How Do I Let Customers Choose a Delivery Date or Pickup Slot?
Let customers pick the date or slot in the conversation, against rules you set. AeroChat checks your lead time, your order cutoff, your closed days and how many slots are left that day, offers only dates that work, and records the chosen date on the order in Shopify. It works on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, web chat or email.
Why delivery dates cause trouble
Bakeries, florists, cake makers and other made-to-order stores raise this most on the Shopify Community. They need customers to choose a delivery date or a pickup time, with a lead time of a day or two, a same-day cutoff, and a limit on how many orders they can make each day. A florist on a basic plan describes a delivery calendar that breaks. A bakery needs pickup scheduling with cutoffs and capacity limits. A made-to-order shop asks how to stop orders once the day is full.
Delivery estimates add to the confusion. Merchants report estimates that ignore weekends when they are closed, an estimate added after checkout that conflicts with their own calendar, and customers who check out with a date that has already passed. Local customers also pick standard shipping when local delivery was the option they wanted. Each mistake turns into a message to sort out by hand.
The usual fixes and their limits
- A delivery date app. These add a date and time picker to the cart page with blocked days, cutoffs and limits. They work for orders placed on the website, as long as the customer goes through the cart page. Orders that start in a chat, or checkout links that skip the cart, can miss the picker.
- Custom theme code. Some merchants build their own calendar. It costs developer time and tends to break when the theme or plan changes.
- A note field at checkout. It costs nothing, but customers type anything, and nothing stops two hundred people choosing the same Saturday.
- Taking dates by message. Many small stores agree the date on WhatsApp or Instagram. It is personal, but someone has to check the calendar and keep count for every order.
How to handle it in chat with AeroChat
You write your rules once: lead time, cutoff, closed days, delivery or pickup slots and the daily limit. Keep the slots and limits in a Google Sheet your team already updates. When a customer asks for a date, AeroChat checks the sheet, offers dates that are open, and records the chosen slot on the order in Shopify as a note and a tag your team can filter on. For an order placed on your website, the customer can confirm or change the slot in the chat afterwards. For an order placed in the chat, AeroChat agrees the slot first and then sends the payment link.
Customer: Can I get the birthday cake delivered this Friday? (example)
AeroChat: Custom cakes need 2 days’ notice, so Friday works if you order today. Friday has two delivery slots left: 10am to 1pm or 2pm to 5pm. Which would you like?
Customer: 2 to 5 please.
AeroChat: Friday 2pm to 5pm is yours. What’s your order number, or would you like to order the cake here?
Customer: I already ordered, #3381.
AeroChat: Thanks. I’ve added Friday 2pm to 5pm delivery to order #3381.
In Shopify: order #3381 gets the note “Delivery: Friday 2pm to 5pm” and the tag “deliver-fri”. In Google Sheets: Friday’s afternoon count goes up by one.
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer asks about a delivery date or pickup time, follow these steps.
- Use our store’s time zone for every date and time (example: New York time).
- Check our rules: custom items need 2 days’ notice, same-day orders close at 11am, and we are closed on Sundays (example).
- Check the Slots tab of our Google Sheet for that date. Only offer slots that still have space.
- Offer up to three open dates or slots and let the customer choose.
- If they already ordered, verify their order number and email against the order in Shopify, then add a note with the date and slot and the tag for that day.
- If they want to order in the chat, confirm the items and total, agree the slot, and send the payment link. Record the slot once the order is paid.
- Add one to the count for that slot in the Google Sheet.
Never offer a date that breaks these rules. If the customer needs a date we cannot do, hand the conversation to our team. Reply in the customer’s language.
Change the notice period, cutoff, closed days and sheet tab names to match your store before you paste it.
What to connect
- Your Shopify store. Built in. Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store and connect your store in the dashboard. AeroChat verifies the customer and reads the order. Writing the slot to the order as a note and tag runs through Shopify’s Admin API in the workflow you describe.
- A Google Sheet with your slots. One row per date and slot with a limit and a count. Google Sheets connects through its API.
- Airwallex, for orders taken in chat. Airwallex is built into AeroChat for payment links. No Airwallex account yet? Open one here.
- Your courier, if you ship. POS Malaysia is built in: AeroChat can book, reschedule or cancel a pickup.
Questions
Does this replace my delivery date app?
It can sit alongside it. Your app keeps handling the picker on the cart page. AeroChat handles the customers who ask in chat, order in chat, or need to change the date after ordering.
How does AeroChat know a day is full?
It checks the limit and count for that slot in your Google Sheet before offering it, and adds one when a customer books it. Your team can change a limit in the sheet at any time.
Can customers change the slot later?
Yes. In the same chat, AeroChat verifies the order, checks which slots are open and updates the note and tag on the order.
Will it use my store’s time zone?
You set your business hours and time zone in the AeroChat dashboard, and the recipe tells AeroChat to give every date and time in that zone.
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.
Take delivery dates in chat
Install AeroChat, set up your slots sheet, paste the recipe, and ask your own store chat for Friday delivery.
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