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Managing product returns is often one of the most significant expenses of running an online store. Data from Invesp shows that 30% of all products purchased online are returned, compared to just 8.89% of products purchased from brick-and-mortar retailers.
There are several reasons why returns are so common in ecommerce — the most prominent listed in the image below. But regardless of the reason, the bottom line is that your store's bottom line depends on an optimized returns process.
We’ve already discussed how you can optimize your returns process, but most growing stores need additional help. Thankfully, there are plenty of returns management software tools on the market today that are designed to reduce the expense of returned products without harming customer satisfaction.
In this article, we'll explore what to look for in great returns management software before highlighting the nine best returns management tools available today.
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Returns management is the process of helping customers who need to return an item, whether online to an ecommerce shop or in person at a brick and mortar store. Typically, customers submit a return request, send or bring an item back, and the business restocks the item and credits back the customer.
There are several key reasons why returns management software is a valuable tool for any ecommerce business. From helping you automate your returns process to helping you reduce your return rate through insightful data, here are just a few top reasons why the right returns management solution can be highly beneficial:
Managing returns is often a time-consuming process — and an expensive one. According to Axios, returning a $50 item costs retailers an average of $33. And slow, clunky processes are a big part of the issue.
By automating much of your product returns management process, returns management software can make handling online returns much less of a hassle:
📚Related reading: Our guide to automating customer service processes to save time and improve support quality.
One of the most important things to look for in returns management software is its existing integrations. For example, returns software that integrates with your email marketing platform makes sending out customized shipping updates easy.
Meanwhile, choosing returns software that integrates with your customer support platform makes it easy for support agents to process returns while assisting customers. Below, we’ll link whenever a returns tool integrates with Gorgias to save you the time of searching.
These are just a couple of examples of the value you gain when your returns management system integrates with the other tools your ecommerce store uses.
84% of shoppers say that they will not purchase from a retailer again after a bad returns experience. So, offering speedy service for returns is mission critical. By streamlining and automating your returns process, the right returns management software can make the process faster and more convenient for your customers.
According to data from Statista, reverse logistics — otherwise known as returns management — cost U.S. businesses a total of $102 billion in 2020 alone. If you want to reduce returns' impact on your store's bottom line as much as possible, it is essential to optimize both your returns process and the customer experience with your products.
To this end, nothing is more important than the customer returns data that you collect. By providing returns data in a clean and organized dashboard, returns management software makes it much easier to draw the insights you need to process returns in a more cost-effective manner. It also offers your customers a better experience, which lends itself to a lower return rate.
📚Recommended reading: Our VP of Success’ guide to evaluating customer service.
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If you are looking for tools that will make managing returns much more efficient and convenient for you and your customers alike, there are several excellent options to consider adding to your tech stack. Here are our picks for the top nine returns management tools.
Next to each tool, we’ll list the G2 review score to help you understand current user satisfaction.
ReturnLogic is a comprehensive solution designed to automate the entire returns process, offering customizable workflows that can automate tasks such as:
ReturnLogic also offers warranty processing for accepting warranty claims from third-party purchases, powerful insights and analytics, and a customizable return portal designed to make returning products more convenient for your customers.
Another key benefit of ReturnLogic is that its return portal is designed to encourage customers to exchange items rather than request refunds, enabling you to further reduce the impact of returns on your store's profits.
See more about ReturnLogic’s integration with Gorgias.
With Returnly, ecommerce store owners can create customized return portals designed to optimize the customer experience and make returns less of a hassle for your customers and support team alike. Along with an attractive and easy-to-use return portal, Returnly also offers a range of automation rules that enable you to control how and when returns get processed.
Finally, Returnly provides detailed analytics and returns data that you can leverage to optimize your returns process further. The result is a well-rounded returns solution that offers everything online store owners need to reduce the expense and hassle of managing returns.
See more about Returnly’s integration with Gorgias.
As one of the more popular returns management solutions today, there's a lot to like about Loop Returns. With Loop Returns, store owners can create a branded return portal complete with automations that streamline the returns process, and feedback forms to generate valuable insights on why customers return their products.
The Loop Returns return portal also encourages exchanges, allowing your store to retain more revenue. Another key benefit of Loop Returns is that it enables customers to use a QR code to return their product rather than printing a shipping label (though Loop Returns does offer customers the option to print a shipping label as well).
📚Recommended reading: Learn how Kulani Kinis Saves $400k in Refunds Using Gorgias + Loop Integration
See more about Loop’s integration with Gorgias.
LateShipment.com is a post-purchase experience platform designed to improve multiple aspects of a store's post-purchase process, including order tracking and returns management.
One of the best features of LateShipment.com is that it provides a litany of order fulfillment data points, including real-time tracking updates that can be sent automatically to customers via email or SMS. Regarding returns management, meanwhile, LateShipment.com offers a customizable return portal complete with real-time tracking and a wide range of rules and automations that you can use to customize and automate your returns process.
