- Excerpt: Increase customer satisfaction and save money by reducing your return rate. Here’s how accurate size charts can help you achieve this.
Providing customers with accurate size charts is essential for reducing the amount of returns, maintaining customer satisfaction, and reducing the costs associated with online return processes. This article will explore the importance of accurate sizing charts, key statistics to consider, and how you can improve the accuracy of your charts.
What is a sizing chart?
A sizing chart is a visual guide that helps consumers decide which sizing option will fit them best. Chart accuracy is essential for eCommerce fashion platforms because consumers cannot try clothes on before purchasing. These guides will typically provide information regarding the width of a consumer’s chest, waist, and hips, as well as the length of their torso and legs. Apart from the article of clothing, sizing chart categories are generally organized into categories (men, women, unisex, children).
Other notable details a sizing chart should incorporate can include:
- Body type consideration.
- Instructions on how to correctly measure yourself.
- Visualization tools that help you preview how an article of clothing might look on your body.
Key Statistics to Consider
Let’s explore some statistics regarding the eCommerce return process to better understand the issues that must be addressed.
- Return rates: The average return rate for eCommerce platforms is approximately 30%. This is a considerable contrast to the 8.89% return rate for clothing bought in-store. Data collected from various eCommerce sites such as Shopify has shown that the “reason for return” is predominantly due to the failure to meet the sizing expectations advertised on these sites. It is estimated that about 93% of eCommerce shoppers listed “incorrect sizing” as their reason for return.
- Cost of Returns: Processing returns involves the cost of shipping, restocking, and resell price adjustments. In addition to the average return rate, you should consider values such as total unit sales, selling price, and each of the costs listed above when calculating the cost of returns. It is estimated that returning fashion items online costs around four to five times more than the cost of making the sale.
How to Reduce the Rate of eCommerce Returns with Accurate Sizing Charts
Clothing returns due to incorrect sizing result in an alarming issue that can be addressed by simply having accurate sizing charts on eCommerce websites. To understand the impact this change can make, we will explore what an accurate sizing chart looks like, how to maintain chart accuracy, and the implementation results.
How Accurate Sizing Charts Impact Return Rates
Sizing charts provide essential information to consumers to ensure their satisfaction and confidence in purchasing your product. Improving the accuracy of these guides can reduce the return rate of clothing by assuring the customer that an item of clothing will fit.
In addition to improved satisfaction, providing accurate sizing charts will enhance your brand’s reputation, increase sales potential, and eliminate processing return processing expenses.
How to Achieve Chart Accuracy
Many company websites use the same four sizing chart categories for the whole store with minimal consideration for variation in clothing design. This problem can be eliminated by creating custom charts for each article of clothing you carry on your website.
Adding supplementary information (such as model measurements, fit type, and material specifications) to your sizing charts can help consumers make informed decisions when purchasing clothing.
While these tasks seem overwhelmingly time-consuming and tedious, SaaS tools can help streamline the process of optimizing your sizing charts. For example, you can learn how to add a size chart in Shopify by using a reliable Shopify app.
Key Takeaways
Here is a quick rundown of the key takeaways from this article.
- A sizing chart is a visual guide that online stores use to inform customers about how an article of clothing will fit.
- Key values to consider include return rates to calculate the number of returned sales, and the cost of returning items is crucial for determining the loss of income from return processes.
- Providing customers with accurate sizing information can improve customer satisfaction, brand reputation, sales potential, and return processing expenses.
- You can achieve sizing chart accuracy by creating custom charts specific to each product, including supplementary information such as model measurements, fit type, and material specifications, and utilizing SaaS tools to optimize the creation of your sizing charts.
Consider various SaaS tools to assist you with generating specific sizing charts for your eCommerce business. If you’re unsure where to start, check out the Size Chart & Size Guide app by Clean Canva.
