Order emails that answer the next question.

Every order email Shopify sends is a support message in disguise. A clear one answers the question the customer was about to ask; a vague one, or one that never arrives, becomes a ticket. Ten minutes in the template editor saves hours in the inbox.

Where they live

All notifications sit in one place in your Shopify admin: Settings > Notifications.

• Customer notifications are the emails shoppers receive: Order confirmation, Shipping confirmation, Shipping update, Out for delivery, Delivered, and the Order exceptions group (Order edited, Order canceled, Order refund, Order invoice).
• Staff notifications go to you and your team, such as New order and New return request. Add recipients under Staff notifications > Add recipient.
• Branding for every customer email at once (logo, accent color) is under Customer notifications > Customize email template.

Edit a template

Each template is HTML with Liquid variables, so you can change both the wording and what order data it prints.

1. In Settings > Notifications, click Customer notifications.
2. Click the notification you want, for example Order confirmation.
3. Click Edit code and change the Email subject or the Email body (HTML).
4. Click Preview to check your unsaved changes.
5. Click Send test email. It goes to the address you use to log in to Shopify.
6. Click Save.

Copy the code into a document before you start. Revert to > Default restores Shopify's version, but it wipes your edits. A customized template also stops receiving Shopify's own template updates, including the automatic order status page link.

Set the sender email

The Sender email is the From address on your notifications and the address Shopify gives customers to contact you, so it decides where replies land.

1. Go to Settings > Notifications.
2. In the Sender email section, enter your support address.
3. Click Save, and confirm the address if Shopify asks you to.

Avoid "no-reply" addresses: some mail hosts reject them. If your domain isn't authenticated, Shopify rewrites the sender to a shopifyemail.com address that customers won't recognise.

The emails that cut tickets

Five notifications carry most of the load. Here is what each should say.

• Order confirmation: when the order ships. Shopify's consolidated_estimated_delivery_time variable prints dates from the processing time in your Shipping and delivery settings. Add one line on how to change or cancel, and by when.
• Shipping confirmation: the tracking link. It appears only if you add a tracking number at fulfillment, so make that a rule for the team.
• Out for delivery and Delivered: leave these on. They are triggered by carrier scans, so they answer "where is it" before it's asked.
• Order edited: what changed, and what happens to the money. Editing an order doesn't refund the difference; say that the refund or invoice follows separately.
• Order refund: the amount and when it reaches the original payment method, in your processor's real days.

End every template with the same help line: your support email, your hours, and where to chat.

What a vague email costs

Each gap in these emails maps to a ticket you have seen before.

• No confirmation in the inbox: "Did my order go through?" Customers who check out with only a phone number get an SMS confirmation and no email updates unless they opt in. The order confirmation not received template covers the reply.
• No tracking number: "Where is my order?" An order fulfilled without tracking stays Confirmed on the order status page and in customer accounts.
• No date: "When will it ship?" from every customer on a slow week.
• An edit with no explanation: "Why was I charged this?" or "Where's my refund?"

For the tracking questions that still arrive, see Shopify order tracking.

Where Aide helps

Customers reply to order emails, so the reply is where support starts. When your support email is connected to Aide, by forwarding or through Gmail, the Aide AI Agent answers customers who reply to these notifications, with the customer's order and live tracking beside the conversation, read from Shopify and directly from UPS and FedEx. A reply to a Shipping confirmation that says "still not here" gets the latest carrier scan, not a canned line.

Each Aide workspace also has a public chat page. Put its link in the help line of your order emails so customers can ask in chat instead. For a shopper who proves the order is theirs, Aide can cancel the order, change the shipping address or start a return; refunds it offers wait for a teammate to approve them by default.