The Buyer is Learning to Beware: It’s Time for the Seller to Take Care

• March 16, 2020

Excessive customer returns are unhealthy for your bottom line.

You’ve probably seen the dark gray Amazon trucks that now roam the streets of the U.S. Most of the drivers’ work involves delivering orders, but they also make a significant number of pickup.

Amazon is now making it extremely easy to return things. Not only are returns on millions of items penalty-free, but no one now needs to call UPS or go to the post office or a UPS office. The Amazon driver will pick it up from your house, and you don’t even need to be home.

While other companies don’t have Amazon’s resources, they will feel the consumer pressure to make returns easier. One of the best ways to prevent excessive customer returns is to tighten up on accuracy and scrupulousness when it comes to advertising.

Pat Iyer is one of the original 100 C Suite Network Founders. As a skilled editor and ghostwriter, she helps her clients shine. Connect with her through her website at patiyer.com and listen to her podcast: Writing To Get Business, hosted on the C Suite Radio platform.

Is What You Read What You Get?

This question has several aspects. The first involves the copywriter making sure that all the information in the description is accurate and that nothing essential is left out. If, for example, pregnant women shouldn’t take a particular supplement, highlight that.

The second involves making sure that the instructions for the product match the sales copy. I recently bought a space heater because the ad copy said you could plug it in anywhere, due to its being low wattage. The instructional booklet that came with the space heater said that you needed to get an electrician in and make sure that the circuit could handle the heater.

I managed to sort that out with the company that made the product, but I was annoyed about the time this took and about the deceptive advertising. The only reason I didn’t return it was because I really wanted that space heater. You can’t count on your customers having that kind of determination.

The manufacturer also needs to ensure that if a product needs to be assembled, it comes with assembly instructions. That sounds obvious, but a friend of mine bought a snow shovel that came in several pieces. She had no clue about to put it together, and she returned it.

 You Need to Hire Skilled Writers

Depending on the size of your business, copywriting may be outsourced or in-house. If you outsource it, you still need an in-house person who scrutinizes the copy with great care. For example, comparing the instruction booklet or printed matter on the box to what appears on the sales page would be an essential task.

If you have in-house copywriters, they need to practice the same degree of due diligence.

The people you hire to advertise your products need to have patience, focused attention, and the ability to think logically—and think like a customer.

Truth in Advertising Benefits Everyone

Companies will raise prices to counter the cost of returns. Customers discouraged by higher prices will bargain shop. Trust levels go down.

Interrupt this downward spiral. It costs less to hire the best copywriters than to deal with a glut of returns.

And building customer trust because you give them accurate information about your products is priceless.