Finally, LateShipment.com promises to recover every dollar lost to carrier errors by automatically auditing shipping invoices and requesting refunds when an error occurs, helping your business save on shipping costs.
📚Recommended reading: Learn how to offer your customers free shipping without breaking the bank.
See more about LateShipment.com’s integration with Gorgias.
yayloh is a return management platform that automates and optimises the returns process for fast-growing direct-to-consumer brands, particularly those in the fashion and lifestyle market.
With customisable workflows, yayloh reduces the workload for customer service teams and provides customers with a fully-digital and branded self-service returns experience.
The platform stands out for its focus on return data. yayloh collects and analyses customer feedback in top-tier data dashboards and datasets to help merchants make data-driven product adjustments to reduce returns rates.
With yayloh's all-inclusive solution, brands of all sizes can scale their businesses, boost customer loyalty and reduce returns, all while ensuring a smooth and efficient post-purchase experience for customers.
See more about yayloh's integration with Gorgias.
Unlike many solutions on this list, OrderHive is not designed specifically for returns management. However, OrderHive's excellent inventory management and ecommerce automation features can be incredibly valuable for optimizing your returns process.
For example, OrderHive's real-time tracking features make it easy to provide customers with tracking updates on product exchanges. At the same time, the platform's inventory management tools simplify the process of updating your inventory when returns are processed.
But the real value of OrderHive comes from its wide range of ecommerce automation features. These features enable you to automate an incredibly long list of routine tasks, including tasks associated with returns management — such as processing returns and updating inventory levels.
🧰 Tool: Want to update your returns policy? Use our free template generator to get started.
The features offered by Return Rabbit might not be anything all that new or revolutionary, but Return Rabbit is very good at what it does nonetheless. With Return Rabbit, ecommerce store owners can:
Similar to other tools on this list, Return Rabbit encourages exchanges via customized product recommendations presented to customers in the return portal.
📚 Recommended reading: The best Shopify apps for growing your ecommerce business.
12Return is a returns management solution designed for both brick-and-mortar and ecommerce stores. For ecommerce stores, 12Return offers the ability to create both branded return portals and merchant dashboards designed to simplify the returns process for customer support agents.
12Return also provides customizable automation rules for authorizing returns and automating a wide range of returns management tasks.
Perhaps the most unique feature of 12Return is local returns processing, which enables customers to ship returned products to a local 12Returns hub for a faster and more efficient returns process.
ReverseLogix is a platform that offers everything you could want from a returns management solution, along with a few unique features you probably won't find anywhere else.
ReverseLogix boasts standard returns management features such as:
However, they also offer features such as configuring returns workflows based on priorities such as sustainability and cost-effectiveness, and a Repairs Management module for managing part replacements and warranty-based repairs.
Another nice feature of ReverseLogix is its detailed reporting, designed to provide insights into your returns process and the customer's experience with your products.
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Ordoro is a comprehensive order fulfillment platform that can manage orders and returns. With Ordoro, you can look forward to a long list of order fulfillment features, including:
If you are looking for an all-in-one solution to order fulfillment, inventory management, and returns management, then Ordoro is a great option to consider.
Want more suggestions? Check out our list of 150+ top ecommerce tools or our list of the best shipping software for ecommerce.
Managing returns is one of the necessary evils of running an online store. With the right returns management software, you can greatly mitigate the expenses and hassles associated with returns management.
Integrating these solutions with a powerful customer support platform such as Gorgias makes them even more beneficial. The ability to integrate with a wide range of returns management solutions is just one of the features that make Gorgias the premier customer support solution for ecommerce stores.
With Gorgias, you can create automated customer support workflows to assist with returns management and other customer support tasks. Along with these powerful automation rules, Gorgias also offers live chat support, a centralized customer support dashboard, advanced customer support reporting and analytics, and so much more.
To see for yourself how our industry-leading customer support software can enhance your returns process and your ecommerce business as a whole, sign up for Gorgias today!
To automate returns, you’ll need to use a returns management software like ReturnLogic, Returnly, or Loop Returns. This type of software can instantly approve exchanges, offer in-store credit, print shipping labels, provide analytics, integrate with other apps, and more.
To reduce return rate, make sure to display high-quality product photos and write precise product descriptions. Additionally, encourage product exchanges instead of refunds and utilize customer reviews, particularly regarding size and color, to provide shoppers with accurate information. You may also incorporate gift cards and loyalty points to improve the customer experience.
The best returns management software is ReturnLogic. It has a 4.8-star review on G2 and can automate tasks like printing shipping labels, tracking returns, and managing inventory.
Gorgias is a helpdesk software that can automate returns and exchanges with integrations to 100+ ecommerce apps like PostCo, ReturnLogic, and Loop Returns.