What is an order confirmation?

A customer phones or emails an order. You note it down, but have you understood each other? With an order confirmation you send back what you recorded: the items, the quantities, the prices, the delivery address and the expected delivery date.

It usually follows a quotation the customer has accepted. After that the order enters planning, the delivery note travels with the goods and the invoice follows. The order confirmation is the moment a proposal becomes an agreement.

Without one, the arguments start after delivery. The customer thought it was cheaper, a discount was never passed on, or the delivery date was never agreed that way. With a confirmation the customer has seen, you have something to fall back on.

Make sure the confirmation draws on the same data as the rest of the chain. If you enter an order once and the confirmation, the delivery and the sales invoice all come from it, they cannot differ. Retyping by hand is where mistakes creep in.

State your terms as well, and what happens if the customer wants a change. Say clearly until when a change is still possible, so it does not first come up at delivery.

Check the confirmation yourself before it goes out. A quick look at prices, quantities and delivery date prevents most misunderstandings, and takes far less time than putting a delivery right. For larger orders that minute is well spent, because the customer then does not discover on arrival that something differs from what was agreed.