ECOMMERCE

Rewrite the returns policy in plain English

Use when your returns policy is legally fine but customers keep asking support what it means.

returns-policy-plain-english.md

Download .md

Rewrite this returns policy so a customer can act on it without contacting support.

Current policy:
{{CURRENT_POLICY_TEXT}}

Jurisdiction and statutory rights that must be preserved: {{JURISDICTION_AND_RIGHTS}}
Actual operational process: {{HOW_RETURNS_ACTUALLY_WORK}}

Produce:
1. THE SHORT VERSION - 5 bullets a customer can read in 15 seconds: window, condition required, who pays postage, how the refund arrives, how long it takes.
2. HOW TO RETURN SOMETHING - numbered steps, one action each.
3. EXCEPTIONS TABLE - Item type | Can it be returned | Why not | What we do instead.
4. FULL POLICY - the complete rewritten text, plain language, headed sections.
5. CHANGE LOG - every place the meaning could have shifted from the original, listed for legal to check.

Rules:
- Do not remove or weaken any statutory right, deadline or obligation in the original.
- Do not add a rule that is not in the original or in the operational process. If the two disagree, list the conflict rather than resolving it.
- Replace passive constructions with who does what.
- Mark anything you are unsure of with [LEGAL CHECK].
- No em dashes.

Fill in before running

Replace each placeholder with your own detail. The more specific you are, the less the model invents.

{{CURRENT_POLICY_TEXT}}
{{JURISDICTION_AND_RIGHTS}}
{{HOW_RETURNS_ACTUALLY_WORK}}

Getting a better result

The change log is what gets this signed off. Without it legal rejects the rewrite unread.
Feed in the real process, not the documented one - most confusion comes from the gap between them.
Publish the short version above the fold and keep the full policy below it on the same page.

Questions about this prompt

When is this better than asking legal to rewrite the policy?

When the policy is legally sound and customers still open tickets asking what it means. A legal rewrite tends to produce something safer and no clearer. This keeps the meaning and changes only the language, which is what makes it possible to get approved rather than sent back for redrafting.

What do I need alongside the current policy text?

The current policy text, the jurisdiction and statutory rights that must survive intact, and how returns actually work in the warehouse. Feed the real process rather than the documented one, as the tips say, because most customer confusion lives in the gap between the two and the prompt will list the conflict for you.

What comes back, and which section gets it approved?

Five bullets a customer can read in fifteen seconds, numbered return steps, an exceptions table, the full rewritten policy and a change log. The change log is what gets the rewrite signed off. Without it legal has to reread everything to find what moved, and usually declines instead.

What is the costliest mistake on a rewrite like this?

Publishing with [LEGAL CHECK] marks still in the text, or tidying away a conflict the output flagged between the written policy and the real process. That conflict is a decision for the business, and settling it in customer-facing copy commits you to whichever side the model happened to choose.