🛒 Sales & Customers - Complete Guide
Manage orders, customers, and communications efficiently
🛒 Order Manager
View, process, update, and manage all customer orders with status tracking.
👥 Customer Manager
Manage customer accounts, view order history, update details, and track engagement.
📧 Newsletter Manager
Send targeted email campaigns to subscribers with HTML templates and tracking.
🛒 Order Manager
Order Lifecycle
Understanding order statuses is key to efficient order management:
| Status |
What It Means |
Typical Actions |
| Pending |
Order placed, awaiting payment confirmation |
Verify payment, update to Processing |
| Processing |
Payment confirmed, preparing for shipment |
Pick, pack, create shipping label |
| Shipped |
Order shipped, in transit to customer |
Add tracking number, notify customer |
| Complete |
Order delivered, transaction finished |
None, order archived |
| Cancelled |
Order cancelled by customer or store |
Process refund if applicable |
Processing an Order
Standard Workflow:
- New Order Arrives - Status: Pending
- Customer places order on website
- Order appears in Order Manager
- You receive notification (if configured)
- Verify Payment
- Check payment gateway for confirmation
- If confirmed, update status to "Processing"
- If failed, contact customer or cancel order
- Prepare Shipment - Status: Processing
- Pick products from inventory
- Pack securely
- Print packing slip (view order → print)
- Ship Order - Status: Shipped
- Create shipping label with carrier
- Add tracking number to order
- Update status to "Shipped"
- System emails customer with tracking (if configured)
- Order Delivered - Status: Complete
- Customer receives package
- Mark as "Complete"
- Follow up for review (optional)
Order Details View
Click any order to see complete information:
- Customer Information: Name, email, phone, shipping address
- Order Items: Products ordered, quantities, prices
- Pricing Breakdown: Subtotal, tax, shipping, total
- Payment Details: Method, transaction ID, payment status
- Shipping Information: Method, cost, tracking number
- Order History: Status changes, who made them, when
- Customer Notes: Special requests or instructions
Bulk Operations
Process multiple orders at once:
- Bulk Status Update: Change 50 orders from Pending to Processing
- Bulk Export: Export orders to CSV for accounting/fulfillment
- Bulk Print: Print packing slips for all selected orders
💡 Pro Tip: Filter orders by status before bulk operations. Example: Show only "Processing" orders → Select all → Bulk update to "Shipped".
Search and Filter
Find orders quickly:
- By Order Number: Exact order ID search
- By Customer Name: Find all orders from specific customer
- By Email: Customer email address
- By Status: Show only pending, processing, shipped, etc.
- By Date Range: Orders between two dates
- By Product: Find all orders containing specific product
Handling Special Cases
Refund/Return:
- Customer contacts you requesting return
- Review return policy, approve if valid
- Add internal note to order
- Process refund through payment gateway
- Update order status to "Cancelled" or "Refunded"
- Update inventory if product returned
Address Change After Order:
- Customer contacts with new address
- If order not shipped yet, edit order address
- Add note documenting change
- Ship to new address
Lost/Damaged in Transit:
- Customer reports issue
- Check with shipping carrier
- File claim if insured
- Send replacement or refund
- Document everything in order notes
👥 Customer Manager
Customer Profiles
Each customer profile contains:
- Basic Information: Name, email, phone
- Addresses: Billing and shipping addresses
- Order History: All past orders with dates, amounts, statuses
- Account Status: Active, suspended, or deleted
- Registration Date: When they created account
- Total Spent: Lifetime value calculation
- Last Order Date: Customer recency tracking
Adding Customers
Two Ways to Add:
1. Manual Entry:
- Click "+ Add Customer"
- Enter name, email (required)
- Add phone, address (optional)
- Set password or send welcome email
- Save
2. Automatic (Self-Registration):
- Customer creates account on storefront
- Automatically appears in Customer Manager
- No manual entry needed
Customer Segmentation
Group customers for targeted marketing:
| Segment |
Criteria |
Use Case |
| VIP Customers |
Total spent > $5,000 |
Send exclusive offers, early access |
| Recent Buyers |
Ordered in last 30 days |
Request reviews, suggest complementary products |
| Inactive Customers |
No orders in 6+ months |
Win-back campaign with special discount |
| Newsletter Subscribers |
Opted in to emails |
Regular promotional emails |
| First-Time Buyers |
Only 1 order ever |
Encourage second purchase |
Customer Service
Quick Actions from Customer Profile:
- View all orders → See purchase history
- Send email → Direct communication
- Add note → Document interactions
- Edit details → Update information
- Suspend account → Temporary access restriction
Privacy & Data Management
⚠️ GDPR/Privacy Compliance:
- Customer can request data export
- Customer can request account deletion
- Keep personal data secure
- Only store what's necessary
- Honor unsubscribe requests immediately
📧 Newsletter Manager
Building Your List
Subscribers come from:
- Newsletter signup form on your website
- Checkout opt-in - customers subscribe during purchase
- Manual import - upload existing email list (with consent)
- Customer accounts - automatically added if opted in
⚠️ Legal Requirement: Only email people who explicitly opted in. Sending unsolicited emails violates CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and damages your reputation.
