Getting the customer to confirm an order
How to send a draft order to the customer for confirmation, what the confirmation page asks for and why, prices on the link, and pricing queries.
Every order starts as a Draft. Nothing is bought and no factory sees it until the customer confirms it. Confirmation is the commercial gate: it is the one place the customer commits to the job and tells you how it ships, where it goes, when it is needed and under what PO.
#Why the customer confirms
If their own customer placed the order (for example by approving a visual), the reason is clear: the end buyer can't commit your customer's money.
If your customer placed it themselves, it can feel like being asked twice. It isn't. The confirmation page asks for four things that are never asked when the order is entered:
| Detail | Asked when ordering | Asked at confirmation |
|---|---|---|
| Sizes & quantities | Yes | Yes — last chance to adjust |
| Names & numbers | Yes | — |
| Their PO number | No | Yes |
| Air or sea freight | No | Yes |
| Delivery address | No | Yes |
| Date they need it by | No | Yes |
#Two ways to send it — use one
Send for Review & Confirmation (under Actions) is for orders built from an emailed PO, which never went through visual approval.
- Key in their PO number, freight, delivery address and required-by date, and attach their PO.
- Make sure the order's Contact is set.
- Press Send for Review & Confirmation.
The customer gets one link that does two jobs: they approve the artwork on each product, and they check the details you keyed in, which are pre-filled. Quantities stay editable across the product's full size group. They can't confirm until every product is approved.
If they request changes, the order stays Draft, their page closes, a Changes requested pill shows on the order, every admin gets a bell, and admins who opted in get an email. The note sits on the product, and later folds into a collapsed Change history. Fix the artwork and press Re-send Review Request. Only the products they sent back reopen.
Watch out
don't use Send for Review & Confirmation on orders raised from a visual. Their artwork was already approved, and asking again is a double-up. Use the plain confirmation link.
Re-send confirmation email chases the customer on the same link. Automatic reminders also run.
#When sending is refused
Both go only to the order's contact, and both refuse when:
- the order has no contact, or the contact's notifications are off;
- that email is switched off for this order;
- the order is already confirmed;
- changes are pending;
- a pricing query is open.
#What the customer fills in
- Quantities — pre-filled, adjustable here, then locked.
- Their PO number, and optionally their PO document, which attaches to the order.
- Air or sea freight.
- Delivery address — a saved address, a sub group's saved address, a new one, or "I'll confirm the address later".
- Required-by date — the page shows the earliest standard date: lead time, plus freight transit, plus local delivery when it comes through your warehouse. Asking for sooner flags the order urgent. A date you already set is shown to them.
- Their name — recorded with the time, as a record of who signed it off.
They can confirm only once; the link then becomes read-only. The order moves to Ready to Check. It is still a draft, and now it's your move.
#Showing prices on the link
Show prices on the customer link (in the Order details card, also shown as Customer sees prices / No prices on this link) is off by default and set per order. When on, the page shows each unit price, its quantity breaks and a total, re-priced as the customer changes quantities. A price you set by hand never moves.
Watch out
with prices on, the link is no longer safe for your customer to forward to their own customer.
#Pricing queries
The customer can press Question about the pricing? under the total. Their question posts straight to the order's messages, notifies your team, and shows a banner on the order and a Pricing query chip on the list. Chasing reminders pause while it is open. Only Mark settled clears it.
Confirming the order is the approval, so don't convert or invoice a queried order without settling the question.
#Common questions
The customer never got the email. Check the Contact (none, or notifications off) and the Customer emails card (that email switched off, or all paused).
The Send button is greyed out. That email is switched off for this order.
Where is the customer's link? In the Approvals & changes card, with Copy and Open.