COD order confirmation

Asks every customer who chose cash on delivery to confirm their order before you ship it. They tap Confirm Order or Cancel Order, and the answer is tagged on the order in Shopify.

Cash on delivery orders are the ones most often refused at the door, and a refused parcel costs you shipping both ways. A customer who confirms on WhatsApp has told you they still want it. A customer who cancels has saved you a wasted shipment.

The four messages

COD confirmation is four messages that work together.

flowchart TD
    O["COD order placed"] --> C["COD Order Confirmation<br/>Confirm Order / Cancel Order"]
    C -->|"No answer in 3 hours"| F["COD Order Follow-Up Status<br/>Confirm Order / Cancel Order"]
    C -->|"Confirm Order"| Y["COD Order Confirm Status"]
    C -->|"Cancel Order"| N["COD Order Cancel Status"]
    F -->|"Confirm Order"| Y
    F -->|"Cancel Order"| N
    Y --> T1["Order tagged as confirmed in Shopify"]
    N --> T2["Order tagged as cancelled in Shopify"]

Set it up

Turn them on in this order, because each depends on the ones before it.

1. COD Order Confirmation.
2. COD Order Confirm Status and COD Order Cancel Status. Both need the confirmation message on.
3. COD Order Follow-Up Status. It needs both status messages on.

For each:

1. Go to Ecomm+ → Confirmation Flow.
2. Click the pencil icon on the message.

3. Pick an approved template, or submit a new one, and map its variables.

4. Turn it on.

The templates

COD Order Confirmation and COD Order Follow-Up Status

Both need exactly two quick reply buttons, in this order:

1. Confirm Order
2. Cancel Order

The order matters. If the buttons are not in this order, with this wording, the confirm and cancel messages do not trigger.

Hi {{1}},

Thank you for your order {{2}}.

Items: {{3}}
Total: ₹{{4}}
Payment: Cash on delivery

Please confirm your order so we can ship it. Thank you for shopping with us.

The follow-up uses the same variables and buttons. Word it as a gentle second ask: "We have not heard back about your order {{2}} yet."

COD Order Confirm Status and COD Order Cancel Status

These are replies to the customer's tap, so they need no buttons. Confirm Status thanks them and says the order is being prepared. Cancel Status confirms the cancellation, with the order number and items so there is no doubt which order it was.

How it is measured

When a customer taps a button, their order in Shopify is tagged as confirmed or cancelled. Filter your Shopify orders by those tags to see how many COD orders were confirmed, how many were cancelled, and how many never answered.

When to use it

Turn it on if you offer cash on delivery at all. It is the cheapest protection you have against refused parcels.

Ship confirmed orders first. A customer who confirmed has told you they still want the parcel. Orders with no answer are the risky ones.

Decide what you do with silence. Some customers never reply, even after the follow-up. Many stores call them before shipping. Some ship anyway. Choose a rule, because the tags tell you exactly which orders it applies to.

Keep it short. The customer should see what they ordered, what it costs, and two buttons. Anything more, such as an offer, pushes the template into Marketing, and then it stops reaching customers who opted out.

Pair it with COD to prepaid. Once a customer confirms, you can offer them the chance to pay online now. See COD to prepaid.