Clearer statuses for a returns flow

In a returns (reverse) flow, statuses are the main way customers know what is happening with their return and what comes next. This was a B2B flow – and customers expect B2B returns to work like the consumer returns they know.

The existing statuses were too vague: customers couldn’t tell where their return stood. The flow assumed one parcel per return, and it ended on a bare “Complete” that didn’t say whether the refund had actually been paid. Customers mostly want answers to simple questions: Did they get my request? Did they approve it? How do I send the item? Did they get my parcel? Is my refund or exchange on its way?

I mapped the existing flow step by step, including which email or on-screen message customers got at each stage. Then I proposed a new approach to reverse-flow statuses, built on four sources:

1. market research into comparable solutions
2. Baymard Institute UX guidance
3. patterns from the internal customer feedback database
4. GenAI-supported synthesis, checked against the sources

Alongside working with a UX researcher, I worked independently in the Dovetail research database.

The proposal also separated the status of the whole return from the status of each item, added a progress indicator for returns sent in several parcels (“X of Y parcels received”), and paired each stage with an email or on-screen message about what happens next.

* Shortlisted wording options for this stage included “Awaiting items”, “In transit” and “Awaiting return”. The labels are generic and don’t identify the client.

The client’s project ended before the proposal could be implemented, so there are no post-release results to report. The approach – combining market research, UX guidance and real customer feedback – is what I’d bring to any status or notification system.

I’d try to talk to customers – or at least to our sales reps – to hear first-hand what customers need.