Pre-order email templates for online stores
Five pre-order emails — the confirmation, a date that slips, a date you no longer know, the reply to 'when does mine ship?', and a failed balance payment — and what Shopify and the FTC's mail order rule expect of a store that sells before it has stock.
By Max Lindberg · · 7 min read
A good pre-order email says three things: when the item will ship, what you've charged and what you'll charge later, and how to cancel. When the date slips, write to every pre-order customer before it passes, not after they ask.
Below are five templates for the pre-order emails a small store sends, what Shopify does and doesn't handle for you, and the US rule on shipping times that applies to pre-orders as much as to anything else you sell. Words in double braces, like {{expected_ship_date}}, are blanks: fill each one from the order and your supplier's confirmation, never from memory.
Template 1: confirming the pre-order
This is a short personal note that answers the questions a receipt doesn't. It is worth sending whenever the wait is long.
Hi {{first_name}},
Thanks for pre-ordering {{item_name}} (order {{order_number}}). Here's what happens next:
- We expect to ship it on {{expected_ship_date}}. I'll email you if that changes.
- You've paid {{amount_paid_now}} today. {{remaining_payment_sentence}}
- You can cancel at any time before it ships for a full refund: just reply to this email.
{{your_name}}
The remaining payment sentence depends on how your app collects payment. Shopify's help centre says that, depending on the pre-order options you offer, you can collect full, partial or no payment at checkout, and collect the rest later. Write the real terms, for example "The remaining {{balance_amount}} will be charged to your card on {{balance_due_date}}", or "You've paid in full".
The cancellation line is your policy, not a rule for every pre-order. Check that it matches what your store's policy says before you send it.
Template 2: the date slips, and you have a new one
Send it to every customer with an open pre-order, as soon as you know.
Hi {{first_name}},
I'm sorry — {{item_name}} (order {{order_number}}) won't ship on {{expected_ship_date}} as planned. {{one_line_reason}} Our new ship date is {{new_ship_date}}.
If you'd rather not wait, reply "cancel" and I'll cancel the order and refund {{amount_paid}} in full. If we don't hear from you, we'll keep your pre-order and ship it on {{new_ship_date}}.
{{your_name}}
For US customers, the last sentence is allowed only when {{new_ship_date}} is 30 days or less after the date you originally promised. If it's further out, use Template 3, with the new date in place of "I don't have a date".
Template 3: the date slips, and you don't have a new one
Hi {{first_name}},
{{item_name}} (order {{order_number}}) won't ship on {{expected_ship_date}}, and I don't yet have a date I can trust: {{reason_for_delay}}.
You can cancel at any time before it ships and get a full refund — reply "cancel".
If you'd like to keep your pre-order, please reply "keep it". If we haven't heard from you and haven't shipped by {{automatic_cancellation_date}}, we'll cancel the order and refund you in full.
{{your_name}}
Set {{automatic_cancellation_date}} to your original promised shipping time plus 30 days, which is what the FTC's guide says such a notice must tell US customers. On that date, cancel and refund every pre-order that has no reply and hasn't shipped.
Template 4: "when does mine ship?"
Answer the question in the first line. If the date has changed and the customer is hearing it first from this reply, say so and add the cancel option from Template 2.
Hi {{first_name}},
Your pre-order of {{item_name}} (order {{order_number}}) is on track to ship on {{expected_ship_date}}. You'll get a shipping confirmation with tracking as soon as it leaves us.
{{payment_reminder_sentence}}
{{your_name}}
If it has already shipped, this is a different email: use the where is my order replies.
Template 5: the balance payment failed
With partial payment at checkout, the remaining charge can fail later. Shopify lets you email the customer a link to update their card: in your admin, go to Customers, click the customer's name, then in Payment methods click More actions > Send link to update card.
Hi {{first_name}},
We tried to collect the remaining {{balance_amount}} for your pre-order {{order_number}}, and the payment didn't go through.
I've just sent you a separate email with a link to update your card. Once that's done, your order stays on track for {{expected_ship_date}}.
{{your_name}}
Shopify's help centre also notes that a customer's bank can challenge later billing attempts. In that case Shopify emails the customer a link to confirm the payment, so tell them to look for it.
What Shopify handles, and what it doesn't
Shopify doesn't take pre-orders on its own. Its help centre says you need a pre-order app from the Shopify App Store, and that you set each item up in that app. What you can do in the Shopify admin:
| Task | Where in Shopify admin |
|---|---|
| See pre-orders not yet shipped or not fully paid | Orders, then the Unfulfilled or Unpaid tab |
| Push back fulfillment on one order | Open the order, then in Unfulfilled click the menu and Hold fulfillment |
| Collect the balance early, when stock arrives early | Open the order, then in Partially paid click Collect payment |
| Change quantities or remove a pre-order item | Edit the order (you can't add a new pre-order product this way) |
| Cancel a pre-order | Cancel the order if it's unfulfilled; otherwise refund the fulfilled items |
Two things that cause support email:
- Payment methods. Customers can't buy pre-orders with Shop Pay, Apple Pay or Google Pay, or with local payment methods such as Klarna. Expect "why can't I use Apple Pay?" and answer it plainly.
- Cancellations in two places. If a customer cancels, you might still need to refund the order manually, and after a refund from the Orders page you might also need to cancel the order in your pre-order app. Shopify's help centre also warns that if you place an order on hold, you should keep the customer informed about their pre-order.
For the cancellation reply itself, see order cancellation email replies.
The US rule: a pre-order date is a shipping promise
The FTC's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule covers most goods ordered online, and a pre-order is an order. Shopify's own pre-order setup page lists the same requirements: you must have a reasonable basis for saying a product can ship within a certain time; with no date stated, you must reasonably believe it will ship within 30 days of purchase; and if you can't ship on time, you must give a revised date and explain the customer's right to cancel or get a refund.
From the FTC's business guide:
- The clock starts with a deposit. It begins when you receive a properly completed order: "the correct full or partial (in whatever form you accept) payment", plus all the information needed to fill it.
- State the date clearly. The guide says "your advertising should be unambiguous about when you will ship." A date on the product page is a shipping representation, and the guide's Q&A adds that a shipping time you give a customer while they're ordering replaces the one in your advertising.
- Write before the date passes. A delay notice must reach the customer within the time you promised, with a new date or a statement that you don't have one, the option to cancel for a full and prompt refund, and a way to cancel at your expense, such as replying to the email.
- Refund properly. A rule-required refund goes out within seven working days for most payment methods, and it can't be store credit or a voucher.
The FTC's guide also describes "dry-testing", selling a product that isn't yet available. Its conditions include making no suggestion that the product will ship and disclosing that it may not ship at all. If those conditions aren't met, the rule applies. A pre-order page with a ship date doesn't meet them.
The rule in full: the FTC's 30-day shipping rule. Customers who bought an in-stock item that ran out: out of stock and backorder emails.
When AI drafts the pre-order reply
"When does mine ship?" is the question an AI drafting tool answers most confidently and least reliably: it doesn't know your supplier's date, and it will write one that sounds right.
Corresso leaves the order number and every date as blanks in its drafts, and a rule written in code holds any draft where the AI wrote one itself. The wording comes from documents your store approved, such as your shipping page, and each fact in the draft cites its source. With your Shopify store connected, the customer's orders appear beside the email, and a person fills the blanks, reads the draft and presses Send. How it works.