How to send WhatsApp order confirmations and delivery updates

When a customer places an order, your backend sends an event to Pushwoosh, and a journey replies on WhatsApp with an approved Meta template filled with the order number, the item, and the delivery date. When the order ships, a second event and a second journey send the tracking link the same way.

Prerequisites

• WhatsApp is connected to your Pushwoosh project. Learn more
• Customers’ WhatsApp numbers are registered under their User IDs. Pushwoosh sends the message to the WhatsApp number registered under the User ID the event comes with. Learn more
• Two templates are approved in WhatsApp Manager. Only approved templates appear in Pushwoosh. Learn more about templates

Developer assistance needed

Your development team sends the order events from your backend with the same User ID that the customer’s WhatsApp number is registered under.

This guide uses the following templates:

Template	Body	Button
order_confirmation	Hi! We've received your order {{1}}: {{2}}. Estimated delivery: {{3}}.	None
order_shipped	Your order {{1}} is on its way.	Track order with the URL https://yourshop.com/track/{{1}}

Step 1. Create the order events

Create two custom events that carry the order data:

1. Go to Audience > Events.
2. Click Create event and select Custom Event.
3. Create the events with the attributes below, all of type string. Learn more about creating events

Event	Attributes
OrderPlaced	order_id, item_name, delivery_date
OrderShipped	order_id, tracking_id

Your backend sends each event with postEvent when the order status changes. Pass the customer’s User ID in userId and the order data in attributes.

सावधानी

Send every attribute as a string, IDs included. A number like 1234567 reaches WhatsApp as 1.234567e+06.

Every attribute used in the template must be present in the event. Fallback text doesn’t replace a missing event attribute in a template variable.

Step 2. Build the order confirmation journey

Set up the entry so that every order starts its own session:

1. Go to Campaigns > Customer Journey Builder and click Create campaign.
2. Add a Trigger-based entry to the canvas.
3. Select the OrderPlaced event.
4. Under How many sessions can user have at once in campaign?, select Multiple active sessions per user.
5. In Session identifier attribute, select order_id. Learn more about sessions

सावधानी

With the default One active session per user, a customer who places a second order while still in the journey from the first one doesn’t enter it again, and the second confirmation isn’t sent. A customer stays in the journey while the WhatsApp element waits for the read status, up to one day by default.

Then add the message:

1. Add a WhatsApp element after the entry.
2. In Content, select the order_confirmation template. Each template language is a separate item, for example order_confirmation:en. The Message preview marks each variable with a placeholder and shows Please specify all variables until you fill them in.
3. Click the first placeholder.
4. Set Variable type to Event property.
5. Select the OrderPlaced event and the order_id attribute, then click Insert.
6. Repeat for the other variables: {{2}} is item_name, {{3}} is delivery_date.
7. Select Transactional as the message type, so that frequency capping doesn’t hold back an order confirmation. Learn more
8. (Optional) Turn on Branch when the provider rejects the message and connect the Rejected by provider branch to an SMS or email element with the same order details. Learn more
9. Click Apply.
10. End the branch with an Exit element and click Launch.

Selecting a template turns on Split flow based on message read status with a one-day wait. Leave it on to follow up with customers who haven’t read the message, or turn it off if the confirmation is the only step.

Step 3. Build the delivery update journey

Create a second journey for shipping updates. Repeat step 2 with these values:

1. In the Trigger-based entry, select the OrderShipped event, Multiple active sessions per user, and order_id as the session identifier.
2. In the WhatsApp element, select the order_shipped template. Its Track order button shows a placeholder in the URL.

3. Map the body variable {{1}} to the order_id attribute of OrderShipped, as an Event property.
4. Click the placeholder in the Track order URL and map it to the tracking_id attribute the same way.
5. Select Transactional as the message type and click Apply.
6. End the branch with an Exit element and click Launch.

Check the results

Send a test OrderPlaced event for your own User ID, then open the journey statistics. The WhatsApp panel includes Sent, Delivered, Read, and Delivery issues. Learn more

If a customer has no registered WhatsApp number, the WhatsApp element skips them and they continue along the journey.