How to customise your WooCommerce shipment emails

The “your order is complete” email is the last thing most stores send, and it is usually the weakest. It carries the theme’s default styling, a tracking number buried in a line of plain text, and no clear way for the customer to check where the parcel actually is. So they email you instead, and your support inbox fills with “where is my order?”

That email is doing real work. It deserves better than WooCommerce defaults.

Advanced Shipment Tracking Pro (AST PRO), our WooCommerce shipment tracking plugin, ships with a dedicated Email Customizer: a live-preview editor that lets you rewrite the shipment email copy, restyle the tracking widget, and control exactly which order details appear, without touching a template file or writing a line of PHP.

This guide walks through customising your WooCommerce shipment notification emails, setting by setting.

How to customise your WooCommerce shipment emails

1. Open the Email Customizer and pick an email
Go to WooCommerce → Shipment Tracking → Settings, then open the Email Customizer. Use the email switcher at the top to move between the Shipped (or Completed) email, the Partially Shipped email, and the Updated Tracking email. Every change renders instantly in the preview pane beside the settings.

2. Rewrite the subject, heading, and content
Under the Email Content panel you can edit the email subject, the large heading inside the email, the intro copy, and the additional content at the bottom. Default copy like “Your {site_title} order is now Shipped” works, but a line in your own voice performs better.

3. Personalise with placeholders
AST PRO supports merge tags you can drop into the subject, heading, or body: {customer_first_name}, {customer_last_name}, {site_title}, {order_number}, {order_date}, {tracking_number}, {shipping_provider}, {shipping_date}, and {shipping_method}. Using the first name and carrier in the subject line is the single fastest open-rate win here.

4. Restyle the tracking widget
The tracking widget is the block that carries the carrier, the tracking number, and the track button. Open the Tracking Widget panel to change the header text (default: “Tracking Information”), add a line of supporting text under it, or hide the header completely. Background colour, border colour, and border radius are all editable, so the widget can match your store’s palette instead of WooCommerce grey.

5. Choose how shipment status is displayed
Turn the shipment status section on or off, then pick a tracker type: a progress bar, a row of stage icons, or a single icon. Progress bars read well on desktop; single icons hold up better on narrow mobile screens. You can also hide the carrier logo if you would rather keep the design neutral.

6. Design the track button
The button text defaults to “Track Your Order” and is fully editable. Set the button size (normal or large), the background colour, the font colour, and the corner radius. Make it the highest-contrast element in the email: it is the one click that stops the support ticket from being written.

7. Control which order details appear
The Display Options panel decides what the customer actually sees. Rename the items heading (default: “Items in this shipment”), include or exclude unshipped items, and show or hide item prices, product images, the shipping address, and the billing address. For partial shipments, showing unshipped items reduces “half my order is missing” emails.

8. Send a test email before going live
Save your changes first, then use Send Test Email and enter one or more addresses, comma separated. Check it in Gmail and on a phone, because email clients render padding and colours differently from the preview pane.

What each panel controls

Setting group	What it controls
Email Content	Subject, heading, body copy, additional content
Placeholders	Customer name, order number, tracking number, carrier
Tracking Widget	Header text, background, border colour, radius
Tracker type	Progress bar, stage icons, or single icon
Track button	Label, size, colour, font colour, radius
Display Options	Item images, prices, unshipped items, addresses
Test email	Live send to any address before publishing

Which emails you can customise

Email	When it sends
Shipped / Completed	Order marked shipped with tracking
Partially Shipped	Some items fulfilled, rest pending
Updated Tracking	Tracking number changed or added later

Start with copy, then colour

Most stores jump straight to colour pickers. Do the copy first: a clear subject line with the customer’s first name and the carrier, a heading that states the shipment is on its way, and a button labelled with a verb. Styling amplifies a good message; it will not rescue a vague one.

The tracking block inside the email has its own settings — see how to match the tracking widget to your theme. To restyle the surrounding template, Kadence Email Designer handles the layer underneath.

Frequently asked questions about WooCommerce shipment emails

Can I customise WooCommerce shipping emails without editing template files?
Yes, with a plugin that provides an email editor. Core WooCommerce email customisation is limited to a header image and footer text, and anything beyond that means overriding template files in PHP. AST PRO’s Email Customizer lets you rewrite copy, restyle the tracking widget, and control displayed details from a settings screen with live preview, no template edits.

What is the difference between the WooCommerce order-complete email and a shipment email?
The order-complete email is a generic status message core sends when an order is marked complete. A dedicated shipment email fires when tracking is added and is built around the shipment: it carries the tracking number, carrier, a track button, and shipment status. The shipment email is the one customers actually open to find out where their order is.

Which merge tags can I use in a shipment email?
AST PRO supports customer first and last name, site title, order number, order date, tracking number, shipping provider, shipping date, and shipping method. You can place them in the subject, heading, or body. Putting the customer’s first name and the carrier in the subject line is a reliable way to lift open rates.

Should I show unshipped items in a partial shipment email?
Usually yes. When an order ships in parts, a customer who sees only the shipped items can assume the rest is missing and open a ticket. Showing the unshipped items, clearly marked as still to come, sets the expectation and prevents the “half my order didn’t arrive” contact. AST PRO lets you toggle this per email.

Will my customised email look the same in every email client?
Not exactly, which is why testing matters. Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail render padding, colours, and some styling differently from the editor’s preview pane. Save your design, send a test email to yourself, and check it in at least one desktop client and on a phone before going live, so you catch rendering differences the preview does not show.

Wrapping up

Your shipment email is the highest open-rate message your store sends, and with AST PRO you control every part of it from one screen with live preview and test sends. Better copy, a clearer tracking widget, and a visible track button mean fewer “where is my order?” tickets and a post-purchase experience that looks like the rest of your brand.