Automating order confirmations and acknowledgments

Why the confirmation matters more than it looks

The order confirmation (or acknowledgment) is the first thing a customer sees after they send a purchase order. It tells them you got it, what you'll ship, at what price, and when. On most mid-size order desks it's still typed or checked by hand, one order at a time.

It's also your last cheap chance to catch a mistake. A wrong price or ship date caught at confirmation costs a phone call. Caught at invoicing, it costs a credit memo, a short payment and a frustrated buyer. This guide covers what the research says, how common ERPs send confirmations, and how to automate the checking without letting software make promises for you.

What the benchmarks say

The best data comes from APQC, a nonprofit benchmarking group. Two of its reports are sponsored by Esker, a company that sells order automation software, so read them with that in mind. The numbers are medians from APQC's benchmarking database, not a controlled study.

In its 2023 customer service benchmark (200 organizations), APQC found that the top two uses of customer service time were acknowledging customer orders and responding to order status requests. Each took 14% of the average workweek. Entering orders by hand took another 6%.

Where customer service time goes

Share of customer service time by activity, average workweek. APQC benchmark, 200 organizations, 2023 (Esker-sponsored).

1. Acknowledging customer orders14%
2. Responding to order status requests14%
3. Handling returns, refunds and complaints13%
4. Answering product questions9%
5. Entering customer orders manually6%

Source: APQC, Measuring Customer Service, 2023.

The same report found that order status requests were the second most common reason customers contacted customer service, at 21% of contacts. Only complaints and claims were more common. A clear, fast confirmation with a ship date answers many of those calls before they happen.

An older APQC report from 2018 looked at order accuracy:

• Getting it right the first time. Organizations that measure, track and reward first-time data accuracy on quotes and orders had a median customer order cycle time of 2.0 days. Those that didn't took 9.5 days. Their median cost per order through traditional channels was $10.00, against $16.50.
• Fewer hands on each order. Organizations in the top quartile for orders that needed no human intervention scored 96 on perfect order performance (complete, on time, undamaged, with correct paperwork). The bottom quartile scored 90.
• Why people had to step in. In a 724-organization sample, the issues behind manual sales order interventions were invoicing (25%), pricing (20%), contracts (18%) and incorrect customer master data (15%).

Pricing and customer master data are exactly what a confirmation shows the customer. That's the case for checking them before the confirmation goes out, not after.

Then there's the inbox. Microsoft's Work Trend Index found the average worker receives 117 emails a day, based on Microsoft 365 usage data. "Did you get my order?" emails land on top of that, for your team and for the buyer.

The confirmation is the cheapest error check your order desk has. Most desks use it as a formality.

How your ERP sends confirmations today

Sending isn't the hard part. Most mid-market ERPs can already email a confirmation from the sales order:

• NetSuite. Each customer record can set preferred transaction delivery by print, email, fax or a mix. The Email box pre-checks "To Be Emailed" on that customer's transactions.
• Acumatica. Sales Orders Preferences has a Mailing & Printing tab with predefined customer mailings, including sales orders and shipment confirmations.
• Sage 100. Sales Order Printing with Paperless Office can save forms as PDF and send them by email or fax, based on each customer's delivery options.
• QuickBooks Online. Sales orders need the Plus or Advanced plan, and can be printed or emailed from the sales orders list.

So the button exists. What's missing is the step before it: someone has to compare the customer's PO to the sales order, line by line, and decide whether it's safe to send. That comparison is the slow part, and it's the part worth automating.

EDI customers: the 855

Large customers on EDI often require a purchase order acknowledgment, the X12 855. It answers their 850 purchase order line by line. In X12's own example, each line carries a code: accepted with no changes, accepted with a price change, accepted with a new date, accepted with a lower quantity, substituted, or rejected. SPS Commerce describes it the same way: the status of each item, plus dates, pricing and the PO number.

That line-by-line structure is a good model for every confirmation, even the PDF you email to a customer who will never do EDI. Each line either matches what they asked for, or it shows clearly what changed.

What an automated confirmation should check

Here is the check list we'd build into the draft, before a person sees it:

When everything matches, the person reviewing it clicks approve and it goes out in minutes. When something doesn't, the flag tells them which line and why. That's the difference between automating the send and automating the check.

Where the skeptics have a point

Auto-sending confirmations without review is risky, and not only because of typos. Under UCC section 2-207, a written confirmation sent within a reasonable time can act as an acceptance even if its terms differ. Between merchants, extra terms can become part of the contract unless the offer limits them, they materially change it, or someone objects in time. Ask your attorney how that applies to your terms. The practical point is simple: a confirmation is a promise, so a person should own it.

There are other fair objections. Some customers don't want a confirmation at all, and more email is not always better. And if your price list or customer records are out of date, an automated check will flag everything, which is useful but not fast at first. Cleaning up the worst records is often part of the first month.

Finally, if you only get a few dozen orders a week from a handful of customers, your ERP's built-in email may be all you need. Automating the check pays off when the volume is high, the customers vary, and the mistakes cost real money.

How to start

1. Measure today. For one week, track how long it takes from PO received to confirmation sent, and how many confirmations needed a correction later.
2. Pick the checks. Start with price and ship date. Those cause the most calls.
3. Draft, don't send. Have the software draft each confirmation from the order and flag mismatches. A person approves every one.
4. Send from your ERP. Keep the confirmation tied to the sales order record, using the delivery settings you already have.
5. Measure again. Compare time to confirm, corrections and "where's my order" emails after a month.

Confirmations are a natural next step after automating order entry, because the same software that reads the PO can check the confirmation against it. For how that works on a real order desk, see our order processing build.