Reading a return policy like a machine

A return policy is part of the product. Two identical jackets with different return windows are, to a careful buyer, two different purchases. An agent buying for a person has to weigh that difference, and it can only do so if the policy is readable.

Where policies go to hide

Policies tend to live in the footer, in a long legal page, or in a PDF. A human who cares will find them. An agent working through twenty candidate stores will not dig for them, and a missing policy reads as an unknown, which reads as a risk.

Write it as statements

Short, specific statements beat paragraphs of legal language. Compare these two:

• Returns accepted within 30 days of delivery for a full refund, minus return shipping.
• We want you to love your purchase and will work with you on eligible items subject to our terms.

The first one can be compared with a competitor in a second. The second cannot.

Keep it next to the product

Link the policy from the product page and repeat the key terms: window, cost to return and refund method. Keep the full legal text, but put the facts where the decision is made.

Check it the way an agent would

Read your product page with the styling stripped away and ask what the buyer would have to guess. If the answer is the return window, the shipping cost or the delivery date, you have found the first thing to fix.