Often times when building a new e-commerce website, small detail such as the policy pages can get overlooked and neglected. This is one area you want to pay special attention to because it will save you a lot of hassle and headaches down the road. There are three main policy pages which every e-commerce store must have: Shipping Policy, Return Policy, and Privacy Policy. If you want you can even have a disclaimer; however a lot of the disclaimer wording can be put in the privacy policy.

Here is a brief overview of each of the 3 big policy pages and what you need to include in each.

Shipping Policy – This is probably the most important of the three. You need to let your customers know what shipping options you have available and also an estimate of shipping times. All of the major shipping carriers can provide color coded maps showing estimated shipping times for different areas of the US. Having a clear shipping policy will give your customers realistic expectations of when their order will arrive. This is also a place to put custom shipping options. Maybe you do not offer overnight shipping on your site, but if customers call beforehand, you can work something out. Put these instructions on this page for easy custom shipping. This is another reason I think flat rate shipping works so well. It enables you to have clear and easy to follow shipping policies.

Return Policy – Every once in awhile you are going to get customers who want to return a product. This is normal, and you should plan for it. You need to create a easy to use return policy. Not only does this give the customer added confidence knowing they can return the product if it was not what they wanted, but it also protects you from having to take returns on items which are past their return date. It is important to be a clear as possible. If you offer a 30 day return policy does it start from the date of purchase, or from the date when the customer got the item? Can opened / used items be returned? Where do they mail their returned item to? Who pays for the shipping? Is there any restocking fees?

These are all very important things which need to be addressed in your return policy. Both you and the customer need to be clear on your stores return policy.

Privacy Policy – This is where you let you customers know what your policy is regarding your safekeeping of their private information. Here are some questions to outline:
Will you sell/give their personal information, such as email address to third party vendors?
Is your site secured by an SSL?
Are you going to send them emails from your store using their email addess?
Does your site use tracking cookies?

This is the place to disclose any information regarding the collection and use of your customer’s private information. Always be clear and upfront and you will not run into any problems down the road. To help you, there are some free privacy policy generators out there. Just do a quick search on Google.

FAQ – Another element I like to group in with the policy pages is the FAQ. Every site should have a detailed FAQ section outlining the most common questions. This includes questions about products, shipping, returns, etc… This will greatly reduce back and forth emails between you and potential customers. Provide your customers with all this information up front and you will save yourself a lot of time in the long run.

Policy pages are a very important aspect to you new e-commerce store. Do some research and look at other online stores policy pages. This will give you a clear understanding of how yours should look. Always remember to be clear and detailed. You will thank yourself later.

About the Author: Brennan Heyde is an e-commerce consultant working in San Diego, Ca. He specializes in online marketing and SEO for e-commerce.  Have a struggling e-commerce website? – Contact Brennan today for a site analysis.