The decisive battle for women's clothing return rate, how to reduce the return rate by 20% through full-link optimization, 10,000 words of practical experience (Part 2)

This article deeply analyzes the pain points of high return rates in women's clothing e-commerce and provides practical experience in full-link optimization, aiming to help merchants significantly reduce return rates through meticulous product experience, strict quality inspection processes and effective consumer guidance. After reading this article, you will gain valuable strategies to reduce return rates by 20%, which I hope will be helpful to your e-commerce business.

Continuing from the previous article: How to reduce the return rate of women's clothing by 20% through full-link optimization, 10,000 words of practical experience (Part 1)

Then let’s continue to extend the discussion from the fact that the product is not the same as the version.

Our products must not only [match the version], but also [be comfortable], [be good-looking], and [be inclusive]…

This involves a very critical link:

Try it on yourself

We merchants want to try on the products in person and experience them in person.

Speaking of this, many friends may wonder:

Don’t you try selling women’s clothing and your own products?

Generally speaking, most female bosses will try on their products themselves.

But what you may not know is that there are also a lot of male bosses like me in the women's clothing e-commerce category.

As men, due to gender and physical reasons, we are unable to try on products ourselves, so our experience and control over products is not as strong as that of our female friends.

In particular, most of the male bosses I have seen don’t pay much attention to try-on clothes. They just directly put up the products, upload pictures, test the styles, and measure the traffic. If they see a high click-through rate on a picture, they will directly put up an advertisement to increase sales.

As a result, after sales increased, they discovered that the return rate was extremely high. They didn't know where the problem lay, so they could only continue to criticize the advertisements and complain that consumers were spoiled and only knew how to return products.

This is due to the lack of direct experience of the product and the very important step of "trying on".

Everyone must understand that when it comes to clothes, the wearing experience is very important, and first of all, it must feel comfortable.

For example, after putting on many clothes, the fabric will be prickly and itchy.

Poor workmanship at the shoulder seams will irritate the skin, and some clothes have relatively stiff fabrics, which will feel prickly even if you wear underwear underneath. These are points that consumers cannot tolerate and they must be felt by trying them on.

It’s not enough for clothes to be comfortable, they also have to drape smoothly and make you look slimmer.

For example, many clothes look very good in pictures, very slim, very fitting, and very decent.

But after buying them and trying them on, they turn out to be very loose, or too big, or too tight, which is completely inconsistent with the style in the picture.

When we were selecting styles before, we would choose some knitted sweaters. Judging from the pictures from the supplier, the pictures were very beautiful, they looked good when worn, and they were smooth and fitted the body very well.

But once I got the samples, I asked my female colleagues to try them on and found that they were baggy and had no shape at all.

There are also some jeans that look good in the pictures. The whole style makes the legs look thinner, longer, and covers the crotch.

But after trying them on, I found that because the pants are too slim-fitting, if the figure is slightly imperfect, it will make the belly and hips look wide. Such a style will make some customers with poor figures return the goods directly because it is not inclusive enough.

Some shirts are made stiffer. Looking at the pictures of suppliers, you can see that these shirts have a good silhouette when worn and look very fashionable.

But after trying the shirt on, I found that it was too stiff and would make the upper body look fat and strong...

In addition to comfort and style, clothes must not have any fatal flaws.

For example, the matter of Tou.

Most customers are very sensitive to clothes being see-through. They cannot accept see-through tops, pants, and skirts. The fabrics of many clothes look fine at first glance, and even many skirts have multiple layers of outer linings.

But it still sees through the underwear and bra when you put it on. This will result in a return.

There are also suspender skirts. You see the models in the pictures look beautiful in them, but when you try them on yourself, you find that the suspenders are too long and the neckline is too low. When consumers squat or bend down, they are easily exposed.

These flaws can only be seen through trying them on.

And the most important point is,

The clothes we sell should be designed to ensure that ordinary girls look beautiful when wearing them.

This is very important.

Because we sell women's clothing, we mainly do mass business and serve ordinary girls.

There are many beauties, but most of them don't have particularly good figures and looks.

If our clothes can make ordinary girls feel good, decent, gentle, simple and beautiful when they wear them, then customers will be willing to stay for such clothes.

Many clothes are really beautiful, but they require the wearer to have a good temperament, a good figure, and a good appearance to control them.

