Pre-Orders in Chat for WooCommerce
Yes. AeroChat takes pre-orders for your WooCommerce products in the chat. For products you allow on backorder, it tells the shopper the expected ship date you set, takes the payment by link and creates the order in WooCommerce through its REST API with a pre-order note. Later it answers “when does my pre-order ship?” from the same order, on WhatsApp and every other channel.
This recipe turns “when is it coming?” into a paid pre-order instead of a lost shopper. Part of connecting WooCommerce to WhatsApp and AI chat.
What happens today
A new release or a popular restock is announced, and the messages start: “can I order it now?”, “when will it ship?”, “will I get it before the holidays?”. The team answers each one by hand, and shoppers who do not get an answer buy elsewhere. Once they have pre-ordered, they ask again every week when it is shipping.
The flow that works
- The shopper asks about a product that is not in stock yet.
- AeroChat checks the product in WooCommerce. If backorders are allowed, or its stock status is on backorder, a pre-order is possible.
- It tells the shopper the expected ship date from your product page or knowledge base. If you have not set one, it says no date is confirmed yet.
- It confirms the variant, quantity and delivery address, and sends a payment link for the full amount or the deposit you set.
- When the payment is confirmed, AeroChat creates the order in WooCommerce with a note “Pre-order, expected to ship from” and the date.
- When the shopper later asks about it, AeroChat reads the order and its notes and replies with the latest date your team added.
What it looks like on WhatsApp
Customer: Is the Field jacket in olive, size L, available yet? (example)
AeroChat: Not yet. The olive Field jacket is on pre-order and is expected to ship from 2 December. Size L is $189 with free delivery. Would you like to reserve one?
Customer: Yes please, same address as my last order.
AeroChat: Here’s your payment link for $189. Once it’s paid, your pre-order is confirmed and I’ll send you the order number.
In WooCommerce: after payment, a processing order (example) appears for the olive Field jacket, size L, with the note “Pre-order, expected to ship from 2 December”.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer asks about a product that is out of stock or not released yet, follow these steps.
- Find the product and the exact variant in WooCommerce.
- If backorders are not allowed for it, say it is not available to order yet and offer the closest variant in stock.
- If backorders are allowed, tell them the expected ship date from the product description or our knowledge base. If there is no date, say no date is confirmed yet. Never guess one.
- If they want it, confirm the variant, quantity and delivery address, and quote the total including shipping.
- Send an Airwallex payment link for the total.
- When the payment is confirmed, create the order in WooCommerce as paid, with the note “Pre-order, expected to ship from” and the date. Send them the order number.
- When a customer asks about a pre-order they placed, find the order, check the email or phone matches, and reply with the latest ship date in the order notes.
Never promise a date we have not given. Reply in the customer’s language.
If you take a deposit instead of the full amount, change step 5 to the deposit amount and add how the balance is paid before you paste it.
What to connect
- WooCommerce catalog. Built in. The AeroChat WordPress plugin syncs your products and stock. In WooCommerce, set the products you take pre-orders for to allow backorders, and put the expected ship date in the product description.
- WooCommerce orders. In WooCommerce, go to Settings, Advanced, REST API, and add a key with read and write access. Copy the consumer key and consumer secret, and paste them in when AeroChat asks. Product stock and backorder settings, orders and order notes are documented at woocommerce.github.io/woocommerce-rest-api-docs.
- Airwallex. Built in. Connect your Airwallex account in the AeroChat dashboard. Airwallex confirms each payment to AeroChat, so the shopper never has to tell you they paid. Payment links are on Growth and above.
After you paste the recipe, AeroChat builds the workflow as a draft and shows a checklist: connect WooCommerce, connect Airwallex, add your knowledge base if the recipe uses one, then switch it on. If it built the connection from WooCommerce’s public documentation, the checklist asks you to check it once against the current docs.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
What you still decide
- Which products take pre-orders, and the ship date you are confident about.
- Full payment or a deposit.
- When the date moves, the new date your team adds to the orders, so AeroChat gives the right answer.
The result to expect
Shoppers who ask about a product that is coming soon can pay for it in the chat, and every pre-order sits in WooCommerce with its date. “When does it ship?” gets the same answer your team would give.
Measure it with your own numbers: pre-orders taken in chat, and pre-order status questions answered without handover, for a month before and after.
Next: see the pre-order workflow across every channel and how to keep pre-order customers updated on ship dates.
Works on every chat channel
This workflow runs the same way on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, the chat on your website and email, with the same WooCommerce connection behind it. See what each channel does on the WooCommerce integration page.
Channel versions: WhatsApp ordering.
Take your first pre-order in chat
Paste the recipe, set one product to allow backorders, and pre-order it from your own number.
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