Want to send automatic WhatsApp order notifications from Shopify? While we don’t have a native Shopify integration like we do for WooCommerce, you can still set this up using Pabbly Connect and our API Rest tools. Pabbly is a no-code automation platform that lets you link Shopify with WhatsApp, so your customers get real-time updates about their orders.

In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through the entire process—whether you’re using WhatsApp Cloud API or QR API—so you can keep your customers informed and reduce support requests effortlessly!

Create a Pabbly Worfkflow

Create a Pabbly Connect account (is free) and start a new workflow. As trigger, select Shopify V2.

Leave the action event empty for now. We will configure it later with your WhatsApp message. First, we need to get trigger working, and for this we have to create a Shopify webhook.

Create the Shopify webhook

Webhooks are a tool for retrieving and storing data from a certain event. They allow you to register an https:// URL where the event data can be stored in JSON or XML formats. Webhooks are commonly used for the following reasons:

• Placing an order
• Changing a product’s price
• Notifying your IM client or your pager when you’re offline
• Collecting data for data warehousing
• Integrating your accounting software
• Filtering the order items and informing various shippers about the order
• Removing customer data from your database when they uninstall your app

When creating a webhook, you can select from any of Shopify’s events, they have over 50 of them that can be used as a trigger. Here, we will use it to create a webhook that’s sent every time an order has been paid to create our order confirmation, therefore, we are creating an Order Creation webhook.

Open your store’s settings. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Notifications. Click Webhooks.

Click ⊕ Create webhook. In the Event drop-down menu, select the webhook event that you want to use. You can’t change the webhook event after the webhook is created. As we said before, since we are creating an order notification, here we will select Order Creation.

Fill the details. In the Format drop-down menu, choose JSON as the format that you want Shopify to send this information to you.

In the URL field, you need to enter the URL where you want data to be stored. Here, you need to copy the Webhook URL provided by Pabbly. You will find it on the Shopify Trigger we set before.

In the Webhook API version, select the latest webhook version. Click Save.

Send the information to Pabbly

Now that your webhook has been created, you need to test it and map it into Pabbly. Follow the steps below.

Go back to your workflow. Click the “Capture Webhook Response” button on the trigger and run a test record to capture the webhook response.

Then, go back to Shopify and create an order. This is an essential step so that the data can be recorded in Pabbly and used on your message template.

If everything was done correctly, you will see that the Order’s data was received on Pabbly.

Configure Shopify to capture phone numbers

Scroll through the fields under “Response Received.” These are the data points Shopify is sharing—they will automatically update with every new order and can be used to personalize your WhatsApp confirmation message. However, there’s a problem: the customer’s WhatsApp number isn’t included. If we don’t have it, where will the message be sent? We need to ensure that Shopify captures the customer’s number with every order and sends it to Pabbly. Let’s see how to fix this.

Go to your Shopify’s store admin. Navigate to Settings > Checkout.  Then, under Customer information, make sure to mark the Shipping address phone number as required.

Save your changes. Now, your checkout must look something like this:

Now, we need to make sure that Pabbly is receiving that information. So go back to Pabbly and turn on the Workflow with the toggle at the top of the page.

Then, click on Re-Capture Webhook Response.

Now, create another order in Shopify. This time, you might want to place your actual WhatsApp number on the checkout, so you can later send test messages there and make sure the flow is working.

You can create a new Shopify order with your data by going to Orders > Create order, and then, clicking on Create customer.

Fill whatever data on the fields, but make sure to place your actual WhatsApp number with the correct country code. Save the information.

Add a couple of products, and save the order. Then, look for the Collect Payment button, and select Mark as Paid.

If you go back to Pabbly, you’ll see that the data has been received, including the phone number.

Configure the message

Now that Shopify’s trigger is set up and we’ve confirmed that Pabbly is receiving the correct information—including the customer’s phone number—we can configure the WhatsApp message they’ll receive after placing an order.

In Pabbly, click the Plus icon below the Shopify trigger we created earlier. From here, the next steps will depend on how you’ve connected your WhatsApp account to our platform:

• If you’re using WhatsApp Cloud API, select WhatsApp API.
• If you’re using QR API, select Pabbly’s API instead.

Let’s go through each option in detail.

WhatsApp Cloud API

After successfully adding the second step, select WhatsApp Cloud API as the app. Then, choose Send Template Message for the action event.

Connect your WhatsApp Cloud API Account. Click on Connect and a window will pop up asking for three pieces of information: Token, Phone Number ID & WhatsApp Business Account ID. Add them.

💡 PRO TIP: To obtain these details, refer to Pabbly’s documentation: WhatsApp Cloud API Guide. Follow the instructions carefully to set up and get the required credentials.

Once connected, we need to set up your confirmation message. For this, you’ll need to create a template in Meta.

Go to the WhatsApp Manager in your Meta Business account. Select your WhatsApp account and click on Manage Templates. Click Create Template and follow these steps:

• Type: Select Utility.
• Name: Enter a name for your template (no spaces, e.g., order_confirmation).
• Language: Choose the language for your message.
• Header: Optionally, add a header, such as “Your order has been confirmed!”
• Footer: You can also include a footer; here, we are using our store name.

