The first place you want to start with is the returns policy. About one-third of all products that are ordered by consumers online are returned each year, accounting for billions in returns. But retailers have long frowned upon these returns, seeing them as a cost rather than a profitable venture.

With newer automated RMA software solutions available, it’s possible to not only make this return policy convenient but to also automate it so that consumers who need to make returns can do so by filling out a form and generating a prepaid shipping label.

But how does this help you earn more business, secure retention and improve loyalty and customer service? We’ll provide three powerful reasons, so you can see why the leading retailers online all swear by automation, and why countless others, of all sizes, are quickly following suit to help secure more sales and attract more customers.

If your online store does not feature an automated RMA portal for your customers, you are making it difficult for them to return products. This causes many customers to instead look for a store that makes it easy for them to return times that they need to send back. Returns are just a part of running an e-commerce store. But how you manage them and how simple you make it for customers to return items will make a large difference in loyalty, retention and future sales and growth. Improving customer service is the mindset – or should be – of most e-retailers these days. This stems not just from offering adequate support, a help desk or even live chat, or from making sure your store is user-friendly and mobile accessible, but also from assuring that all aspects of customers’ needs are wholeheartedly and timely addressed.

Once an item is purchased by the customer, a lot of retailers ship it and forget it. Many entirely overlook the after buying experience, though, something that can affect a large portion of your returning business. So where does this after buying effect occur and how can you counter it to make it more lucrative for you and for your customers; and the long term loyalty and retention that will directly follow?

When returns are made, which is about on 30% of all purchases, if you don’t have automated RMA software in place, you won’t know why the returns were made. With automation, you can also drive deeper analytics. These can tell you why products were returned, when and by whom.

This lets you make simple changes to your online store, like updating product descriptions, introducing sizing apps and even helping customers find the right product to begin with. It also tells your customers that you care about their business and are willing to go the extra mile to assure that they had a satisfactory experience shopping at your store.

Automated RMA software can also help reduce the rate of returns, as mentioned briefly above. That’s because you can gain insight into why products are being returned. Once you know the cause of the returns, you can take action to reduce these return rates.

This may involve improving customer service on certain product pages by adding live chat features. Or it may necessitate adding video of these products to the pages. It may even make you consider integrating sizing applications so that customers can figure out the right clothing size to reduce return rates. Every step that you take will help you reduce the rate of returns across the board.

When it comes to improving retention and loyalty, consumers have spoken loudly. Over 60% will read your returns policy before they make a buying decision. What’s more, over 80% want returns to be simple, easy and convenient, or they won’t make a future purchase.

Offer them this, and you can do one more thing. Earn future business. When customers return to your store to place a return, you have a chance to retarget to them. You can make them special offers and offer them bonus in-store credit for getting store credit on the return as opposed to just a refund.

Doing this is smart thinking because it helps you keep the money in-house, instead of refunding it, thus assuring that the customer ultimately still buys a product from your store.