Here's How We Make Returns Smart

When it comes to returns, brands often struggle to meet the needs of consumers. Refund lead times are usually much longer than they need to be which prompts consumers to call customer service asking when they will receive their money back. Additionally, brands struggle internally to preserve item value and route parcels in the most efficient way.
These problems are primarily due to a lack of transparency and visibility. Without a broad overview and data embedded into the returns process, it’s nearly impossible to address the aforementioned issues. To choose how, when, and where to tweak a returns operation requires the person in charge to have all of the important data available in one place where it can be examined, reviewed, and broken down into meaningful conclusions. 

That’s where ReBound comes in: We make returns smart, simple, and scalable so our clients can stop struggling to manage haphazard returns processes and focus on their core business activities. When we say “smart”, what we mean is that we enrich every touchpoint of the returns process with data. This enables you to make data-driven decisions that are well-informed and based on a transparent overview of the returns process. 

Smarter Returns for Your Business

Making returns smart is all about data accessibility and ensuring that you have insight throughout your return process. Being able to access data at every touchpoint makes it easy to quickly identify bottlenecks in operations and find quick solutions. Our integrated platform connects all systems related to returns, aggregating data and making it more readily available. This enables information sharing between systems and people. We also implement time and money-saving processes so that you can work smarter, not harder to improve your operations. Here’s how we make returns smart for your business: 

Get Access to Data & Insight Reports 

When you partner with ReBound, one of the benefits is getting access to more data which is presented in an easy-to-read format via our end-to-end return dashboards. Important metrics are displayed on the dashboards such as aggregated carrier data, average refund lead time, return-to-stock lead time, return rate, and the geographical regions where these returns come from. This allows you to see the detailed return behavior or your consumers, broken down per country. For example, you can see service preferences such as pick up versus drop off and preferred drop off points and carriers. By understanding your consumers’ preferences better, you can tailor return services in different regions to create to best customer experience. 

Verified Refunds 

Instead of refunding consumers based on the assumption that they sent back the item that they said they did, when you work with ReBound, you can be assured that you are refunding a customer who sent back the correct item. That’s because we verify what is inside of each package before sending you a trigger to refund the consumer. That way, if there is an old shirt in a parcel that should contain a brand-new pair of shoes, you can avoid refunding a customer who is attempting to commit return fraud. 

Use Data to Route Smarter 

With our smart innovations like parcel validation and grading, unnecessary parcel movement is reduced significantly. And since less travel means fewer CO2 emissions, this can make your return operation both less expensive and less hard on the environment. Since we open every package and grade what is inside, we can already route to the smartest destination before the package gets back to your warehouse. We grade items on a scale: 

A. Back to client warehouse 

B. Sent to an outlet

C. Forwarded to a recycling facility

For example, if a package containing shoes that are damaged and cannot be resold at full price is returned, ReBound automatically routes this to an outlet store or a recycling facility rather than shipping it back to your central warehouse where it would need to then be sorted again and forwarded to the correct end destination. This is a great way to not only increase efficiency and reduce time spent managing returns, but also a way to reduce the carbon footprint of your brand. 

Omnichannel Returns Management 

With omnichannel returns, we harmonize returns coming from all sales channels including consumers, retail, partners, marketplaces, and more. Each of these streams is enriched with data that is conveniently available in easy-to-read dashboards. You get detailed data on all returns coming back including which items are coming back and their quantity, quality, and delivery date. This allows you to make smart decisions regarding inventory planning and outbound scheduling.  

Smarter Returns = Happier Consumers 

Keeping consumers happy is what ensures that they will continue buying from your brand. The return journey is just as important to consumers as the buyer journey, if not more so. Communication is key to keeping them happy, making them feel secure to buy from your brand again. 

Notifications & Messaging 

To be able to communicate with your consumers about their returned products, you need to first have the data available. ReBound tracks returned parcels when they are received by the postal network, when they arrive at the warehouse, and when a refund has been issued. Our Notifications & Messaging product allows us to communicate each of these events back to the consumer, who is then feels in control of their returns and doesn’t need to call customer service wondering where their package is and when they will receive a refund. 

Refund Trigger 

For many companies, issuing refunds to ecommerce consumers can be a pain point. Often, with the way software is set up, it’s necessary for the parcel to reach a central warehouse before a refund can be issued. That can take weeks, which leaves consumers angry and confused. Consumers want to have a seamless online customer experience that matches their expectations of shopping experiences in stores, where refunds are instantaneous. To solve this issue, ReBound created our Refund Trigger product. When a parcel is received at one of our decentralized, local warehouses, it is already scanned, opened, and the contents inside are validated. Then, we issue a refund trigger to our clients who can immediately refund their customers. This promise of a fast refund makes consumers feel comfortable to buy again and again, knowing they won’t need to wait weeks to get their money back if an item doesn’t fit right or look the way they expected. 

We are here to help make your returns smarter and give you more control over your operations. Are you interested to see what innovations and smart solutions can help improve your returns process? Contact us today and we can advise you on the right products and solutions to fit your needs.