Order updates message your customers on WhatsApp when something happens to their order. You pick a template for each event, turn it on, and Commslayer sends it every time that event happens in Shopify.
You'll find them under Marketing → Order updates. Admins and managers can set them up. If you don't see Marketing in your sidebar, contact support.
What you need first
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A connected WhatsApp number. See How to connect WhatsApp to Commslayer
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A connected Shopify store, since that's where the order events come from
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A payment method in Meta. See How to add a payment method to WhatsApp
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An approved template for each event you want to send. Order events use utility templates. See How WhatsApp templates work
Which events can send a message
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Order confirmed: the order is placed and payment is confirmed
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Order shipped: the order is fulfilled
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Out for delivery: the carrier marks the package out for delivery. This depends on your carrier reporting it
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Order delivered: the carrier confirms delivery. This depends on your carrier too
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Order refunded: a refund is processed
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Order canceled: the order is canceled
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Abandoned checkout: a shopper leaves checkout. This one works differently, see below
How to turn on an order update
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Go to Marketing → Order updates and stay on the Order status events tab
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Find the event and click Choose template
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Select your template
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If the template has variables, pick the order detail that fills each one
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Click Use template
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Turn on the event's toggle
The toggle stays disabled until the event has a template. To swap the template later, use Change template on the same row.
What you can put in a template
Variables get filled in from the order. You can use the customer's name, the order number and total, the tracking link, tracking number and carrier, the refund amount and the cancellation reason.
Two fallbacks are worth knowing:
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If there's no first name, the customer name becomes "there", as in "Hi there"
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If a shipment has no tracking link, the tracking link points to the Shopify order status page instead
Who gets order updates
Order events are transactional, so they don't need marketing consent. They also don't count toward your message frequency limit. A customer who has no marketing consent still gets them.
The one requirement is a phone number. If an order doesn't have one, there's nobody to message, so the update is skipped.
Abandoned checkout is a marketing message
Abandoned checkout sits on the same page, but it follows the marketing rules:
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It needs a marketing template, not a utility one
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It only goes to shoppers with WhatsApp marketing consent
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It sends 1 hour after the shopper leaves checkout, and it's skipped if they complete the order
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It counts toward your message frequency limit
Order updates or automations?
Order updates are the quick way to send one message for one order event. Use an automation when you want waits or branches, like asking for a review a day after delivery. Automations follow the marketing rules, so they only reach customers with marketing consent. See How to reach customers with WhatsApp campaigns and automations.
Pick one or the other for each event. If you run both for the same event, customers can get two messages.
How to check they're working
The top of the page shows Sent, Read rate, Delivery rate and Failed for the last 30 days. Each event also shows its own sent and read counts.
Open the Sent log tab to see every order update sent to a customer, with its delivery status. You can search by customer, order or template.