Cash On Delivery (COD) is a very popular and convenient payment method among online shoppers as it reduces the anxiety around purchases, which is a great advantage for E-commerce store owners who are looking to gain the trust of their shoppers.
However, a major drawback seen in COD is it’s a leading source of operational losses due to Cancellations, where in many cases customers accidentally order an item and then cancel it as well as Fake orders when someone tries purchasing items by providing an invalid phone number.
This article will show you how the newly launched Cash On Delivery verification feature on the WATI Shopify app will help solve cancellations and fake orders.
How does Cash On Delivery Order Verification work?
When an order is placed by the customer using COD as the payment method. A Whatsapp message with a confirm button & cancellation link (as shown below) will be sent to the customer’s given phone number.
Once the order is confirmed or canceled by the customer via the Whatsapp Message, the Shopify store owner can verify the status of the COD order from the orders tab in “Shopify Admin Dashboard”.
By enabling Cash On Delivery Verification Message you can:
> Come to know that your customer has given an invalid phone number and thereby segment out fake orders.
> Give your customers the option to cancel if they accidentally placed an order.
> Avoid calling your customers via phone to confirm their orders.
Setup Cash On Delivery Verification Message on the WATI Shopify app
- Install the WATI Shopify app – Visit the WATI Shopify App store to install the Shopify app or Sign Up for a WATI account and integrate the store via the WATI dashboard.
- Once the app is installed, Go to the App dashboard and select the menu Cash On Delivery as shown below.
- When Cash On Delivery is selected the Message Setup page is displayed as shown below. This is where you can enable the COD verification message template and configure message settings such as:
a. Choose countries to send COD order verification messages.
b. Include the ordered product image in a verification message.
c. Activate follow-up COD verification message.
d. Setup order tags.
e. Configure cancellation status rules.
Once the message is configured click the save changes button and that’s all, now the COD verification message would be activated on your Shopify store.
Note: * WATI paid plan users would be able to create their own custom COD verification message template*.
- When a customer receives the verification message and clicks the confirm button the tag status (as shown below) will get updated and thereby store owners can keep track of the status of COD orders.
Similarly when a customer clicks the cancellation link or neither confirms nor cancels the order, the canceled tag or in the later case unconfirmed tag will get added accordingly.