If I were you, I'd immediately reframe the entire returns process as my most valuable channel for customer research. The first concrete thing I'd do is redesign my returns portal to capture not just a generic reason, but specific, granular feedback with a mandatory open-text box asking, “What could we have done better?”
I’d start there because the people returning products are your most motivated and honest focus group. They cared enough to buy, and now they have a strong enough opinion to send it back. Their feedback is gold. As Kunle Campbell often points out on his 2X eCommerce Podcast, you're sitting on a goldmine of feedback that can make the difference between a good product and a bestseller. This feedback points directly to the friction in your product or, just as often, in your marketing.
In week one, I would personally read and manually categorize every single return submission. I’d use a simple spreadsheet or tagging system to look for themes: size and fit issues, product not matching the description or photo, damaged in transit, or simply not what they expected. This is about establishing a qualitative baseline.
By month one, I’d have a clear picture of the biggest problem. If the top reason is