Step 1: write the exchange-first rule as policy
The first step is for the owner to write the exchange-first rule into the returns policy in Setup, because it is a policy decision and not a support tactic. The rule says that on an eligible return the store offers an exchange or store credit before processing a refund, that the refund remains available on request, and that the offer is made once, plainly, without conditions. It names who may apply it, which is every agent and the Order Support FTE, and it names the categories it covers, which is the next step.
Writing it down is what makes it consistent. A rule applied by one agent and not another is a lottery, and customers compare notes.
Step 2: decide the categories and the reasons it applies to
The second step is to decide where the rule applies. Exchanges make sense for fit and size, for a colour or variant the customer would have chosen, and for a change of mind where the customer still wants something from the store. They make less sense for a damaged item, where the store's damaged-item rule usually replaces without a return, and no sense at all for a product the customer disliked outright, where an offer looks like a refusal to listen. The rule lists the categories and the return reasons it covers, and the Order Support FTE applies it only there.
Store credit belongs in the list as a second option where an exchange does not fit, with the terms stated: whether it expires, and whether it can be combined with a discount.
Step 3: draft the reply so the refund is never hidden
The third step is the reply itself, and its shape matters more than its wording. It confirms the return is inside the window, offers the exchange with what the customer would receive and when it would ship, states in the same message that a refund to the original payment method is available instead if they prefer, and includes the return label either way. It does not ask the customer to justify the refund, does not make the exchange a condition of anything, and does not send a second message pushing the exchange if the customer chooses the refund.
The Order Support FTE drafts this reply from the policy text, in the store's voice, and at Level 0 every one waits in Approvals so the owner can see the shape before it earns autonomy.
Step 4: ship the replacement before the return where the rule allows
The fourth step is speed, because an exchange that makes the customer wait for the old item to arrive and be checked is slower than a refund and loses on that alone. Where the rule allows it, for customers with no prior claims and for order values inside a limit the owner sets, the replacement ships when the customer accepts the exchange, and the return follows. The Order Support FTE checks the claim history and the limit before it offers the immediate ship, and offers the slower version otherwise, stated plainly.
The limit here is the same kind of hard limit as the refund limit: the FTE cannot ship a replacement above it without a person, and the owner sets it in Setup.
Step 5: log the choice on every ticket
The fifth step is logging. Every eligible return ticket records whether the exchange was offered, which option the customer chose, and the value of each, on the ticket in the help desk. This is what makes the exchange share a measured number: exchanges chosen divided by eligible returns, by category, by month. The Order Support FTE logs it automatically and the owner sees it in the Performance tab without a spreadsheet.
The log also protects the customer. A return where the exchange was pushed twice, or where the refund was not mentioned, would be visible in the record, which is one reason the rule is written the way it is.
Step 6: measure the share and revise the categories
The sixth step is the monthly review. The Order Support FTE reports the exchange share by category and reason, the value retained, and the categories where the offer is rarely taken. A category where almost nobody takes the exchange is one where the offer is probably unwelcome, and the owner removes it from the rule; a category where most do is one where shipping the replacement faster would retain more. The review proposes both kinds of change, and the owner decides.
What done looks like: a written rule, applied on every eligible return, with the refund always stated, the choice always logged, and a share the owner can read as a count. Not a target for agents to hit by pressure, which is the version of this playbook that loses customers.