Do you have signs, hand-outs, receipt messages, or other types of communication that informs your customers about your store policies?
Use positive, rather than negative language to communicate important policies to your customers.
It’s a real downer and a big customer service-buster for your customer to get to the cash register and see a bunch of ‘no’ messages taped up everywhere. No out of town checks. No cash refunds. No returns after 30 days. No credit card or debit charges for less than $12. No returns without a receipt. It makes your customers feel like youre thinking of them as the enemy!
Try to phrase your policies as a positive statement of what you CAN do to provide great service for your customers. Like this:
• No cash refunds. Becomes… We will happily credit your charge account, mail you a check, or give you store credit on all returns.
• No returns after 30 days. Becomes… We want you to be happy with your purchase from Gertrudes Shoes. If you are unhappy for any reason, we’ll gladly return the item within 30 days of purchase.
• No out of town checks. Becomes… Gertrudes Shoes offers you a variety of ways to pay for your purchase, including cash, local checks, Visa, and Mastercard. We are unfortunately not able to take American Express, Diners Club, or out of town checks.
The policies are the same, but the feeling is a whole lot different!
Take a look at how your policies are communicated to your customers and see if you can make some positive language improvements. Your customers will like it!
