E-Commerce Product Returns
From our statistics page, you may have learned how E-Commerce Product Returns is growing by leaps and bounds each year. So, how do you get the product returns processed quickly and painless for your customers so they keep buying from you? Welcome to the world of The Returns Lab and how we process all E-Commerce Product Returns.
The typical old and inefficient product return flow works like this:
Customer Purchases Your Product
Customer Decides to Return It
They Call Your Company
They Get RMA #
Customer Returns Product
Company Evaluates Return
Company Issues Credit or Not
New Product Shipped To Consumer
The time it takes to process a typical 1-2 item product return is 45-minutes. This includes talking to the consumer, issuing the RMA #, receiving the return, contacting the customer, issuing the credit, repackaging or disposing of the product, shipping the new product back out. If you are paying your employees $15/hour, processing that return just cost you $11.25, not including the loss of margin on your product, disposal costs, restocking and reshipping the product out. Once you factor all of that in, you’ve probably lost money with your returns.
Now, welcome to the new and efficient product return flow with The Returns Lab:
Customer Purchases Your Product.
Customer Decides to Return It.
Customer logs into your website and requests a product return (through a portal directly connected to The Returns Lab which we make look like your brand).
Your team gets a notification of a new return, which can automatically be accepted or manually approved by your team.
If the return is approved, you can automatically offer free shipping of the return back, or not, depending on different data points you want in your returns processing.
If approved for free shipping, a label will be created for them, which they can print immediately from The Ship Lab.
If not approved for free shipping, they will be directed to a portal to create a shipping label that they pay for with their own credit card from The Ship Lab.
The tracking number from the shipping label portal is automatically written from The Ship Lab back into The Returns Lab and assigned to this customer.
Your customer sends the product return back to the Returns Lab.
When the product return arrives at The Returns Lab, it is scanned into our system and both the company and customer are notified via email that it has arrived and is being processed.
If requested, The Returns Lab can send a photo to the company for further evaluation, otherwise, the product return is processed according your the company’s previously approved product returns procedure.
E-Commerce Product Returns can be disposed, repackaged, sent back out as 1st or 2nd quality, re-shipping service, repackaged or sent back to your own DC. The choice is automated and your company is notified every step of the way, as well as having live access 24/7 to all returns dashboard, reasons for returns, reports, etc. You truly are in control.
By automating most of this process, The Returns Lab is able to keep your costs down, your E-Commerce Product Returns efficiently processed, and your customers happy.