How Always Alice Optimized Returns and Boosted Revenue
For nearly 10 years, Always Alice has been helping everyone feel and look fabulous in their clothing. Based in Australia, they’re all about inclusive sizing and creating great customer experiences, making sure everyone finds their perfect fit.
Challenges
For a while, Always Alice was handling returns manually, which took a lot of time and effort. Each return request needed individual attention, and their return methods were limited—they could only offer refunds to the original payment method. This setup wasn’t ideal, so they reached out to PostCo for help in a few key areas:
- Streamlining their returns process to make it more efficient and customer-friendly
- Finding ways to keep more of their revenue on returns
- Gaining more and profit from returns
Solution
Automated returns = Efficient support team
By transitioning to automated returns with PostCo, Always Alice can now easily keep track of individual returns without all the manual work through these strategies:
- Limiting refunds for specific return reasons
Always Alice set up a workflow to automatically tailor return methods based on the customer’s reasons for returning. For instance, customers choosing “Change of mind” as their reason are offered store credit or exchanges only—no refunds, thanks to PostCo’s flexible policy rules. This way, Always Alice can continue retaining their customers by giving them the option to exchange or shop for something new instead of a one-time refund! - Make sale items non-returnable
With PostCo’s policy rules, Always Alice can also block returns for specific items like sale items. Now, customers can see upfront which items aren’t returnable, saving the hassle between the customers and Always Alice’s support team to communicate back and forth. - Image upload for faulty item requests
Through requiring customers to upload images of their damaged items, Always Alice can validate the condition of the return item before approving return requests. No more back-and-forth emails between Always Alice and their customers - just a straightforward approval process that frees up time for the team!
As a result, the team has managed to save ~15 hours monthly from managing returns manually. Now, they can manage everything in one place and focus on more important things—like helping customers feel great in their clothes!
Boosting revenue with instant exchanges
Always Alice wanted to go beyond just making returns easier—they wanted to retain more of their revenue. Enter Instant Exchange - a feature that lets customers receive their exchange item without the usual wait. Exchange requests are automatically approved, and new exchange orders are immediately created and ready to ship, keeping the process fast and seamless!
To make the experience risk-free for Always Alice, PostCo places a temporary hold on the customer’s credit card for the value of the exchange item customer’s credit card until the original item is returned.
The result? 16% of customers now choose Instant Exchange instead of regular exchange and refunds, helping Always Alice retain over 80% of their returns revenue!
How Always Alice made extra $15 on returns
Always Alice also found a way to turn returns into a profit opportunity. By offering higher-value exchanges as an alternative to refunds, they opened up a new revenue stream!
This strategy paid off, with 22% of return orders being upsold with higher-priced products, enabling Always Alice to earn an additional $15 per return!
By embracing a more efficient and customer-centric returns process with PostCo, Always Alice has been able to boost customer lifetime value and make returns work for them, not against them. We’re excited to continue partnering with them to achieve even bigger and better results!
"Couldn't be happier with PostCo, it makes our returns process so much easier for our staff and customers. Their customer service is excellent and they always resolve any issues promptly and respond to queries very quickly. Can't recommend them enough!”
Alice, Always Alice
