To let customers order through social media, show the price, available options, and delivery terms alongside the offer. Give one clear instruction for placing an order. Within the store, assign someone to check stock, agree on the terms, and see the order through to completion.
Before increasing your ad budget, go through this process yourself on a phone. Check whether you can choose a product, find out the full cost, and receive confirmation without unnecessary questions. Then calculate how much money remains from completed orders after purchasing costs, variable expenses, and advertising.
1. The post has no price or clear stock information
When the price is available only in direct messages, the seller has to answer each inquiry separately. The customer also has to spend time finding out whether the offer suits them.
Prepare a short product card for each item. You can use it in a post, a product collection, or a reply to a customer:
- Name and SKU the seller can use to find the product in the records.
- Price for the specific option and unit of sale: piece, set, or pack.
- Available sizes, colors, or other features.
- Availability: in stock at the store, available to order, or temporarily unavailable.
- Main features needed to make a choice.
- How to order and a link to payment and delivery terms.
If prices vary by option, show the differences. A “from” price needs an explanation: specify which option costs the stated amount.
Assign an employee to check active offers against stock and prices. Review them before advertising and whenever the assortment changes. Before confirming an order, the seller must check the specific item again: a post does not guarantee that the last unit has not already been sold in the store.
2. It is difficult for customers to place an order
“Message us” leaves customers with too many questions. Say where to write and what to send first. For example: “To order, send us the SKU, size, and quantity in a direct message. The seller will check availability and agree on payment and delivery.”
If you accept orders on your website, link to the relevant product page. Check the link on a phone: does the right option open, is the price visible, and does checkout work?
Research into online checkout by Baymard Institute describes problems caused by unnecessary fields, required registration, and costs that appear at the end. For sales handled in messages, these findings can be used as a practical check: request necessary details in sequence and show costs before the purchase is confirmed.
Order sequence in direct messages
- The customer sends the SKU or product link, the option they need, and the quantity.
- The seller checks stock and clarifies features if the choice is ambiguous.
- The seller agrees on the price, payment, delivery, and dispatch timeframe.
- The customer confirms the order and provides the details required for the selected delivery method.
- The seller records the order, the person responsible, and the next action.
- If the store reserves the item, the seller agrees on the reservation period and records it so other employees can see the arrangement.
- For prepayment, the person responsible checks that the agreed amount has arrived before dispatch. For cash on delivery, they record the amount due upon receipt. They arrange dispatch and send the customer tracking details.
- After delivery, the person responsible checks that the customer received the item and that payment reached the store. Only then do they mark the order as complete. If the customer did not receive the item or returned it, they record the outcome and related costs for the financial calculation.
Do not ask for an address or phone number in public comments. Collect delivery details in a private conversation or through a form with restricted access. Do not share links to a publicly accessible order spreadsheet containing customers’ personal data.
3. Payment and delivery terms have to be clarified separately
Prepare one page or pinned post with your terms. The seller should send it before confirming an order, then briefly repeat the agreed terms for that specific purchase.
- List available payment methods and the prepayment amount, if required.
- Name the carriers and delivery options: branch, parcel locker, home delivery, or pickup.
- Explain who pays for delivery and any fees for the selected payment method.
- State when the parcel will be handed to the carrier. Explain separately what determines transit time.
- Provide a contact for questions about orders, exchanges, or returns, and a link to the relevant terms.
If the exact delivery cost will only be known later, say so directly and explain how it will be determined. Do not present an estimate as the final amount.
The order summary should include the product, option, quantity, price, any known additional costs, payment method, and agreed dispatch timeframe. Ask the customer to confirm this summary before fulfilling the order.
4. Replies are delayed, and orders get lost in message threads
The store owner or manager should set hours for handling inquiries, assign responsibility for each shift, and establish a process for handing over unfinished orders. State in the profile when customers can expect a reply. An automated message can explain the schedule, but a seller must confirm availability and terms.
Maintain one order register accessible only to the employees who need it. For each inquiry, record the order number, date, channel, product and quantity, agreed amount, payment status, order status, person responsible, and next action with its due date.
