45 | “What If It Doesn’t Fit?” | Returns & Exchanges Policy [TDTH Challenge #12]

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Transcript

Welcome And The Weekly Challenge

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey y'all, welcome back to Turn Down the Hustle. I'm really glad you're here for this week's challenge because this is one of those things that a lot of t-shirt sellers put off until they're in the middle of an awkward situation, wishing they had handled it sooner. So if you're new here, the Turn Down the Hustle Challenges are short practical episodes for t-shirt sellers just like you who want to build a business that actually feels easier to run. Each week we focus on one strategic system to help you reduce chaos, build clarity, and save you some time. Who doesn't love that? And today we're talking about creating a returns annex shade just page for your website. Because if you sell t-shirts online, you've probably gotten some version of this message before. Hey girl, thank you for my package, but it didn't fit. Or I hate to bother you, but can I return this? This is not what I expected. Or shoot, it doesn't fit. I ordered the wrong size. What do I do now? And if you don't already have a clear system in place, these messages turn into a lot of back and forth. And quite frankly, you're making a lot of decisions on the fly and in the moment, and it can add unnecessary stress for both you and the customer. So today we're going to fix that. We're going to talk about why this matters and what your policy should include and how to structure it for a t-shirt business and how to actually make it work for you.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

You're listening to Turn Down the Hustle, the podcast dedicated to transforming how you run your creative online t-shirt business by working smarter, not harder, so you can spend more time with your why, people, and passions that matter most in your life. So throw on your favorite graphic tea and turn up the keyfrost. Because it's time to turn down the hustle. Here's your host, digital marketer, cold for lover, t-shirt maker, freckled hype girl, and owner of Sunkist virtual assistant, Amy.

