Have you ever had a customer call to complain about not getting an accurate delivery date or arrival time? Or had an online review posted about an unclear returns policy? It can be frustrating when your business fields these complaints. Especially around the holidays, when you are already so busy. To set you up for success, I have a simple suggestion: communicate.

What may seem clear to you isn’t necessarily clear to your customers, and it’s important to set clear expectations around delivery dates, times, and returns.

Recently I bought a birthday present for my husband. I went online and got my gift two weeks before his birthday, and in the automatic confirmation email, it told me that it would arrive in 10 days. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself for being so organized. Jump forward to the week of my husband’s birthday and there’s no sign of the present arriving. I had to waste time speaking to 2 customer service representatives who gave me two different delivery dates. And it still hasn’t arrived, my trust and confidence in this brand has now gone.

It’s an annoyingly common e-commerce story.

One that would be solved with well-calculated delivery dates. If this company had emailed me with clear dates and had been transparent that it was taking longer than usual to mail products, I would have appreciated it. Even if that date was after my husband’s birthday, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. Instead, businesses often choose to hide that information, leading to broken expectations and trust going down the drain.

During the holidays transparency is key. 84% of consumers won’t return to a vendor after a poor delivery experience. So increase customer loyalty by letting people know the deadline to place orders to get their presents on time. Take your production time and average delivery times around the holidays into consideration when letting customers know when they will get their deliveries.

Once we’ve sorted the date of the delivery, we need to think about the time. Everyone’s received the infamous message that your delivery will arrive between 9 am and 9 pm. Not helpful. Consumers expect a more personalized experience now, and a 12-hour delivery window won’t cut it.

Many last-mile delivery management softwares now provide recipients with their delivery’s predictive ETA, a map to track their driver, and driver contact information. Armed with knowledge, customers can see exactly when their order will arrive and coordinate with the driver if it’s delayed. If the driver gets stuck in holiday traffic, the customer will be updated with their new time slot, keeping them up to date with what’s happening. At Onfleet, we found that adding tracking could increase your chances of getting a positive review by up to 80-90% in some cases.

So we’ve established that customers appreciate clear delivery dates and times. What about returns? 86% of shoppers have returned an item in the past 12 months. When we look at the numbers around holidays, 15% of all holiday purchases were returned, with some retailers reporting over 20% of items being returned.

One of the main reasons that consumers return products is that they arrived too late, so transparent delivery dates will make a difference here.

Make sure that your returns policy is available clearly on your website. Be clear about the returns window, whether you charge, and where they can make returns. You can choose how long the return window is. Some brands, such as Target, say 90 days, most clothing brands say 30 days, and Ikea has a 365-day return policy. You need to fit your returns policy to your business and your market.

Whatever you go with, make sure that your return policy is on your website as 67% of consumers check it before buying anything. Then after your customer has made their purchase, remind them about your returns policy by email.

When customers return merchandise, you then have to process it to try and sell it again. This operation can be difficult for business owners. To avoid this situation, which is bad for your bottom line you could come up with some creative solutions.

For instance, if customers exchange a product for a different size or color you could provide them with store credit or a discount on their next purchase. That is a policy that apparel brand, Baseballism follows, allowing people to select directly the product they want to exchange and give them store credit to do so.

Otherwise, people who exchange their items rather than just returning them could receive a gift with their new item. So they would get the right-sized shirt and one of your best-selling products for free. This extra holiday gift may also have the added benefit of generating some social media buzz and positive reviews.

By ensuring that your delivery dates are accurate, giving clients a correct delivery time slot, you increase customer satisfaction. Many last-mile delivery management softwares now help you with that by providing recipients with their delivery’s predictive ETA. As well as a map to track their driver, and driver contact information. Armed with knowledge, customers can see exactly when their order will arrive and coordinate with the driver if it’s delayed.

Finally, by having a concise returns policy and an exchange bonus you add some holiday magic that will make your company truly sparkle, and ensure that shoppers keep returning to your brand.