Agree on consistent statuses, for example: “Checking availability,” “Awaiting confirmation,” “Awaiting payment,” “Preparing dispatch,” “Dispatched,” “Completed,” and “Cancelled.” Record returns and cancellation reasons separately so they are included in financial calculations.
At the end of a shift, the person responsible reviews all unfinished orders. They check overdue actions, payments, reservation periods, and dispatch deadlines. During a shift handover, each order must have a new person responsible or confirmation that the same employee will continue handling it.
How to check stock and manage customer data in Torgsoft
Before replying to a customer, open “Склад → Стан складу” (“Warehouse → Stock status”). This form shows product availability, quantity, size, selling price, and cost price. Check the required option and the warehouse you plan to dispatch from. Then confirm the price and availability to the customer.
You can store a customer’s phone number, email address, and delivery address in their customer card. Use these fields for information needed to work with the customer. The official Torgsoft marketing features page also describes “Контакти” (“Contacts”): recording incoming and outgoing customer contacts and manually noting the outcomes of conversations. Record agreed terms so another seller can continue the work.
For this process, the seller transfers the necessary information from the conversation into the records. Assign someone to enter the data and check that records are complete. If you use additional features, account for their requirements: in particular, calling from a customer card requires the additional “Система взаємодії з клієнтами” (“Customer Interaction System”) option and configured synchronization with Binotel.
5. Advertising is assessed without calculating its contribution to covering expenses
For each ad campaign, record the costs and link inquiries to an order number. Decide in advance how you will attribute an order to a campaign: for example, using a tagged link, a dedicated promo code, or the customer’s answer about how they found you. Save that attribution in the register. If the source cannot be identified, mark it as unknown. Apply the same rules when recording completed orders, cancellations, and returns. Views, reactions, and messages help assess individual stages; calculate the financial result from sales. Attributing an order to a campaign does not, by itself, prove that the purchase would not have happened without the ad.
Contribution toward covering expenses is the amount left from a sale after the product’s purchase cost and expenses that depend on the specific order. These expenses may include packaging, payment fees, and delivery paid for by the store. Calculate it using the actual selling price after any discount.
Illustrative ad campaign calculation
Assume each order contains one unit of a product. The selling price is UAH 900, the purchase cost is UAH 550, and other variable expenses are UAH 100 per order. All 20 orders were completed, with no returns. Assume they came from 20 different new customers, each placing one order, and all came from this campaign. Advertising costs are UAH 3,000.
| Metric | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Contribution per order before advertising costs | 900 − 550 − 100 | UAH 250 |
| Cost to acquire one new customer | 3000 ÷ 20 | UAH 150 |
| Contribution from all orders before advertising costs | 250 × 20 | UAH 5,000 |
| Amount remaining after advertising | 5000 − 3000 | UAH 2,000 |
This UAH 2,000 remains before fixed expenses and taxes are accounted for. The store’s applicable expenses still need to be covered from it. It cannot be called net profit.
If some of the 20 orders are repeat purchases or one customer placed several orders, UAH 150 means advertising cost per completed order attributed to the campaign under the chosen rule. To calculate the cost of acquiring a new customer, compare customers against the available history of completed purchases and count each person once. A new customer card or a new conversation does not confirm a first purchase at the store. If history is incomplete, state that the customer’s status could not be determined. For the calculation, use acquisition costs and the number of confirmed new customers for the same period and under the same recording rules. If the campaign also targets repeat sales and acquisition costs have not been separated, explain this limitation of the metric.
Also separate sales to regular customers. A discount reduces the contribution from each such order. To assess the additional effect of a promotion, compare the result with a similar period without the promotion or a similar customer group without the offer. Account for differences in assortment, prices, and demand: some customers might have bought the product without a discount.
How to check changes in your store
Start with the products you are advertising now. Complete their product cards, check the links, agree on a reservation process, and assign people responsible for orders. Give sellers a shared purchase confirmation template.
Compare the same selected period before and after the changes: time to the first substantive reply, number of inquiries, confirmed and completed orders, reasons for cancellations, and the amount remaining after ad costs. Use consistent counting rules. This will show you which stage still needs attention and what financial results your social media sales are producing.
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