How to Send Delivery Confirmation Messages with Squarespace
This is going to sound cheesy but I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to use this sentence: “I’m not just an eCommerce pro - I’m also a customer!” Cringy? Yes. But this means that a lot of the tips I recommend are because I’ve been working in eCommerce since the early 2000s... aaaand a lot of them are because I’ve been shopping online for just about as long.
As a customer, I love love love when I get an email as soon as a package I’ve ordered has been delivered. As a pro, I love that this is something that’s easier than ever for small businesses to be able to do! It’s a really great way to show customers that you care about their experience and be proactive about any issues there may be with the shipment or order. Providing tracking and delivery updates to your Squarespace customers can also really help reduce the number of status update inquiries you or your customer service team have to field so if you ask me this one is a win-win-win.
There are two ways to send custom order tracking and delivery updates to support your Squarespace eCommerce business. I’ve set up both and to me, there’s not necessarily a super clear winner; the best solution will be the one that aligns with your business needs and that may be completely different from someone else’s. I do have a favorite when it comes to simplicity but the alternative is pretty cool too! I’ll detail them both for you so that you can decide!
Easyship
Of course, my favorite shipping extension made it onto this list! And that’s because even if you like the second option below better for post-purchase tracking and delivery updates you’ll still need a shipping extension to be able to get those orders shipped out in the first place. I love Easyship because it has all the great shipping features and capabilities you want (importing orders, creating labels, carrier discounts, shipping rules, etc.) but still manages to have a super simple user interface that makes it a breeze to use.
Easyship is also the only shipping extension that integrates with Squarespace that offers a “shipment delivered” trigger on Zapier which makes it perfect for us to use to set up simple order delivery confirmation emails!
To do this, you’ll just connect both your Easyship account and your business Gmail account to Zapier. From there, it’s as simple as creating your simple stock email that goes out every time the Easyship “shipment delivered” trigger is activated. (For more on using Zapier check out this post: Fun With Zapier for eCommerce.)
Using Zapier to send simple order delivery confirmation messages from Squarespace + Easyship
Pros: Simple, minimal, not much tech setup, low/no cost
Cons: Design and formatting options for the email are limited
Accounts Needed & Costs:
Easyship - Free for up to 100 shipments/month, then $23/mo for an annual Plus plan. The Plus plan also comes with it’s own custom branded tracking page and emails if you’d like to use those instead of the ones generated by Squarespace. Bonus: give Easyship a try by using my code GWZMUM and get a $20 account credit towards shipping costs.
Zapier - Free for up to 100 single-step tasks/month, $19.99 for up to 750 tasks plus the ability to set up multi-step zaps.
Aftership
If you’re looking for the minimalist approach, stop reading and just go with the above! But if you’re looking for a few more features that will really help your small business look pretty badass, Aftership is worth looking into. You’ll still need to use a shipping extension (check out my reviews of all of them here!) to take care of the outgoing shipping situation from your shop but Aftership picks things up from there.
What may surprise you about this option is that it’s actually pretty dang affordable to do things that used to only be available to huge online sellers like sending branded step-by-step delivery updates and a tracking page with upselling marketing opportunities. While it’s definitely more labor-intensive to set up all the features (there are almost too many of them!), if you’re a growing eCommerce business it may be worth it.
Aftership is also a great option if you’ve been wanting to do things like send text updates about shipments or offer automated returns in the future since those are easy add-ons from the base subscription.
To get started with Aftership, from your Squarespace home screen go to Settings > Extensions > Aftership > Connect.
Pros: Fancier-looking emails, more options if you want to add them, low cost
Cons: Complicated set up with lots of (almost too many!) options, more apps to log in to
Accounts Needed & Costs:
Shipping extension of your choice - such as Easyship (above) in order to manage your outgoing shipments
Aftership Tracking - $9/month for up to 1,200 shipments per year, cost goes up based on usage and if you want any of the upgraded features. The Essential plan will get you a branded tracking page and custom email notifications for when order is in transit, out for delivery, there has been a failed delivery attempt, when the shipment is delivered and/or a delivery exception.
(Optional) SMS notifications - $0.04/text, to also notify customers by SMS about shipments
(Optional) Aftership Returns - free for up to 3 returns per month, paid plans start at $9/month to be able to create an interactive returns page that will allow you to manage returns to your Squarespace store
Bottom Line
Keeping your customers in the loop can not only help reduce the number of customer service inquiries you have to field, but it can also be just another way to help your small business look big online. While I definitely like to be cautious when incorporating new apps or software into my tech lineup, using Easyship or Easyship + Aftership are affordable ways to improve customer experience that integrate so seamlessly with Squarespace that they have my minimalist’s stamp of approval!
