What Are the Best Practices for Returns Season?

Published on January 7, 2026

By Bryan Wassel. Text below includes excerpts from an article originally published by CX Dive. For the full story, click here.

A focus on transparency and automation, with live support for stressful situations, can help craft a great returns experience, experts say. 

The returns experience may have once been a secondary concern, but it has since become a crucial element of a brand’s overall customer experience.

More than half of consumers — 54% — said that a brand’s return policy is one of their top three considerations when shopping for gifts online, according to a November FedEx survey. About two-thirds say they expect free returns from online retailers during the holiday season.

Now that the gifts have been opened, returns season is in full swing. Brands that make the experience flexible and frictionless, while offering additional support when customers need it, have the opportunity to build relationships with potential new customers.

Here’s how companies can craft a returns experience that can turn a pain point into a loyalty building opportunity. 

Automation and empathy can work together

Automation can help make the returns process easy, but the empathy of live agents is a crucial ingredient as well.

Self-service tools and automated updates are the foundation of a great returns experience, according to Jadah Hawkins, SVP and global market leader for retail and e-commerce at Alorica. Companies need to make it easy to initiate and track the returns process — whether through online portals, mobile apps or in-store drop-offs — and they can use automatic messaging to keep customers informed about a return’s status.

Self-service can’t handle every return, however, and live agents should be available to support customers in case a returns problem escalates, according to Hawkins. 

“When emotions run high, empathy matters,” Hawkins said in an email. “A customer who’s stressed about a late gift or a missed return window needs reassurance from a live agent. Make it easy to reach a person, and train support to listen, acknowledge the situation and provide solutions that feel personal.”

Shoppers and gift recipients are dealing with tight timelines and high emotional expectations during the holiday season, Hawkins said. The combination of easy returns processes and live human support helps brands build loyalty with stressed out customers.

Alorica Inc. (“Alorica”) is the holding company of various direct and indirect subsidiaries, including Systems & Services Technologies, Inc. (SST), NMLS 950746. Many of Alorica Inc.’s subsidiaries operate under the brand, Alorica, but all remain separate legal entities.