Return Management

One of the most helpful aspects of improving your returns process lies in the benefits that get passed onto your customers. With a robust inventory management program, you can implement a clear and straightforward returns policy that customers understand, generating loyalty and trust among your buyers.

For eCommerce businesses, your return/exchange policy is one of the most important aspects of customer service to nearly half of your audience. They want to know that if a product doesn’t work out, they still have options. It can be the deciding factor for someone to make a significant purchase with your business. If your return policy is not listed or followed, customers lose confidence in you. On the other hand, when you manage your returns effectively, you can take pride in your policy and advertise it to purchasers, knowing that returns will incorporate smoothly into the flow of products behind the scenes.

RMA software helps you create a better experience for your customers in all settings.

• In-store: People expect returns to be fast and easy. If you do in-store returns, the process doesn’t have to be clunky or time-consuming. By creating an efficient returns system, you can streamline the experience and quickly get the customer on their way with their refund. Employees don’t have to spend time adjusting inventory or waiting on the right program to fire up.
• Online: For eCommerce returns, this process needs to be equally simple for the customer. Sending in their product should be straightforward and hassle-free. In today’s heavily digital world, people expect simple returns with the information they need upfront. When you create this kind of experience, customer satisfaction improves, and organizing your returns management system helps you get there.

Better experiences lead to happier customers — and in our modern, fast-paced shopping environment, you need to prove to customers that your company can provide a stellar experience. If you don’t, they may find it with your competitor down the road.

However, if you convince them, you can boost loyalty and ensure they come back next time. About 82% of consumers feel that returns are a normal part of online shopping. By failing to meet these expectations, you could be losing customers. With an RMA to make things easier, you become more competitive and significantly improve your chances of customer satisfaction and retention.

Efficiency is key when it comes to inventory management — and returns are no exception. One of the primary advantages of working with RMA software is that you get a centralized system for tracking products. All of your data is managed in one place, so you don’t have to spend time gathering numbers from different sources. One look, and you know exactly how many items are sitting in inventory.

Plus, with a cloud-based platform, you can access it from a wide variety of devices, including mobile workstations, tablets and phones — being away from your computer won’t slow you down.

Returns management software improves visibility through:

• Current inventory levels
• Counts across locations
• Multiple product status and ID options
• Mobile access

When you have your data at your fingertips, you can make business decisions immediately and trust that the information is accurate. Many companies like to leave a small amount of product available as a buffer, so they don’t sell more than they have, but that can lead to customer disappointment and lost revenue from not offering items that are actually available.

On the other hand, some businesses are prone to overselling, which also leads to customer disappointment and takes time out of your employees’ schedule for order resolution to try and save the sale. In the middle of these approaches lies a sweet spot of inventory management that uses accuracy and up-to-date information to allow for the most beneficial sales methods. You can sell just the right amount of product to maximize profits and minimize problems.

In the above examples, navigating employee allocation, item movement and inventory utilization is key to efficient management. To obtain these factors, you need extended visibility. By carefully tracking your inventory, you can see what items are where, what condition they are in and if they need any special care.

Some organizations have more complex inventory needs than others and may involve repairs or salvage vendors. When third parties enter the picture, the process becomes more fragmented. It can become harder to keep track of items and their conditions. In these instances, you’ll want all the visibility you can get — and RMA software can help. To see how Finale Inventory can improve your inventory’s visibility, start your free trial today.

We’ve talked about how an RMA program can help you with efficiency, but how does that translate into savings? As you improve productivity, you can save on costs through:

• Reducing labor spent on the processing time.
• Minimizing erosion from product loss.
• Eliminating customer satisfaction issues from the returns process.

Most of these savings involve reducing the use of resources needed. If you can use fewer resources in the overall operation, you can reap a higher profit margin. From employee time to unnecessary transportation and open-item erosion, a smooth inventory management system will save you money in a variety of ways.

