5 quick tips for preventing retail chargebacks

One of the biggest problems businesses are facing in the UK today revolves around friendly fraud and chargebacks.

While UK online retail sales have grown 13.2% year-on-year, the amount of retail chargebacks has also increased, with a growing chargeback culture hitting smaller businesses especially hard.

Reducing retail chargebacks is a problem facing thousands of SMEs across the country, but by partnering with the right payment services provider, your chargebacks can be significantly reduced, keeping your profits safe and helping you to boost business growth.

A culture of chargebacks and ‘friendly fraud’ is hitting businesses of all shapes and sizes. How can companies adapt to an evolving consumer chargeback philosophy, protect their profits and keep markets happy at the same time? Read ‘What is friendly fraud and how do chargebacks work?’ to learn more.

Here are Fibonatix’s five tips for SMEs to reduce the frequency of chargebacks and build stronger relationships with their customers:

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1: Extend your brand name across all areas of your business

One of the biggest reasons chargebacks are issued can be down to a simple case of mistaken identity.

If a consumer looks at their bank statement and doesn’t recognise the name of the place they made a purchase (i.e. if the brand name and registered business name are wildly different) it can cause confusion. Having consistency with your brand name and official trading name can reduce confusion and make people think twice before they initiate a chargeback request.

2: Be clear on your delivery, returns and cancellation policies

Chargebacks can also happen because smaller businesses at times aren’t too clear about their return, delivery and cancellation policies whether on their website, social media platforms, in-store or other.

They’re a legal requirement anyway, but making them as visible and clear as possible to your consumers when they look to make a purchase with you can help reduce chargeback requests. Instead of having them hidden in a link in your site’s footer for instance, why not make the most important bits visible and easily digestible next to the products themselves online?

3: Be visible when it comes to customer service

When most people make a chargeback request, they do so because they feel they have exhausted every avenue with a company and hit a dead end.

Having a form where people can make a complaint with a promise that someone will ‘get in touch soon’ may not be enough. Can they call someone directly and is that information easy to find? Live chats online can be a great way to offer better customer support while automating the process can go even further to helping resolve customer complaints.

4: Action those complaints as quickly as possible

It’s simple; the quicker you resolve a complaint the less likely it is a consumer is going to make a chargeback request.

Customer satisfaction is so important to combating the chargeback culture, and this is where social media can help. Brands no longer sleep, and platforms like Twitter give consumers access to vent their frustrations 24/7. The quicker and more adequately you handle complaints, billing queries and claims, the more likely you’ll avoid a chargeback request.

5: Partner with an experienced payment services provider

It’s understandable that these processes and others can be difficult for SMEs with tight budgets and little support to implement.

Working with an experienced payment services provider as dedicated to your business’s growth as you are can help to modernise and streamline your internal and external financial systems to reduce the frequency of retail chargebacks and friendly fraud. The best providers will also work with you to better understand technical aspects such as compliance to help accelerate your business’s growth.

Battle chargeback culture and take your SME to the next level by contacting Fibonatix and creating an internal and external financial strategy that will help your business grow.

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