5 Best Order Status Management Plugins for WooCommerce
WooCommerce is, without a doubt, the best eCommerce platform you can use to run and manage your online store. It’s highly flexible and it’s packed full of features that can help you manage anything from products and inventory to coupons and free shipping. That being said, there are some cases where you’d need to install additional features if you want to extend the default WooCommerce default functionality. Say that you want to completely manage your WooCommerce order status from start to finish. While there are some order management options that come with WooCommerce out of the box, there may be instances where these built-in options simply aren’t enough for you. After all, the order status can be highly important to both store owners and customers that want to be aware of the stage their order is at any moment (pending, on hold, complete, etc.). And the more features you’ve got at your disposal, the better you will be able to keep track of your WooCommerce orders.
For example, maybe you want to add some custom order statuses that will help you take care of your order management better, and provide different options to customers according to the order status. Or, you want to use different icons in your order list to mark different order statuses in specific ways, or you may even wish to have bigger control over emails that you send to your customers. Luckily, there are some great WooCommerce order status management plugins available on the market that can turn all this into a reality – and then some.
Without further ado, we present some of the best plugins on the market you can use to really enhance the way you manage all your orders. There are both free and paid options available, so make sure to check them out:
WooCommerce Order Status Manager is an official WooCommerce extension that allows you to create, edit, and delete any custom order statuses and incorporate them into your order management with the utmost ease. You will be able to edit core order statuses, use custom order statuses in your orders list, and even trigger new order emails according to status changes themselves. This way, both customers and shop admins can stay up to date with any order changes.
In addition, you will be able to add new order status and choose an icon and/or action button, display descriptions of order statuses so that customers can easily check them on the “View Order” page, mark order statuses as “Paid” and “Requires Payment” (to include different options for customers such as download, pay, or cancel links), and more.
The pricing for the extension is $49 (billed annually).
Sequential Order Numbers by WebToffee is a simple but brilliant plugin that improves your order tracking, and, by extension, the performance of your shop, by converting all your order numbers into sequential numbers. WooCommerce uses the same ID system for orders as WordPress does for pages, posts and media files. When a customer places an order, it may not necessarily be the next number relative to the precious order – because the ID may already be occupied by a post, a file, or something else. Because of this, WooCommerce order numbers are not always in sequential order.
With the Sequential Order Numbers plugin, one you install it, your orders will all be lined one after another, ie. their IDs will be converted so they all make a sequence. If you have no orders, with the plugin they will start from one. If you have existing orders, the plugin will start from the highest order number.
In addition, you can set the starting number that you prefer, add custom prefix to order numbers, add order date prefix, keep the old numbers, if you like, and use order tracking. All this comes with the free version, while the premium one, which costs $4.09/month, allows you to add custom suffixes (including date suffix), auto-reset of numbers after certain periods, additional order number templates and custom sequences for free orders.
While WooCommerce does offer a feature to complete orders automatically after the payment is complete for downloadable products, this isn’t the case for other orders, like shippable products or virtual products (i.e. services). If you want to be able to have orders completed automatically (or not, for that matter) for all kinds of products, the official WooCommerce Order Status Control extension will be able to help you out.
As its name suggests, with this extension, you will be able to control your order statuses and automatically change them to “completed” after payment has been made. This means that the “processing” status will be skipped altogether. Or, you can decide on the types of paid orders that will be completed (or not completed) automatically. For example, you can stop downloadable orders from receiving the “completed” status while allowing shippable items to be completed automatically at the same time.
This useful WooCommerce extension can be billed annually for $29.
Orders Tracking for WooCommerce is a practical WooCommerce plugin that will allow you to track all orders on your WooCommerce store completely for free. Owners will be able to use the plugin to add, edit, import, and export the order tracking numbers and URLs related to any order or item. The plugin will then send tracking emails or SMS messages with tracking information to PayPal transactions. This is useful as it will allow shop owners to manage all their orders with complete ease and notify users about their orders from beginning to end in the smoothest possible manner.
What’s also great about Order Tracking for WooCommerce is that it integrates with more than 80 shipping carriers across the globe – and if you want, you can even insert your own custom shipping carrier. Plus, the plugin will generate the order tracking URL automatically.
There’s also the pro version of the plugin (available at $21 for a regular license) that comes with some advanced features like 6-month premium support, lifetime updates, and additional tracking services, among others.
Woocommerce Custom Order Statuses and Order Page Manager is a highly flexible plugin that will let you control and manage your custom order statuses. You can completely customize different order statues and then incorporate them into your WooCommerce order list, including the order and bulk actions. Aside from creating new order statuses, you will be able to add new icons and action buttons, as well as add new order emails and get them triggered according to any changes in the order status. Moreover, you will get to securely delete custom statues without losing any orders, use (or not use) extra columns (i.e. order summary, IP Address, Operating System, etc.), and the list goes on.
The regular license of the Woocommerce Custom Order Statuses plugin is available for purchase at CodeCanyon for a price of $39.
In Conclusion
From the ability to create additional custom order statuses and set different icons all the way to complete email and order status control, each plugin on this list has great features that will allow you to track and manage your WooCommerce order statuses with the utmost ease. Of course, you should go for the plugin that fits your particular eCommerce business requirements.
For example, if you simply wish to automatically manage order statuses of all WooCommerce products, then WooCommerce Order Status Control is your safest bet. Or, if you’re on the budget, but still want to control everything from editing and emails to exporting and importing order tracking numbers, then the free version of the Orders Tracking for WooCommerce plugin might be the best option for you. On the other hand, if you plan to create and manage custom order statuses in full detail, then you might want to opt for another premium option, like CodeCanyon’s Woocommerce Custom Order Statuses plugin, or even the native WooCommerce Order Status Manager. Finally, we advise you to inspect the features of each plugin carefully before you make your final decision.