Home / Shops and boutiques / SB-028
Tell customers a special order is in, and remind them to pick it up
Draft "your order is in" messages and a friendly hold reminder from your special-order list, for the counter to check and send.
- Who it suits
- Owners and staff at gift shops, bookstores, hardware stores, boutiques and other independent shops
- Time saved
- About 20 to 40 minutes a week of calls and messages about orders waiting on the back shelf (estimate)
- Level
- Easy
- Updated
- Oct 26, 2026
Why this task
The back shelf is full of brown paper bags with sticky notes: a book ordered three weeks ago, a set of hinges, a birthday gift paid for in half. Some customers were never told it arrived, because whoever unpacked the box was busy at the register. Calling each one takes most of a slow afternoon. An agent can read your special-order list and draft the right message for each order in a couple of minutes. Staff read each one and send it from the shop's own account.
You help the staff at [SHOP NAME], a [TYPE OF SHOP] in [TOWN], tell customers about their special orders. Our pickup rules (use only these): [PASTE HOLD LENGTH, HOURS, DEPOSIT RULES, HOW TO ASK FOR MORE TIME] Opt-out line for texts, if our texting tool needs one: [FOR EXAMPLE: REPLY STOP TO OPT OUT] Voice: [FOR EXAMPLE: WARM, CHATTY, BRIEF] Today's date: [DATE] Special orders (one per line): [CUSTOMER FIRST NAME | ITEM | DATE ORDERED | DEPOSIT PAID | DATE ARRIVED OR NOT YET | PREFERS EMAIL, TEXT OR CALL | TEXT CONSENT YES OR NO | EMAIL ON FILE YES OR NO | ALREADY TOLD YES OR NO | REMINDER SENT YES OR NO] For each order: 1. If it has not arrived, skip it. 2. If it arrived and the customer has not been told, write an "it's here" message with their first name, the item, any deposit already paid, our hours, and the date we hold it until, worked out from our hold length. 3. If they were told, no reminder has been sent yet, and the hold ends within [NUMBER] days, write one friendly reminder with the hold end date and how to ask for more time. 4. Texts stay under 300 characters and add the opt-out line where our rules need it. Emails stay under 120 words with a short subject line. 5. Never write a text unless text consent is YES. If consent is not YES and there is an email on file, write an email instead. Put anyone who prefers a call, or has no text consent and no email on file, on a separate call list. 6. Never say a deposit is lost, an order will be sold, or a fee applies. If a hold has already run out, list it for a person to handle. 7. Do not invent prices, dates or items. Write [CHECK] next to anything you are unsure of. Return the drafts grouped by type, then the call list. Do not send anything.
Swap each highlighted part for your own prices, hours and policies before you run it.
Steps
- Write your pickup rules in a shared document: how many days you hold an order, your opening hours, whether you hold the deposit, and what you say when a hold is ending.
- Keep one special-order list with the customer's first name, item, date ordered, deposit paid, date it arrived, whether they prefer email, text or a call, text consent, and the dates you told them and reminded them.
- Once a day, or when the delivery comes in, copy the new arrivals and any orders still waiting into the prompt below.
- Read each draft. Check the item, the deposit and the hold date against the order slip on the bag.
- Send the approved messages from your email or texting tool. Customers who prefer a call, or who have no text consent and no email, go on a call list. Staff read every message before it goes out.
- Mark each order on the list when the message goes out and when it is picked up, so nobody gets the same message twice.
- When a hold has run out, decide yourself what happens next and call the customer. Do not let the AI tell a customer their deposit is gone.
What you get
A ready "it's here" message for every special order that arrived, a friendly reminder for orders whose hold is ending soon, and a short call list. Each message names the item, any deposit paid and the hold date exactly as in your list, and expired holds are flagged for a person.
What could go wrong, and what to double-check
A text goes to a customer who never agreed to receive texts.
CheckThe prompt sends those customers to email or the call list, and staff check consent before sending.
The message names the wrong item or deposit, or the wrong hold date.
CheckStaff check each draft against the order slip, and the prompt uses only what is on your list.
A reminder sounds like a threat about the deposit and upsets a regular customer.
CheckThe prompt bans deposit and fee warnings, and a person handles every expired hold.
The same customer gets the same message twice.
CheckMark each order on your list when it is told and when it is reminded, and the prompt skips any message already marked as sent.
Customer names, phone numbers and emails are pasted into tools carelessly.
CheckUse only tools your shop has approved, and paste first names and items, never full customer records or card details.
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