Holiday shipping cutoff template

The order-by date, before they ask twice.

Give the last day to order for each shipping speed, so the shopper decides now instead of hoping.Updated · By Ziyad Basheer

Short answer

A holiday shipping cutoff is the last day to order for delivery before the holiday, and it differs by shipping speed and region. Give the date for each, and say plainly what happens after it.

The templates

Fills in from Shopify, with a fallbackYours to fill in
ChatOrder-by dates
To arrive by December 24 within your country, order by December 15 with standard shipping or December 19 with express. Orders after that still ship, but may arrive after the holiday.
EmailCutoff has passed
Subject: Holiday delivery and your order
Hi customer.first_name, Thanks for checking. Our last day for delivery by December 24 was December 19, so an order placed now is likely to arrive after the holiday. If it needs to be there in time, a digital gift card arrives by email straight away. Otherwise we will ship as soon as you order and send tracking the same day.

When to use

A shopper asks whether an order will arrive by a holiday, or the last day to order for it. Not when they ask about delivery times during a sale.Aide picks a procedure from its When to use. Paste this into your procedure, then edit it for your store.

Only if

They ask about timingYour holiday delivery topic is detected, such as “What is the last day to order for Christmas?”
Past the cutoffOptional: switch to the second version once the last date has gone by.
Already orderedA customer asking about an order they placed gets the will it arrive by Christmas template.

Example conversation

Customer
If I order the candle set today, will it get to Calgary before Christmas?
Aide
Yes, if you order today. To arrive by December 24 within Canada, order by December 15 with standard shipping or December 19 with express. After that, we cannot promise it in time.
✓Cutoff dates quoted from your holiday shipping page

Frequently asked questions

As soon as the carriers publish theirs, usually in the autumn. Set your own dates a few days earlier to cover packing time.

Promise the order-by date, not the delivery. Carriers own the last mile, so phrase it as “order by” and keep their estimate as the backup.

It can, once the shopper is verified. Aide reads live tracking with the expected delivery date and answers with that instead of the general cutoff.

Send this with the order filled in

Aide fills in the Shopify order and tracking, then drafts or sends the reply, as you choose.