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How to Send WooCommerce Shipment Tracking Emails to Customers

Editorial Team
October 12, 2023
How to Send WooCommerce Shipment Tracking Emails to Customers

Do you want to set up WooCommerce shipment tracking emails to send order updates to your customers?

Sending order shipping emails helps establish transparency and keep your customers informed about the status of their orders.

These emails include order shipment tracking codes so customers can always know when they will receive their orders.

Most store owners don’t send shipping tracking emails, creating anxiety and a bad experience for their customers. This is certainly a missed opportunity and something that you can capitalize on!

Thus, providing shipment information keeps your customers informed, reduces post-shipping queries, and increases your customers’ overall satisfaction.

And most importantly, communicating with your customers helps minimize the refunds in your store too!

It further enhances the user experience and increases the reputation of your online business.

In this post, you’ll learn why shipment tracking is important and how you can set up WooCommerce shipment tracking emails in your store.

What is a WooCommerce Shipment Tracking Email?

A WooCommerce shipment tracking email is a shipping confirmation email that informs customers that their order has been shipped and provides tracking information to know its whereabouts.

A WooCommerce shipping email usually has a tracking number that can be used to track an order and the expected delivery date.

Here are its core components:

  • Tracking URL
  • Tracking number
  • Order status
  • Courier service
  • Expected delivery date

Let’s look at the Woocommerce shipping email example from Boll & Branch. It’s beautifully designed and conveys all the information clearly.

WooCommerce shipment tracking email example from Boll & Branch

This information helps customers track the items they have ordered.

Why Should You Send WooCommerce Shipment Tracking Emails?

Sending WooCommerce shipping tracking emails serves multiple purposes and improves customer experience.

Here’s why you should send these emails to your customers:

  • Transparency and trust - When customers buy an item, they want to know when to expect it. WooCommerce shipping emails provide real-time updates about their orders, fostering the trust between you and your customers.
  • Reduced support inquiries - Sharing tracking information with your customers can help significantly reduce the number of support inquiries about their order statuses. This frees up your customer support group to prioritize more complex issues.
  • Enhanced user experience - These emails provide complete order details to the customers that help enhance their satisfaction and overall user experience.
  • Improved customer engagement - Sending WooCommerce shipment tracking emails keeps customers engaged with your brand throughout the order fulfillment process. These emails are an excellent opportunity to introduce other products in your store while continuing to build excitement for their order.
  • Reduced refunds - Providing a better customer experience and increasing transparency throughout the shipping process helps reduce refunds in your WooCommerce store. These order shipment emails hit the mark in improving communication and providing real-time order updates to your customers.

Setting up WooCommerce shipping confirmation emails comes with great advantages. In the next section, we’ll look at the best plugins to generate shipment tracking details.

Top 3 Best WooCommerce Shipment Tracking Plugins

Let’s find the top 3 WooCommerce shipment tracking plugins that help you generate shipping details. You can use this information to provide tracking information to your customers.

We went over all the shipment tracking plugins and here are the top 3 of them we liked the most.

We looked over all the factors, including the features it covers, how easy it is to use, and obviously, value for money.

1. Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce

The Advanced Shipment Tracking plugin has all the tools you need to manage and automate your WooCommerce fulfillment process.

Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce plugin

It lets you add tracking information and fulfill orders on time. With this plugin, you can enable custom order status ‘shipped’ and ‘partially shipped’ for orders shipped in separate packages or at different times.

Furthermore, the Advanced Shipment Tracking plugin extends its support to over 300 shipping providers to track shipping.

Moreover, you can use the Shipment Tracking API endpoint to update tracking numbers generated by third-party services and fulfill orders from external systems.

The best part is that the basic plugin is completely free to use. The premium version costs $129 a year.

2. Shipment Tracking by WooCommerce

The WooCommerce Shipment Tracking plugin provides customers with an easy way to track their order shipments.

Shipment Tracking by WooCommerce

Once the details get added to an order, the tracking information appears in emails, order tracking page, and the order view page.

The best part about this WooCommerce extension is that it supports custom and automatic tracking links from major shipping providers. It includes FedEx, DHL, Australia Post, UPS, Parcelforce, Canada Post, USPS, and more.

This WooCommerce shipment tracking plugin comes only in a premium version, costing $4.92 monthly or $59 yearly.

3. ParcelPanel

ParcelPanel lets you get access to the order tracker, improve customer satisfaction and drive sales by offering the best post-purchase experience.

ParcelPanel - woocommerce shipment tracking plugin

It allows you to add a tracking number widget to add shipment tracking numbers and fetch details from the courier’s official website. This helps you send WooCommerce shipment tracking emails to your customers.

You can easily create a WooCommerce shipment tracking API to create, retrieve, and delete order shipment tracking information.

The best part about ParcelPanel is that it integrates with different plugins, such as Ali2Woo, WooCommerce Shipping, WPML, etc., to improve the user experience.

