Ecommerce product returns occur in roughly one-third of all online purchases, so says a study that has been conducted by the Wall Street Journal. Sometimes this number can drop to as low as 18%, during offseason shopping months. But in season, from August through January, at least 33% of all online purchase are returned to vendors by consumers.

Understanding how you can effectively approach ecommerce returns management will go a long way in you safeguarding your bottom line, reducing the rate of returns and improving customer satisfaction and retention. And your returns policy does indeed matter a lot more than you may suspect. About 60% of the time, it’s read by shoppers prior to a purchase. In about 80% of all cases, shoppers want to know that hassle-free returns are being offered, or they may take their business elsewhere.

The good news is that there are some relatively streamlined methods by which you can decrease your bottom line, reduce the rate of returns online at your store and increase consumer spending, confidence and loyalty. These following five methods can help you put a strong, customer-friendly ecommerce returns management system in place.

We leave you with this in-depth infographic. Use it to better understand what the online shopper is thinking when they are visiting your store. Learn what attracts sales and detracts sales so that you can make simple changes now to improve your bottom line well into the future.

Your return policy says a lot about your business. But it also tells your customers a lot about your business, too. The best rule of thumb here is to keep it short, simple and to the point (more info on what your returns policy says about your business). Be straightforward and clearly explain what is returnable, for how long and why. Clearly state what types of returns are acceptable (condition, worn vs. unworn, etc.), and whether or not there are any return shipping fees or restocking fees.

You may think that it is just unfeasible for you to offer free return shipping, like big store such as Zappos do. But such is not the case. In the long term, studies have found that offer free returns actually can help you attract more sales and increase consumer spending while improving retention and loyalty at the same time. You can get more information regarding the benefits of offering free returns by reading our related white paper: How Ecommerce Stores Benefit from Offering Returns Like Zappos.

Recent studies have found that customers want to know what your return policy is right away, or as soon as possible. Hence why stores like the aforementioned Zappos actually state it clearly on a banner in their header. Doing this helps assure customers that they can confidently make a purchase without fear of inconvenience should they have to later return that product.

Learning your products, and why they are returned, is the most beneficial thing that you can do for revamping your ecommerce returns management process. For example, you may find that certain clothing is returned more often because the sizing is odd due to a designer specific size. Or you may be able to reduce the rate of returns on an electronics item by updating the product description and adding some more high definition pictures.

It’s a dog eat dog world online. With millions of other e-retailers competing for your business, your reputation matters greatly. But over 80% of people will talk about your store after shopping there. It’s up to you to assure that they are spreading the good word and not bad news that plays detriment to your business model. With hassle-free returns, like those offered at Zappos, customers are eager to blab about the shoes they got that fit, as opposed to complaining about how annoying the returns process was.