AI COD order confirmation calls before dispatch
Cash-on-delivery orders can be placed on a whim and refused at the door, and you pay shipping both ways. An outbound voice agent calls each COD shopper before dispatch to confirm the order and the address, so only confirmed parcels leave the warehouse.
How do COD order confirmation calls work?
When a cash-on-delivery order comes in, your store sends it to a call list. The voice agent calls the shopper, says which store is calling, reads back the items, total and delivery address, and asks them to confirm. Confirmed orders are marked ready to ship; changes to the address or cancellations are recorded and sent back through a webhook or Zapier. Every call is logged with a transcript.
Who this is for
Where COD confirmation calls make sense
Confirmation calls are most used in markets where cash on delivery is a common way to pay, such as parts of South Asia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and by stores that offer COD as an option elsewhere. If almost all your orders are prepaid by card, the calls add little; address verification for high-value orders may still be worth it.
Worked example
One week of COD orders
These numbers are examples only. Put in your own order and return data.
| Example week | Count |
|---|---|
| COD orders placed | 500 |
| Shoppers reached within two attempts | 400 |
| Confirmed as placed | 370 |
| Cancelled on the call | 30 |
| Of the confirmed, address corrected (landmark, unit, postal code) | 45 |
| Not reached, held and sent a text | 100 |
The 30 cancellations would otherwise have shipped and come back. The 45 corrections reduce failed deliveries. Decide in advance what happens to unreached orders, for example hold for 24 hours and then ship or cancel.
Setup checklist
Connecting calls to your store
- Trigger: send new COD orders to the call list through a webhook or Zapier.
- Script fields: order number, items, amount due on delivery, full address.
- Outcomes: confirmed, cancelled, address changed, not reached; each writes back to a Google Sheet or your order system.
- Languages: set the call language your shoppers use.
- Rules: call only shoppers who agreed to be contacted, at reasonable hours, with a limit on attempts, and name the store at the start. In the US, AI voices count as artificial voices, so prior consent is required; check wording with counsel and follow the rules where you sell.
Cost
Minutes per order
A confirmation call is short, often under a minute when the shopper simply confirms. The Voice AI plan is $299 a month with 1,500 minutes included across inbound and outbound calls, then $35 for each extra 200 minutes. As an example, four weeks like the one above reach 1,600 shoppers: at about 45 seconds each that is 1,200 minutes, and about 1,000 unanswered attempts at 30 seconds add 500, for 1,700 minutes. That is 200 minutes over the included 1,500, so one extra block of 200 minutes: $299 + $35 = $334 for the month.
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Common Questions
COD confirmation call questions
It records the requested change and passes it to your team rather than editing the order itself. Simple confirmations and cancellations are handled on the call; item swaps, discounts and price questions go to staff.
No. The agent does not take payments on the call. If you want to offer prepayment, your team can follow up with a payment link from the system you already use.
Within an hour or two during calling hours works well, while the shopper still remembers ordering. Orders placed late at night are called the next morning.
Yes. Some stores call prepaid orders above a set value, or orders with incomplete addresses, just to confirm the delivery details before dispatch.
Start with order questions or cart follow-up
Start with order status or cart follow-up, then add product recommendations and return FAQs once you can see what shoppers ask.
- Reader-first workflows
- Human handoff when needed
- Grounded in your content