How to Reduce Your Amazon Return Rate

‍Did you know that buyers return around one-fourth of all products purchased online? On Amazon, these figures are a little lower, but anyway, returns are a huge problem for sellers. The return rate helps you understand how big this problem is for your products. Though you can’t completely avoid returns, you can reduce the return rate by providing better product information and customer service.

Keep reading to find out how to identify your return rate and how it can be improved.

What Is Product Return Rate?

The product return rate shows the number of returned units compared to the number of sold units in a given period.

It is vital to monitor customer returns because you lose money on the returned sale and to proactively avoid more returns in the future.

What Is The Average Return Rate On Amazon?

The fewer product returns you have, the better. The average return rate on Amazon ranges from 5% to 15%. However, it depends on the product category, and in specific categories, such as consumer electronics, apparel, and fine jewelry, it can reach 40%.

Most often, customers return online purchases because the items are damaged or broken; do not match descriptions; don’t like the products; the orders are delivered late; and the product doesn’t meet customer expectations.

How To Know Your Product Return Rate?

To calculate your return rate, divide the number of units returned by the number of units sold in a given period, and multiply by 100%.

Tip: You can monitor your return rate in your Seller Central in the Returns Performance dashboard. A summary of your returns performance metrics is available on the Manage Returns page.

6 Strategies To Reduce The Product Return Rate

Strategy 1. Optimize product description

Optimized product descriptions should contain clear and structured content customers can easily read and understand. Your product description’s task is to avoid misinformed purchases or false expectations leading to returns.

When creating a product description, remember that it should be exciting and informative. Don’t copy-paste the manufacturer’s information. Be specific with product features, and openly speak about the product limitations. Depending on the product category, you can add size charts for apparel or technical details for electronics.

Related: How to Create an Amazon Best Product Description that Ranks High in Search

Strategy 2. Show products from all angles

Online shoppers can’t observe your physical products. You can compensate for that by adding multiple high-quality pictures to show your products from various angles. The photos must be of professional quality.

Ensure that your images create a 360-degree product view. If a shopper can observe the product in detail and zoom in, they will better understand an item. Hence, there’s a lower chance of return.

Strategy 3. Use product videos

Product videos help better familiarize buyers with the product. They bring you one step ahead compared to images in giving visual information.

You can focus on the essential item’s features and values in the video. With it, you can educate your buyers on how to use the product. Also, you can give tips on how your product is used or assembled.

Strategy 4. Deliver orders on-time

Late delivery is one of the significant return reasons. On Amazon, you can monitor and improve shipping and fulfillment metrics in your Seller Central. Sellers can monitor their fulfillment metrics in Account Health Dashboard > Shipping Performance.

Shipping Performance metrics sellers must monitor:

• Pre-Fulfillment Cancel Rate (PFCR) — the rate at which sellers cancel orders before confirming dispatch (must be kept below 2.5%);
• Late Shipment Rate (LSR) — the percentage of total orders shipped out late within the given time (must be kept below 4%);
• Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) — the rate at which the tracking numbers are valid (must be kept above 95%).

Related: Amazon Account Health – A Guide for FBA Sellers in 2023

Strategy 5. Excellent packaging

Many product returns happen because delivered orders are damaged or broken. If you’re selling, for instance, fragile products, they must be packaged so that they are not broken down during shipping. That involves extra materials and costs. When you send orders to Amazon, make sure you follow Amazon’s packaging standards.

If you want to avoid reselling products generating extra fulfillment costs, you can use Amazon seller tools to identify them when you do product research. Seller Assistant App assists you in detecting such products. You'll see a specific icon in Seller Assistant App if a product has any sales limitations.

Strategy 6. Track product reviews

Negative reviews can show you why a shopper is unhappy with the product. A bad experience with your product can be a reason for a return. Try to find out why your product was returned by contacting a customer who left a negative review. Communicate with them and try to solve the issue. That can help lower the return rate.

Related: How to Handle Negative Reviews on Amazon

Final Thoughts

Lowering the product return rate saves money and effort. Therefore you must keep it as low as possible.

While growing sales and reducing product return rates are each seller’s targets, selecting a profitable product to resell is equally essential. Seller Assistant App allows doing that right on the Amazon product page.

Seller Assistant Аpp is an all-in-one extension incorporating features vital for product research. Advanced IP Alerts can immediately tell you if a product has any sales restrictions or has led to problems with account health in the past. It combines an FBM&FBA profit calculator, Quick View, Stock Checker, and Restrictions Checker in one tool.