E-commerce and subscription · Shopify · Delivery

How do I tell customers their Shopify order is delayed without losing them?

By BREME · Updated 20 October 2026

Who this is for: Owners of small Australian Shopify stores dealing with a stock, supplier, pre-order or courier delay who want to keep the sale and the customer's trust.

Why the first message matters more than the delay

Most customers can live with a late parcel. What wears thin is silence: checking the order page, seeing nothing new, and starting to wonder whether the store is real. A short note from you, sent before they email you, turns an anxious wait into a known wait.

Merchants on the Shopify Community describe the same lesson. In a long-running thread about sending a custom message for a shipping delay, store owners recommend tagging the affected orders, telling only those customers, and sending small updates along the way so nobody assumes their order is stuck or lost.

What the delay email needs to say

Keep it to five things, in this order. Customers read the first two lines and decide how they feel, so put the facts there and the apology after.

• The order number and the item that is delayed, so they don't have to look it up.
• The honest reason in one sentence: a supplier is late, a batch failed quality checks, the courier has a backlog. No vague 'unforeseen circumstances'.
• A realistic new dispatch or delivery window. Pad it a little. Beating a date builds trust; missing a second date loses it.
• A clear choice: keep the order, swap to something in stock, or cancel for a full refund. Make the refund option easy, not buried.
• A real person's name and a way to reply.

When to send it

Send it the day you know, not the day the original date passes. If you are waiting on a supplier answer, tell the customer that too and say when you'll update them next, then keep that promise even if the news hasn't changed.

For a delay of more than a week, plan three touches: the first notice, a short midway update, and the shipping confirmation. For a partial order, consider sending what is in stock now and telling the customer the rest is coming separately.

How to send it from Shopify

Shopify's standard customer notifications cover shipping confirmation, shipping updates when tracking changes, out for delivery and delivered. None of them is a delay notice, so you write this one yourself.

For a handful of orders, Shopify's help docs describe emailing a customer straight from the admin. Shopify notes these emails don't support delivery status or resending, so tick the bcc option to keep a copy.

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Customers and select the customer's name.
2. In the Customer overview section, select their email address.
3. Edit the subject line, then write your message in the Custom message field using the template below.
4. Tick your own address under Send bcc to, so you have a record.
5. Select Review Email, then Send notification.
6. Add a tag or a note to the order so your team knows the customer has been told.

When it is more than a few orders, or the customer wants out

If a whole batch is late, filter or tag the open orders that include the delayed product and send the notice only to those customers. Shopify Community members point out that Shopify Email campaigns only reach subscribers, so for a one-off service message to buyers, merchants export the affected customers and send from their email platform, or use an app built for order updates.

If a customer chooses to cancel, Shopify's help docs explain that you open the order, choose More actions, then Cancel order, and pick a refund option. Refunding to the original payment method is selected by default for unfulfilled, paid orders, and the customer is notified unless you untick that option. Do it the same day they ask. A fast, painless refund is often what brings them back next time.

Subject: An update on your order [order number]

Hi [first name],

Your [product] (order [order number]) is running late, and I wanted you to hear it from us before you had to ask.

What happened: [one honest sentence, for example our supplier's delivery of this batch has been held up at the port].

What happens next: we now expect to send it by [date], and you'll get tracking from us the day it leaves.

Your choice: if you'd rather not wait, reply and we'll cancel and refund you in full straight away, or swap you to [in-stock alternative]. No forms, no fuss.

I'm sorry for the wait, and thank you for your patience.

[Your name]
[Store name]

Subject: Still on track for [date], order [order number]

Hi [first name],

A quick update, as promised: your [product] is still on track to leave us by [date]. [One line of real news, for example the stock is now with our courier partner].

If anything changes, you'll hear from me first. And the offer stands: if you'd prefer a refund, just reply.

[Your name]

Hi [first name], good news: part of your order [order number] is on its way today. Your [delayed item] is coming separately by [date] and there's no extra shipping to pay. You'll get tracking for both. Thanks for waiting on that last piece.