Everything is prepared, expectations are high, and everyone is optimistic.
Then you get the first return rates — and they are just disappointing.
I am here to tell you: it is not a problem. But if you misread it, it will be one.
Reverse logistics is the foundation of circularity.
Before you can reuse, refurbish or remanufacture anything, you have to get the product back.
Which means building a system to find and collect it — one that feels effortless, almost default, to the customer.
So you build it.
And naturally, you take the return rate as the right KPI.
Because what else do you have, right?
But the return rate is a single number hiding several very different questions
- Do people simply not want to bring the product back?
- Would they return it, but they don’t know the program exists?
- Do they want to return it, but the process is too inconvenient?
- Is the reason or motivation to return simply not compelling enough?
Each of these points to a completely different trigger — and a completely different fix.
But it is your task to identify which one you are actually looking at.
The approach is really simple
Change one variable at a time and measure what happens.
- Improve awareness.
- Improve convenience.
- Improve the incentive.
This way, you will see which aspect has the biggest influence on your concept — and how to fix it.
Use your pilots as a diagnostic tool.
If your return rates are below expectations, rather than simply stopping, let the numbers tell you a different story.