 

PACKAGING FOR RETURNS

 

If you do decide to introduce a returns option, you may want to consider using returns-friendly packaging when sending out orders. There’s lots of options available on the market, which allow the customer to open the box or polythene bag without damaging it and easily reseal should they want to return the item.

Make sure you add a note in your returns policy, stating that the customer should return the order in the same packaging as it was sent it. This will ensure that the dimensions of the parcel remains the same as the original order placed and the cost of sending will be the same.

 
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