How customers react to retailers making their return policies more strict

Our key finding revealed that consumers generally object to stricter return policies unless retailers take the time to explain their rationale behind the changes.

Through experiments, we discovered that restricting a lenient return policy led to a significant drop in customer willingness to purchase from the fictional retailer, correlating with a decline in trust.

Even customers who rarely return products expressed negative reactions, demonstrating a widespread sentiment that strict return policies can undermine confidence in a retailer's service quality.

When retailers announce policy changes through official communication and provide justifications, it mitigates backlash, as consumers appreciate understanding the reasons behind stricter measures.

Read at Fast Company