In the Body section, write the main content of your message. You can include some variables for dynamic data that we will fill with  the order’s information sent from Shopify to Pabbly. For example, here we are using:

• Variable 1: Customer’s first name
• Variable 2: Order ID
• Variable 3: Total amount paid
• Variable 4: Currency
• Variable 5: Order Status URL

💡PRO TIP: Make sure you use numbers for the variables, not custom names, as the latter won’t be recognized by Pabbly. Your template must look like the image below.

Meta requires you to provide an example of what the variables will contain when filled in. On the right side of the page, you’ll see a preview of your confirmation message.

You may also want to add a button that directs users to their order details in Shopify. To do this:

• Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Add Button.
• For Type of Action, select Visit Website.
• Enter a button text, such as “See Details”.
• Important: For URL Type, select Dynamic.

Next, provide the first part of the URL—this remains constant. Pabbly will then append the specific path and query string to lead directly to each order.

Where do you find this URL? Simply go back to Pabbly’s Received Response from Shopify and look for the field called Order Status URL. Copy it, and you’re all set!

Next, go back to Meta. In the Website URL field, paste only the part of the URL that comes before “.com”. The rest goes in the Variable field.

For example, if the Order Status URL looks like this:

https://minimal-snowboard.myshopify.com/69923635397/orders/3708ebb696e044eda7463803f0b41b5c/authenticate?key=b60841e7add7da6447968d0b27cf5ef8

Then, in the Website URL field, you should enter only:

https://minimal-snowboard.myshopify.com

The rest of the URL will be dynamically added as a variable.

Save your template and wait a few minutes for Meta to approve it. Once the Status appears as Active, you can proceed.

Go back to Pabbly.  Click on the Refresh button to synchronize the templates, and select the one you just created.

You’ll notice that Pabbly automatically detects the variables you added earlier. Now, all you need to do is map the fields collected from Shopify to these variables in your template. This ensures that each new customer’s information is automatically filled in.

To map a field, simply click on it. Then, select the step where the data comes from (in this case, Shopify) and find the corresponding information. In the example below, we are mapping Variable One to the customer’s name field collected from Shopify.

Repeat with process with every one of the variables. Make sure you are connecting the right fields.

There’s also a field for the button we added earlier, but don’t map it just yet. Remember that when we created the button in Meta, we entered the first part of the Order URL in the Website URL field? That part remains static. If we directly map the Order URL from Shopify here, it will be repeated, and the button won’t work correctly. Instead, we need this variable to contain only the last part of the URL—the part that changes with each order. To achieve this, we’ll use a formatter.

Add a step between the Shopify Trigger and the WhatsApp API Message. Click the Plus button between them. As the app, select Text Formatter – Pabbly, and as the action, choose Split Text. Click on Connect.

On Text to Split, map and select the Order URL field from Shopify. In Separator, enter the first part of the URL (the one we provided on Meta). In Segment Index, select 2 (since the part after the domain is the second segment).

Store the Extracted Path. After clicking Save & Send Test Request, the output will look something like this:

/69923635397/orders/3708ebb696e044eda7463803f0b41b5c/authenticate?key=b60841e7add7da6447968d0b27cf5ef8

Now, you can use this extracted path in your WhatsApp template message. Simply go back to the Message step and map the formatter result to the button field.

Test the Message. Make sure all the variables are filled correctly, and click on Save & Send Test Request. If everything was done correctly, the Message Status will appear as accepted.

You’ll also receive the actual WhatsApp message, filled with the information of the Sample Order you created on Shopify.

If you click on the See details button of the message, you’ll be directed to a page like this:

Finally, turn on the workflow. If you haven’t, set the toggle at the top of the page as “ON” to get the automation working on your real orders.

And that’s it! You have successfully set up WhatsApp notifications for your Shopify store. As long as Pabbly’s flow is active, your customers will get a message confirmation every time they place an order.

QR Code API

For WhatsApp accounts that where connected via QR API, confirmation messages will be sent through our chatbot platform using an API Request.

After successfully adding the second step, you need to select API(Pabbly) as the app. Then, choose Execute API Request for the action event. Click on Connect.

Add the API Endpoint URL. Follow these steps to extract the endpoint URL:

• Open your chatbot platform and navigate to: WhatsApp Module > API. Do not select a WhatsApp account.
• Locate the Send Direct Message API section and copy the Resource URL under POST Send Text.
• Paste this URL into the API Endpoint URL field in Pabbly.

Set Request Parameters. Back in Pabbly, continue configuring the API request event as indicated:

• Action Event Method: POST
• Payload Type: JSON.
• Wrap Request in Array: No.
• Authentication: No Auth.

Add a header. In Label, enter Content-Type, and in Value, write application/json.

Tick the Set Parameters box and add five parameters. Label them as this:

• number
• type
• message
• instance_id
• access_token

Fill the Parameters as follows:

• For the number, map it directly from Shopify. Click on the empty field and select the customer’s number that was received from Shopify earlier.
• In type, write “text“.

• The Instance ID and Token of your WhatsApp number are in our application. Go to WhatsApp > Profile, select your account, and you’ll see them. Copy them and paste them into the corresponding fields in Pabbly.

• In the message field, write the exact text you want to send via WhatsApp. You can personalize it by mapping fields from Shopify, such as the customer’s name, order number, and Order URL. Note that this message does not allow line breaks, but you can use ** to make text bold.

Test the message. Click on Save & Send Test Request. You should see that the Message Status is set as SUCCESS.

Done! You have successfully created an order confirmation message for WhatsApp. If you have additional doubts or need a more personalized automation, you can book a call with an expert to guide you here.