An unconfirmed order is a bet
When a cash-on-delivery order goes out without anyone speaking to the customer, you are the one carrying the risk. You have paid to pick, pack and hand it to a courier, and none of that comes back if the customer changes their mind at the door.
The order that gets refused costs more than the sale you did not make. It costs the outbound leg, the return leg, and the stock sitting in a van instead of on your shelf for the days it takes to come home.
What confirmation actually does
A confirmation message is not a formality. It converts a passive order into an active commitment — the customer has now said yes twice, once on the site and once to a person, and the second yes is the one that holds.
It also filters the orders that were never real: the wrong number, the abandoned impulse, the address that does not exist. Catching those before a courier is booked is the difference between a small annoyance and a paid-for round trip.
Make it the default, not a step
The reason confirmation gets skipped is that it is work. Someone has to notice the order, find the number, write the message, and remember what the answer was. At ten orders a day that is a job.
It only survives contact with a busy week if it happens automatically — the message goes out when the order lands, the reply is recorded against the order, and nothing gets booked with a courier until that reply exists.