Four Questions Your Policy Answers

Copy Ready Policy Examples

No Returns As A Trust Signal

When It Doesn’t Fit

Refunds Exchanges And Fixing Mistakes

Where To Put The Policy

Publish It And Refine Over Time

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Let's kick it off with why you need a returns page. Before someone clicks buy on your website, especially for a t-shirt or a clothing item, there's almost always that little thought in the back of their mind that says, what if this doesn't fit at all? I have actually not shopped on certain websites because it was unclear to me how it would fit. And if you yourself have ever ordered clothes online, so you probably had that same thought too. Sizing can be inconsistent. We all know as t-shirt makers, different brands fit differently. A Bella Canvas Triblend is not even going to fit the same as a Bella Cavis CBC. It's definitely not going to fit the same as a comfort color, Toltex, you name it. And your customers, if they're true t-shirt gals, over time, they learn that for themselves as well. So what do they do? They're going to go hunt for your return policy. And if they can't find it, or if it's unclear, they hesitate or they message you, or worse, they just bounce away from your website, which is known as bounce rate. If you want to go check that out in your analytics on your website. Maybe a different way to think about that. It reduces risk, it can help build trust with your customer, and it also helps your customers who are confident enough to move forward with their purchase. And on your side, it removes the pressure of having to decide what to do every single time something comes up. You've already made the decision, it's written down, it's consistent, and you can point back to it. Notice I did not say in this segment why you need to accept returns or why you need to accept exchanges. No, I simply said that you just need a return to exchanges page. You need to clearly define your policy. And if it's all sales final, that's okay. But just make sure you convey that to the customer before they purchase because again, that's going to help inform their buying decision. So moving on to three questions your policy needs to answer, remember. And these turn down the hustle challenges, we're trying to keep it as simple as possible. The good news is it really does not need to be complicated. Your entire returns and exchanges page can be built around these few questions. Okay, first one. Would be the first question. Next one, okay. Now let's move on to the questions your policy needs to answer. The good news is this is not meant to be complicated. It can be a short and sweet blurb, but you just need to have it on your website. So, quite simply put, the four questions you want to answer are can I return this? How long do I have? What do I get in exchange? And what do I need to do? So the step-by-step process. So let's break these down and then we'll go into how this could read in your policy. But first, can I return this? This is where you're going to clearly define what is eligible and what is not. For most of you out there, this is where you could say things like custom orders, personalized items, or made-to-order pieces are final sale. So when you think about it as your t-shirt business, everything you're probably selling is made to order unless you're in the drops shipping or wholesale business. If you do allow anything to be returned, you need to be specific about what qualifies. For example, is it unworn items, no signs of wear, tags still attach. You really need to make sure you remove any gray area if your customer is asking, can I return this? They should know immediately if their situation is going to qualify or not without even having to message you. Next, let them know how long do they have. Essentially, this is your return or exchange window. So you're deciding how many days a customer has to reach out after receiving their order. This could be anywhere between three and seven business days. Some of the larger companies could be out to 30 business days, or if you want calendar days, however you want to put that, whatever is reasonable of whenever a product shows up to somebody's house, how long do you think that they should open that package, review it, try it on, and things like that, and know that maybe it doesn't work. What matters most, you just need to be clear about when the clock starts. For most of you, it's from the delivery date, not the order date. So keep that in mind as well. You want to define that in your policy. You can also set boundaries here, like no returns after this window. So you don't have to worry about revisiting orders months later. I think we've all gotten that message before, where it was like months later after somebody had an order or something of that nature. And it's what, how are you just now contacting me? We want to alleviate that. Third, what are they going to get? What is the compensation? This is where you'll explain exactly what happens if something didn't work out. Do you offer a refund back to their original payment method? Are you offering a store credit? Are you offering exchanges? Do they have any of those options? Is it only one of those options? If you do something like where you offer a discounted reorder or a shirt torn or a short-term gift card, this is where you can explain that clearly so there's no surprises. This part is really important because customers are not just wondering if they can return something, they're wondering what happens next. So, some ideas too. If you do want to offer returns or exchanges, maybe within if they contact you within three days, that's where you might want to offer a partial refund or back to their original credit. And if it's outside of your window, then you go into a store of credit. There's a lot of different variations for those who want to offer returns and exchanges. Lastly, what do they need to do? This step, most people skip. It's usually probably why your inbox is filling up with questions, even though you