Creating a Campaign
- Choose Template
- Use built-in HTML template
- Or upload custom HTML
- Or write plain text email
- Personalize Content
- Use merge tags:
{firstname}, {email}
- Add product images with links
- Include clear call-to-action
- Add unsubscribe link (required by law)
- Target Audience
- All subscribers
- Or filter by customer segment
- Test Send
- Send test to yourself first
- Check formatting on mobile and desktop
- Verify links work
- Schedule or Send
- Send immediately
- Or schedule for specific date/time
Email Best Practices
Subject Lines
- Keep under 50 characters
- Create urgency or curiosity
- Avoid spam words (FREE, !!!)
- Personalize when possible
Content
- Single clear message
- Prominent call-to-action
- Mobile-friendly design
- Balance images and text
Timing
- Tuesday-Thursday best days
- 10 AM or 2 PM best times
- Not too frequent (1-2x/week max)
- Consistent schedule
Campaign Types
| Type |
Purpose |
Example |
| Promotional |
Drive sales |
"20% Off Everything - This Weekend Only" |
| New Product |
Announce arrivals |
"Just Arrived: Summer Collection" |
| Abandoned Cart |
Recover lost sales |
"You left something behind..." |
| Win-Back |
Re-engage inactive |
"We Miss You - Here's 25% Off" |
| Content/Education |
Build trust |
"How to Choose the Perfect Ring" |
| Seasonal |
Holiday promotions |
"Holiday Gift Guide 2024" |
Tracking Performance
Monitor these metrics:
- Open Rate: % who opened email (industry avg: 15-25%)
- Click Rate: % who clicked links (industry avg: 2-5%)
- Unsubscribe Rate: % who unsubscribed (keep under 0.5%)
- Bounce Rate: % emails that failed to deliver
- Conversions: % who made purchase after email
💡 Improvement Tips:
- Low open rate? Improve subject lines, send at better times
- Low click rate? Stronger call-to-action, more compelling offers
- High unsubscribe? Sending too often or irrelevant content
🔄 Common Workflows
1. Daily Order Processing
- Check Order Manager for new orders (status: Pending)
- Verify payments cleared
- Update all to Processing
- Print packing slips
- Pick and pack orders
- Create shipping labels
- Update to Shipped with tracking numbers
2. Monthly Newsletter
- Plan content (promotion, new products, content)
- Create email in Newsletter Manager
- Design with product images and links
- Send test to yourself and team
- Schedule for optimal time (Tuesday 10 AM)
- Monitor performance after send
3. Customer Service Response
- Customer emails about order issue
- Search customer in Customer Manager
- View order history and details
- Check order status and notes
- Resolve issue (refund, replacement, etc.)
- Add note to customer profile documenting resolution
- Follow up with customer
4. Win-Back Campaign
- Go to Customer Manager
- Filter: Last order > 6 months ago
- Export email list
- Create special discount code
- Send targeted newsletter with exclusive offer
- Track conversions
⚡ Time-Saving Tips
Batch Process Orders: Set specific times (10 AM, 3 PM) to process all new orders at once instead of one-by-one throughout day.
Email Templates: Create templates for common customer service responses. Save hours on repetitive emails.
Automated Status Updates: If your payment/shipping integration supports it, automate status changes to reduce manual work.
Pre-Schedule Newsletters: Create multiple campaigns in advance, schedule them. Set it and forget it.
⚠️ Important Reminders
Customer Data Security: Never share customer information. Keep admin access restricted. Use strong passwords.
Email Compliance: Always include unsubscribe link. Honor opt-outs immediately. Only email people who consented.
Order Accuracy: Double-check addresses before shipping. One wrong digit costs money and reputation.