How to digitize warranty management

Everything else depends on this. The code is a serialised QR or scratch code printed on the unit, its rating plate or the inner pack, tied at issue to SKU, batch and warranty term. The serialisation guide covers generation; the anti-counterfeit code page covers print methods and cost. If the same code also verifies genuineness, one pack element does two jobs.

Registration must happen at the counter or at installation, because that is the only moment when the unit, the buyer and the seller are in one place. An app is a barrier at that moment. A scan that opens a WhatsApp conversation, in the language of the district, with three questions, is not. QR code warranty registration walks through the flow, and the WhatsApp portal shows what the conversation looks like.

Three fields turn a registration into a defensible record: an invoice photo, which fixes the purchase date and dealer; the installer's mobile number, which identifies who fitted the unit and feeds their reward; and the customer's name and PIN, which routes any future claim. Ask for nothing else. Every additional field reduces completions, and the rest can be gathered later if a claim arises.

A customer with a problem scans the code on the unit and raises a claim in the same WhatsApp thread. The system already holds the unit's SKU, warranty end date, registration details and prior claims, so intake is a description and a photo. Claims on codes that were never issued or never registered are stopped here, which is where the warranty cost of counterfeits disappears.

Each claim is assigned to the nearest authorised service centre or independent technician by PIN code, with an SLA timer, spare-part requirements and a closure checklist. The customer receives a WhatsApp message at assignment, at scheduling and at closure, and a satisfaction question afterwards. Service partners see their queue on a phone. The digital warranty management solution describes the workflow in detail.

Once registrations and claims sit against serialised units, the reports write themselves: failure rate by SKU and batch, claims per thousand units by district, registration rate by dealer, claim cycle time by service partner, and a flag list of suspicious claims such as duplicate registrations or claims outside the dispatch geography. A bad batch shows up in weeks rather than a year.

Registration coverage is the metric that decides whether the rest is worth anything, and it is driven by the dealer and the installer, not the customer. A small reward per registered unit, ₹5 to ₹50 depending on unit value across programs Unotag runs, paid by UPI, moves coverage from a minority to a majority of units within a quarter. This is the same mechanism as a channel loyalty program; the installer incentive programs and consumer loyalty and warranty programs posts explain the design, and the warranty registration calculator models what coverage the reward buys.

Printing the code is ₹0.05 to ₹0.80 per unit by method. The platform, covering registration, claims, routing, analytics and the reward ledger, is a monthly subscription in the ₹30,000 to ₹3 lakh band by active members. A pilot on two SKUs in two states is live in six to eight weeks, most of which is printing lead time. The warranty management system buyer's guide covers what to ask a vendor.

• Starting with an app. Registration collapses at the counter when the dealer has to install something. WhatsApp first, app optional.
• Asking ten questions at registration. Three fields and an invoice photo. Everything else can be collected if a claim arises.
• No reward for the channel. Customers register a minority of units on their own in every category observed. Dealers and installers register the majority when paid a few rupees per unit.
• Codes on the carton only. The unit, not the carton, carries the warranty; put the code on the rating plate, the sidewall label or the inner pack.
• Leaving service partners on paper. If the technician's closure is still a form, cycle time and parts leakage do not improve.
• Ignoring dispatch data. Territory-based fraud rules need to know where each batch was shipped; connect the ERP early.

A unit-level ledger of what was sold where, by which dealer, installed by whom and registered on which date. Failure rates by batch that surface a bad lot in weeks. A claim process the customer can follow on WhatsApp. A list of dealers by registration coverage that the sales team can act on. An installer base identified by mobile number, which is the starting point for an installer loyalty program on the same code, as AC and appliance installer incentive programs describes. And a warranty cost line that no longer pays for counterfeits, which the cost of counterfeits method shows is often larger than expected.