Online businesses have an enormous opportunity to expand their reach beyond their local markets. However, selling to international customers comes with a significant challenge with giving customers options to return their order if they no longer want it.
International returns can be complicated, time-consuming, and expensive for both you and your customers. Therefore, it's crucial for online businesses to understand their options for international returns to ensure that they can offer the best possible customer experience.
According to Shopify, e-commerce businesses see more than double the number of returns than brick-and-mortar stores (20% vs. 8-10%).
Those return numbers also go up during the holidays (30%) and for more expensive items (50%). Brick-and-mortar stores also save on return shipping costs because customers are far more likely to bring the product back themselves.
So, how can you make sure that returns are simple for your customer, so they have peace of mind, and as cost effective for you so you don’t spend more money than you make?
Make it clear
You need to outline exactly what your returns policy is so your customers can make an informed decision before purchasing and aren’t surprised if and when they come to return an item.
Making sure your international returns policy is clear helps to entice a customer to make a purchase and also helps prevent any negative reviews that might appear online at a later date.
Make it easy
If you do decide to offer international returns, make it easy. You are the seller and have far more experience than your customer in sending things overseas.
You’ll need to help your customer send back orders by providing an addressed returns packet, clear and detailed instructions on a dedicated webpage, or even a branded portal where they can process their return.
Working with an international returns specialist, like Asendia, can enable you to bulk return orders back to your country which cuts costs and also handle any duty or tax refunds that might be due, allowing you a chance to recoup some costs and make it cheaper or even free for customers to return items.
So, what could your international returns policy options be?
There are many solutions for handling international returns, including that offered by Asendia, which can include a shopper portal for requesting a return, drop-off or pick up options, consolidation of returns locally, checking and grading retuned products, recycling or donating of returns in the shopper's country, etc. So do your research to see which providers can help you in the markets you ship to.
Your average order value and product type will have significant influence over what you do with returns, and also what policy you can afford to offer shoppers.
Free international returns
You could quite simply just tell your customers that if you’re not happy they can return their order for free. Which has a multitude of benefits:
- Increased customer satisfaction: Customers are more likely to buy from a company that offers free returns, as it demonstrates the company's commitment to customer satisfaction.
- Improved customer loyalty: Free returns help build customer loyalty. If a customer has a positive experience with the return process, they are more likely to return to the business for future purchases.
- Increased sales: Offering free returns can increase sales by reducing the perceived risk of buying from an online store. Customers are more likely to make a purchase if they know they can return it easily and at no cost.
- Competitive advantage: In a crowded e-commerce marketplace, offering free returns can give a business a competitive advantage. Many customers consider free returns a deciding factor when choosing where to shop.
- Better insights: By tracking returns, businesses can gain insights into customer behaviour and identify patterns. This information can be used to improve product descriptions, customer service, and the overall shopping experience.
Essentially, if a customer knows they can get their money back easily if they’re not happy with their order, they are more likely to shop with you.
Will this encourage too many returns?
If you make returning items too easy and at no cost to the shopper, this could encourage people to over-order. This is a serious cost consideration (as you're paying!) and also has implications for the environment if more parcels are being shipped and returned unnecessarily.
Partial charge international returns
Charging a proportion of the cost of returns, does have similar benefits to above but helps offset the costs of the return, and may even had the added benefit of reducing returns.
Many customers will appreciate that returns, especially overseas, will have a cost so are happy to pay towards this, especially if the reason for the return is their personal preference.
Of course, you could have a different charge for different return reasons, charging for returns if a customer has changed their mind, or waiving the fee if the item reaches them faulty or damaged.
Full charge international returns
Another option, and a less popular one, is to put the cost of returns onto the customer. This is usually best for high-end or expensive items, that are most likely not going to be returned.
There are still options here to make sure the cost isn’t prohibitive to the customer. You could have a local returns address, so they only pay local postage, or even give them options to return them via their own country’s postal service at a speed that suits their budget.
No Returns
You could also choose not to offer international returns (assuming the product is not damaged, faulty, and matched your listing description).
This is a reasonable option for businesses that sell low-cost products or products that are unlikely to be returned.
Make sure you tell your international customers before they purchase that you don’t accept returns from customers overseas so you can be sure that the cost of shipping overseas won’t be a drain on your resources if a few days later its back in the post to you.
Overall, the option for international returns for online businesses depends on several factors, including the nature of the product or service, the target market, and the budget.
No matter what option you choose, it's essential to have a clear policy and process for returns so your customers have a positive experience, and you can maintain profitability.
Partnering with an international expert like Asendia can really help you to navigate the many international return options and choose the right one for you, your customers, and your budget.
To speak to Asendia about international returns, get in touch.
