---
title: 'Order Status, The Long Awaited Feature'
author: 'Xinjiang Shao'
date: 2018-01-24T16:19:16.244Z
lastmod: 2020-02-10T21:16:19-06:00

description: 'Shipping Order Status at Peapod: push notifications, invoice emails, and a 30-minute ETA in place of a two-hour window, plus what the usage data showed.'
tags:
  - Web Development
  - E-Commerce
  - UX Design
  - Feature Development
subtitle:
  'It has been quite a journey since we released Order Status, a feature that will allow our
  customers to check their order details on…'

coverImage: 'images/1.png'

images:
  - 'images/1.png'
  - 'images/2.png'
  - 'images/3.png'
  - 'images/4.png'
  - 'images/5.png'
  - 'images/6.png'
  - 'images/7.png'
  - 'images/8.png'

aliases:
  - '/order-status-the-long-awaited-feature-a2ff6054d227'
---

It has been quite a journey since we released Order Status, a feature that will allow our customers
to check their order details on delivery day, get updates about their order via push notifications
in both Android and iOS app, and receive an email with invoice pdf attachment when the order is
packed.

### Push Notifications for Order Status

In the past, some customers, including me, would notice that we didn't get an SMS message when the
was soon to arrive. Sometimes, due to mobile services throttling SMS, messages would not arrive
until hours after the delivery was completed. While looking for a better way to deliver SMS
messages, we decided to also try sending Push Notifications and open another channel of
communication to our customers. We decided that we would use Push Notifications to send messages
when a driver is delivering your order and another when the driver has arrived.

### **Invoice Email Delivery**

![image](images/2.png)

an example of order update email with invoice PDF

### On Customer's Delivery Day at Peapod.com

![image](images/3.png)

![image](images/4.png)

Step 1, Step 2: Order Received, Packed & Ready

![image](images/5.png)

Step 3: 30 minutes ETA when order is on the way

![image](images/6.png)

Step 4: Delivered

Before this order status feature, a user would only be aware of out of stock information when the
order arrived and may have only received a **2-hour** time window. Now, a user may see a **30
minute** ETA on their order and any out-of-stocks and replacements. This is our effort to make sure
that our users are well informed.

### When is the users' favorite time to check their order status?

![image](images/7.png)

Order Status Steps By Hour Of Day

Not surprisingly, our users love to check the order status **early in the morning** or **late
afternoon**. One curious discovery is that the users check their orders after they have been
**delivered**. One possible explanation is that these users are comparing their order with the
status email to check if there are any missing items.

### What can still be improved?

![image](images/8.png)

Chowbus and Instacart Order Tracking

This is our initial release and there are numerous ways we can improve it.

In-app chat or calling with an anonymous phone number could provide a way for drivers and users to
quickly communicate when something goes wrong. **Providing the driver's name** to the users can make
the service more personal. We've heard a lot of positive feedback about how **friendly** our drivers
are, and I agree that the drivers are the highlights of the Peapod delivery service.

**Thirty minute ETA** windows are much better than **two hour** windows, but other delivery services
provide **live tracking** of the driver. I don't think it is necessary to know the full path of the
driver, but it would be helpful to build up the user's anticipation when there is an option to watch
your order getting closer.

It recently occurred to me that many services immediately ask for **comments** when an order is
completed. Peapod provides a channel to collect feedback from users, but we have never actively
sought their opinion on a recent order. I've heard that we've recently started collecting customer
feedback about drivers, but it would be nice to ask for these opinions immediately following a
delivery.

Speaking of feedback, we'd love to hear from all of you about how Peapod can make the order status
feature and our service in general even more useful!