BlogRobo calls for COD order confirmation is a smart, efficient, and scalable solution to the increasing menace of RTOs in eCommerce. While business works to optimize logistics, reduce waste and enhance customer journey, this technology is fundamental to businesses’ operational toolkit.
Businesses are turning to Robo Calls, why?
In emerging markets, particularly across South Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa, COD (Cash On Delivery) remains the trusted payment method among online shoppers. At times, COD presents serious challenges for e-commerce businesses. However, it is convenient for consumers who may not be comfortable with digital transactions or credit cards.
The problem and the most pressing issue is the high rate of Return; the orders coming back to origin; the orders that are shipped but never accepted or paid for by customers. The orders coming back leads to significant losses, operational delays and wastage of logistic resources. Moreover, prank and fakes orders all contributes highly to this problem. In addition to this, industry reports estimates that RTP rates for COD orders can range over 20% to 40%; depending on the region and industry.
To get rid of this issue, businesses are turning to Robo calls for COD order confirmation; an automated, scalable and highly effective solution that verifies the authenticity of orders before dispatch. In this article, we will explore how robo calls work, their benefits and why are important for e-commerce operations.
Robo Calls, automated voice calls or IVR (Interactive Voice Response) are pre-recorded phone calls made by a system, rather than a human operator. For e-commerce businesses; verifying that the customer genuinely intends to accept and pay for a COD order. Once a COD order is placed on a website; a robo call is automatically initiated to the customer’s registered phone number.
For instance:
“Thank you for placing your order with Naheed worth 8000. This is a Cash on Delivery order. To confirm this order, press 1. To cancel, press 2.”
The customer’s response is then recorded and integrated into the order management system (OMS). If the customer confirms, the order proceeds to the fulfillment stage. If they cancel or do not respond, the order can be flagged for manual review or automatically cancelled, depending on business rules.
Unlike prepaid orders, COD orders comes with no commitment from the customer. Following are the reasons, why:
Shipping these unverified orders results in a double loss — the cost of forward logistics and the cost of returning the undelivered package. Additionally, repeated delivery failures negatively impact the brand’s reputation and customer trust.
Robo calls provide a simple and low-cost way to verify customer intent before dispatch, which reduces the risk of returns.
Here’s a typical flow of a robo call-based COD confirmation system:
A customer places a COD order on your eCommerce platform.
The system automatically triggers a robo call using a telecom API or integration.
The customer receives a pre-recorded voice call, in their preferred language if needed.
The system requests input:
“Press 1 to confirm your order.” “Press 2 to cancel your order.” “Press 3 to speak with an agent.”
The customer’s input is recorded and synced with the order management system in real-time.
If confirmed: Order is marked “Verified” and moved to fulfillment.
Orders cannot be shipped unless confirmed by the customer which causes a dramatic reduction in the ruined deliveries and defrayals of reverse logistics.
Removes the necessity of the manual calling and checking of every order by the human agents. The system can support thousands of calls at any one given time, 24/7.
The clients are assured and have more security knowing that their order is confirmed and followed. It also creates a communication level and transparency.
Robo calls help to flag recurring offenders; prank orders or bulk orders from suspicious sources.
The amount of money spent on robo call is much cheaper than shipping costs of return logistics for failed order, forward shipping cost combined.
Voice calls can be tailored in various regional languages in order to make them accessible and increase the customer response rates.
Although the robo calls are primarily used in the general eCommerce, they’re very convenient in:
In order to reconfirm last minute order before dispatch.
For the products that are sensitive and have high delivery guarantee needed.
In places where failed deliveries may lead to significant losses because of their size and complication of return.
With high COD volume and an enormous number of returns.
To this end, when choosing a provider for robo call services, this should be factored:
Integration Capability: Must be able to integrate with your present order management system, ERP or CRM.
Scalability: Is it capable of high volumes in peak seasons?
Reporting and Analytics: Refined logs, success rate of calls, and confirmation ratios.
Multilingual Support: Adaptability in personalizing the calls depending on the location or language.
Retry Logic: Ability to re-tried unsuccessful or missed calls.
Robo calls for COD order confirmation is a smart, efficient, and scalable solution to the increasing menace of RTOs in eCommerce. While business works to optimize logistics, reduce waste and enhance customer journey, this technology is fundamental to businesses’ operational toolkit.
It will take minimal investment with maximum returns for you to be able to integrate robo calls, and this can significantly increase your COD order success rate.
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