Swimming in Success: How Bamba Swim retains 95% of their returns revenue
Bamba Swim is an Australian-owned, globally-renowned swimwear label that features 80s-inspired designs aimed at empowering women to feel comfortable in their own skin. Since partnering with PostCo in 2021, they’ve recaptured 95% of their returns revenue in the form of exchanges and store credits - incredible! Since then, we have been working with Bamba to reimagine their returns on both their regional and international stores.
We spoke to Tristan from Grow Like An Elephant, a Shopify agency that works closely with Bamba Swim, to learn how they achieved such a feat.
Curate a branded returns experience
Challenge
For Bamba Swim, maintaining their one-of-a-kind aesthetic (think: the 80’s did it better!) in every customer interaction is critical. However, the challenge lay in preserving this whilst also delivering an efficient and personalized return service.
Solution
Bamba Swim utilized PostCo’s customization capabilities, thoughtfully designing a return journey that aligns with their retro aesthetic and distinct branding.
The result? A brand-consistent, visually appealing, and fully immersive return experience.
Automatically enforce policies that bias revenue retention
As an industry expert with years of experience with returns, Tristan noted that he prefers approaches that strike the balance between being customer-centric and company-centric. This balanced approach has greatly paid off with Bamba Swim.
Challenge
Crafting effective return policies that satisfy both customers’ and business needs is no simple task. Enforcing such policies (typically through manual checks) can pose a significant problem.
Solution
Bamba Swim strategically utilized the power of PostCo’s intuitive policy rules:
- Provided refunds only for faulty and incorrect items
- Free return shipping for faulty and incorrect items
This strategy resulted in an impressive 95% recapture of potential revenue lost to returns in the past four months.
Furthermore, Bamba Swim made the most out of PostCo’s automation to streamline returns process:
- Enabled auto-approval, excluding certain return reasons for personal review
- This allowed the customer experience team to focus on cases that genuinely needed their attention, preserving high service standards
The result? This strategy turned out to be a gamechanger, reducing the time spent on returns by an equivalent of 30 working days per month!
Enforcing policies like these can be a challenge, but there is much that can be achieved with PostCo’s automations. Many merchants mistakenly believe that manual checks are unavoidable, but for Bamba Swim, Tristan believes that a large chunk of time can be saved by leveraging simple automations with PostCo.
Communicate your returns policy clearly
Besides getting your policies and portal experience right, the key to a successful post-purchase experience is making your return policies as clear as possible.
Challenge
There's nothing more off-putting to a customer than a confusing, hard-to-find return policy. Customers should feel reassured and informed, not left scratching their heads - precisely why clarity and accessibility of these policies are paramount to a successful post-purchase experience.
Solution
Bamba Swim has simplified what is typically a complicated process, making their return policies crystal clear and easily navigable.
Key elements include:
- An immediate, concise summary of the return policy greeting customers on the returns page. This offers the essential details at a glance
- For an even smoother experience, the team has included a comprehensive returns guide with step-by-step instructions
These simple yet effective improvements make browsing Bamba Swim's returns policy a delight, ensuring a post-purchase experience that's second to none.
The result?
Bringing a brand’s vision to reality is an iterative process, and customer returns don’t have to be the price to pay for innovation. Bamba Swim’s excellent revenue retention proves that they are committed to providing an exceptional customer experience while they continue to make waves in the swimwear space.
We from PostCo are so proud to be a part of this story, and we hope to continue partnering with many more brands to bring a unique returns experience to both customers and retailers alike.
