How to Build an Order Tracking Page Shoppers Use
Build an order tracking page that answers questions before shoppers email you, from Shopify order status to the tracking number they need.
An order tracking page must show what you’re sending, where each shipment stands and when it’s expected to arrive. Build it around plain status descriptions, then link every delivery update to that page. Shoppers can find the answer and get help from your store in the same place.
Start with your platform’s existing order information. You’ll need access to order settings and notification templates, plus a reliable source of carrier updates. A branded page can explain preparation before dispatch as well as movement after dispatch.
What an Order Tracking Page Must Show
Show the order number and purchased items alongside the current stage, carrier, tracking number and expected delivery window. Put the next expected event beside the stage. For example, “We’re packing your order” tells a shopper more than an unexplained warehouse code.
Keep these details easy to scan on a phone:
- Order number and the items in each shipment, including size or colour where needed.
- Current stage in plain English, with the latest recorded update.
- Carrier name and tracking number once they’re available.
- Expected delivery window, clearly labelled as an estimate.
- A next step for delays, failed delivery or missing parcels.
The ecommerce order tracking process starts before the carrier collects anything. Payment confirmation comes first, followed by preparation and packing. After handover, carrier events describe transit, local delivery and arrival. Show a delay or failed attempt beside the affected shipment instead of leaving the last successful stage unexplained.
An order number and a tracking number identify different things. Your store’s order number identifies the purchase. The carrier tracking number identifies a parcel. One order can have several tracking numbers when items ship separately.
For example, a hypothetical order 8412 contains a coat and shoes. If the shoes leave first, show their shipment as dispatched and the coat as being prepared. A single “Shipped” label for the whole order would leave the shopper guessing about the coat.
Order number tracking works through your store’s lookup or customer account, with the identity details that system requires. Carrier tracking works through the parcel’s tracking number. Label both fields so shoppers know which number to use and where to find it.
What Each Order Status Means
Order statuses describe different stages on different platforms, so translate them without changing their meaning. Keep payment status separate from fulfilment and delivery. A paid order can still be waiting to leave your warehouse.
| Platform | Status label | Plain description for the shopper |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify | Unfulfilled | Your order hasn’t been fulfilled yet. |
| Shopify | In progress | We’re preparing your order for fulfilment. |
| Shopify | Partially fulfilled | Some items have been fulfilled. Show which ones. |
| Shopify | Fulfilled | All items have been fulfilled. Use carrier events to show delivery progress. |
| WooCommerce | Pending payment | We’ve received your order and are waiting for payment. |
| WooCommerce | Processing | Payment is received and your order is awaiting fulfilment. |
| WooCommerce | Completed | The store has marked fulfilment complete. This alone doesn’t establish a carrier delivery scan. |
| BigCommerce | Awaiting fulfillment | Checkout and payment are complete. Your order is waiting for fulfilment. |
| BigCommerce | Awaiting shipment | Your order is packed and waiting for carrier collection. |
| BigCommerce | Shipped | Your order has shipped. Receipt hasn’t been confirmed. |
| BigCommerce | Completed | The digital product is paid for and available to download. |
These are the platforms’ documented labels, including BigCommerce’s spelling of “fulfillment”. On Shopify’s customer-facing order status page, shipment labels include Confirmed, On its way, Out for delivery, Delivered and Attempted delivery. Those describe shipment progress separately from the fulfilment labels you manage in the admin.
To add a WooCommerce custom order status without writing code, use the Order Status Manager extension. Open WooCommerce > Settings > Order Statuses and select Add Order Status. Enter a name such as “Awaiting stock” and add a description explaining what happens next. Configure its payment treatment and customer email trigger to match your workflow.
When you assign that status to an order, the customer sees the status name in their order information. The extension can also show its description when they view the order. For “Ready for pickup”, explain the collection location and what the shopper must bring. A custom status must reflect an actual event in your process.
“Released” needs an explanation from the system that supplies it. In warehouse systems, it can mean the order has been released for dispatch processing, with picking or packing still ahead. Microsoft’s release-to-warehouse documentation describes this distinction. It doesn’t establish that the carrier has collected the parcel.
If you display a carrier or warehouse term, add its meaning beside it. Use “Released to warehouse: we’re preparing your items” only when that matches your process. A customs-release event needs its own explanation. Don’t turn either event into a delivered status.
Lessons From the Apple Order Status Page
Apple’s order status layout gives each item its own status message and keeps shipment details with the item they describe. Its Australian shopping help page explains stages from Order Placed and Order in Progress through Preparing to Ship, Shipped and Delivered. Pickup has separate stages.