feel like my page has it staged right there, what my policy is. You need to spell out the process. Do you want them to email you? Do they have need to fill out a form? Do they need to reply to their order confirmation email? Do they need to include their order number? Are they responsible for return shipping? The clearer you make this, the fewer follow-up messages you get, and they can just execute what you're asking them to do. So if you want a returns form, I recommend you put that form embedded on your return and exchanges pages so they don't have to navigate away. Depending on what you decide you want to do, and I will put this lingo in the show notes. If you go to sunkissva.com forward slash 45, then you can find all of this in the show notes and you can just copy and paste to your own website to get started. But we have two different variations. So I put together one where you do accept returns and exchanges, and then another where you do not accept returns and exchanges, and what those would sound like on your website. So let's say you do want to accept returns and exchanges. Here's an idea. We want you to love what you ordered. And we do not accept returns and exchanges on eligible items. Items must be unworn, unwashed, in an original condition with no sign to wear. Because our shirts are made to order, customer personalized items are final sale and cannot be returned or exchanged. If your item doesn't work out, you have X days from the delivery date to reach out to start a return or exchange. Once your return is approved and received, you can choose between an exchange or credit or a refund back to your original payment method. Return shipping costs are either customer responsibility or covered by us, and original shipping fees are non-refundable. Alright, so let's do the no returns accepted. All items are made to order, so we do not accept returns. This also means you can shop with confidence knowing your item is brand new, never worn, or resold. Custom and personalized items are always final sale. There's an issue with your order, please contact us with X Days of Deliveries who can help. If we made a mistake with your order, you can choose what works best for you. We will either offer a full refund or remake and make it right. To get started, email us at X with your order number details. If something arrived damage or incorrect, please include a photo so we can resolve it quickly. So even with the no returns accepted policy, you are still reassuring the customer that I stand by my work. If I make a mistake or there's an error or anything of that nature, you will make it right. Now, what you want to be thinking about and ensure that it's distinguished in your policy is was it damage due to shipping? Then that's where I would be careful with my wording. That's where you have options like adding insurance on your website where they can check that, like route shipping or different things like that if it comes through damage. That is something you do want to look into and be smart and knowledgeable with UPS, USPS, FedEx, whoever you use, do they guarantee that the item will arrive perfect or not damaged? Can you go through them? You want to weigh those left and right, so then you're not constantly footing the bill for damaged items or lost items. That's something to think about. That would be a good place to cover that in that section. So now, probably what you want to know, Amy, do you accept returns or exchanges? And the answer is no, I do not. It is just too much to do returns, exchanges with a custom item. And quite frankly, I don't want to get the item back in my hand, look over it and try to figure out if somebody's worn it or not. And then what am I gonna do that with the item? Resell it? No, I don't want to resell something that I got back from another customer because once it leaves my hands, I don't know what they did with that shirt. I could go through a million in one scenarios, but I'm not even gonna go there. But I just do not feel comfortable giving that shirt then to another customer. So how I've spun that in my marketing or used it as a selling point almost, is that you know that when you shop with me, I, since I don't accept returns or exchanges, I can guarantee you that this item is brand new. You never have to worry about are you buying a secondhand item, something to that effect. So that's why I included that in the policy. So you can shop with confidence that this is a brand new item. Because if I accept returns or exchanges, to me as a customer, I'd always be wondering like, is this a secondhand item or did someone else already have this? I think it's a selling point, in my opinion. So setting expectations before they even buy a few things to go over here is specifically when it comes to sizing, specifically with kids' tease, when someone messages me, and this has really helped me with having okay, let's move into setting expectations before the sale, specifically with sizing. Once I changed this kind of practice in my business, I saw a dramatic reduction in messages of hey, this actually is the wrong size once I started doing this methodology. Specifically when it comes to kids, sometimes I'll get messages and someone will ask, Hey, my kid wears a 6X. What size do you recommend? I used to recommend based on the charts. I have to look at the charts and see what was comparable. I would recommend a size, and then sometimes I would get a message after, hey, those actually didn't fit. And then it came back on me, right? Because I told you what size I recommended. So now what I do instead when I get that question, I don't answer it. I send them a link to my size chart and color chart blog post on my website and let them look up the chart themselves. I want them to infer what size they think they should get and pick the best size. This puts the decision back on them and it removes me from trying to guess. Is it just growing into a 6X? Is your kid barely fitting a 6X? There's so many different things and variations when you tell me what size