The plugin is available in free and paid versions, starting at $9 per month. But its cost varies on the features you want. You further have to upgrade to a higher plan for the number of orders placed in your store.

Sending WooCommerce Shipment Tracking Emails isn’t Enough! Here’s What You Need to do...

Choosing a shipment tracking plugin is about generating order tracking information - which isn’t enough for a business!

There are other things a business does to make itself reputable.

You have got to follow up for additional information. You have to create a built-in upsell process to generate maximum revenue with each order. Or may have to do 2-3 follow-ups in case of a delay or ask for the product review after delivery.

Plus, you need beautiful emails to engage your customers effectively.

For all this, you need a CRM that takes the basic bear and bull of a WooCommerce shipment tracking email and powers it up for a more practical process.

And you can’t get a powerful CRM better than FunnelKit Automations, capable of setting up marketing automation, sending email/SMS broadcasts, and so much more.

It has the perfect ingredients to help you create automated emails with timed delays and smart conditions.

Not just this, it allows you to track your emails and see the revenues you made with your email campaigns.

FunnelKit Automations is the perfect tool to have in your hands!

To successfully send shipment tracking emails in WooCommerce, you must install these two plugins on your website:

FunnelKit Automations is available in free (lite) and premium versions. We’ll use the Pro version here to set up WooCommerce shipping emails.

Make sure to install and activate FunnelKit Automations on your WordPress website.

Now, without any delay, let’s set up WooCommerce shipping emails.

How to Send WooCommerce Shipment Tracking Emails?

If sending shipment tracking is the most important criterion for you, then you should first set the expectation in your order confirmation emails.

Thus, we’ll be setting up two emails to master the entire process:

  • An order confirmation email confirming the order placement and asking customers to wait a few days for shipping details
  • A WooCommerce shipment tracking email providing the tracking number, ID, URL, etc.

Let’s dive into setting up both of these order shipping emails in WooCommerce.

Part-1: Order Confirmation Email with Awaiting Shipment

Let’s set up the order purchase email asking users to wait a few days for shipping information.

Follow the step-by-step instructions below:

Step 1: Add a new automation

Go to Campaigns ⇨ Automations (Next Gen) under FunnelKit Automations from the admin dashboard.

Then, click on the ‘Add New Automation’ button.

Go to campaigns and hit the add new automation button

You’ll be directed to the section on pre-built automation recipes. You get all the popular automation recipes to set up impressive sequences here.

However, we will create an automation from scratch, so click on the ‘Start from scratch’ and name your automation.

Enter the name of your automation - WooCommerce order confirmation email

Clicking on ‘Create’ will add a new automation and direct you to the workflow screen.

Step 2: Select the ‘Order Created’ event trigger

Choose the event that gets triggered to start the automation. For that, hit the ‘Select Trigger’ button.

Set up the event trigger for your automation

Choose the ‘Order Created’ event under WooCommerce and click on ‘Done’.

Choose the order created event under woocommerce

Configure this event by clicking on the event trigger.

Next, choose the order status as ‘Processing’, order contains as “any product” and automation runs ‘multiple times’ on a contact.

Configure your event trigger by defining its order status, order contains, and automations runs on a contact.

Make sure to hit the ‘Save’ button when done.

Step 3: Specify the ‘Send Email’ action

Click on the blue (+) icon and add ‘Action’ to your workflow.

Add the action step to your automation workflow

Select the ‘Send Email’ action under Messaging.

Specify the send email action under the messaging section

This email action will add to your workflow.

Step 4: Write your order confirmation email

Write the subject line and preview text of your email.

Enter the exciting subject line and preview text of your email to get more engagement

Now, write the simple content for your order confirmation email. FunnelKit Automations allows you to create three types of email content:

  • Rich Text
  • HTML
  • Visual Builder

Let’s frame content to thank your customers for placing the order and tell them to wait for a couple of days for the shipping confirmation.

Craft the body content of your order confirmation email telling them to wait for 2 days to get shipment details

You can even design this email with its built-in visual drag-and-drop email builder. It creates attractive and highly engaging emails (we’ve showcased in the next section).

Once done, hit ‘Save & Close’ to return to your workflow screen.

That’s it! This is how you can send an order confirmation email to your customers.

Now that you’ve set the shipping expectation in your order confirmation email, it’s time to send the real details.

Part-2: WooCommerce Shipment Tracking Email

FunnelKit Automations is compatible with popular shipment tracking plugins, including Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce, WooCommerce Shipment Tracking, and more.

Here, we’ll use the Advanced Shipment Tracking plugin.

Follow the instructions below to send WooCommerce shipment tracking emails to your customers for a more transparent order fulfillment process.

Step 1: Configure your Advanced Shipment plugin

Go to WooCommerce ⇨ Shipment Tracking and configure the shipment tracking plugin on your store.

Enable the ‘Rename the “Completed” order status label to “Shipped” option under Settings.