With its heightened visibility, you can more clearly find problem areas like bottlenecks or places for improvement. You can also reduce turnaround times in sending returned products for recycling or refurbishing with accurate and up-to-date information. If you can reduce the turnaround time, you improve product flow and reduce the number of items sitting in your warehouse.

Improvements to inventory can also save you the revenue loss from disgruntled customers. An unhappy customer can stop buying from you, post harmful negative reviews online and tell all their friends about a bad experience — all actions that are especially damaging to a small or medium-sized business. Poor customer service costs businesses more and more every year.

One 2018 report shows that U.S. companies lost $75 billion a year due to bad customer experiences. If you can use inventory management to reduce customer upsets and improve their experiences, you can minimize losses from poor interactions.

Improving turnaround is another way that an RMA helps. As soon as a return is processed, you can plan out the disposition. Whether you’re putting it back in inventory to sell, sending it off to the manufacturer or disposing of it, you can set that plan into motion immediately. Faster exchange turnarounds can also help improve customer satisfaction and eliminate excessive processing time.

Return management software reduces the amount of time spent processing returns, a factor that can significantly boost your efficiency. RMA software can help speed up or eliminate administrative tasks and paperwork through features like:

• Stock auditing: Finale Inventory generates stock logs to increase visibility for owners and managers. It allows them to see exactly who did what and when, which helps with keeping track of employee accountability and business activities. These log notes can help management track the location of a product and better solve problems.
• Advanced searches and filters: A simple but powerful tool, advanced searches allow you to quickly and easily find the data you’re looking for. Don’t waste time searching through pages and pages of data when you could go right to the relevant information.
• Integrated software: Our return management solution integrates with several types of programs to help streamline the buying process. We offer integrations with eCommerce platforms like Amazon, Shopify and eBay, plus accounting software like QuickBooks, and purchase platforms like Square and Shopify POS. These integrations allow you to say goodbye to tedious data entry, duplicate information and updating inventory levels from in-store purchases. Transfer data into your accounting files or pull inventory updates from your favorite eCommerce platform. You can link up sales from multiple platforms, too, selling online and in-store with ease.

Another significant part of a cloud-based RMA that helps with speedy administration is its connected functionality. When you use a cloud-based program, you get several benefits that help from an administrator’s point-of-view, including:

• Dramatically reduce duplicate files: Working from the cloud connects you to the same data as everyone else in your company. You don’t need to keep separate files with your data on different computers. Duplicate files open you up to the risk of inaccurate or differing information, so sharing a centralized data platform can help minimize that issue.
• Receive up-to-date information: Since everyone shares the same data, you’ll see any changes made immediately. You can trust that these are accurate without waiting for changes to update. This data allows you to make critical business decisions as soon as they come up.
• Improve data security: Cloud programs use redundant backups, meaning they store data on multiple servers and can usually recover it in the case of an incident.
• Eliminate software upkeep: By using a cloud platform, you don’t have to worry about arranging complex updates. We’ll handle all updates to the program, saving you time and stress.

The more of your returns process you can automate, the less time employees need to spend handling returns and taking stock counts. They can focus on the important stuff, with fewer discrepancies and a minimal need to spend their shift crunching numbers or processing paperwork.

Another reason that many businesses invest in RMA software is to protect themselves. Some products carry specific disposal or care requirements, such as electronics and hazardous waste, though federal requirements can vary from state to state. For instance, electronics with a cathode ray tube (CRT) carry a high concentration of lead, and unsafe disposal practices for e-waste can expose workers to lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic, which are all highly dangerous substances. Of course, hazardous materials carry their own share of toxic chemicals. To ensure safe handling and compliance, you must dispose of these items appropriately.

Returns management software creates a detailed record of all of your return processing. It will log each move and show any government entities that you are taking the appropriate precautions when it comes to disposal or recycling. If necessary, you can show them exactly how your product was handled and by whom.

You can also use the extensive records to keep an eye out for theft or mishandling of products. Unfortunately, not all employees are trustworthy. With the accountability of a detailed log, you can watch out for those that aren’t and identify suspicious activity.