But most ordinary people do not have these conditions. Once you start selling such clothes in large quantities, they will find that they cannot wear them after buying them, and then they will return them.

This is also why I rarely touch fairy-style, socialite-style, exquisite-style, trendy-style, and heroine-style clothing, because most ordinary people can’t wear these styles of clothing.

So trying on clothes is very important. Every time I communicate with other male bosses of women's clothing stores, I feel very painful.

Because they don't care about the product, don't try it on, don't experience it, they just focus on traffic, good click-through rate, good conversion rate, and direct advertising.

Then the more they sell, the more returns they get, and they keep complaining that the return rate is too high.

I just want to say: Brother, you haven’t even arranged for others to try on the clothes you sell, or let them feel them. You don’t even understand your own products, but you’re just selling them like crazy.

It would be strange if your return rate is not high.

Control over the product also includes control over size.

After working in women's clothing for a long time, you will find that the size data of products on the market will show a rough range.

For example, let's take the waist circumference of women's pants as an example.

You will find that the waist circumference of most pants in size S is around 62~67, with 63 and 64 being the most common.

In other words, it is generally accepted in the market that the waist circumference of pants is around 64, with a fluctuation of 2 cm.

Customers will also gradually develop inertia when making purchases, thinking that the size S in most stores is what they can wear.

Well, at this time, you get a pair of pants with a waist size of 60 and sell it as size S.

After the customer bought the pants, he found out, "Hey, why is the waist of this size S pants so small? I bought size S before and it always fit me."

The result was another return.

Therefore, it is imperative to ensure that your product and key size data are consistent with market data, and you may even have to remeasure the product.

Because the factory often produces size errors during the production process,

For example, if the waist size of this batch of pants is too small for you, when you sell them to customers, they find that they are too tight and uncomfortable to wear;

The waistline of the next batch of pants was made bigger, and they fell off when I put them on.

Finally, there are some specific elements and colors that need to be avoided.

Some elements simply represent a high return rate, such as puff sleeves.

Most ordinary people find it difficult to pull off the element of puff sleeves. Puff sleeve dresses and tops may look beautiful, but when ordinary people wear them, they will make their shoulders look broad and silly.

There are also exaggerated elements such as large flowers, large bows, large ribbons, and large lapels on the clothes.

These should be avoided when choosing a style.

1. Optimize product warehousing and after-sales quality inspection

In addition to consumers returning products due to reasons such as the product not being the same as described, poor wearing experience, or not looking good, some other returns are due to various quality issues, big or small.

We need to optimize and improve product quality through two channels.

The first channel is from the factory/stall to the warehouse

At present, the production of the entire factory is relatively rough. Generally, the clothes produced by factories and stalls cannot be directly delivered to consumers.

Because these products have many loose threads, certain stains, are very wrinkled, and are poorly packaged and packed, if such clothes are directly handed over to consumers, they will inevitably be returned.

Therefore, we need to add a very important process in the process from factory products to consumers, which is the back-end link .

I have personally calculated that if the "back-end" is done well, it can not only effectively reduce the return rate by 5%, but also greatly improve customers' recognition of the brand's quality.

The first thing to do in the later stage is to process the thread ends.

I have observed that consumers do not know how to distinguish key techniques such as workmanship, hemming, and tasseling. In particular, the average price of most clothes is relatively low, and consumers know that low-priced clothes do not require advanced techniques, but only wear them for style.

However, consumers still have certain requirements for clothing quality, and the most intuitive judgment is:

Are there too many loose threads on your clothes?

When consumers get a piece of clothing and see many long threads sticking out from the collar, seams, lining, and buttons, they will most likely think that the clothing is of poor quality and crudely made.

Therefore, it is important to cut the threads cleanly in the later stages, which can effectively improve the neatness of the clothes and prevent consumers from returning the goods due to such small details.

The next step is to smooth out the wrinkles on the clothes and iron them.

Most sweaters, blouses, jeans, and trousers are basically wrinkle-free when they leave the factory and do not require much ironing.

But other types of clothes, especially dresses and shirts, will become wrinkled after being unpacked due to the transportation squeeze of express delivery (the factory will compact the goods tightly to save volume before sending them out).

