One of the biggest problems online business owners face now is cash on delivery rejections.

Especially in UAE, India, and other GCC regions.

According to NationalNews.com, they reported:

“Cash on delivery is the biggest challenge for e-commerce players in the region,” said Abdul Malik Jaber, Middle East Payment Services (MEPS) chairman. “There are high return rates, a big lag between order and payment, and the need for delivery people to carry cash is a major risk.”

We were facing the same issue with the company I was working

We have been researching and trying out different methods to reduce cash on delivery rejections and this is what We found:

in order to finalize the solution, you first need to understand the 3 different types of customers who choose cash on delivery orders:

1. The Rejectors: People who are not that interested in your product, but just bought it without any further thoughts, because there was a cash-on-delivery option.
2. The low trusters: Your customer wants the product, but they don’t trust that you will deliver the goods as promised, they are ready to pay once they get the item.
3. Hard cashers: Customers who love your product and trust you, but don’t want to go through the hassle of filling in their credit card information, or generally prefer paying in cash.

Dealing with Type 1 Customers: The Rejecters

In order to filter out the first type of customer (Problem makers)

What you could do is a confirmation call, it really is a time taking work but worth doing.

This way you could avoid a lot of customers who don’t have an intention to accept the order

They will either hang up the call or they will tell you to cancel the order.

Believe ME!

With time and experience, you will start to understand who the legitimate customer is and who the fake ones are

For customers who do want to accept the order while you make the call, politely ask them to confirm the address and to provide a landmark.

You should also be mentioning the total amount they need to pay when the agent comes for delivery.

Tip:

Note down (blacklist) the people who confirmed the order on call, but later rejected it at the doorstep (believe me! This can save you a lot of time and stress in the long run)

Dealing with Type 2 Customers: The Low Trusters

Dealing with the low trusters requires a different strategy

Here the solution is to gain their trust, which can be done by the inspiring trust through your website, customer service, and of course by delivering on your promise.

Here is a practical list of things you can do to gain trust:

• Provide good customer service, and have a dedicated team or person for that. (Make it easy for customers to contact you)
• Send order confirmation emails to the customers containing all the tracking information (The tracking ID and link)
• Add trust signals to your website: Your physical location on the contact page, use security badges on the payment page, mention free return (If you’re offering that), and even add a picture of your company or team on the about us page will help you build trust among your customers (They need to find you legitimate)
• Add customer reviews ( Using popular third-party review website integration is a plus, eg: Trustpilot)

Building trust among your customers is not an instant process, it requires time and consistency.

These are some of the strategies that will help you build trust in the long run.

Dealing with Type 3 Customers: Hard Cashers

Here you need to encourage your customers to pay online rather than choosing cash on delivery option

There are different ways of doing this:

• Add an additional charge for cash on delivery services
• Provide customers with offers/Coupons/raffle draw tickets as a reward for online payment
• Use prepay COD option, to get some initial payment (this can be the extra COD fee) – Eventhough this method is not commonly used, it can be helpful for some businesses.

Hope you got some valuable info that you can use to reduce your cash on delivery rejections / COD refusals

Let me know if you have other great ideas to reduce COD refusals, Comment below!

Share this to your friends who’s still struggling with COD rejections

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