Return reasons and platform reason mapping: standard reasons, the unmapped list and adding a mapping

Three things stay separate on every return line — the platform’s original reason text, your standard reason, and the customer’s own words. This article explains the standard list, how platform reasons find their match, and how to clear the unmapped list in minutes.

Every platform names return reasons differently — one calls it “wrong size”, another sends a code, a third sends free text. If those raw labels flowed straight into your reports, “why do customers return?” would be unanswerable. So Docklify keeps one shared standard reason list, translates platform labels into it through mappings, and always keeps the platform’s original wording on the line for evidence. Nothing the platform said is ever overwritten.

The standard reason list: groups on top, specifics below#

1. Open Master Data → Reason codes and filter to the return category. Reasons come in two levels: a group (for example “Size & fit”) and the specific reasons under it (“Too small”, “Too large”). Groups exist for reporting and browsing; they are never a line answer.
2. When your team creates a return by hand, the reason picker on each line only offers the specific reasons — a return line cannot be saved with a group. If nothing fits, “Other” is always available, with the customer’s words written next to it.
3. Rename a reason and the rename follows it everywhere (open returns included), so reports stay consistent over time. Disabling a reason keeps history intact — it just stops being offered for new returns.

How a platform reason finds its standard match#

1. A mapping has four parts: where the return came from (source), which connection it came through (provider), the platform’s raw reason exactly as sent, and your standard reason. All four together decide the match — the same raw code from two platforms can map to two different standard reasons.
2. When a return arrives with a mapped reason, the line quietly gets the standard reason, and the platform’s original stays visible on the line and the detail page.
3. When it has never been seen, nothing breaks: the line is filed under “Other”, the platform’s wording is kept, and the label starts counting how often it shows up — ready for you in the unmapped list.

Clear the unmapped list#

1. Two doors lead to the same list: Master Data → Reason codes → the “Unmapped platform reasons” tab, or OMS → Settings → Return routing (/oms/settings/returns), where the same list is embedded. It is ordered by how often each label has arrived, so the top rows are the ones worth fixing first.
2. The returns list and each detail page also flag orders that still carry an unmapped reason (“Reason to map”), so you can jump from a real order straight to fixing its label.
3. On a row, pick the standard reason it should mean and save. That is the whole job: from then on, every new return carrying that label — from that source and connection — gets the standard reason automatically.
4. One honest caveat: returns that already landed stay as they are — their lines keep “Other” plus the platform wording, they are not rewritten. In reports, read the period before and after a mapping fix as two segments; the platform wording on old lines is always there if you need the detail.

Docklify features used in this article#

• Standard return reasons (two levels: groups and specifics) — Master Data → Reason codes (category: return)
• Unmapped platform reasons list and one-step mapping — Master Data → Reason codes → “Unmapped platform reasons” tab
• The same unmapped list embedded in routing settings — OMS → Settings → Return routing (/oms/settings/returns)
• “Reason to map” flag on the returns list and the reason columns on each return line — OMS → Returns (/oms/rma) → open an order