Order tracking is an important but sometimes overlooked feature of an online shop. Customers need to know the status of an order so they can plan and have confidence they’re receiving the order. Depending on the platform, you may or may not have order tracking by default.
The most popular eCommerce platform for WordPress, WooCommerce, does not include order tracking by default. Fortunately, it’s easy to add with plugins. In this post, we’ll look at eCommerce order tracking software for WordPress to help you know why you need it and choose the best option for your WooCommerce shop.
What is eCommerce Order Tracking Software
eCommerce order tracking software provides the tools you need to track the status of online orders in real time. It tracks the order from order placement through inventory management and order fulfillment. It provides all the relevant information about the order.
Why You Need eCommerce Order Tracking Software
Order tracking allows both you and your customers to know where the order is in the process. It lets customers know if or when the order has been shipped, the number of packages they will receive when the order will arrive, and through which delivery company. This provides good communication to the customer, which reduces stress in the order process and keeps them from having to contact you for the information.
It answers questions for the customer, such as:
- Has my order been processed?
- Has my order shipped?
- Was everything I ordered shipped on time?
- Was anything on backorder?
- What address was the order shipped to?
- When will my order arrive?
These are common questions that every customer needs to answer. Order tracking software gives them the answers without them having to contact you, which prolongs the process. It also builds confidence in the company, so customers know they can trust you.
eCommerce order tracking software can help the website owner by identifying potential problems such as inventory or shipping problems.
Adding eCommerce Order Tracking Software to Your WordPress Website
There are several ways to track orders online. Real-time order tracking is the most helpful because it’s the most up-to-date. You can use a service, use a platform that includes it, or add it to your current platform. The best option to add order tracking to your eCommerce platform for WordPress is with plugins.
The eCommerce order tracking software plugins integrate with inventory management systems, such as WooCommerce. When an order is placed and when an update is made to the order, such as a shipping date, that information is sent to the order tracking software, where the customer can access it. Updates are provided in email notifications and added to the customer’s account information, where they can access it as they wish.
For more information about expanding WooCommerce, see the article Best WooCommerce Plugins & Extensions. If you’re interested in choosing a hosting plan for your WooCommerce store, see the article WooCommerce Hosting: Popular E-commerce Solution Explained.
WordPress eCommerce Order Tracking Software Plugins
Now that we’ve seen what eCommerce order-tracking software is and why we want to add it to any WordPress shop, let’s look at the best order-tracking plugins. Most work with WooCommerce. All have recent updates and great reviews. I’ll point out their stand-out features as we go along. Most have both a free version and a premium version. The plugins are in no particular order.
1. AfterShip Tracking
AfterShip Tracking – All-In-One WooCommerce Order Tracking is a free plugin that integrates into WooCommerce and automatically adds fields to your admin panel for tracking numbers and couriers. You can set a promised date based on the courier. Connect with 900 shipping providers. When you ship the order, you’ll add the information to these fields. The dashboard lets you filter the orders by date, status, courier, shipping provider, and destination. Sort them by title, last event, created, order date, and pickup date. Trace the orders to identify shipping issues.
Customers can track their orders from their order confirmation and order history pages. Add the tracking link to your headers or footers . Send automated emails to show the updated status to both you and your customers. Configure and show the notifications for various statuses including Info Received, In Transit, Out for Delivery, Available for Pickup, Delivered, Failed Attempt, and Exceptions. Brand the order tracking page to match your website.
2. Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce
Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce helps you manage and fulfill your WooCommerce order workflow. The free version lets you rename the status from Completed to Shipped or Partly Shipped. A shipping widget lets you send your customers their tracking information. Add tracking to any order and add multiple tracking numbers to the same order. It connects with 300 shipping providers with a tracking link to track the shipment on the shipping provider’s website.
The pro version integrates with lots of fulfillment services. It includes a fulfillment dashboard to manage orders. Attach tracking to each item. It also includes a custom email template and a custom widget. Create a custom shipping workflow, map courier names, auto-complete partial orders, auto-detect shipping providers, and export the shipping information to PayPal. You can also white-label the shipping providers.
3. Orders Tracking for WooCommerce
Orders Tracking for WooCommerce allows shop owners to add and edit tracking numbers and tracking URLs for each item of an order. It integrates with 80 couriers and lets you add custom couriers. The tracking URLs are filled in automatically. Send tracking emails when the status changes. Create and design a tracking page using the two templates and design options. The tracking numbers are also displayed in the customer’s order list.
The pro version gives you more control over tracking management. Track an order by a single tracking number even if the order has multiple tracking numbers. Edit the order list, track per quantity, manage user roles, add default info, schedule the data sync, manage email tracking, integrate tracking services, and lots more. It includes Google reCAPTCHA to reduce spam.
4. YITH WooCommerce Order & Shipment Tracking
YITH WooCommerce Order & Shipment Tracking lets you add shipping and tracking information to every order. You can show the information on your customer’s order list and order details pages. The free version includes a default courier, lets you choose the position between above and below the product’s table, and shows a button to redirect the customer to the courier’s page with the shipping details.
The premium version supports over 480 couriers. You can include an estimated delivery date, send an email when the order is complete, automatically complete the order when tracking information is added, and integrate with other YITH products to provide more information. Use the shortcode to create a custom order tracking page for your shop.
