Customers can initiate a (partial) return themselves. This should save you a lot of overhead in customer service work. You'll first need to activate the functionality from your Portal. Please note that Self-service returns are available to all plan-based projects.
💡 This article is about how to enable self service returns. We also have an article available for the processing of return orders. You can find that here.
Steps to activate the functionality in your Portal
In your Firmhouse project, go to "Self service center" in the sidebar. It's under Settings.
Within the Self service center overview you'll find a section Self service center returns. At the top you'll find a toggle, activate it by pressing it:
The self service center returns section
While still in the Self Service Center Returns section, you'll also be able to see a Message to customers on the new return creation page. This allows you to give your customer all the information they need for the return order to be successful (i.e. tips on how to return their product to you). For reference, it's the first sentence below:
The Return Creation Page visible to the Customer
4. You'll be able to do the same for the Message to customers on the return summary page. This allows you to remind your customer about all the steps involved, in case they return to this page at a later point. It'll then show up like below:
The Return Summary Page visible to the Customer
Steps for a customer to initiate Product Returns
To initiate a Product Return as a customer it's very easy! once logged into their Self Service Center they will be able to find the button as per below:
The Self Service Checkout features a Return products button.
Selecting one or more products to add to your return.
We wanted to make this functionality as flexible as we can, so your customer can decide whether to return one, multiple or all products that they have. They'll also be able to leave a comment related to the return order to help you understand any further details.
Keeping track of your Returns (as a customer)
Your customer can check their Return Status from their SSC. They will be able to click "Return in progress" to see the current status, find their return label and potentially cancel the return if they have a change of heart and wish to keep it.
Available emails related to product returns
You can find all of the new customer-facing emails related to product returns under Email configuration > Returns. You'll be able to customize the message the user receives (as seen in the screenshot above). We think this solves all emails you may need to send, but if you are missing one please do tell us via the Intercom bubble in the bottom-right corner and we'll consider that.
Furthermore, we've added two more notification emails that you will be able to receive. As with all notifications you can find these under Email configuration > Email Settings > Notifications. You'll be able to receive a notification for each new return order that was created and also one for each return order that was cancelled.
Webhooks related to product returns
We've also added new variables to use in your templates for all return order events. Find it in our developer docs.