Customer Service Checklist

Shift-level customer service workflow for store associates and shift leads, covering greeting, fitting-room assistance, checkout, returns, and post-sale follow-up. Built for specialty retail and small-chain stores running on Lightspeed, ...

Use this workflow
1

Greeting and Floor Approach

  1. Greet customers within 10 seconds of entry
  2. Log the door-counter reading at shift start
  3. Open with a product-specific qualifying question

    • Avoid the closed "can I help you?" — it gets a reflex "just looking." Use an open question tied to current floor sets: "Are you shopping the new fall arrivals or did you come in for something specific?" This is what drives conversion rate, not friendliness alone.

  4. Hand off waiting customers to a free associate

    • If you are mid-transaction or mid-fitting-room and another customer enters, acknowledge them by name or eye contact and signal a free associate over the headset. Customers who stand unacknowledged for 60+ seconds account for a measurable share of walk-outs.

2

Fitting Room and Sales Floor Assistance

  1. Check stockroom and on-order before saying "we're out"

    • Pull on-hand, on-PO, and in-transit in the POS (Lightspeed, Shopify POS, NCR Counterpoint) before telling a customer the SKU is unavailable. "We're out" when the stockroom has 3 in a sealed carton is the most common avoidable lost sale.

  2. Offer a sister-store transfer or ship-to-home

    • If your store is out, check the OMS for nearest-store availability and offer either a transfer-hold or ship-from-store. Capture the customer's email at the register so the system fires the in-stock notification when the SKU returns.

    Collects list Collects email
  3. Walk fitting rooms every 15 minutes

    • Knock, ask how the fit is, and offer the next size or a coordinating piece. Empty hangers in unattended rooms are the highest-shrink corner of the store — fitting-room sweeps are loss-prevention as much as service.

  4. Initiate a transfer-hold for an out-of-stock SKU

    • In the OMS, place a 48-hour hold at the source store and email the customer the pickup details. Confirm the customer's preferred store and ETA before submitting.

3

Checkout Execution

  1. Verify EAS tags are deactivated or removed

    • Pass each item over the deactivator pad and visually confirm hard tags are removed. A live sensor leaving the store triggers gates at the next retailer and creates an angry customer call. Post-checkout sweep of the bag is the backstop.

  2. Prompt for loyalty lookup before tendering

    • Ask for phone or email at the start of the transaction, not after tender. Lookup post-tender means the points don't post and you owe a manual adjustment later. UPT and ATV both lift measurably when loyalty is captured pre-tender.

  3. Run age verification on restricted SKUs

    • The POS prompt for DOB on alcohol, tobacco (21+ federal), or other state-restricted product is mandatory on every sale, including regulars. State ABC and FDA compliance checks fine the store on a single missed card; "I know them" is not a defense.

    Collects list
  4. Tender, bag, and hand off the receipt

    • Confirm chip-and-PIN or contactless captured on the first tap; manual key entry is a PCI red flag and a fraud signal. Hand the receipt directly to the customer with the bag, and mention the return window posted on the receipt.

4

Returns and Complaint Handling

  1. Pull the original transaction in the POS

    • Look up the receipt by card, loyalty number, or transaction ID before opening a return. Returns processed without a linked original are a top refund-fraud vector and skew shrink reporting.

  2. Classify the return reason
    Collects list
  3. Get manager approval on returns over $50

    • Per policy, any refund over $50, any no-receipt return, or any return outside the posted window requires shift-lead override at the register. Sweethearting and refund fraud hide in solo high-dollar refunds — the override exists for the audit trail.

    Collects signature
  4. Tag defective items for RTV processing

    • Defective returns go to the RTV bin with a tag noting SKU, return date, and defect description — not back to the sales floor. Stockroom processes RTVs against the vendor agreement weekly; loose defectives in the stockroom become write-offs.

  5. Document the service complaint for the manager log

    • Capture what the customer said, what was offered, and what they accepted. Service complaints rolled up weekly surface trends — a recurring vendor defect, a training gap, a fitting-room signage issue — that single incidents hide.

    Collects paragraph Collects text
5

Post-Sale Follow-Up

  1. Send the post-purchase NPS survey

    • Trigger the Klaviyo or Yotpo survey 48 hours after purchase. Earlier than that and the item hasn't been worn or used; later than a week and recall fades. Survey responses feed the weekly customer-service review.

  2. Enroll the customer in the loyalty program

    • If loyalty wasn't captured at checkout, the post-purchase email includes a one-click enroll link. Don't double-charge the customer for the welcome offer if they're already enrolled — the platform suppresses duplicates only if you matched the email at checkout.

  3. Review weekly NPS and complaint trends

    • Store manager pulls the weekly NPS dashboard and the complaint log every Monday. Look for a single SKU driving multiple defective returns, a single associate driving multiple low scores, or a fitting-room/floor pattern. Action items go to the Tuesday team huddle.