Stop 5 of 8 · Daily
Returns and support
Sort the morning queue, draft the replies your policy already allows, pull the exceptions out for yourself, and tally why things come back.
The queue, sorted before it is answered
Twenty three messages arrive overnight and about nineteen of them have the same four shapes: where is it, does it fit, can I exchange it, and can I return it after the window. Omar knows every answer. Typing them is what eats the hour before the pick list.
The move is to sort before drafting. Four buckets: answered by policy, needs an order lookup, needs a decision from Omar, and spam. Drafts get written for the first bucket only. The third bucket comes back as one line each saying what the decision is, and Omar makes it.
Replies that stay inside the policy
The policy file in the store Project is the source, quoted rather than paraphrased. A reply may say when a parcel ships. It may not say when it arrives, because the carrier owns that. It may offer the two remedies the policy allows and no third one invented to end the conversation. And it may not name a refund figure Omar has not confirmed, since the amount is his number, not an estimate.
The exceptions that never get a draft
| Message | Why it is yours |
|---|---|
| Outside the returns window, or over your refund threshold | A judgment call with a cost |
| Alleges a rash, an injury or a safety fault | Goes to you and to the supplier the same day |
| Uses a legal word, or threatens a chargeback | Anything drafted becomes evidence |
| Wholesale, press, or a third message from the same person | A relationship, not a ticket |
The tally
Once a month the return reasons become a table, because a refund you only ever process is a refund you process again. Fit reasons go to the size chart in stop 3. Quality reasons go to the supplier with the style name and the batch. Reasons that say the photo lied go to stop 6.
Try this
[paste this morning's messages, one per line, with order numbers and no customer names] Sort these into four buckets: answered by policy, needs an order lookup, needs a decision from me, spam. For the policy bucket, draft each reply in this Project's voice, quoting the policy file, four sentences maximum. For the decision bucket, write one line each saying what the decision is and what you would recommend, and draft nothing. Say out loud which ones you were unsure how to bucket.
Order [number] is nine days past our delivery estimate and the carrier shows it sitting at a hub. Draft a four sentence reply. Offer only the two remedies my policy allows. Say when we would reship, never when anything arrives. End with the one question that lets me close this without a second email.
[upload the last 60 days of returns, reason and handle columns only] Tally return reasons by handle and by size. One table: handle, units returned, top reason, the size that returns most. Then split the results into three lists: handles whose top reason is fit, which go to my size chart, handles whose top reason is quality, which go to the supplier, and handles where the customer says the item looked different, which go to my photography.