How Do I Keep Pre-Order Customers Updated on When Their Order Ships?
Keep the expected ship date on each pre-order product, and let customers ask for it in the chat. AeroChat looks up the order in Shopify, sees which items are on pre-order and which are in stock, and gives the current expected date from your records. When a date moves, it tells the customers waiting on that product. When a balance payment is due or has failed, it sends a payment link in the chat and confirms automatically when it’s paid.
Shopify behavior from Shopify’s help center: Pre-orders and Deferred payments, checked 11 November 2026.
Why it happens
Pre-order customers ask the same question many times: “When will mine ship?” Merchants on the Shopify Community describe what makes it hard. Production and ship dates differ by product and by store. An order that mixes pre-order and in-stock items gets confusing emails. Some want order emails to change depending on whether the variant was in stock. Others want recurring update emails until the item ships, or ask what to do when a balance payment fails.
What Shopify’s help center says
Per Shopify’s help center, checked 11 November 2026:
- To offer pre-orders, you install a pre-order app from the Shopify App Store and manage the pre-orders in your Shopify admin.
- Depending on your pre-order options, you can collect full, partial or no payment when the order is placed, and collect the rest later.
- Payment reminders aren’t sent for orders with purchase options such as pre-orders.
The usual fixes and their limits
- A pre-order app. Takes the pre-order and the deposit. Ship date questions still come to you by email and chat.
- A ship date on the product page. Helpful at checkout. Customers who ordered weeks ago don’t go back to look.
- Update emails. Useful when they go out. Setting them up per product, and keeping them accurate as dates move, takes work.
- Chasing failed balance payments by hand. Personal, and slow, and Shopify doesn’t send payment reminders for pre-orders.
How to handle it in chat with AeroChat
When a customer asks about a pre-order, AeroChat verifies them and reads the order in Shopify. It sees which items are pre-order and which have shipped, and gives the expected date you keep for each pre-order product, for example in a product field or a Google Sheet. When you change a date, AeroChat can tell every customer waiting on that product, on the channel they used. When a balance is due or a payment fails, it sends a payment link in the chat and records the payment on the order once it arrives. The customer never has to say they paid.
Customer: When will my pre-order ship? I also ordered a case that came already. (example)
AeroChat: Let me check. What’s your order number and email?
Customer: #8044, sara@example.com
AeroChat: Thanks, Sara. The phone case shipped on 3 November. The Aurora speaker is on pre-order, expected to ship in the week of 1 December (example). The US$60 balance will be due when it ships. Would you like a message here when it does?
Customer: Yes.
AeroChat: Done. I’ll message you with the payment link and tracking when it’s on its way.
In Shopify: order #8044 shows one item fulfilled and one item on hold for pre-order.
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer asks about a pre-order, follow these steps.
- Ask for their order number and the email or phone number they ordered with. Verify them against the order in Shopify.
- Tell them which items have shipped and which are on pre-order.
- For each pre-order item, give the expected ship date from our pre-order sheet (example). Never give a date that is not in the sheet.
- Tell them if a balance is due and when.
- When we change a date in the sheet, message every customer with an open order for that product and tell them the new date.
- When a balance is due or a payment fails, send a payment link for the balance. When it is paid, add a note to the order so our team can ship it.
Never charge a customer without telling them first. Reply in the customer’s language.
Use your own date source and balance rules before you paste it. On WhatsApp, updates sent more than 24 hours after the customer’s last message need an approved template.
What to connect
- Your Shopify store. Built in. Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store and connect your store. AeroChat reads the order, the pre-order items and their fulfillment status.
- Your ship dates. A product field in Shopify, or a Google Sheet with one row per pre-order product.
- A payment provider for balances. Airwallex is built in. Other gateways connect through their APIs. See payment reminders.
Questions
Does AeroChat replace my pre-order app?
No. The app takes the pre-order and the deposit. AeroChat answers the questions that follow and collects balances in the chat.
What if an order mixes pre-order and in-stock items?
AeroChat reads each item’s status and tells the customer exactly what has shipped and what is still to come.
Can it tell everyone when a date slips?
Yes. When the date changes in your source, it messages each customer with an open order for that product.
Where can I read more about pre-orders in chat?
See pre-orders and stopping where-is-my-order questions.
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.
Answer pre-order questions without the inbox
Install AeroChat, add your pre-order dates, and ask your own store chat when a test pre-order ships.
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