If this kind of wrinkled product is sent to consumers, they will think at first glance that the product is so wrinkled, so rough, so rotten! The quality is too low! Then they will take another look and see, wow, it is full of threads!

I probably won't even be in the mood to try it out and will just want to request a return.

As the saying goes, clothes are 30% worn and 70% ironed. Good ironing can improve the quality of clothes exponentially.

If you iron a wrinkled dress, the fabric will become fuller and the shape will become smoother, making it look brand new and high-end.

When such products reach consumers, they will feel that they are worth the money.

The stains must be checked later.

The factory's production environment is not clean, so clothes often have dust and stains on them. Generally, dark-colored clothes are not a big deal.

Many summer clothes are mainly white and light-colored, and obvious stains often appear on the light-colored areas of the clothes.

This also needs to be dealt with.

After all, consumers will think: Since I have spent money, I just want to get a clean piece of clothing. Can’t this basic demand be met?

If conditions permit, you can also change the packaging and replace it with packaging bags of a certain thickness to make the product more exquisite and upscale.

Thick, stiff packaging bags and boxes will cause the product to be squeezed and deformed during transportation.

Increasing these costs may cost nearly 0.5 cents or 1 yuan more, but in exchange for a certain reduction in the return rate, it is completely worth it.

In addition to the passage of goods to the warehouse,

The channel where customers return goods to the warehouse must also be subject to product quality inspection and processing.

Most customers will leave stains of lipstick, foundation, etc. when trying on clothes, and these must be cleaned.

The clothes returned by the customer were also wrinkled and needed to be ironed again.

So this is also the tiring part of making women's clothing.

Manpower is required to continuously maintain the product to ensure high quality of delivery.

2. The impact of supply chain failure on return rate

Sometimes a product of ours is selling well, and all the back-end processes, quality inspection, and delivery are very stable, but suddenly the return rate starts to soar.

When this happens, there must be something wrong with the supply chain.

For example, I have a pair of white casual pants that have sold thousands of pieces. The delivery is very stable, and the quality inspection of each batch of goods is OK, with no stains and they are flat and tidy.

As a result, the return rate suddenly soared to 80% one month. I checked it again and again, but still couldn't find the problem.

Puzzled, I made more than a dozen phone calls to inquire about the reasons for the customer's return.

I just realized that the length of all the pants in this batch of goods was 5cm longer.

This is really amazing. Usually, factories cut corners, but I have never heard of factories adding materials on their own initiative.

It's just that the ingredients are added in the wrong place.

Imagine a customer buys a pair of pants and tries them on, only to find that they are so long that they reach his heels, making them completely unwearable.

I also sold a skirt, and the return rate was always fluctuating, sometimes it was higher, sometimes it was lower.

The main reason is that the factory is always unable to accurately grasp the waist circumference of this skirt. Sometimes the waist circumference of a batch of goods is made too big, and sometimes it is made too small.

In addition to workmanship issues, the quality of different batches of fabrics can also cause fluctuations in return rates.

We once had a hot-selling sweater, which has been selling well. Our quality inspection is also very strict, and there have never been any problems.

As a result, after a batch of goods were sold, the customers who placed the orders reported that the spinning part would crack if they put on the clothes with a little force.

At first we thought it was an accident, but as more and more complaints came in, we carefully checked the fabrics.

It turned out that the factory had replaced the fabric, which was thinner and less dense than before, so it was easily torn.

This in turn resulted in a large number of returns.

This hidden problem is difficult to detect during quality inspection. After all, our eyes are not microscopes, and it is difficult to detect the difference.

Although compensation for these returns can be negotiated with the factory, the bad experience it causes to consumers is real.

Therefore, every time there is a problem in the supply chain, the return rate data for this month will basically soar.

3. Guide consumers from multiple angles

In addition to the supply chain and product side, it is also important to pay attention to guiding consumers to place orders.

For example, the size section provides more examples.

And guide customers who have confirmed receipt of the goods to post positive buyer shows, and ask customers to clearly indicate their height, weight, and the size they took. These will provide reference help for subsequent customers to place orders.

In addition, customers should be encouraged to try on clothes with makeup on as much as possible.

For example, in the card, customers are encouraged to try on the three steps

Step 1: Unpack

Step 2: Put on beautiful makeup

Step 3: Try on your baby perfectly.

