WISMO (where is my order)
WISMO stands for “where is my order”, the order-status question, and it is shorthand for the most repetitive category of messages an online store receives.
What it means in practice
The question arrives all day, it is nearly identical every time, and answering it takes no judgment. The customer wants information that sits in your order records, where they can’t see it.
You will see percentages quoted for WISMO’s share of support volume, usually somewhere between a quarter and well over half. They come from vendor blogs with no published method, and they disagree with each other, so we don’t quote one. Count your own instead: take one week of messages and mark every order-status question. Merchants describe the result in their own words: “where’s my order”, “can I change my address”, “the same answers all day”.
Why an FAQ bot can’t answer it
An FAQ has one answer, the same for everyone, and it can be found in a document. WISMO has a different answer for every customer, and the answer changes as the parcel moves. A tool that only searches your content will reply to “where is my order” with your shipping policy. See RAG. This mismatch is a common reason a business installs a chatbot and sees no drop in messages.
What it takes to answer it
- Identify the customer. Match the email or phone they are messaging from, or ask for the order number.
- Verify before disclosing. Order details are personal data. AeroChat verifies the customer’s email or phone first, and orders are never stored.
- Read the live order. Status, items, carrier and tracking number, from Shopify.
- Answer in the channel they used. A question on WhatsApp gets its answer on WhatsApp.
- Handle the follow-up. “It says delivered and I don’t have it” needs a person or a claims workflow. Pass it on with the order attached. See live chat handover.
Sending updates first, and what that now costs
Proactive updates at dispatch and out-for-delivery stop many of these questions before they are sent. On WhatsApp, those updates are utility templates, and Meta charges for them. Two changes on 1 October 2026 affect the sums:
- Utility templates sent inside an open customer service window had been free since 1 July 2025. From 1 October 2026 they are charged.
- Service messages, the free-text replies inside the 24-hour window, are charged too. Each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages a month, and unused ones don’t roll over.
Source: Meta, WhatsApp Business Platform pricing documentation, checked October 2026.
So three paid updates sent to avoid one question is a trade, and it can go either way. Work it out on your own volumes: how many customers would have asked, and how many replies each question takes you. See conversation-based pricing.
Related terms
Read next
- Send order confirmations on WhatsApp from Shopify
- Meta’s Q3 numbers and the new price of a WhatsApp reply
Related guides
- Automate Order Status in Chat
- How to Reduce WISMO Tickets: 7 Practical Steps for Online Stores
- WhatsApp shipping update templates
- WhatsApp Order Tracking That Answers From Your Store Data
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