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How to Automate Your RMA Processes

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Automating your return materials authorizations (RMAs) can improve your operations.

Returns management is something that many businesses today have to deal with, especially if you don’t have a physical store. Online returns are far more prevalent that returns for brick-and-mortar stores, and if you’re not managing them properly, they could be contributing to increased overall costs, lower profits, and even fraud that costs your business money. The good news is that you don’t need to add a lot of manual work to your returns management process; in fact, returns management can easily be automated with the right tools.

What is RMA?

As the volume of returns has increased over the years, many companies have put in place some form of return materials authorization, or RMA. These processes allow you to validate a purchase, ensuring that it was made from your store or your online shop, then provide clear instructions to help the buyer return the item(s) in an efficient and trackable way.

Generally these programs include:

  • Customer filling out an online RMA form
  • Company validating the purchase
  • Instructions on how to return the item, including shipping labels that are either pre-paid or with a cost that is deducted from the refund
  • Tracking information for you and your customer to follow the return and refund

Why Automation Matters

Customers increasingly want information and customer service, and that includes the returns process. When you use the right tools, you can provide those things to your customers without adding huge costs to your own bottom line. In fact, automating the RMA process is likely to reduce your overall costs because it can send notifications about the status of a return, notify team members who need to engage in the process, and generally speed up the time from when something is sent back to when it is fully resolved.

The Best Automation Tools

ReverseLogix offers an industry-leading reverse logistics software program that includes a module for return materials authorization management. It makes setting up your RMA process simple and efficient. You’ll be able to instantly start tracking your returns from the point of purchase to the final return resolution, either a store credit or a customer refund. It also allows you to validate purchases to reduce the chance for fraud in the returns process, which can save a lot each year. Finally, it allows you to track returns from start to finish without adding more employees or more manual work on your end.

Find out how easy it can be to automate the returns process with our RMA management by scheduling a demo today.