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Accepting e-orders? Try a dry run first

Jennifer Azara
by Jennifer Azara
October 23, 2008
1 minute read
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There’s a lot of value in letting customers place orders for your goods or services electronically … unless that first shipment they crack open isn’t what they ordered at all!

That shouldn’t happen if you do this first.

In some ways, a paper-driven process is easier. What you see is what you get — customers spell out exactly what they want on your purchase order.

Wouldn’t automating your ordering process introduce a greater margin of error?

After all, even if a customer clicked the wrong button or put in the wrong quantity, your company will be the one to get an earful. And the back-and-forth necessary to clear the confusion will undercut any savings you’d gotten by “streamlining” your ordering process.

Test run with a twist

You’d probably do some test runs before rolling out a new system where John Q. Customer at ABC Industries places an order for 44 widgets.

Think about going a step further. Instead of a simulated test, try using actual customers with data from actual purchase orders (do this before the system goes live).

That will give staffers a truer feel for how the system will work. It’ll also help you to see anywhere you could potentially come up short.

A dry run will point out needed tweaks, like sending an order acknowledgment to catch mistakes before the shipment leaves the warehouse. Or that you need to post a list of product specifications or frequently asked questions on your site.

In any event, you’ll be more confident you can enjoy the streamlining benefits of technology without the headaches.

Jennifer Azara
Jennifer Azara
Jennifer, a member of the CFO Daily News staff, has covered business and finance for more than 22 years. She has written for CFOs, credit and collections professionals and accounts payable practitioners and has spoken at industry conferences on sales and use tax compliance.

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