Your business is growing, and that’s a great thing! But as your sales begin to scale, so does something else: returns.

Customer returns can be costly and time consuming, not to mention having a high propensity for creating a negative customer experience. If you don’t create systems that streamline the return process for both your customers and your staff, all the hard work (and budget) you put into winning the sale will be for nothing.

While most of us understand that returns are an inevitable part of eCommerce, what if we told you you could actually use them to earn more sales and increase customer loyalty in the process? Here, we’re taking a closer look at one of our favorite apps that helps online retailers turn returns into a positive brand interaction: Returnly.

What Is Returnly? An Overview

Returnly is a smart returns application that helps direct-to-consumer brands offer a headache-free return experience. It integrates directly with your existing Shopify store so there’s no need for manual data entry or multiple logins; your customers, orders and products carry over seamlessly between your online store and the Returnly interface.

Using Returnly, you can set up a branded return center that matches your existing site’s look and feel. This return center serves as a self-service portal customers can use to manage the entirety of their return transaction, eliminating many of your manual processes and saving you labor hours.

5 Returnly Features That Boost Sales and Brand Loyalty

1. Instant Return Credit

The typical return experience goes something like this: the customer initiates a return, the merchant approves it, and after several days the customer receives a credit to their payment method. Meanwhile, during that delay, the customer’s bank account shows a deficit for the amount of their purchase, decreasing the likelihood that they’ll replace their returned item with something new.

Returnly offers a novel instant return credit feature that credits the customer the exact amount of their returned item right away. This way, they can easily exchange it for the correct item or purchase something new immediately without being short even more cash. This increases the likelihood of recovering the sale and can even lead to a higher average order value overall–much more effective than if you waited for the customer’s credit card company to complete the reimbursement.

Merchants using Returnly’s instant credit feature report three times more repurchase conversions and a 23% increase in post-return cart sizes.

2. Smart Resource Optimization

Customers love self-service options that allow them to do what they need to do without relying on a phone call, email or chatbot. What customers don’t love? Not being able to get help from a real human when they need it.

In addition to Returnly’s fully self-service return suite, smart technology identifies edge cases that need personalized attention so an employee can step in where a human touch is needed to make sure things go smoothly. Shoppers using Returnly to complete their return have an average 91% customer satisfaction rate.

3. Realtime Package Tracking

Every call to customer support costs you time. While some support inquiries are certainly warranted, others, like shipping status requests, can be dramatically reduced or eliminated entirely by offering proactive self-service tools.

Returnly’s branded package tracking experience incorporates realtime updates and text alerts that keep customers engaged and instill confidence that their return is being processed smoothly. A lower number of shipping-related support calls is an added bonus.

4. Green Returns

The demand for environmentally conscious eCommerce solutions is on the rise, with one in three consumers saying they prefer eco-friendly options and more than a third saying they’d choose a product that’s better for the environment over a cheaper but less green alternative.

Returnly cuts down on waste in the form of packaging and transportation, allowing customers to keep unwanted items when the item can’t be resold or the cost to ship it back is greater than its value. Instead of requiring the customer to send back a $5 kitchen gadget, for example, simply allowing them to hold onto it eliminates the waste of a cardboard box and the carbon emissions resulting from its transport, not to mention saving the return shipping that would probably come close to $5 on its own. Customers love the transparency and “honor system” framework this policy creates.

5. More Robust Return Data

While a certain volume of returns is normal (the average hovers around 20% of transactions for all eCommerce brands), there comes a point where returns and exchanges start eating into your margins in an unsustainable way.

Returnly’s powerful reporting tools help you get a clear picture of what’s being returned the most, when, and why certain items are coming back. The app also captures customer satisfaction ratings and, more importantly, feedback that dives deeper on the score so you can continually take steps to further improve your return experience.

Discover New Ways To Harness eCommerce Technology

Returnly is just one of dozens of apps we’ve identified that help our clients increase revenue and improve the customer experience. We’re experts at leveraging technology to streamline operations and make life as an online retailer a little easier. What solutions can we uncover for your brand? Schedule a complimentary consultation today and let’s talk about it.