your kid wears. And it protects us both. I guess more so me as the business owner, because sizing is personal. I guess you it does protect the customer as well, because they're making a more informed decision versus just trusting me. Some people like oversized, some people like fit it, some size up, size down. There's really no universal right answer. So instead of taking on that responsibility myself, I give them the tools to make their own decision. And that has reduced so many issues for me for sizing. Now, when it comes to custom orders, so again, setting expectations before they've received their order. This kind of an example would be after the sale. But let's say I get a custom order. I used to, way back in the day, I'd make the custom order and I'd be so excited to surprise them, I'd wrap it up, send it to them, and be done. Again, no judgment because this was in my earlier days. And then sometimes they get the item and then it would not be what they expected or what they expect, like when they wanted a custom order. But I was more caught up on I wanted them to be surprised when they got the order in their hand of wow, this is so awesome. But now I will not make a custom order until I make the mock-up online and I send it their way. I will not get anything printed or pressed until I get their thumbs up. I will go back and forth with them multiple times if I need to get it right before I press the item. And then what I do is once it's on my press and pressed, I take a picture of it. That way now they're seeing it in real life design on shirt, and then I send it to them and say, I love how your custom order turned out. I'm packaging it up now. Then I get a package up because if they have any last minute, like, wait, something to that matter, which they really shouldn't, because I've already sent them a digital mock that they've approved. I can deal with it then before they it's ever left my hand. It's a lot easier if somehow, and I'll figure out whose responsibility it is if they need to pay for more materials for me to remake, or if maybe I plugged on the color. I don't know. But I prefer for custom orders, I get that second message in to let them know this is what's going to be arriving to your door before they get it, and then contact me and say this isn't right. So now I've made all of these steps so for the customers received it. So I will not be receiving a message about their order is not correct unless they chose the wrong size, like we talked about with the size charts. And then we'll move on to what I do from there. So what happens if it doesn't fit? Now, even with all of the things I've talked about so far, it's still going to come up. Someone's going to message you and say this doesn't fit. And instead of turning that into a stressful situation, you already know how to handle it. Your policy is your policy. No exchange, no returns. You've already said that. But maybe a customer is not saying they want to return or exchange it, or maybe even say, I'll send it back and whatever I need to do. I really love the shirt. I just want to get it in the right size. This is where you're going to have to use your own personal comfort zone. Look at your bottom line numbers, what makes sense for your business. I personally, if someone messages me and says they want to get another one, it doesn't fit. I don't say, I don't like ship or terms or exchanges. Here's a link you can reorder. Sorry about your luck. What I personally do, this is what's best for any in my business, because I really value customer service, but there's a balance of boundaries, right? I'm not going to do this more than once for someone. What I personally do is I tell them to keep the item or give it to a friend. And I will issue them a 48-hour gift card so they can reorder the same item at a discounted rate, usually around 30 to 50% off, depending on what the item is. So essentially they are covering the materials on the labor, and I'm not making a profit off that second order. And for me, I'm okay with that. Because I am retaining that customer, creating a good experience, and just not telling them no, quite frankly. And honestly, not everyone takes me up on the offer to reorder. Sometimes they're like, well, maybe I could make this fit, versus they might have messaged thinking, oh, I can just swap this out for an oversized size and get a better size. And that's not how I roll. So I can offer them for those that are really passionate about getting the right one. They take me up on that gladly. And it sends some grease, right? I didn't make that mistake. They made that mistake, but I'm offering to meet them where they are to get that shirt fit just right. It really goes a long way with customers. I personally have also not had a customer abuse that or try to take advantage of it repeatedly. Once they get that size right, I haven't had it where they message again. Again, majority of the time that I see this happen is two different scenarios. One is kids D's, 110%. Usually kids sizes, they misjudged how big the kid was or how small they were, vice versa. And then the other one is if someone is used to ordering a different brand and then they try out comfort color or they try out Bella Camus, even if the size shirts are there, that throws them off and they thought they could order their same size. Like if they're coming over from guild and soft style, I don't offer Gilden. So they were trying to guess. But I think it goes a long way. Customer service is really where I put a lot of pride in. But it's also, again, about having boundaries and not letting yourself be taken advantage of. And we're running a business. We need to be able to turn a profit. If we're always giving away things, essentially we're free, we would not be able to keep our doors open. Okay, let's talk a little bit more about refunds versus exchanges and what to do when it's actually your mistake. In general, you have a few options when it comes to handling returns and exchanges. You can offer refunds back to the original payment