Order Messenger for WooCommerce

Installation

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1. Navigate to Plugins > Add New.
2. Click the Upload Plugin button at the top of the screen.
3. Upload the ‘order-messenger-for-woocommerce.zip’ file you’ve downloaded from WooCommerce.com
4. Click the Install Now button.
5. When the installation is complete, you’ll see “Plugin installed successfully.” Click the Activate Plugin button at the bottom of the page.

More info at Using Plugins.

Setup and Configuration

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After installing, the plugin is ready to use. See the settings section to know how you can customize it for your needs.

Frontend

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My account

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The plugin creates a new tab at a customer’s account with the most recent messages. Messages are ordered by the date of sending. The table includes 4 columns:

1. Order – link to tied order
2. Last message – the last letter in a dialog. If the letter is a status change, it will show “Status was changed.”
3. Message sending date
4. Link to Messenger

Messenger page

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This is the main page where a customer can communicate with a shop administrator. The messenger page contains a list of messages and the sending message form. Users are allowed to attach a file with their message (You can disable the possibility of sending messages as well as restrict it to some specific filetype & limit file size – see settings section). Customers cans send messages via Ctrl + Enter. Please note that sending files requires a text message. The user is not allowed to send an empty message with an attached file. If a sent file is image type, the users will be able to preview it in a lightbox:

Notifications

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For all unread messages, users will see a badge with total unread messages and unread messages for a concrete order:

Backend

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Orders list

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The plugin adds a new column, “Messenger,” that will open the chat related to an order in a modal box, so you can quickly respond to client’s messages: Modal box:

Order page

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You can communicate with your customers on the specific order page as well. The page contains a new metabox, “Messenger.” You can check order details and easily view message history and respond to your customers:

Product purchasing message

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The new “Order messenger” tab on the product page allows you to set a “purchasing message” that will automatically send when the customer purchases the product. It can be applicable in many other ways. E.g., there is often some information you would want to share with your customers: manuals, additional software, electronic warranty card, etc. This section allows setting a message tied to a product, which will be sent to the client when purchasing the product.\ At the settings, you can choose the “purchase” trigger. Chose whether the message sends when payment is successful or when an order is placed.

Notifications

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As well as customers, the admins see unread messages badges:

Messages types

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There are 4 standard types of messages. Below you can see how they look for customers & admins: Admins: Customers: All messages are stored in the database. An admin can permanently delete them.

Regular messages

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Regular messages go with: a sent date, a message content, an optional attachment file, and read status. If the is a little checkmark near a message – the message was read. If you hover it, it will show an exact  date of reading. (This can be disabled for the frontend chat room at the settings, so your customers won’t see if you read a message or not).

Order status changing messages

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This message is being sent when an order changes its status. It makes tracking the order process more comfortable. The messages do not trigger notifications and can be completely disabled at the plugin’s settings.

Service messages

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Many plugins push some order-related information, such as delivery info or payment status, to order notes. The plugin creates service messages as soon as a customer order note is added. That makes the order process history consistent. The service messages can be disabled at the settings.

Email notifications

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There are two types of emails that ship with the plugin: Customer and Admin Notification. They help to don’t miss important messages. Email notifications are sent with 10 minutes delay and group on all unread messages related to an order. It helps to reduce emails amount. Below you can find how they look: Admin: Customer: Within each email, you can:

• Change the subject
• Change the heading
• Add additional content to the bottom
• Enable/Disable sending

Settings

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You can find the plugin settings under WooCommerce -> Settings -> Order Messenger:

Order messenger theme

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This option controls the messenger color theme. You can choose a palette that best matches your theme colors. E.g., “Sea” theme:

Custom signature

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By default, admin messages would sign with the sender’s name. The custom signature option allows you to set an alias that will be used for messenger. E.g., “The best shop”  

Order status messages

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This option controls order status changing messages at your store. Disabling this option will turn off order status messages (including existing ones).

System order notes

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This option controls system messages at your store. Disabling this option will switch off the system messages (including existing ones). By default, WooCommerce sends emails with system notes to customers. Check “Disable WooCommerce customer system notes emails”  if you want to keep only message notifications.

Sending files

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The “Sending files” option allows you to control whether you want the customers to be able to send you files or not. You’re able to limit accepted file types as well as the maximum allowed file size.  Please note that the largest file size that cannot be higher than your WordPress installation is configured.

Purchase message trigger

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With the option, you can control the trigger of sending a “purchasing message”. You can choose when the message must be sent:

1. Order placed

Triggers when the customers made an order. An order can be unpaid at this stage.      2.  Successful payment  triggers on successful payment.

Preloaded messages

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The messenger preloads some amount of messages and loads the rest if a user scrolls to the top. This option controls how many messages will be preloaded.

Order messenger link

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Keep this option enabled if you want to have “Messenger” action on the customer’s order list:

Message read checkmark

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A little check mark near the message date indicates that message was read. You can disable this feature for customers, so they will not see if admins read a message or not:

Developers

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How to override templates

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There are two ways to override the plugin’s templates:

1. Each template order-messenger-for-woocommerce/views/frontend/{template_name} can be overridden at your theme by the following path: {your_theme}/order-messenger-for-woocommerce/{template_name}
2. Every plugin template goes through the “order_messenger/template/location” filter, so you can easily substitute the template path.

How to add a new supported file type

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“order_messenger/settings/available_file_types” filter allows you to add a custom plugin supported file type. The type will be shown under the setting and can be enabled/disabled. Example: add_filter( ‘order_messenger/settings/available_file_types’, function ( $availableFileTypes ) { // Add MP3 audio to supported file types $availableFileTypes[‘mp3’] = array( ‘title’ => ‘MP3 audio’, ‘mime’  => ‘audio/mpeg’ ); return $availableFileTypes; }, 1, 10 );

How to add a new messenger theme

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“order_messenger/settings/available_themes” filter allows you to add a custom plugin theme. The theme will be shown under the setting and can be enabled/disabled. Example: add_filter( ‘order_messenger/settings/available_themes’, function ( $availableThemes ) { // Add custom theme $availableThemes[‘Sunset’]  => array( ‘–om-primary-color-darker’   => ‘#bb5d33’, ‘–om-primary-color’          => ‘#f08a5d’, ‘–om-secondary-color-darker’ => ‘#b9ab0e’, ‘–om-secondary-color’        => ‘#f9ed69’, ‘–om-primary-text-color’     => ‘#000000’, ‘–om-secondary-text-color’   => ‘#000000’, ); return $availableThemes;         } );