Apple’s order status help also describes a Track Shipment control. Its shipment view contains the estimated delivery date, tracking number and shipping address. Multiple items can have separate tracking information.
Borrow that organisation for your store. Put the current stage above each shipment’s items, then its delivery estimate and tracking action underneath. Explain when an address change is still possible. Keep pickup instructions with pickup items so a shopper doesn’t mistake “Shipping to Store” for “Ready for Pickup”.
You can reproduce this with text and shipment cards. A decorative progress bar adds little if the page still hides which item is delayed.
Delivery Notifications That Link Back
Make the main action in each delivery notification a link to your store’s order tracking page. That destination can explain the whole order, show split shipments and give shoppers a route to your staff. A carrier site usually describes the parcel it carries.
Keep a carrier link available on the tracking page for the detailed scan history. The store page remains the first stop. Use an order-specific link so the shopper reaches the right order without searching again, while retaining your platform’s identity checks.
Each message needs the order number, a plain description of the change and a “View your order” action. If collection hasn’t happened, say the parcel is awaiting collection. Creating a shipping label doesn’t establish that it’s in transit.
Use the same destination in dispatch and delivery updates. For message structure and timing, use the post-purchase email guide. If repeated order questions continue across channels, use the guide to reducing order-status contacts to review the wider process.
Adding Help Without Adding Tickets
Put delivery help directly below the shipment details, followed by a returns link and a clearly labelled chat option. Keep the status itself visible before promotions or product recommendations. A shopper opening this page wants an answer about an existing purchase.
Explain what to do when tracking hasn’t changed or a delivery attempt fails. Give a specific contact threshold based on your carrier arrangements. A “Delivered” shipment also needs a route to report a parcel the shopper can’t find.
An AI agent with verified access to the shopper’s order can explain the latest stage and answer follow-up questions from your delivery policies. It can describe a split shipment or explain how to start a return. It must distinguish the recorded event from an estimated arrival and pass unresolved delivery problems to a person.
Keep that chat option in the delivery help area where your platform supports it. Ask for identity confirmation before showing private order details. Carry the order reference into staff handover so the shopper doesn’t have to repeat the purchase details.
Setting It Up on Your Platform
Use the built-in order view first, then add a tracking app when you need a branded shipment timeline or more carrier events. Choose the option around the information missing from your current page. The order tracking software comparison covers app selection.
On Shopify, shoppers can track an order without your store installing a tracking app. They open the order status link in their confirmation email or sign in to their customer account. When Shopify asks for identity confirmation, they can supply the order number and the checkout email address or phone number. This is access to the order-specific page, not a universal lookup that finds any Shopify order.
Add the carrier and tracking number when fulfilling the order. Supported carriers provide shipment updates on the page. Unsupported carriers provide a tracking link instead. Shopify also separates multiple fulfilments into sections.
To change branding, open Settings > Checkout, edit the configuration and select Order status in the checkout and accounts editor. Adjust the available logo, colours and font settings. Eligible apps can add content to the order status page on Basic or higher. A normal theme embed doesn’t establish that an app supports this page.
On WooCommerce, create a WordPress page and add the [woocommerce_order_tracking] shortcode. It shows a lookup form for the order number and billing email. Customers with accounts can also view orders through My Account. Add a shipment-tracking extension when you need carrier details and a delivery timeline beyond the order’s store status.
On BigCommerce, begin with the customer order view and shipment tracking available in your storefront. Catalyst’s My Account / Orders includes order history and shipment tracking links. A tracking app can add a branded page and automated delivery updates. Connect each shipment to its items and tracking number before changing the notification destination.
Use this sequence to finish the page:
- Open the existing order view as a shopper. Record which of the required fields it already shows.
- Add the missing shipment details and plain status explanations. Use an app or supported page extension where the built-in view can’t display them.
- Point each delivery notification to the order-specific store page. Open the delivered message on a phone and confirm the link reaches that order.
- Run a controlled test order through preparation and dispatch. Confirm the tracking number matches the correct parcel and a split shipment leaves the remaining items visible.
- Test guest access and delivery help. A shopper must be able to reach their order securely and contact your store from the same page.
If the page shows only a carrier link, check whether that carrier supports richer updates in your chosen tool. If one parcel appears twice, check the shipment-to-item mapping. If guest access fails, check the lookup credentials and notification link before sending shoppers to a different tracking service.