Great Size Guide content reduces return rates and increase conversion rates

It’s the little things that elevate online retail experiences! Let's have a look at the impacts of great Size Guide Content.

The return rates for online apparel retail so far in 2025 are averaging 25%. And the research predicts return rates will climb to over 30% for this Black Friday and Christmas season. By way of comparison, offline apparel return rates are consistently in the 8–10% range.

In Europe, the form-fitting outfits such as jumpsuits and dresses have a return rate of 50%!

The purpose of the size guide content is to help consumers build confidence and reduce buying risk. Think of size guide content as a part of a retailer's conversion rate optimisation strategy.

AI Calculators Can Help:

AI-powered sizing calculators can reduce returns, but they must deliver seamless mobile experiences. And this remains hit and miss.

Before you consider the AI option, there are proven content activities that will reduce return rates and increase conversion rates.

Size Guide Storytelling - the basics:

There is a series of "basics" that must be part of size guide tables. There are five minimum requirements...

1. Include both conventional (S, M, L) and numeric sizing information.

2. Provide garment measurements in inches and centimetres.

3. Include coverage of key areas such as bust, waist, hips, inseam, shoulder width, and sleeve length.

4. Include international size conversions. You will have consumers who know their European sizes.

5. Match each product type with a dedicated sizing chart, rather than relying on one generic guide across multiple apparel categories.

Fit and Measurement Assurances:

There is another level of sizing storytelling that will build additional consumer confidence. There are four...

1. Teach people how to measure themselves and how to use your sizing content to make the proper selection confidently. This can be video, imagery, or copy.

2. Add fit descriptors in the size guides (“fitted,” “loose,” “relaxed”). These can take the form of extra comments on product pages and/or appear as descriptors in the sizing table.

3. Highlight fabric properties (stretch, rigidity). This is commonly missed and is a big help to people.

4. Provide the measurements of the models wearing the garment and the size he/she is wearing. This is an older tactic that has been perfected by popular retailers like ASOS, but is now commonly forgotten.

New Sizing Content:

1. Create “Learn Your Size” CMS pages and feature this content on the homepage. This is a dedicated content journey where consumers can interact with larger versions of the sizing tables. Research proves consumers interact with this content BEFORE viewing products. And by placing this on CMS pages, it's far simpler to interact with on mobile screens.

Also, if you have content that teaches people how to use your sizing content (see above), the best place for it is on CMS pages.

2. On product pages, feature customer review content that calls out fit accuracy and/or provide sizing advice (“fits true to size,” “runs small”).

Size Guide Content and Agentic Commerce:

Size guide content significantly improves agentic commerce by making product data more understandable for AI-driven shopping agents, leading to lower return rates and higher conversion through enhanced customer confidence and better personalisation.

Well-structured size guides ensure product details (such as measurements and fit advice) are machine-readable, enabling shopping agents to parse the data accurately and recommend optimal choices to consumers.

AI agents, like ChatGPT, utilise size guide content to match customer preferences, historical data, and real-time purchase behaviour to recommend the best-fitting products, thereby reducing the likelihood of incorrect purchases and subsequent returns.

In short, all the effort you put into creating great size-guide stories helps your business now and in the future.

None of this effort is wasted.

Given the impact that size guide experiences have on your customers and your business, this function is strategic. So treat it as such. You get this right, and you have unlocked an opportunity!