Tutorial
Set up Staff Ping in 5 minutes
From install to your first WhatsApp alert — five short steps. No WhatsApp Business setup required on your end, and the free plan is enough to fully test the flow before paying.
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Install Staff Ping from the Shopify App Store
Open the Shopify App Store and search for Staff Ping, or use the install link below. Click Install and approve the requested permissions. You'll be redirected back to your Shopify admin with the app open. The free plan lets you add one recipient and send up to 50 messages so you can fully test before committing to a paid plan.
Why this matters: Staff Ping requests read access to orders, customers, and fulfillments — only the scopes needed to detect events worth alerting on. We never request write access to your store, customer data, or product catalog. Your team's WhatsApp numbers stay private — they're not shared with Shopify or Meta beyond what's required to deliver each individual message.Common gotcha: If your store has multiple staff accounts, only the staff member who installs the app sees it in the admin sidebar by default. Other staff members need to be granted access from Shopify Settings → Users and permissions → App permissions. - 2
Add a recipient
Open the Recipients page from the app sidebar and click Add Recipient. Enter a friendly label (e.g. "Warehouse — Ali" or "Store Manager") and the WhatsApp phone number with the international country code (e.g. +92 300 1234567 or +1 415 555 0100). Save the recipient.
Why this matters: The recipient receives a one-time verification code on WhatsApp from the official Staff Ping number. They reply with the six-digit code to confirm the number is real and reachable. Until verified, no order alerts are sent to that number — this prevents accidental messaging of wrong numbers and keeps you compliant with WhatsApp Business Policy, which requires opt-in confirmation before transactional messages can be delivered.Common gotcha: If the recipient doesn't receive the verification code within a minute, the most common cause is a wrong country code or a typo. Double-check the format. The number must include the country code with no spaces or dashes — Staff Ping normalizes formatting on input but the country code is required. - 3
Create your first ping
Go to the Pings page and click Create Ping. Pick the trigger event — most teams start with order/created (every new order) or order/paid (only paid orders, skipping abandoned checkouts). Give the ping a clear name like "All paid orders → Warehouse" so future-you knows what it does at a glance. Assign one or more verified recipients. Optionally add filters: minimum order total (e.g. only $100+), specific product tags, customer type (new vs. returning), shipping country, or payment method.
Why this matters: Filters are how you avoid alert fatigue. A small store might want every order — but a busier store benefits from filtering, e.g. "Alert the warehouse only for high-value orders" or "Alert the fulfillment lead only for international shipping". Filters compose with AND logic, so you can layer them. The combination of trigger + filters defines exactly which orders this ping cares about, and you can have multiple pings active at once for different teams.Common gotcha: Pings are independent. If you have two pings that both match an order (e.g. one for all orders, one for high-value orders), both will fire and your high-value recipient will receive two messages. Use filters to keep pings non-overlapping, or accept the duplication if multiple teams need the same alert. - 4
Test the ping end-to-end
Use the Send Test button on the ping detail page. A sample alert is sent to all assigned recipients using your real WhatsApp template, populated with realistic placeholder order data. This lets you confirm the message actually arrives, formats correctly on a phone screen, and that the recipient sees what you expect.
Why this matters: Testing before any real order fires saves embarrassment. WhatsApp templates have strict character limits and formatting rules — you want to know now, not after a real customer order is missed because the message bounced. Test messages are clearly marked with a Test badge in the Logs page so they don't pollute your usage records, and they're never billed against your usage cap regardless of which plan you're on.Common gotcha: If the test message doesn't arrive, the recipient's verification might have expired or they may have blocked the Staff Ping number on WhatsApp. Re-verify the recipient from the Recipients page. If the test message arrives but real orders later fail, check the Logs page — the failure reason is logged and most failures (invalid number, opt-out, template paused) are self-explanatory. - 5
Watch the Logs page
Once a real order matches your ping's trigger and filters, you'll see the message appear in the Logs page within seconds. Each row shows status (queued, sent, delivered, failed), recipient, ping name, trigger event, and timestamp. On paid plans, you'll also see a Billed or Free badge that tells you whether Meta charged for that specific message.
Why this matters: The Logs page is your operational source of truth. If a team member claims they didn't receive an alert, the Logs page tells you whether the message was sent, delivered, read, or failed — and why. You can filter by status, trigger, ping, or billing state to audit costs and reliability over time. Failed messages get a Resend button so you can retry without re-triggering the original order event.Common gotcha: Most failures are permanent (invalid phone, opt-out, paused template) and Resend won't help — you need to fix the root cause. Transient failures (Meta's #131000 generic error, rate limiting) are auto-retried by Staff Ping in the background, so a Failed status with a transient error code usually resolves itself within a few minutes.
That's it — you're done.
Real order events from this point onward will fire matching pings. You can adjust triggers, recipients, or filters at any time without re-installing or re-verifying. Need a hand? Email us and we'll get back within a day. For deeper questions about pricing, billing, or compliance, see the FAQ.