method, like we talked about in that policy example. You can offer store credit or you can offer exchanges. And Shopify and store credit could mean a discount code. It could mean a gift card. Just be careful in your state because there are certain regulations for gift cards that you might inadvertently get yourself tingled up in, even though they didn't purchase the gift card. But Shopify has now a feature which I love. You can go into their customer account and just add store credit directly to their account. And then if they're logged in at checkout, they'll have the option to click and see their store credit loaded to their account and they can just apply that to their order. Now they don't have to remember discount codes, gift card, anything like that. They just log into their account. Back in the day, how we also offered store credit is if you use like smile rewards, sometimes we would just add a ton of points to her account. So then they could cash that out for rewards too. So there's quite a few different ways that you could do it. Or you can offer exchanges. And a lot of t-shirt sellers lean towards exchanges or store credit because it allows you to take care of your customer while still keeping that revenue in your business. But there's one situation, in my opinion, that is non-negotiable, and that's when it's your mistake. If you mess something up, you need to make it right. And remind and a reminder is if you messed up their order, there's a good chance they already waited your full turnaround time to get their order, then realize there was a mistake. So simply just replacing the item or offering a refund to me still is not making it right. You need to now go above and beyond to compensate that customer for the trouble. If I mess something up, like I overlook a size, or sometimes when I'm packaging too quick, send the wrong item, I do not guess what the customer wants. Like maybe. Maybe they don't actually want to remake, or I might be quick to refund the order of I'm so sorry, here's a refund. Until I started finding the customer to say, no, I don't want a refund. I can wait for you to remake it, something like that. So don't guess. Just ask them what you prefer for refund or a remake. Let them decide. Then I make it right. And then I send a small gift card or short credit to say sorry for the inconvenience on top of making it right. Because at the end of the day, when it's on us, it is our responsibility to fix it. And how you handle the situations is what builds that long-term trust. And quite frankly, if I deal with a business, maybe I'm just a little bit harsh because I'm also a small business. If I deal with a small business that messes up my order or goes over order, turnaround time or different things like that, and then they offered to put me back in queue to remake the order, or there is no compensation for that, or I'm having to reach out because they've busted turnaround time. We talked about that in another episode. Quite frankly, I'm not doing business with you again. I want to see accountability in the business because you were quick to take my money when you took my order, but now you're not quick to make it right. It just doesn't sit well with me. Okay, so where are we posting this return process on our website? Your return process itself should be simple. We talked about that. The customer reaches out or submits a request, you review it and approve it. They send back the item if applicable, then you process the exchange credit or what have you. It doesn't need to be complicated, just needs to be a clear reminder. If you go to my website forward slash 45, then you will be able to copy and paste it and tweak it from there. Once you have that policy written, you need to make sure people can find it. It should be in your website footer so it's accessible from every page. It should be linked on your product pages so customers can see it when they're deciding to buy. It should be included in your FAQ page, your confirmation emails, even your link in bio. So the goal is not just to have it on your website, they need to be able to find it. So you're sensing a theme here or a trend from my last few episodes about creating policies and making sure that they are visible. So just recreate the steps that you did for your other policies and blog posts and make sure that they can be discovered. But a disclaimer here, like I said in previous episodes, I'm not an attorney or a lawyer or anything in the legal field. So the policies or the examples I'm giving you are not legally binding. Yes, you can have them agreed to terms at checkout, but the policies are not written to ensure that you never get sued or something like that. So keep that in mind. It's just a generic, rough idea of what to publish on your website. All right, so it's time to put this to action. Here's your challenge for the week. Here's what I want you to do: create your returns and exchanges page. And I want you to decide what works best for your business. Maybe you allow returns. Maybe you only allow exchanges. Maybe you don't allow returns at all like I do. There's no one right answer. The right answer is what protects your business and create a clear expectation for your customer. But again, write it out like you're explaining in a message and publish it. And then if in the future a customer ever has a question on your policy, that's where it's time to go back to your page and see if you can clarify it a bit, or maybe there's a gap in your policy. So as we wrap up today, here's what I want you to remember. It's not about, and as we wrap up, here's what I want you to remember. I want you to create trust before the sale with this policy. It also protects you after the sale and it saves you time in between. These are the kinds of systems that allow you to start turning down the hustle. And next week we're going to keep building on this and continue making your business easier run behind the scenes. So until then, go ahead and knock out this week's challenge, and I will talk to you soon.