OVERVIEW  

Warranties allows merchants to create unique, automated return policies specifically for warranties (or product quality guarantees) and allows customers to self-serve those requests through the Loop portal, as they do with standard returns.

Warranty setup, review, processing, and reporting will all occur within the current Loop admin, leveraging a host of enhancements to better suit warranty flows.

• Automation: With Warranties by Loop, merchants can save time and reduce operating expenses so their teams can spend more time on high-value customer interactions.

• Customer Experience: Now, merchants can enable shoppers to self-serve all return types, from standard returns to warranty claims, and everything in between. With Warranties, shoppers get the most seamless, delightful returns experience on Shopify.

• Insights: Warranties by Loop unlocks increased visibility and streamlined reporting across all return types so merchants can improve their product catalog and make warranty claims a thing of the past.

Create policies specific to your warranties/product quality guarantees via a new interface in the admin:

1. In the Loop admin, navigate to Returns management> Policy settings > Warranty policies.

2. Create one or more warranty policies that are applied based on the following eligibility parameters:

   • Warranty name - Name the customized warranty policy to differentiate between policy types.

   • Product eligibility - The eligibility type (product ID, SKU, tag or type) and which products are covered under this policy.

   • Order eligibility - What orders (based on date) the policy applies to.

   • Zones - Which countries/regions does the policy apply to.

   • Warranty window* - What is the length of the warranty policy.

3. Determine the default behavior for the warranty flow, including the following:

   • Processing requirements - Control if warranties are processed manually or based on the label status.

   • Customer inputs - Allow/mandate the customer to upload photo(s) or input comments.

   • Shipping requirements - Set parameters for if and how products are shipped back as well as any handling fees.

   • Return outcomes - Choose what outcomes are offered to the customer within this policy.

     • Replace item - Replace with same exact item.

     • Exchange - Allows for variant exchanges.

     • Shop Now - Allows customer to exchange for a completely different product.

     • Store Credit - Refund to gift card.

   • Return reasons - Create and select customized return reasons, shown for this policy only.

*Determine whether or not warranty policies are active during the standard return window or only become active after the standard return window has expired by modifying the setting below within a warranty policy:

Warranty policies behave under a new paradigm in which they are facilitated (on the backend) by Workflows.

Important: while warranty policies are configured and managed within the Warranty policies module, they are also visible under Returns management> Policy settings > Workflows as new “workflow groups”.

Aside from priority ranking, the warranty workflow group cannot be edited, viewed or altered.

When merchants create a new Warranty policy, a corresponding workflow group will be automatically created with highest priority under Workflows.

The workflow groups can be prioritized or ranked against other workflows within Loop, giving merchants the ability to override warranty policy behaviors within workflows:

• We recommend keeping warranty workflow groups prioritized above other standard workflows to ensure the warranty behavior is not unintentionally overridden by other workflows

• If merchants wish to override warranty policy rules with workflows they should ensure those workflows are prioritized above the warranty workflow group

See additional information on warranty and workflow interactions in the FAQ section below.

• Warranty returns will be managed within a new processing interface in the Loop admin, accessible under Returns management > Returns > Warranty processing.

  • Warranty returns exist separate from standard returns and will not display in the standard returns list or interface.

• Merchants can use an enhanced set of approval and processing functionality within Loop to handle warranty claims.

• Merchants can view and/or download photos submitted by the customer within the return detail page.

• Warranty returns in a review state will give merchants the option to process the claim or reject the claim at the return level.

  • Individual components of a claim cannot be rejected independently, rather the entire warranty claim must be processed or rejected.

• Rejecting a warranty claim will prompt two actions: close or cancel the claim.

  • Close: rejects the product submission for future warranty claim.

  • Cancel: (undo) rejects and cancels the warranty claim. A new claim may still be submitted for the product in the future.

  • For both actions, merchants can input an (optional) custom message to the customer and will trigger the Rejected Return (Returns management > Shopper experience > Notifications > Warranty Claim Rejected) notification to be sent to the customer.

    • Custom messages will be included in the rejected return notification to the customer.

• Processing warranty claims within Loop will behave in the same manner as standard returns, executing all outcomes associated with the warranty claim such as the creation of a replacement/exchange order and/or store credit.

• When a replacement product (order) is approved and processed, a new order will be created in Shopify with a default prefix: 'WAR- ' and a default order tag: Loop-Warranty

  • The prefix and order tag are not customizable.

  • However, the prefix can be disabled entirely under Returns management> Policy settings > General > New order prefix:

    

Note: currently, 'Edit Return' cannot be used on warranty returns.

Warranty reporting will be able to gain insights that enable merchant's teams to effectively manage the financials separate from standard returns.

• As not to impact core return performance metrics, warranty returns will be excluded from all analytics dashboards:

  • Example: A warranty replacement order should not impact a merchant’s refund or exchange rate.

  • This includes Returns management > Analytics > the Overview, Value Impact, Products, Customers, and Operations tabs.

• Warranty returns will be included in all manual Loop reports found under Returns management > Analytics > Reports:

  • Merchants can isolate warranty returns by filtering on a new column titled return type = warranty

  • Warranty return reasons will be included in all three of Loop's return reason reports under Returns management > Analytics > Reports > the "Return Reasons" section.

  • Merchants can isolate new orders placed as a result of warranty claims using the new warranty order prefix of WAR

What Loop plan is eligible for Warranties? All Loop plans have access to Warranties except for Starter.

Can merchants service warranty requests for orders not placed on Shopify? No, currently merchants cannot use service sales that occur outside of Shopify. All orders must exist within Shopify and customers must have order information to access the portal to submit a warranty claim.

Can merchants choose the return outcome for customers after claim submission? No, customers must select a return outcome during the customer flow, similar to the experience for standard returns. Merchants will have the ability to limit the available outcomes for customers to the level that meets their warranty policy.

Can we allow for standard returns and warranty returns during the standard return window? Yes, merchants can choose to have the warranty policy active during the standard return window or choose to have warranty availability begin when the standard return window ends. This can be configured in the warranty window policy settings:

Please reach out to support@loopreturns.com with any additional questions.