For Consumers, The Return Policy Really Counts

As it turns out, even when consumers are converting and hitting that buy button, they are still thinking about an eventuality where maybe they want to return their newest purchase. Which means, to make the conversion happen, the majority of consumers will want to know that it can be returned.

According to B2C Europe’s recently released study, more than half of all consumers consider returning the item long before they decide to buy it and will actively seek to learn what the merchant’s return policy is.

“Understanding consumer preferences during their eCommerce journey is what will make or break your business. But when it comes to returns, we think a lot of retailers forget to include this as part of the journey,” said Rick Kirk, sales director at B2C Europe.

The research additionally found that consumers refuse to buy from outside their own country about 27 percent of the time if the return cost is high, while 23 percent won’t make an out-of-nation purchase if they do not fully understand the return policy. Over a third would be incensed to make a purchase in a foreign country if the return policy was clear and certain.

The preferred policy for U.S. consumers tended toward a “no questions asked,” easy-to-use returns process. More than two-thirds of U.S. consumers said they considered return policies in advance of purchase; exactly two-thirds demand return shipping. Nearly half (47 percent) noted the ability to print a return label as being particularly important.