Most customers will look good after putting on makeup, and if they put on your clothes, they will look beautiful, so the probability of them staying will increase greatly.

If the customer is sleepy, or looks dusty and tired after get off work,

If she tries on your clothes at this time, no matter how beautiful the clothes are, she probably won't be in the mood to stay.

4. Establish a long-term monitoring mechanism for return rate

In my actual work, I often feel that the return rate of the e-commerce system is not accurate enough, not intuitive enough, and not simple enough.

Actually, I just want a very simple long-term data of sales out of the warehouse and returns into the warehouse.

But it is difficult for the system to provide me with such simple data.

Instead, various data are intertwined together, which always gives people a feeling of being not clear and direct enough.

In fact, we don’t need to focus on the return rate of all items.

For example, if your store sells 200 items, then you don’t need to calculate the return rate of these 200 items, as that would be exhausting.

You only need to focus your monitoring on a few hot-selling items in your store that season.

After all, they have large shipments and many returns.

Our return rate monitoring can be built entirely using tables, which is clear and simple.

For example, we build a simple style return rate table. I use a certain online picture to replace the style, and the data is all fictitious. Through such a simple statistical method,

You can get the return rate indicator very clearly and intuitively, and monitor the daily return situation

The monitoring dimension is based on the shipment and receipt of goods. How many pieces of this model were shipped out today, and how many were returned?

Simply make a note of it, and over time, it will become a very reliable return rate monitoring chart.

For such a form, you can write a script manually or export the system data to fill in.

For important styles and styles with large quantities, you only need to count them once a week, and it won’t waste too much time.

Only through this simple but intuitive method can all team members truly pay attention to returns and resolve returns at all times.

5. Create a positive cycle to reduce return rates

In short, after my personal experience in the past few years, the reasons for users' returns can be said to be varied:

The style is too picky, the version is not good, too personalized, the color is too dark, the delivery is too slow, I don’t want it anymore, it’s too ugly when I wear it, the style makes me look old, the pants are too long, the elements are too rustic, I can’t handle it, the product is not the same as the version, the fabric is prickly, too delicate, lack of aura, the price is not worth it, too many threads, curved lines, obvious stains, worn by others, wrong size, not suitable for me, bad mood, unkempt, obvious color difference, wrinkled clothes, cheap packaging, I am too short, I am too tall, I am too fat, the hips are too tight….

Therefore, we must optimize the return rate from the whole chain and block as many signs of consumer returns as possible.

At this time, some friends will definitely say that this kind of full-link optimization will add so much time, so much manpower, and so much cost!

Trying them on, ironing, pressing, strict quality inspection, improving packaging, etc., all these are costs!

So this brings up another issue.

It’s a question of our product’s average order value and gross profit.

I always don’t recommend making products with low average order value and low gross profit margin.

Because in this space, you can only make very little money. If you make little money, you have to cut costs and reduce manpower.

Then the product quality will be poor, and the level of product maintenance control will be poor;

If the product is bad, the return rate will be high, and the profit will be even less.

The less money you make, the more you have to cut costs…

In the long run, it becomes a vicious cycle.

This is why more and more low-price merchants have been complaining that the return rate is high and they can’t make money.

Because they never have a good gross profit margin to optimize their products, they can only continuously compress the delivery quality of each module.

It is very important to work hard to improve visuals, enhance brand awareness, and increase gross profit, and then invest the money earned into product upgrades and maintenance in exchange for a lower return rate, thus forming a virtuous circle.

Once you have gradually found styles with lower return rates, there are many things you can do.

For example, you can invest more in marketing and hit this model hard.

This way, the more you sell, the more you return;

You can also keep copying similar items, because products with low return rates must have some common features.

For example, it is suitable for the general public, suitable for daily life, tolerant of body shapes, versatile and not picky, etc.

You will have more and more styles with low return rates, and customers' shopping experience will get better and better, resulting in more repeat purchases and a higher correlation rate.

So I have always firmly believed that

We should put [strictly controlling the return rate] on the same level as [increasing sales].

Only in this way can we truly survive in this highly competitive and constantly involutionary industry.

I hope this article can help you, I wish you all good luck.

Author: Liu Weidong

WeChat public account: Liu Weidong's Entrepreneurship Notes (ID: liu17701793970)