AfroIT Messaging Workflows for WooCommerce

Description

AfroIT Messaging Workflows for WooCommerce helps merchants automate follow-up communication when customers place orders, pay, abandon carts, or when order status changes. Combine triggers, conditions, and actions (including Wait, Send WhatsApp, Send SMS, and Send Email) to build flows that match your store’s policies and marketing goals.

Workflows run on your WordPress site. Designed specifically for WooCommerce. Compatible with WooCommerce High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS). Not supported on WordPress Multisite.

What is a workflow?

A workflow is a saved automation rule in your store. Each workflow has four main parts:

1. Name — A label you recognize in the admin (e.g. “Post-purchase thank you + upsell”).
2. Trigger — The WooCommerce event that starts the workflow (for example, Payment Complete, Payment Failed, Order Status: Processing, or Shopping Cart Abandoned).
3. Conditions (optional) — Rules that must be true for the workflow to run, using order and store variables (for example, order total, product list, payment method). If conditions fail, the workflow does not run.
4. Steps (actions) — An ordered list of actions executed one after another. Some actions can wait and resume later.

Workflows are active or inactive. Only active workflows are evaluated when a trigger fires.

Actions run in sequence and can include:

• Wait (delay execution for a period of time — minutes, hours, or days)
• Send WhatsApp Message (Meta-approved templates via the official WhatsApp Cloud API)
• Send SMS (via Twilio)
• Send Email (uses WooCommerce email templates)

Each action can also have its own condition. If that condition fails, the action is skipped.

How to configure a workflow

1. Go to WooCommerce → Messaging Workflows in your WordPress admin.
2. Open Settings → Prerequisites and complete the setup that applies to you (Meta, WhatsApp, Twilio, email, and privacy options).
3. Open Workflows → Create Workflow (or edit an existing workflow from Workflows → Listing).
4. Enter a name and choose a trigger. Triggers correspond to WooCommerce events.
5. Add conditions if you want to limit which orders or customers qualify (e.g. only orders above a certain total).
6. Add steps in order: drag or add actions such as Wait, Send Email, Send SMS, or Send WhatsApp Message.
7. Configure each action’s fields (template, delay, recipient placeholders, optional per-step conditions).
8. Save and set the workflow to Active when you are ready.

Test with a real or test order (or an abandoned cart) that matches your trigger and conditions. Open Workflows → Executions to inspect queued and completed runs.

WooCommerce → Messaging Workflows

The plugin screens live under WooCommerce → Messaging Workflows.

Tabs (primary row)

1. Workflows — List, enable/disable, edit, and delete saved workflows. Sub-sections:
   • Listing — Day-to-day workflow management. Create a workflow: trigger, optional conditions, and ordered actions.
   • Executions — Queue of workflow runs (pending, waiting, completed, failed).
2. WhatsApp Templates — Browse Meta-linked WhatsApp templates, approval status, and shortcuts to manage templates in Meta.
3. Email Templates — Opens WooCommerce → Settings → Emails, where WooCommerce email templates used by Send Email actions are configured.
4. Settings — Messaging and integration setup (see sections below).
5. Documentation and Privacy Policy — Links to the plugin documentation and privacy policy.

Sections under the Settings tab

When Settings is active, four sections appear:

• Prerequisites — Setup checklist (Meta, WhatsApp, Twilio, WooCommerce email) plus plugin privacy options and optional debug logging.
• Meta App — Meta app ID, app secret, and optional system user token. The redirect URI should be left as-is and copied into your Meta app settings.
• WhatsApp Account — After connecting to Meta, choose the WhatsApp Business Account / phone number used for sending.
• Twilio Account — Twilio Account SID, auth token, and sender number for Send SMS actions.

Prerequisites

Before workflows can send WhatsApp or SMS reliably, complete the following (also summarized under WooCommerce → Messaging Workflows → Settings → Prerequisites):

Meta (WhatsApp)

• Create a Meta app with these permissions: business_management, whatsapp_business_management, whatsapp_business_messaging.
• Create a WhatsApp Business Account in Meta Business Suite.
• Ensure the WhatsApp Business Account is approved by Meta (check status in WhatsApp account settings).
• In the plugin, open WooCommerce → Messaging Workflows → Settings → Meta App, enter your app credentials, connect to Facebook, then use WooCommerce → Messaging Workflows → Settings → WhatsApp Account to select the business asset for messaging.

WhatsApp message templates

• Meta requires approved templates for most WhatsApp messages.
• After connecting Meta, use WooCommerce → Messaging Workflows → WhatsApp Templates to create simple templates; refresh to see approval status. You can also manage templates in WhatsApp Manager.

Email

• Email actions use WooCommerce email templates. Create or customize them under WooCommerce → Settings → Emails.

SMS (Twilio)

• SMS actions use Twilio. Add your Account SID, Auth Token, and From number under WooCommerce → Messaging Workflows → Settings → Twilio Account. You pay Twilio usage costs separately.

