Flo Pilot & RTO Measurement Framework: Evaluating Cash-on-Delivery Intelligence
Direct Answer: Flo is currently offered under an active Pilot / Early Access program. Rather than publishing generic marketing claims or fabricated percentage uplifts, Tailoredd provides merchants with a rigorous, mathematical measurement framework based on eight verified KPIs. This allows commerce leaders to evaluate whether automated COD risk scoring, buyer challenge flows, and prepaid conversion genuinely reduce return-to-origin costs without harming legitimate order conversion.
1. Current Capability & Pilot Status
Cash-on-Delivery (COD) remains a critical payment method across high-growth e-commerce markets, but delivery failure and Return-to-Origin (RTO) erode merchant gross margins. Flo is being developed to address this challenge through real-time checkout scoring and selective verification:
Scores placed COD orders in under 200ms using postal history, address completeness, phone verification, and buyer velocity.
Triggers verification challenges only on orders scoring above the merchant-defined risk threshold.
Presents dynamic payment incentives (e.g. instant discount or free gift) to nudge risky COD orders to prepaid.
Ingests courier delivery failure signals and triggers automated buyer re-attempt communications.
Flo flags orders as high-risk; automated cancellation without human oversight is in roadmap planning.
Flo Pilot Boundaries & Evidence Guidelines
Verified Capabilities & Contracts
- ✓ Active pilot recruitment for enterprise commerce brands on SFCC and modern stacks.
- ✓ Real-time address standardization and risk scoring API operating in test environments.
- ✓ Configurable threshold logic separating low-risk pass-through orders from high-risk challenge orders.
- ✓ Zero fabricated benchmarks: all performance statistics must derive from merchant-specific pilot data.
Operational Boundaries & Limitations
- ⚠ Flo is not yet widely available in general production; deployments are structured as monitored pilots.
- ⚠ RTO reduction is highly dependent on merchant geographic distribution, courier partner performance, and product category.
- ⚠ Automated cancellations require merchant OMS integration and operator supervision.
2. The Eight-Metric Evaluation Framework
Merchants participating in the Flo pilot evaluate performance using a two-cohort methodology: a 30-day historical/control baseline followed by a 30-day active intervention cohort. Progress is measured against these eight explicit formulas:
1. Baseline RTO Rate (R_base)
R_base = (Total Returned COD Shipments / Total Dispatched COD Shipments) × 100
Establishes the merchant's historical return rate by postal code, courier partner, and basket size before Flo intervention.
2. Intervention Rate (I_rate)
I_rate = (Orders Flagged for OTP / WhatsApp / Prepaid Challenge / Total Placed COD Orders) × 100
Measures the percentage of orders subjected to friction. A healthy deployment targets less than 15–20% intervention to avoid suppressing legitimate demand.
3. COD Verification Rate (V_rate)
V_rate = (Verified Challenged Orders / Total Challenged Orders) × 100
Measures how many challenged buyers successfully confirm intent via OTP or WhatsApp response.
4. Prepaid Conversion Rate (P_rate)
P_rate = (Challenged Orders Converted to Digital Payment / Orders Offered Prepaid Nudge) × 100
Assesses buyer willingness to switch from COD to instant digital payment when presented with dynamic incentives.
5. False-Positive Rate (FP_rate)
FP_rate = (Legitimate Buyers Lost Due to Challenge Friction / Total Challenged Orders) × 100
Calculated via post-abandonment survey or customer support outreach to ensure the risk engine is not blocking genuine revenue.
6. Legitimate-Order Cancellation Rate (C_loss)
C_loss = Lost Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) from Unconfirmed High-Intent Orders
Ensures the cost of lost legitimate sales does not exceed the avoided cost of return shipping.
7. Net Delivered Order Rate (D_net)
D_net = (Successfully Delivered COD Orders / Total Dispatched COD Orders) × 100
The primary operational north star: increasing the proportion of outbound parcels that result in collected revenue.
8. Avoided RTO Logistics Cost (Cost_saved)
Cost_saved = (Expected Baseline Returns − Actual Dispatched Returns) × Average Forward & Return Freight Cost
Direct financial savings derived from withholding non-genuine orders from warehouse dispatch.
3. System Boundaries During Pilot Phase
Flo Operational Boundaries
System ownership between Flo risk engine, checkout, and courier logistics
| Capability | Flo Risk Engine | Storefront Checkout | Logistics Courier | Merchant Operations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Order Risk Assessment | Calculates risk score | Passes order payload | Out of scope | Sets threshold rules |
| Buyer Verification (OTP / WhatsApp) | Orchestrates challenge message | Hosts challenge UI | Dispatches SMS/WhatsApp | Monitors verification rates |
| Order Hold / Release State | Emits hold/release signal | Applies hold on order object | Out of scope | Approves manual review queue |
| Shipment Dispatch & Logistics | Out of scope (software only) | Dispatches to warehouse | Generates courier AWB | Executes physical delivery |
4. Joining the Flo Pilot Program
Join the Flo Pilot
We are actively partnering with selected commerce teams experiencing high COD volume to benchmark Flo against real catalogue traffic. Pilots include sandbox rule configuration, baseline historical data audit, and weekly analytics reviews.
Primary Documentation & Verified Sources
- Flo Product Page Product Page
Flo pilot details and checkout risk scoring overview.
- Flo Technical Integration Reference Documentation
Checkout hook specifications and risk scoring payload contracts.