Customers always want to know when their order will be ready or dispatched or delivered. And to do this, you need to have a few things on your website. For one, you need to make sure that you have a way to track your packages. This can be done with many carriers across the world. You will also need to have an order tracking app on your store.

However, this isn’t always sufficient. While customers can use these tools on their own. Sometimes the customer just picks up the phone or opens up their email to find out where their order is. Why? Because they don’t know or can’t find the page that allows them to track an order on Shopify.

Customers, however, could receive regular updates on their order status, and you can offer customers the chance to opt in to these notifications.

This can be a time saver for you, as every time you mark that an order is in a different stage, the customer is notified. Therefore, they don’t bother you with asking you where the order is, and you can continue to satisfy them by processing the orders in a timely fashion rather than spending time telling them what you’re doing next.

Key Takeaways
1
Login to Shopify and navigate to ‘Settings’ in the dashboard’s bottom left corner.
2
In ‘Settings’, select ‘Checkout’ between Payment providers and shipping sections.
3
Enable ‘Additional Contact Method’ in Checkout for direct shipping updates via phone or email.

Step 1 - Login

Login to your Shopify store, using the credentials provided. Ensure that your store setup is optimized to handle various functionalities like enabling order updates.

Step 2 - Click Settings

Now find the ‘Settings’ option within the dashboard. This is located in the bottom left corner of the Shopify admin screen. Click on this option.

You can also manage other configurations here, such as adding schema to Shopify to improve your SEO and enabling push notifications for better customer engagement.

Step 3 - Checkout

Within the ‘Settings’ option, find the ‘Checkout’ section. This is between the Payment providers and shipping sections on the list of options. Here, you can also consider adding a ‘pick up in store’ option to provide more flexibility to your customers.

Step 4 - Add an Opt-In

Within the checkout details page, there will be a customer contact section. This will be somewhat down the page, so you might need to scroll down to find it. It is located right under the Customer accounts section.

Within the contact section, there is an option that reads ‘Additional Contact Method’. By checking the option that is under this option, you can allow customers to add phone numbers or email addresses that allow them to receive shipping updates directly. Therefore, they don’t have to go onto your store or call you up to find out the latest information.

To enhance user experience, you can add filters to sort and view specific types of notifications or updates. Additionally, you might consider integrating a Buy Button to Instagram, allowing customers to make purchases directly from their Instagram feed and opt in for order updates there as well.

Step 5 - Save

Once you’ve completed the step above, you can see two buttons at the top of the screen. These are ‘Discard’ and ‘Save’. You need to click on the ‘Save’ option to make the changes live on your site.

If you’re not sure that you have the right changes, you can click on the ‘Discard’ option. This though would mean you have to complete the whole process again if you want to enact these changes.