Writing an order con­firm­a­tion: what is it and how do I draw one up?

Once a customer has placed an order with you, you should prepare a written order con­firm­a­tion. This lets the customer know that their order has been accepted and is being processed. All busi­nesses and self-employed persons who generate income from dis­patch­ing goods and/or services need to be very familiar with the pre­par­a­tion of an order con­firm­a­tion. This article will outline what such a document should look like and which details it should contain, as well as several other factors that should be con­sidered when writing one.

An order con­firm­a­tion is usually preceded by a purchase order sent from the buyer to the supplier. To put it simply, an order con­firm­a­tion is a way of com­mu­nic­at­ing that an order has been accepted. It is used to ensure the customer that you will deliver the product and/or service under the con­di­tions that had already been set out. This is binding — as soon as the order con­firm­a­tion has been written and sent to the customer, you are then legally bound to complete the order.

In many cases, the supplier is not required to provide their customers with an order con­firm­a­tion. However, it is re­com­men­ded that you do create one for each order: this makes it clear for all parties involved exactly what con­di­tions have been agreed. If it so happens that a conflict arises, then this document can easily clarify which party has failed to follow through on their side of the deal. This is es­pe­cially important if it’s the case that the details of an order have only been agreed to orally. This way the con­di­tions that were agreed upon are guar­an­teed in writing.

While it is re­com­men­ded that sending an order con­firm­a­tion is always a good idea, there are certain cases when it def­in­itely shouldn’t be avoided. These include:

• If the customer has placed an order without having received a cor­res­pond­ing offer be­fore­hand.

• If you had made a non-binding agreement be­fore­hand, perhaps in relation to the price or time/manner of delivery (e.g., using terms like ‘non-binding,' ‘price subject to change,’ etc.). In this case you need to specify or outline the exact terms of the offer by for­mu­lat­ing an order con­firm­a­tion.

• If there is a change relating to the details of what was pre­vi­ously ordered (e.g. the price, quantity, etc.)

• If you have made the customer several different offers

• If the customer responds to an offer too late and hasn’t noticed that it has already expired. 

It is es­pe­cially the case with new customers that it is re­com­men­ded that you confirm an order in writing. This means any potential mis­un­der­stand­ings can be avoided, and it also demon­strates to them that they are dealing with a pro­fes­sion­al sales or­gan­isa­tion.

When it comes to the content and structure of an order con­firm­a­tion, there are several aspects that it has in common with a purchase order, both documents being very similar, after all. When an offer is made that the customer accepts, then it is often the case that the written offer is given an audit cer­ti­fic­ate and sent again to the customer — as opposed to writing a whole new order con­firm­a­tion. The preceding written offer also makes for a suitable order con­firm­a­tion template. However, there are some dif­fer­ences between the two that you should take note of.  The sim­il­ar­it­ies between an offer and an order con­firm­a­tion are clear, among other things, in the form­al­it­ies of the two documents. As with an offer, the logo, name and address of the company, as well as that of the customer (including the contact person) should all appear at the head of the document. The only dif­fer­ence is that next to the date and customer number, instead of the offer number, you write the order con­firm­a­tion number (or even the invoice number), and not the offer number. The date that the customer made the order should also be included, either in the heading or in the main text of the order con­firm­a­tion. Bear in mind that if the order has been made as a result of an offer being accepted, you should include a reference to the previous offer — this can be done by including the offer number. This is an ideal way of referring back to the pre­vi­ously discussed services and con­di­tions. The biggest dif­fer­ence between an offer and an order con­firm­a­tion becomes obvious in the main body of the document. When con­firm­ing an order, there is ab­so­lutely no need to use any marketing tech­niques; at this stage, the customer is convinced of your business’ cap­ab­il­it­ies and trusts you enough to make an order. This means that the size of the text is seriously decreased. Fur­ther­more, the content of the document should be short, precise, and for­mu­lated without the use of technical language. You often thank the customer for placing the order, followed by listing the products and/or services agreed on, as well as relevant in­form­a­tion, such as the de­scrip­tion, quantity, or price of those products/services. In general, you should make sure that your order con­firm­a­tion contains the following in­form­a­tion (assuming that they are relevant to the order):

• The offer, customer, and con­firm­a­tion/invoice number

• De­scrip­tion and name of the goods and/or services

• Quantity and price of the goods and/or services

• In­form­a­tion on the delivery and/or the execution of the service

• Payment and delivery con­di­tions

• Packaging and postage costs

• Details on pro­pri­et­ary rights, rights of use, and delivery location

• Reference to the general terms and con­di­tions, and the area of jur­is­dic­tion

In our digital guide, you can find a free order con­firm­a­tion template, that you can per­son­al­isze and edit free of charge. This design will save you from having to spend time format­ting and also offers various sug­ges­tions when it comes to for­mu­lat­ing the main body of the text. The template is suitable for Microsoft Excel and Word.

Another issue of im­port­ance is the time frame in which the order con­firm­a­tion is sent to the customer. Once the customer has confirmed the purchase, the order con­firm­a­tion should be prepared as quickly as possible. Ideally, it should be dis­patched within the same working day. It should def­in­itely take no longer than three days for the con­firm­a­tion to be received by the customer. Keep in mind that the earlier this happens, the more pro­fes­sion­al your business will appear.

On occasion it’s the case that staff shortages or various other short­com­ings may lead to the method of delivery agreed upon, or certain service, or the envisaged delivery period, no longer being possible. Even if this seems highly unlikely, it may still be possible that an order con­firm­a­tion differs from an offer pre­vi­ously submitted to the customer. This signals a can­cel­la­tion of the contract that had pre­vi­ously been offered.

Given that order con­firm­a­tions are seen as sales documents, it is required of you to retain them for a certain amount of time. In the UK you are legally required to keep such documents for a minimum of 6 years.

So when it comes to con­firm­ing an order there are certainly quite a few things that you need to be aware of. No details being missing from the document is of the utmost im­port­ance to you and the consumer. Make sure that everything is complete, precise and in the right order. This then means that if a conflict arises between you and the customer relating to the agreed on products/services, you can then refer back to the in­form­a­tion outlined in the order con­firm­a­tion as this then acts as proof of the original agreement.

Please note the legal dis­claim­er relating to this article.