Most stores with a returns problem already have a size chart. The problem is almost never the numbers in it.
When a merchant tells us sizing returns are hurting them, our first question is not what is in the chart. It is where the chart is. In most cases the answer is a link under the product description, three scrolls below the add-to-cart button, in the same grey as the shipping copy.
That chart is not doing nothing. It is doing almost nothing, which is harder to notice, because it looks like a solved problem on the page.
The chart competes with a decision already made
A shopper picks a size before they think about sizing. They see S, M, L in a row, they know they are usually a medium, and they select medium. The size chart only matters in the two seconds where they hesitate, and those two seconds happen next to the size selector, not below the fold.
Move the chart into that moment and its usage changes completely. Not because the chart improved, but because it turned up while the question was still open.
Three placements, in order of how often they get used
- Next to the size selector. An inline link or icon right where the shopper is already looking. This is the one that changes numbers.
- A floating icon. Persistent, catches shoppers mid-scroll, works well on mobile where the size selector may be off screen.
- A tab or section in the product description. Fine as a backstop, close to useless as a primary placement.
Clean Size Charts supports all three, and you can run more than one. If your theme is on Online Store 2.0 you place them in the theme editor with a block; older themes take a one-line snippet.
How to tell which situation you are in
Look at chart impressions against product page views. If a small fraction of people viewing the product ever open the chart, you do not have a chart quality problem. You have a placement problem, and no amount of adding rows to the table will fix it.
This matters doubly if you run the AI recommender, because the recommender opens from inside the size chart popup. A buried chart means a buried recommender: the feature you are paying for never gets seen.
The chart cannot answer a question the shopper never got around to asking.
What to do this week
Add an inline link beside the size selector on your best-selling product. Leave everything else alone. Give it two weeks, then compare impressions and the return rate on that product against the rest of the catalog. One variable, one product, a real answer.