In this article , I would like to throw light on handling apparel Customer Returns and how to address customer griefs and retention of Customer.

Competition in service industries is tougher than ever nowadays. Customers are more informed and demanding, competitors are more aggressive, and regulations are tighter. All these developments have forced service businesses to put forth more efforts into satisfying existing customers and converting them into loyal supporters. Accordingly, firms in service industries have begun to give more importance to developing and maintaining effective customer complaints management systems.

Many researches indicate that dealing with customer complaints successfully increases customer retention rates and creates loyal customers

When a company sells merchandise, such as clothing, part of doing business includes dealing with returns. A customer might request a refund for various reasons, such as ordering the wrong product or purchasing too many items. The amount of refunds your small business gives in a period reduces several important performance metrics on your income statement, including revenue and profit. By tracking your return levels each period, you can identify abnormal amounts and try to minimize their adverse effects.

What are customer complaints? 

Customer complaints can be defined as the gaps between what business promises in terms of the product or services and what customers get. It is a mismatch between how customers perceive the brand and where they fail to get the desired customer service experience.

There could be different types of customer complaints. It could be related to a) improper communication, b) internal processes or c) poor quality of service. Realizing that a complaint is an opportunity makes it easier to turn conflict into positive change. Customer complaints can tell you how to resolve issues – if you listen to them carefully.

What's a Returns Policy?

The Returns Policy is the document that covers the situation where a customer wants to bring a purchased item back and exchange it for cash, a replacement product, or store credit.

The customer may have many reasons for returning a product. Few reasons that may be on the top  for customer returns were:

1. Customer ordering incorrect product or size
2. The customer decided the product was not needed or wanted
3. No reason for return given
4. The product did not match the description on the Website or in the catalog
5. The product did not fit the customer's expectations
6. The company shipped the incorrect product or size

Complaints are a reality check for your business

“Why are customer complaints good for your business?”

– The answer is quite simple.

Newvoicemedia says, “51% of customers will never do business with that company again after one negative experience.”

Analyzing Merchandise Returns

It’s important to review your returns as a percentage of gross sales each period to make sure they are within an appropriate range. For Instance, the top most customer returns can be attributed to:

1. Cross Straining
2. Fading/Color Loss
3. Fit issues
4. Damaged merchandise
5. Dimensional stability

It's important to work backwards on technical specifications and co-relate to the kind of raw materials & risk assessments so that these issues are properly addressed right from Design,Product Development and Sourcing.

According to a study done by TrueShip, over 60% of customers review a Returns Policy before they make a purchasing decision.

Specific features of your Returns Policy can make or break a sale, so it's important to be aware of what you need to cover by law, and what you should cover for greatest customer satisfaction.

Why do customers complain so much?

May be due to reactive support channels the response may be delayed and multiple customer touchpoints or interactions are needed to resolve a complaint.

If your support team does not have the proper skill set, the process is inadequate or your team is not equipped with the right tools. If you are not able to handle your conversations on time and effectively, then you can implement the right tools such as:

Live chat – You can implement live chat to deliver instant assistance to customers’ complaints related to sales or support and improve satisfaction. Make sure your agents are well trained on how to deal with angry customers and to diffuse situations.

Real time engagement tools – Tools like co-browsing and video chat help to connect with customers in real time to identify customer problems faster and deliver effective solutions.

Chatbot – You can automate your sales and support with chatbots to engage customers 24×7. Responding to customers’ issues instantly delivers a better experience.

When the customer complaints are related to improper skills of the team, you can respond to them by providing additional training related to products, services, and solutions. It will help the agents to enhance the knowledge to resolve customers’ queries productively.

Enhance customer communication

McKinsey report says 70% of the customer’s journey is dictated by how the customer feels they are being treated. Generally, customers move to other brands because they are put off by an untrained or rude support team. Effective communication plays a vital role in resolving customer complaints. 

My experience in dealing with customer complaints on healthy grounds has taught me to:

Listen to your customers

Listen to what your customers are complaining about. You have to identify the reason why they are complaining. Customers expect faster responses and listening helps to understand them and answer them quickly.

Find an effective solution

Empower your customer support team to respond to customer complaints instead of transferring the calls to senior managers.

Follow up with the customers

After offering solutions you can follow up with your customers to make sure they are happy with the resolution or not. Following up shows that you care for your customers.

Meet and exceed customer expectations

Never miss out on a chance to meet or exceed your customer expectations. You can send a thank you or provide early access to new features. 

Apologize to your customers

You can calm down a frowning customer with a sincere apology. Always say sorry for your mistake if delayed to acknowledge or resolve the customer complaint.

Every business has to be customer centric to sustain in the competitive market. Investing in customer support will help businesses to understand their complaints and improve their services and experience.

There is always a silver lining to the customer complaints. Smart businesses recognize the importance of customer complaints and consider it a golden business opportunity. However, complaints are inevitable, no matter how hard you work or how great your products are, no business can satisfy its customers all the time.

Conclusion :
Service businesses should therefore focus primarily on resolving the complaints in a fair, prompt, and transparent manner. Inform customers throughout the process, and at the same time make sure that the contact personnel are well-trained, well-instructed, and are provided with necessary decision making authority to deal effectively with complaints. Standardization of complaint handling procedures would also be useful.

Building customer loyalty is key for business.

“Our greatest assets are our customers. Treat each customer as if they are the only one.”

RELATED TOPICS:#Apparel,apparel industry,Customer Complaints,Ajay Ravuri