5. Order Tracking
Order Tracking provides shortcodes and Gutenberg blocks to add responsive tracking to your website. It can track anything, making it ideal for tracking orders as well as other uses such as project management. This makes it ideal for WordPress websites with multiple users on the backend. Create unlimited orders, searchable orders, custom statuses, and email notifications, and choose which information displays in the results. Display with AJAX or link to another page.
The premium version automatically creates the order status. Order numbers are assigned automatically. The status is updated automatically, and an email is automatically sent when the status changes. Add a customer tracking form to your website, customers can log in to see their orders, add sales rep tracking, create different locations to associate with the orders, assign fields to orders, etc. It also includes custom styling. It integrates with PayPal and includes Google reCAPTCHA for the customer order form.
6. Shipment Tracking and Order Tracking for WooCommerce-ParcelPanel
Shipment Tracking and Order Tracking for WooCommerce-ParcelPanel is a comprehensive free plugin that’s designed to be the only order tracking plugin you need. The goal is to keep your traffic on your website while providing the information your customers need. You can change the order status from Completed to Shipped. You can mark partially shipped orders as Partially Shipped. WooCommerce orders are automatically synced and will display on your tracking page. It integrates with over 1080 couriers and it will automatically reorganize them and display them on the tracking page.
The plugin integrates with drop-shipping companies and includes three drop-shipping plugins. It also includes three custom order number plugins for WooCommerce to show sequential order numbers, custom order numbers, and a plugin called Booster with lots of WooCommerce extras. Other features include an ordering widget, shipping progress bar, intelligent upselling, estimated delivery time, map coordinates, and more.
7. TrackingMore Parcel Tracking
TrackingMore Parcel Tracking is a free plugin that was designed for any size WooCommerce shop. It integrates with over 100 couriers and updates the shipping tracking automatically. Orders import from WooCommerce automatically every eight hours. Once you’ve fulfilled the order you can add the tracking number and the courier in WooCommerce, and the customer can track their order from their account page.
Manage the shipments from the Visibility Dashboard. Automatically send email notifications. Filter the orders by time, couriers, and order status. Activate the tracking button to allow customers to view their order status. You can also automatically insert the tracking link into your WooCommerce store. You can also place them on your branded tracking page. The branded page keeps your customers on your website while providing them with all the information they need in one place.
8. Shipment Tracking
Shipment Tracking is a premium order tracking plugin from WooCommerce that provides an easy way for customers to track their shipping. Once you add the details to the order, the information is automatically added to emails, the order tracking page, and the order view page in their account. It supports custom tracking links for the 16 most popular couriers.
It also integrates with other plugins, such as the WooCommerce Mobile App. With this plugin, you can add tracking numbers on the go in the mobile app.
9. WooCommerce Shipping Tracking
WooCommerce Shipping Tracking provides a visual timeline so customers can monitor the status of their orders. Add the tracking code and the visual timeline is created automatically on the order details page. Customers will automatically receive an email with the tracking URL. It supports over 1000 shipping couriers, and you can define your own. Add the dispatch date and a custom note if you want.
You can customize the email and order details in HTML from the admin menu. You can also provide estimated delivery times for the various shipping methods and allow the customer to specify the delivery date and time they prefer. Show a “Track in Site” widget on any page so your customers can track their orders from anywhere on your website.
10. WooCommerce Order Tracker
WooCommerce Order Tracker displays the order status using graphics so customers can track their orders visually. It keeps the process streamlined and as simple as possible. Customers can also track their orders with a URL. It includes tracking from your store and third-party shipping services. You can create custom order statuses based on the shipping process. Create your own order tracking page with a shortcode.
Send email notifications when an order status changes. Tracking information includes an estimated delivery date. The order templates include six different types of tracking. Track with Google Maps and with 17track.net. Create custom statuses as bulk actions. A payment link option allows customers to complete their orders when an order status is pending.
Ending Thoughts on eCommerce Order Tracking Software
That’s our look at eCommerce order tracking software for WordPress. There are lots of reasons to add order tracking to your WooCommerce store. Customers can easily know the status of any order, which saves you time and builds their confidence in your store. It also saves you a lot of time since you won’t need to help them understand the status of their order. Fortunately, adding order tracking is simple and easy using any of the WordPress plugins we’ve discussed on this list.
We want to hear from you. Have you added eCommerce order tracking software to your WordPress shop? Let us know about your experience in the comments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can WordPress be used for eCommerce?
WordPress offers many different ways to build an eCommerce online store for all types of products and markets. Almost 40 percent of all online shops are powered by WooCommerce, a WordPress eCommerce plugin.
How customizable is my ecommerce store?
This depends on the eCommerce tool you use. For example, Magento is 100% customizable, and you can amend just about every aspect. Shopify on the other hand has far fewer customization options.
Can I run an eCommerce store on VPS and dedicated servers?
Yes, of course. In fact, both types of hosting should be able to handle thousands of transactions per day.
Is shared hosting good for eCommerce?
There are several advantages of using shared hosting for eCommerce, like its low cost, security, and user-friendliness. However, if you’re looking for a scalable hosting plan, managed cloud server might be a better choice for you.
Randy A. Brown is a freelance writer from east TN specializing in WordPress and eCommerce. He's a longtime WordPress enthusiast and loves learning new things and sharing information with others. If he's not writing or reading, he's probably playing guitar.
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