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To Charge or Not to Charge - Returns

That is the question...

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Yesterday we celebrated 1 year of Inevitable Agency!! 🎉🥳 I am so proud of all the things our team has accomplished and even more excited to see where the next year takes us. Thank YOU for your support, referrals, follows, and any other way we have interacted these last 365 days. It truly means so much to me and the team!

I also wanted to give our very first employee, Sierra DiMaggio a HUGE shoutout for her one year anniversary. IA would be nowhere without her, our Director of Operations!!!

Take a look at all we accomplished in 2023 👇👇👇

📷️ Digital Experience News 📷️

Loyalty program story alert!! Domino’s (I’m perrevamped their points system towards the end of 2023 after coming off of consecutive quarters of dipped sales in an effort to engage lapsed customers. Changes to their program included lowering the dollar amount to start collecting points, adding more point redemption options, and changing up the items available for exchange. The changes have resulted in 3 million members since the relaunch in September and the chain reported a 2.8% growth for U.S. same store sales in Q4. In addition to a overhauled loyalty system, Domino’s has been ramping up their marketing efforts with promotions such as “emergency pizza” and their exclusive partnership with Uber Eats. This example shows the importance of constantly evaluating your customer experience, in this case the loyalty program, for gaps and ways to improve! 🍕🍕🍕

To Charge or Not to Charge - Returns

A new study has found that 88% of US consumers have ditched stores that started charging for returns. Can you blame them? Who wants to pay to send stuff back?

But here's the silver lining: Free returns? They're great for customer loyalty. The study found that 72% of costumers are more likely to stick with stores that offers them for free.

Last year, businesses lost $743 billion because of returns. So It makes sense why some stores are trying to make up for it with return fees. Although fees can help offset costs in the moment, It affects costumer loyalty and ultimately LTV. Consumers are all about convenience, right? So when stores start slapping on return fees, it feels like a slap in the face.

Most of us have done the return dance in the past year, but honestly, who wants to deal with that if they don't have to? That's why 60% of consumers would prefer for companies to "Just get it right the first time.”

Instead of charging restocking fees, businesses can use customer data to understand trends in returns and fix any underlying issues. Another common sentiment in the study was a desire for personalized shopping with 41% of consumers looking for a more tailored experience.

Returns are inevitable, but they don't have to be a drain on profits. Almost half of in-store returns were bought online so maybe more stores will start promoting buy online, return in-store.

Let's keep those returns easy and those customers loyal! 💯

🎙️ LET’S LAUGH ABOUT IT 🎙️

Zoe and Jackie are talking about how they come back from getting… cancelled…? Well kinda! But we’re mainly talking about Zoe’s life update, cringey business practices that may only be cringey to you & work/life balance! Don’t miss it!

🧑‍💻 CX Job Board 👩‍💻

Here are some jobs in CX we found this week. If you or your company is hiring, let us know and we can add It next week!

Peachybbies is hiring for a Director of Customer Experience! If the job interests you, reach out to [email protected] !!

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