What to Put on the Shopify Thank-You and Order Status Pages

Put reassurance first on the Shopify thank-you and order status pages: confirmation that the order went through, what was bought, and when it will arrive. After that there is room for one relevant offer or reward reminder, one prompt to refer a friend or leave a review, and a clear route to support. This guide explains the difference between the two pages, what to add to each and in what order, and which part of the checkout needs Shopify Plus.

What is the difference between the two pages?

The thank-you page is shown once, straight after payment. The order status page is where the customer comes back, usually from a link in their confirmation or shipping emails, to see how the order is progressing.

That difference decides what each is for:

• Thank-you page: seen by every buyer, once, in the minute after paying. The customer is attentive and wants to know it worked.
• Order status page: seen by customers who are waiting, possibly several times. The customer has one question: where is my order.

Content that suits the first can irritate on the second. Someone checking on a late parcel does not want a banner inviting them to shop again.

What should come first?

Confirmation, before anything you want from the customer. Shopify provides the essentials: the order number, the items, the address and the total. Your additions should answer the questions that otherwise become support tickets.

• When it will ship and arrive, in plain words: 'We pack orders within two working days.'
• What happens next: which emails to expect and when tracking appears.
• How to fix a mistake: who to contact about a wrong address, and how quickly.
• Anything unusual about this product: made to order, ships separately, needs a signature.

Only state timings you meet. A dispatch promise on the thank-you page is the one the customer will quote back to you.

On the order status page, reassurance means keeping the status current and explaining it. 'In transit' with no movement for a week needs a sentence about what to do.

What offer belongs after the purchase?

One, and it should relate to what was just bought. The customer has finished deciding, so a wall of products is noise. A single relevant suggestion can be welcome.

Options that tend to fit:

• A next-order incentive: a reason to come back, such as a reward on the second order.
• A complement to the purchase: the refill, the care product, the accessory they did not add, linked to its product page.
• A reward reminder: if the order unlocked a free gift or free shipping in the cart, say so here. It confirms the reward was honoured, and it reminds the customer the threshold exists next time. Our guide to a tiered rewards progress bar explains how those tiers are set.

Two cautions. Do not show a better price for something the customer has just paid for. And be honest about how the offer works: if accepting it means a second order with its own shipping, say so.

On the order status page, hold any offer back until the order has been delivered, or leave it out.

Should you ask for a referral or a review?

Ask for a referral on the thank-you page and a review later. The two requests suit different moments.

A referral asks the customer to tell someone they bought from you, and the moment just after buying is a natural time for that. A short prompt with a link to share is enough.

A review asks what the customer thinks of a product they do not yet have. Requesting one on the thank-you page produces either nothing or a comment about the checkout. The better place is after delivery: in an email sent once the order has arrived, or on the order status page when the status shows delivered. If you collect reviews through Marka Reviews or another reviews app, time the request to delivery, not to payment.

Choose one request per page. Asking for a referral, a review, a social follow and a newsletter sign-up at once gets none of them.

What support information should be there?

Enough that the customer does not have to go looking. People return to the order status page when something worries them, so the route to help should be on the page, not behind a footer link.

• How to contact you, and your usual reply time.
• A link to delivery information and to the returns policy.
• Short answers to the two or three questions you receive most often about orders.

What needs Shopify Plus?

Only content on the checkout page itself. Shopify limits checkout extensions, the blocks that sit on the pages where a customer enters shipping and payment details, to Shopify Plus stores. The thank-you and order status pages are different: blocks from apps can be added to them on every Shopify plan.

So a store that is not on Plus can still do everything in this guide. Our article on what you can customise at checkout on each Shopify plan sets out the split in full.

Marka Cart Drawer follows the same line: it includes thank-you and order-status blocks on every Shopify plan, and a checkout block for Shopify Plus stores.

What should you leave out?

Anything that competes with confirmation or slows the page.

• Pop-ups over the order summary.
• Several offers at once.
• Surveys longer than one question. A single 'How did you hear about us?' is reasonable; a form is not.
• Countdown timers and other pressure. The customer has already bought.
• Heavy scripts and video. The page should load at once, on a phone, on a poor connection.

A short checklist

1. Add dispatch and delivery expectations in plain words to the thank-you page.
2. Choose one post-purchase offer or reward reminder related to the order.
3. Put a referral prompt on the thank-you page and move review requests to after delivery.
4. Add contact details, reply times and returns information to the order status page.
5. Remove pop-ups, timers and anything else that competes with the confirmation.
6. Place a test order and view both pages on a phone.

These pages finish the job the cart starts, which our guide to Shopify cart drawers and order value describes from the other end. If you want cart offers and thank-you and order-status blocks from the same app, see what Marka Cart Drawer includes.