“Where Is My Order?” Email Templates (6 Replies)

In almost every store we support, “where is my order?” is the most common question in the inbox. It is rarely difficult, but it arrives every day, and a slow or vague answer turns a curious customer into a worried one. Worried customers open chargebacks and leave bad reviews.

Below are the replies our agents use, written so you can copy them and fill in the details. After that, we cover the changes that bring the number of these emails down.

Check three things before you reply

A good answer takes about a minute if you look in the right places first:

The order in Shopify. Has it been fulfilled? Is there a tracking number? Was the address correct?
The carrier’s tracking page. Don’t rely on the status in Shopify alone. Open the carrier link and read the latest scan and its date.
Your own timeline. What processing and delivery times does your shipping page promise? Your reply should match it.

Once you know where the parcel is, one of the templates below will fit.

The templates

Replace everything in [brackets]. Keep the customer’s first name, and sign off with a real name, not “Customer Service Team”.

1. It’s on its way and on time

Hi [First name],

Good news: your order shipped on [date] with [carrier] and it’s on track to arrive by [date]. You can follow it here: [tracking link].

If anything changes, just reply to this email and I’ll look into it.

[Your name]

2. It hasn’t shipped yet

Hi [First name],

Thanks for checking in. Your order is being prepared and will ship within [processing time], so you can expect it by [date]. As soon as it leaves our warehouse you’ll get an email with the tracking link.

[Your name]

3. Tracking hasn’t updated for a few days

Hi [First name],

I checked your tracking and the last update was on [date] in [location]. This usually means the parcel is moving between depots and hasn’t been scanned yet. I’ve contacted [carrier] to make sure it’s moving.

I’ll check again on [date] and email you either way, so you don’t need to chase us.

[Your name]

The promise to follow up is the important part. Put a reminder in your help desk and keep it.

4. Marked as delivered, but the customer doesn’t have it

Hi [First name],

I’m sorry it hasn’t reached you. [Carrier] shows it was delivered on [date] at [time]. Could you check with neighbours, your building’s mailroom or any safe place the driver might have used?

If it hasn’t turned up by [date], reply here and I’ll open a claim with the carrier and sort out a replacement or refund for you.

[Your name]

5. It’s lost or badly delayed

Hi [First name],

I’m sorry. Your parcel hasn’t moved since [date], and [carrier] has confirmed it’s lost. I’ve sent a replacement today, and here’s the new tracking link: [link]. If you’d rather have a refund, just say so and I’ll process it straight away.

[Your name]

Offer the replacement first, then the refund. Most customers still want the product.

6. It’s a preorder or backorder

Hi [First name],

Your order includes [product], which is on preorder. We expect it in stock around [date] and will ship your full order then. If you’d like the other items sent now, or you’d prefer to cancel the preorder item, let me know and I’ll take care of it.

[Your name]

How to get fewer “where is my order?” emails

Templates make these emails faster to answer. These changes stop many of them from being sent at all:

Send tracking straight away. Check that Shopify’s shipping confirmation goes out with a working tracking link, and that it isn’t landing in spam.
Show processing time before checkout. Put it on product pages and in the cart, not only on the shipping policy page.
Add a tracking page. Link to it from your menu and footer so customers can check without writing in.
Email first when there’s a delay. A short “your order is running late” message gets far fewer angry replies than silence.
Answer on live chat. A customer who gets an answer in chat doesn’t send an email as well, so you handle the question once.

Fast fulfilment matters most of all. When we took over support and operations for the fashion brand ZCRAVE, we built workflows across Shopify, ShipStation and Zendesk, and order processing times came down by 30%. Orders that ship sooner lead to fewer “where is my order?” emails.

When to hand this off

If these emails take up an hour or more of your day, it’s usually cheaper to have someone else answer them. Our email support agents reply to every email within an hour during your working hours, inside your own help desk and under your brand name. For fashion and apparel stores, see how we support clothing brands.

About the author. Saif Sheikh has worked in customer support since 2017. He started in an in-house support job, saw that online stores needed a better option, and went freelance. Since then he has led a team of 22 people, supported more than 100 brands and trained many newcomers, free of charge, to start their own freelancing careers. More about Assistify.