What to look for in a returns management solution in 2025
Hunter Johnson
·July 3, 2025
Want to build a Shopify ecommerce brand that will stand the test of time?
To set up your brand for success, it’s essential to optimize the post-purchase experience. By choosing the right returns management solution, you’ll be able to reduce returns costs, enhance the customer experience, improve visibility around returns data, curb fraud, and retain revenue through exchanges and upsells.
Brands that invest in cohesive post-purchase strategies are far more resilient than their counterparts. The footwear brand Clove, for instance, has been able to retain nearly half of revenue that would have been lost to returns by using an exchange-optimized returns platform. SuitShop was able to cut their support ticket volume by 80% by shifting to an automated portal, empowering them to scale CX without adding headcount as they grew. And Jones Beach Beauty has successfully leveraged upsell offers to generate $197,200 in new revenue on top of more than $3.1M in revenue retention by using a returns management platform.
What’s their secret? Choosing the right technology platform.
Choosing a returns management solution
When considering a returns management solution, look for these must-have features:
Seamless Shopify integration
If you’ve built your brand on the Shopify platform, it’s crucial to find tech partners that are not just compatible with the platform, but are custom-built to align with Shopify’s products for seamless onboarding and ease of use.
The Shopify App Store features more than 100 apps focused on returns and exchanges, but Shopify has identified just one (Loop) as a Premier Technology Partner. We’re a Shopify-native platform that supports more than 5,000 Shopify brands and offers 120+ Shopify App Store integrations, ensuring that your brand can get your returns and exchange program up and running effortlessly, with deep integration across your entire tech stack.
Self-service returns and exchanges
More than two-thirds of customers prefer using a self-service platform to talking to a live support rep. By offering a streamlined branded portal for self-service returns management, your shoppers can initiate returns instantly, without needing to wait for help.
Don’t settle for a solution that only allows variant exchanges – by choosing a platform that gives your customers the flexibility to select a refund, a same-priced exchange, or an item of a different price (automatically charging or refunding the customer the difference), you’ll be able to provide an enhanced customer experience that makes the exchange process as easy as shopping. As a result, you’ll increase your exchange rate and boost revenue retention through upsells – all while reducing the load on your customer support team.
Customized workflows
Not all returns look alike. Your brand may need to set up different rules around returns processes for different product categories, product conditions, delivery locations, or sales promotions, just to name a few variables. To do this effectively, you need more than simple automations – you need a solution that gives you options for “if this, then that” drag-and-drop workflows, guaranteeing that each returned item is handled according to your returns criteria, with no need for additional support.
By setting up different workflows for different regions, for instance, you can ensure that customers with out-of-country returns pay a higher returns fee than in-country returns, or provide a “keep item” option for returned items that fall below a certain price threshold. With customized workflows that support your returns strategy, you’ll be able to streamline policy management and optimize your operational costs.
Point of Sale integration
Customers often prefer omnichannel shopping, in which they start a sale on one channel and complete it on another – and that’s equally true of returns.
If your brand has retail stores, you should ensure that customers have the option to begin their return online and bring it into a retail location, which can help them eliminate return shipping fees and provide them with the option to browse your inventory in-person before choosing a product for exchange. Choosing a returns management platform with a Point of Sale product will ensure that all of your returns data (both online and offline) is seamlessly integrated, and provide your retail staff with the tools to streamline policy enforcement, saving time and reducing errors.
Fraud detection and mitigation tools
Returns fraud is a growing problem for brands, amounting to more than $100B in losses in 2023. To protect your profit margins, it’s important to choose a solution with best-in-class features to detect returns fraud, with safeguards that protect against policy abuse.
For instance, Loop’s custom algorithm can correctly identify $0.87 of every $1 in confirmed return fraud, alerting retailers to risky transactions so that they can be reviewed manually, rather than automatically approved. Brands can also create custom workflows that protect against returns abuse, such as by requiring manual inspection and approval on higher-value returns or limiting the number of times a single customer can request a return.
By taking control of your returns experience, you’ll be able to protect your brand against returns abuse without diminishing the experience for your entire customer base.
Returns data insights
Your returns solution should provide your team with access to returns data analytics that you can use to inform your operational strategy. By providing a questionnaire to customers to find out why they’re returning an item, you’ll be able to identify trends such as poor sizing, inaccurate product descriptions, or product quality defects. You’ll then be able to use these insights to help you improve your product marketing and product quality, resulting in lower return rates and improved customer satisfaction going forward.
Learning more
Before selecting your returns management platform, it’s important to see it in action and have the opportunity to discuss your brand’s priorities and goals with a returns expert.
If Loop’s on your list, we’d love for you to take a closer look: See Loop in action 👀
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With Loop, your brand can offer everything from refunds to direct exchanges to shopper incentives and more. Even better? These exchanges build your business.