Plugin privacy settings

Under Settings → Prerequisites → Plugin Settings:

• Ask for consent before sending messages — Adds a checkout checkbox for WhatsApp/SMS notifications. If disabled, messages may be sent without that checkbox; you must collect consent elsewhere if required.
• Check for cookie consent before tracking abandoned carts — When enabled, abandoned-cart tracking runs only if the afromewo_customer_has_cookie_consented filter returns true. When disabled, carts are tracked automatically.
• Debug logging — Optional. When enabled, entries go to WooCommerce → Status → Logs (source afroit-messaging-workflows). Disable when finished; logs may contain personal data.

Actions reference

Each action is one step in your workflow. Many actions support an optional condition (variable + operator + value). If that condition fails, the action is skipped.

Wait

• What it does: Pauses the workflow for a chosen length of time, then continues with the next step.
• What to configure: Delay amount, unit (minutes, hours, or days), and optionally a condition so the wait only applies when the condition is met.
• Note: Waits use WordPress cron (and a one-minute schedule when available). For reliable delays, ensure WP-Cron is running (or a real system cron hitting wp-cron.php).

Send WhatsApp Message

• What it does: Sends a WhatsApp message using a Meta-approved template and order/customer variables.
• What to configure: Template (from WhatsApp Templates), recipient phone (often a placeholder such as billing phone), optional condition.

Send SMS

• What it does: Sends an SMS via Twilio using your configured account and From number.
• What to configure: Message body (can use variables), recipient phone, optional condition. Twilio must be configured in settings.

Send Email

• What it does: Sends an email using a WooCommerce email template, with To/Subject supporting placeholders.
• What to configure: Email template, To, Subject, optional CC/BCC, optional condition.

Abandoned carts

The plugin can snapshot a shopper’s cart, detect abandonment, and start a Shopping Cart Abandoned workflow.

• Cart contents are stored when items are added or updated, and when checkout email/phone fields are captured (classic and block checkout).
• A cart is treated as abandoned after 60 minutes without activity (hourly check), if it still has an email or phone and the shopper has not completed checkout.
• Use {{cart_recovery_url}} in an email (or other message) so the customer can restore the cart. Recovery requires the original tracking cookie on that browser.

Example workflows

1. Thank-you email after payment

• Trigger: Payment Complete
• Steps: Send Email (order confirmation / thank-you template).

2. WhatsApp order update when order moves to processing

• Trigger: Order Status: Processing
• Conditions: (Optional) only for specific shipping methods or totals.
• Steps: Send WhatsApp Message (approved “order processing” template).

3. Abandoned cart reminder (email + wait + second email)

• Trigger: Shopping Cart Abandoned
• Steps: Send Email (first reminder, include {{cart_recovery_url}}) → Wait (e.g. 1 day) → Send Email (second reminder).

4. Re-engagement a few days after purchase

• Trigger: Payment Complete (or Order Status: Complete)
• Steps: Wait (e.g. 14 days) → Send Email or Send WhatsApp Message.
• Tip: Use conditions to exclude refunded orders or specific products.

5. Failed payment: wait, then retry message

• Trigger: Payment Failed
• Steps: Wait (e.g. 1–2 days) → Send Email or Send SMS with a payment retry link.
• Tip: Use workflow conditions to target the failed-payment scenarios you want to follow up on.

6. VIP order: SMS for high-value orders

• Trigger: Payment Complete
• Conditions: Order total greater than your VIP threshold.
• Steps: Send SMS (Twilio) with a personal thank-you or fulfillment note.

Support

• Documentation: https://messaging-workflows.com/documentation
• For bug reports or feature requests, use the support forum on the WordPress.org plugin page.

External services

This plugin can connect to the following services when you configure them. Each service may charge its own fees. You are responsible for signing up and complying with each service’s terms. The plugin remains usable for email-only workflows without Meta or Twilio.

When a workflow sends a message, order or cart fields used in that message (for example phone, email, name, totals, and other template variables) are sent to the configured service.

Meta (WhatsApp Cloud API)

Used to create WhatsApp message templates and to send WhatsApp messages.

• WhatsApp Business Solution Terms
• Meta Terms for WhatsApp Business
• Meta Platform Terms
• WhatsApp Business Data Processing Terms
• WhatsApp Privacy Policy

Twilio

Used to send SMS messages.

• Twilio Terms of Service
• Twilio Privacy

Third-party libraries and assets

SortableJS 1.15.2

• File: assets/js/vendor/sortablejs-1.15.2.min.js
• License: MIT
• Source: https://github.com/SortableJS/Sortable

Plugin CSS and JS

Plugin CSS and JavaScript in assets/css and assets/js are compiled with npm into assets/build. Production loads the files in assets/build.
See tools/build-assets.mjs. To rebuild: from the tools folder, run npm run build.