Go to WooCommerce shipment tracking settings and enable the three options under fulfillment workflow

Make sure to configure your shipping providers and track order settings there.

Now, you’ll be able to see the Shipment Tracking section in your WooCommerce Orders section.

You'll see the shipped order status under woocommerce orders

We’ll test our shipment tracking email later in this section with the help of this option.

Step 2: Add a new automation and choose the ‘Order Status Changed’ event

Add a new automation like you did above and set the event trigger - Order Status Changed.

Click on the event to configure it.

Specify the ‘From status’ as ‘Processing’ and ‘To status’ to ‘Shipped’ to make it work out:

Configure order status changed event - define the from status and to status there

Click on ‘Save’ when done.

Alternatively, you can add a new order status condition below your order confirmation emails. Then, specify all your actions under the If-Yes statement.

FunnelKit Automations has all the capabilities for each use case you can think of.

Step 3: Add the WooCommerce shipment tracking email

Add a ‘Send Email’ action below your event trigger and start crafting your shipment tracking email. 

To provide all the shipping information, click on the ‘Merge Tags’ and look for ‘WooCommerce Advanced Shipment Tracking Details’.

To fetch the shipping information, go to merge tags and look for woocommerce advanced shipment tracking details

Here, you’ll get all the information of the shipment tracking fields as merge tags that you can copy and paste into your email.

It has a tracking number, tracking provider, tracking link and date shipped.

Select the shipment tracking field you want to fetch the value

Let’s say, you want to include the tracking number in your email. For that, copy the tracking number merge tag.

Copy the tracking number field merge tag

Paste this merge tag to your email body content.

Similarly, you can cover all these shipment tracking fields in your email.

Paste the tracking number field merge tag into your email content.

Once everything is done, hit the ‘Save & Close’ button.

You can also further design your email with the built-in visual email builder. Here’s a sneak peek of the email we created with FunnelKit Automations:

WooCommerce shipment tracking email created with built-in drag and drop visual email builder - FunnelKit Automations

We’re working on bringing some exciting email templates that can be customized and used in different email campaigns. So stay tuned!

Step 4: Activate your shipment tracking automation

Turn the toggle of your automation to ‘Active’ to make it go live.

Turn the toggle to active to make your woocommerce shipping automation go live

Well done! This is how you can send shipment tracking emails in WooCommerce.

6 Revenue-Generating Tips to Get the Most Out of Shipment Tracking Emails

Sending order shipment tracking emails is more than just a notification today. It’s an opportunity to engage with your customers and create a memorable brand experience.

Here are some great tips to craft a perfect WooCommerce shipment tracking email.

1. Concise email subject line

An email subject line is the first thing a person sees when they get an email. This is the text that helps a user decide whether they will open this email or not.

That’s why your email subject line should be concise and informative. Use words like “Track Your Order Here” to grab your customer’s attention.

2. Content personalization

Personalized emails are opened 82% more often than usual generic emails.

Include the customer’s name in your emails to make it more personal. This is a simple yet effective way to increase customer engagement significantly.

3. Clear tracking information

The main aim of sending shipping confirmation or tracking emails is to keep your customers informed about the status of their orders.

That’s why you should clearly display the tracking number and the shipping carrier’s name in your emails.

You can also include a tracking link for customers to get real-time order updates.

4. Delivery date estimation

Clearly communicate the estimated delivery date with your customers to manage their expectations effectively. 

You can also include any relevant information about order delays, if any.

5. Honest feedback

Asking your customers for honest feedback about the shopping experience allows you to improve your processes.

This way, you can serve them and your future customers better, leading to big conversions in the long run.

You can also provide your customer support email or phone number if your customers have questions or concerns.

6. Upselling opportunities

Since there is a higher chance of transactional emails like these shipping emails getting high open rate, you can use it to your advantage. 

You can use it to showcase related products, offer discount coupons, and encourage future purchases. This helps you increase the lifetime value of your customers.

Are You Ready to Send WooCommerce Shipment Tracking Emails?

Sending WooCommerce shipment tracking emails is a fundamental aspect of any online business.

By choosing the right plugin, configuring it per your requirements, and crafting quality emails, you can enhance customer satisfaction, reduce support inquiries, and build customer trust.

FunnelKit Automations is one of the effective CRM plugins that help you automate your business process. You don’t have to worry about when to schedule an email - it takes care of everything once you’ve configured it.

Keep your customers informed about their orders; we’re sure they will come back for more.

At present, FunnelKit Automations has been used by 18000+ WooCommerce stores. They have been tremendously profiting from the wide array of functionalities that this plugin offers.

Start with FunnelKit Automations and send WooCommerce shipment tracking emails to your customers.

Author: Editorial Team
The Editorial Team at FunnelKit (formerly WooFunnels) is a passionate group of writers and copy editors. We create well-researched posts on topics such as WordPress automation, sales funnels, online course creation, and more. We aim to deliver content that is interesting and actionable.
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