To better cater to the demands of online customers, you’ll need to do more than offer the best online payment processing or accept e-wallets and virtual payment cards. You have to develop an appreciation of what online consumers really want.
While the principles of obtaining great customer satisfaction are similar for all businesses, the behavior of e-commerce customers diverges from in-store customers in some key ways. For instance, a 2021 study of online consumers found that they are around twice as likely as offline customers to return purchases. Critically, online customers are also more sensitive to how challenging online return, exchange, and refund processes can be.
To truly resonate with your online consumer base, you have to go beyond the usual brick-and-mortar store strategies and address key expectations unique to the digital realm. Let’s explore some best practices that will help smoothen returns, refunds, and exchanges at your online store:
1) Offer Hassle-free Online Payment Processing and Returns Processes
Returns and exchanges shouldn’t require extraordinary effort on the customer’s part. If you must offer a refund, offer it through the same online payment solutionsthe customer selected to have their online payment processed.
2) Choose a Trusted Online Payment GatewayProcessing Company
Using trusted online payment platforms like Maya Checkout builds confidence in your business while also simplifying the refund process. Refunds for transactions made through Maya internet payment solutions can be easily processed through the Maya Business Manager. To start facilitating refunds on Maya Business Manager, just ensure that the refund feature is enabled.
3) Prevent Returns and Refunds with Accurate Product Presentation
Customers will often initiate returns or refunds if they find that the product they receive doesn’t match what they were promised. A lot of these misunderstandings could be avoided by providing product images and copy that accurately describe the product the customer will receive. If the item description, images, and specifications on your are reflective of the actual product, you’ll be able to reduce the incidences of returns and refunds while improving the overall customer experience.
4) Prioritize Exchanges Over Returns and Refunds
No matter how clear your product images and copy are, it can’t be helped that at least a few of your customers will need to send back their purchases. While you can definitely maintain customer goodwill with returns and refunds, you should strive to offer product exchanges whenever possible.
Exchanges are particularly advantageous as they allow you to better maintain your engagement with your customers, creating the possibility of future purchases. Given that, exchanges are usually worth it, even if they result in a short-term loss to your business.
5) Let the Customer Keep the Refunded Item
Understandably, this isn’t an option for big-ticket items. However, for lower-cost items, consider adopting a policy where the refunded customer is allowed to keep their purchase. This approach can be especially beneficial for items that are not easily resold or returned to inventory.
While this approach may result in a short-term loss, allowing the customer to keep the refunded item demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction and eliminates the logistical challenges and costs associated with processing returns. This can lead to a positive customer experience, as they get to keep the product without any additional hassle.
Keep Your Online Customers Coming Back for More
Maya Business has a well-deserved reputation for having the best online payment processing services for online stores in the Philippines. With fast integration through plugins, Maya Checkout has become the third-party payment gateway Shopify and WooCommerce store owners depend on to facilitate stronger online growth. Create your Maya Business Manager account to activate Maya Checkout and enjoy better returns and refunds.
Signing up for Maya Business automatically entitles you to the Maya 1-2-3 Grow bundle. Maya 1-2-3 Grow gives you a 1% MDR (merchant discount rate) discount on all QR Ph transactions for 3 months after signing, helping you save more for each transaction. With this discount, you’ll get PHP 14,600 in additional savings for every PHP 1 million in QR Ph sales.
As part of the Maya 1-2-3 Grow bundle, you can also take advantage of opening a Maya Business Deposit account and using it as your settlement account. It comes with a 2.5% per annum interest rate, increasing your funds 20-25x faster than competing banks. With Maya Business Deposit, your business will earn an additional PHP 25,000 each year for each PHP 1 million deposit. Even better, with Maya Business Deposit’s zero maintaining balance and free transfers via InstaPay and PESONet, you’ll get more out of your day-to-day banking.
Lastly, the Maya 1-2-3 Grow bundle also entitles you to a Maya Flexi Loan offer of up to PHP 2 million in just 3 months, enough to optimize your return, exchange, and refund processes. To increase your subsequent loan offers, don’t forget to use Maya as your primary processor for all wallet and card payments.
Send in your Maya Business application today to activate Maya online payment solutions and enjoy Maya 1-2-3 Grow bundle.
