How I Set Up WhatsApp COD Confirmation in 10 Minutes (Shopify)

If you ship COD orders, you know the pain: high RTO, wasted shipments, and headaches for operations teams. A lightweight WhatsApp verification step fixes this with minimal friction.

Here's a step-by-step setup you can implement (or test with Level) in about 10 minutes.

What you need

• A Shopify store (obviously)
• Access to a WhatsApp Business API provider (Level handles this for you during onboarding)
• A verification message template (approved for WhatsApp)

Step 1 — Decide your trigger

Trigger on "order created" where payment_method is COD. This is standard Shopify webhook behavior and your app listens for it.

Step 2 — Build a single confirmation message

Keep it short. Example:

Hi {name}, thanks for your order #{order_no}. Reply YES to confirm your COD order and we'll send a verification code.

If a customer replies YES, send a 4-digit code via WhatsApp. When they enter the code (or reply it), mark the order confirmed and proceed to fulfillment.

Step 3 — Add a fallback step

If no reply in 30 minutes, send a simple follow-up:

Quick reminder: reply YES to confirm your order. We'll hold your items for 30 minutes.

If still no reply after another window (e.g., 12 hours), flag the order as unconfirmed and hold fulfillment.

Step 4 — Integrate with fulfillment

On verification, mark the order in Shopify with a tag like level_confirmed. Your warehouse or fulfillment team can filter orders by this tag and prioritize confirmed COD shipments.

Step 5 — Track basic metrics

At minimum, monitor:

• Confirmed vs unconfirmed COD orders
• RTO rate before vs after the flow
• Revenue recovered / canceled orders saved

This is lightweight but actionable data you can gather in the first week.

Why this works

The verification step imposes a tiny friction on genuine buyers but creates a major deterrent for fake or low-quality orders. Instead of shipping and hoping, you screen for intent and protect margins.

I built Level to solve exactly this problem — too many merchants were losing money on fake COD orders. This verification flow is simple, but it works.

If you want, I'll run this on your store (first 10 merchants get free onboarding). Get in touch and we'll set it up in 10 minutes.