Throughout my years project managing large group orders, one of the most frustrating things for my customers can be tracking down the individuals in your group and getting them to choose which size they want to order (and any other relevant details). Fortunately, there are some things we can do to make it much less stressful. I will produce any required order-taking materials at no additional charge unless specified otherwise below.
First, make sure you have your garments selected and artwork finalized. For more details on that, click here.
All orders will be shipped to a single shipping address, and that point person will distribute the individual items to the group members. If you would like to set up a fulfilment situation (each person will have their selections shipped to a separate address), please see this post.
Set a deadline
Choose a deadline for taking orders, even if you don’t have an event date.
Some guidelines:
- Try to allow at least a week for people to place their orders. Two weeks is better.
- If your group has meetings, try to allow for two meetings before the deadline.
- If you have an event date, be sure to set the deadline for at least a week before your order needs to be finalized to meet your timeline.
The above guidelines have been set assuming some people will still miss the deadline, and so allows for a few days or a week for last minute changes or procrastination.
Select order-taking tools
There are a lot of different ways to take and organize orders, depending on how technological you want to get, how large your group is, and how complicated your order is. With all of these options, you can select prices that are higher than the cost of your order and any remainder can be kept or refunded as a fundraiser for your group.
Shopify Store
Setting up a Shopify store allows each group member to place and pay for their individual order online. The batch of orders will then be accessible so we can see the data and place the order according to the group’s selections.
Shopify does charge a fee, depending on the complexity of the store. Please enquire for a custom quote.
Google Forms
Google Forms allows for a survey page to be sent to each member of your group for free. Each person can send in their responses to questions we set up for them according to your project. The answers are accessible as a Google Sheets spreadsheet we can use to place the order with the decorator.
Individual payments will need to be taken by one person (you or another volunteer) who will then deposit them into an account, and pay for the cost of the order in a single payment (via check or online invoice).
Paper Forms
The paper form method works especially well for groups that have in person meetings regularly. I can create a custom form which can be printed out in your required quantity and filled out quickly during a meeting, or taken home at one meeting, filled out, and returned at the next meeting along with payment.
Individual payments will need to be taken by one person (you or another volunteer) who will then deposit them into an account, and pay for the cost of the order in a single payment (via check or online invoice).
Make several loud announcements
The only step remaining is to make sure everyone in the group knows about the deadline and order process! Write clear emails and send them out. If your group has meetings, combine this with announcements at as many meetings leading up to the deadline as possible. For schools or other groups involving children, send home a printed flyer with any details necessary (even if using a digital method of taking orders).
That’s it!
Wait for the orders to come in, and hold true to your deadlines. Check once the order deadline passes to make sure all group members are accounted for and follow up with any stragglers.
2 thoughts on “Stress free solutions to taking order details from individuals in a large group”