Return Exchange Redesign

CONTEXT

With the rise of online shopping, customers have some expectations—not only for receiving their items but also for hassle-free returns and exchanges when something doesn’t work out. At ZALORA, the 30-day free exchange and return policy is one of the top reasons customers return.

However, the Return and Exchange feature in the app is outdated, it’s not built natively into the app and currently opens in a web view. Over time, this has contributed to a 12% increase in customer complaints from users unable to submit requests, which had a negative impact on their satisfaction. To address this, we plan to revamp and improve the return and exchange experience.

The initial revamp flow below was finalized by another designer but there are problems with it that could lead to bigger issues. From this point onward, I took over the project and collaborated with the Product Manager to address the problems.

📱 Tap to check the Initial Prototype

PROBLEMS

Data shows that, on average, users exchange or return 2–3 items per order. With the current flow, users must submit a separate request for each item, requiring them to repeat the process multiple times. This also means they need to pack each item separately and schedule different return times, which negatively impacts our pickup operations and increases costs.

1. How Might We streamline the process to allow users to submit multiple items in a single request and reducing repeat actions?

2. How Might We create a return and exchange process that keeps users happy while being cost-effective?

Currently, we offer free pickup and delivery for every request users make, with ZALORA absorbing all associated costs. However, as the volume of exchange and return requests continues to rise, we need to find ways to manage these costs effectively.

SUCCESS METRICS

Reduce Customer Service contact rate related to Return and Exchange Request
Decrease the volume of Return and Exchange Request that lead to cost save
Feature adoption

EXPLORATIONS

After exploring different flows and gathering feedback from the stakeholders, we decided to narrow it down to these 2 final flows and conduct a quick concept test to determine which concept is more effective.

📱 Tap to see Concept 1 Prototype

The idea for Concept 1 is similar to when users add items to their cart. However, instead of proceeding to checkout, they would submit a return or exchange request. While no other e-commerce platforms are currently using this approach, we believe it has a good shot because the flow for submitting a request is quite similar to the purchasing process.

📱 Tap to see Concept 2 Prototype

The idea behind Concept 2 is that users can start by selecting one item to return or exchange, and then easily add additional items they wish to return or exchange in the next step. This creates a more streamlined process and reduces repeat actions.

USABILITY INSIGHT

Based on these insights, our next step is to move forward with Concept 2, fine-tuning it to ensure it covers most use cases. And below is the final user flow for the return and exchange process.

SOLUTION

Moving on to the second problem related to cost-effectiveness, we have worked with the business team to introduce a return and exchange fee along with a returner tier system. We understand that not all users will take advantage of this system and to keep our promise of a 30-day free exchange and return policy, this additional costs will apply only those who:
1. Choose a specific courier for pick up or delivery.
2. Opt for next day delivery to receive exchange item faster.
3. Frequently returns items (over 80% of their purchases), which will result in an additional fee.

For the MVP, our focus is on no 1 and 2. Information about the fee is displayed contextually during the courier/delivery selection, and a breakdown is provided on the review page.

Redesign the Return and Exchange Experience