Confirming an Order by Phone: the Call Script That Cuts Refused Parcels (Cash on Delivery)

Confirming an order means calling the customer before shipping to check they really want the product, at that address, at that price. With cash on delivery, it is the most profitable task of the day: every refused parcel costs a round trip and the ad spend that brought in the order.

In short: call within the hour, in two minutes: introduction, product and total price, address with a landmark, precise window, amount to have ready. No answer: three attempts and a WhatsApp message, then cancel. Never ship an unconfirmed order.

Why confirm every order?

Published estimates put refusals at about 30% of parcels in Tunisia (Tayara.tn, via Tunisie Numérique, 2025). Every refusal costs twice:

What a refusal costs	Why
The parcel’s round trip	The carrier charges delivery and return
The ad spend behind the order	It paid for a sale that never arrives
Tied-up stock	The product travels for days instead of being sold

Confirmation works before shipping, when a mistake still costs nothing: wrong size, incomplete address, impulse order, fake number.

When should you call?

Within the hour after the order. The customer still has the purchase in mind and the phone in hand. The next day, they have sometimes forgotten, changed their mind or bought elsewhere.

Situation	What to do
Order received during the day	Call within the hour
Order received in the evening	Call the next morning, before 11 am
No answer	3 attempts at different times, a WhatsApp message in between
Still unreachable after 24 h	Cancel, do not ship

The call script, step by step

Two minutes, six steps. The darija lines are what most Tunisian sellers say; adapt them to your tone.

1. Introduce yourself (10 s). “Aslema, m3ak [first name] men [store name].” (Hello, this is [first name] from [store].)
2. Read back the order (20 s). “3malt commande 3la [product], couleur [x], taille [y], s7i7?” (You ordered [product], colour [x], size [y], is that right?)
3. State the total price (15 s). “El total [amount] dinars, el livraison m3aha.” (The total is [amount] dinars, delivery included.) The total, not the product price: a surprise on the amount is what makes people refuse.
4. Check the address with a landmark (30 s). “L’adresse [address], 9rib men chnoua bech yal9ak el livreur?” (Near what, so the courier finds you?)
5. Give a precise window (15 s). “Twosslek ghodwa ou ba3d ghodwa, el livreur y3ayetlek 9bal.” (Delivery tomorrow or the day after, the courier will call you first.)
6. Ask them to have the amount ready, and thank them (10 s). “7adher [amount] dinars, w ya3tik essa7a.” (Please have [amount] dinars ready, and thank you.)

Record the outcome in the order: confirmed, call back, or refused with the reason. The reason is useful: many “size” refusals point to a product page to fix, many “price” refusals to a badly shown total.

The WhatsApp message when the customer does not answer

Send it between the first and second attempt:

Aslema [first name], m3ak [store]. 3malt commande 3la [product] ([size], [colour]) b [amount] dinars livraison m3aha. Bech nconfirmiwha, ab3athelna “OK” walla 3ayetelna 3la [number]. Ya3tik essa7a!

(Hello [first name], this is [store]. You ordered [product] for [amount] dinars including delivery. To confirm it, reply “OK” or call us on [number]. Thank you!)

A written reply counts as confirmation and leaves a record in case of dispute.

The signs that announce a refusal

Sign	What to do
Number never reachable	Do not ship without written confirmation
Vague address (“town centre”, no landmark)	Ask for a landmark or a WhatsApp location
Hesitation on size or price	Go over the product page with the customer, or offer an exchange
Several orders of the same product under different names	Check before shipping: often a fake order
Customer reported for refusals by other sellers	Ask for a deposit or written confirmation

In Yalla Souk, every order keeps its call attempts, scheduled callback and refusal reason, a reliability card flags customers already reported by other sellers, and anti-fraud rules block or hold suspicious orders before the call.

How much does confirmation earn you?

Confirmation acts on two rates: the share of received orders that are confirmed, and the share of shipped parcels that are delivered. Example for 75 delivered orders a month, at 10.8 TND of ads per order received:

Orders confirmed	Parcels refused	Orders to buy	Ad budget per month
80%	25%	125	1,350 TND
90%	25%	111	1,200 TND
90%	15%	98	1,059 TND

The same sales on a budget about 20% lower: that is the effect of fast confirmation and an accurate product page. Rerun it with your numbers in the ad budget calculator, and measure your margin per delivered order with the margin calculator.

Going further

Choosing a delivery company, its return fees and payout delays are covered in our cash-on-delivery guide. And to understand why a customer confirms and still refuses, read how Tunisians buy online.