A customer buys a coat online, it does not fit, and she takes it to the branch in town on a Saturday because that is obviously easier than posting it.
She is told the store cannot process online returns. She is standing in the shop, holding the coat, looking at the same brand on the wall, and no explanation is going to satisfy her.
Step 1: decide the policy properly
Whether online orders can be returned to stores, which items, which stores and what the customer receives. This is an operational decision and it should be made deliberately rather than left to whatever the till system happens to allow.
Step 2: publish it where customers look
On the returns page, in the order confirmation, in the dispatch email and on the packing slip. A customer travelling to a store has already decided, and the information needs to reach her before she leaves the house.
Step 3: explain the exceptions specifically
Marketplace or third-party seller items, oversized goods, items ordered to a store, personalised products and anything sold only online. Naming the categories is better than a general exclusion nobody can apply.
Step 4: say what the customer receives
A refund to the original payment method, an exchange, store credit or a gift card. These are very different outcomes and customers assume the most favourable.
Step 5: publish the timescale
How long a refund takes from a store return, and that the card issuer adds its own time. Customers chase after three days otherwise.
Step 6: tell them what to bring
Order number, confirmation email, the packing slip and the payment card. A customer turned away for missing paperwork is angrier than one who could not return at all.
Step 7: give store staff the same information
Inconsistent answers between branches are worse than a clear no. Whatever the policy, every counter should give the same answer, which is the problem in store stock and opening hours questions across a chain.
Step 8: handle the reverse case
Items bought in store and returned by post, and whether that is possible. Customers who moved away or bought while travelling ask this constantly.
Step 9: use returns as a sales opportunity
Someone in a store with a refund is a customer with money and intent. A chain that makes the return easy sells something else on the same visit.
Step 10: explain what happens to the stock
Whether a returned online item goes onto the shop floor, which matters for a customer asking whether the size she wanted is now available.
Step 11: answer at the weekend
Return decisions are made on Saturday mornings, which is exactly when nobody is answering a contact form.
Step 12: prevent the return instead
Better pre-purchase answers reduce returns more than any policy change, which is the argument in how online stores cut returns with pre-purchase answers, and business enquiries hiding in a consumer inbox are covered in wholesale enquiries hiding in your retail store inbox.
Getting started
Publish your cross-channel returns policy, exceptions and what to bring, then answer at any hour before someone travels. SpideyChat for retailers answers from your published pages, and closures raise the same questions as in store closure and relocation enquiries from customers. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about answers on the features page.