Midigator, a company specializing in the automation and streamlining of chargeback analysis and mitigation, released a report sharing new data about why customers initiate chargebacks. The report, entitled “The Consumer Confesisonal”, surveyed over 2,000 consumers in the United States about the specific reasons they decided to dispute a charge on their credit card.
“Data from the latest Midigator report, “The Consumer Confessional,” shatters several long-believed assumptions about chargebacks,” the company said in a press release about the report. “Thousands of U.S. consumers gave honest feedback about why they dispute purchases and what businesses can do to prevent chargebacks from happening.”
The results showed that many consumers initiate chargebacks only after reaching out to merchants for help with a problem. When the merchant fails to meet the customer’s expectation, they take matters into their own hands by filing a dispute. This highlights the fact that while eCommerce fraud prevention is important, businesses must also think of customer support as a chargeback prevention method.
“This insight gives a fresh perspective on previously-formed assumptions that are nearly a decade old. Contrary to what was commonly believed, consumers do reach out to businesses when they have concerns. However, businesses are failing to solve their customers’ problems,” the press release said.
Examples of where merchants can do better include being charged up front for back-ordered items, failing to refund cancelled purchases, and double charging consumers. Moreover, the report states that more than 66.67% of consumers reported reaching out to merchants first — only to find them non-responsive before turning to chargebacks as a last resort.
To help merchants avoid these kinds of self-inflicted chargebacks, the report also shares some customer service best practices merchants can follow including being responsive to emails, keeping call center wait times low, and fulfilling refund requests as quickly as possible.
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