Websites
Push notifications for new website orders and messages
A push notification for a new order or enquiry means you see it within seconds, not when you next check email. For a pickup menu or a busy service business that is the difference between a customer waiting and a customer served.
What you get notified about
Two things: a new paid order, as New order with the order number and amount, which opens that order in the store screens; and a new message from a contact, quote or newsletter form, as New message on your site, which opens the messages inbox. A visitor submission to a public data collection in Code mode sends one too.
Turn it on per device
Push is set per browser or phone. Open the Push notifications card in site settings or on the store dashboard on the device you want alerts on, switch it on and allow notifications when the browser asks. Use Send test to check, which sends Push is on to every device you set up. Turn it on on both your phone and your shop computer if you use both.
iPhone and iPad
Apple only allows web push for apps on the home screen. On an iPhone or iPad, open the sites admin in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen, open OneCraft Sites from that icon, and switch push on there. The card says this when it detects a device that cannot receive push in the browser.
The admin as an app
The sites admin is itself an installable web app, named OneCraft Sites, with its own icon. Installed, it opens full screen on your store or messages, and a tap on a notification opens the right page. Chrome and Edge show Install app in the store header while the browser offers it.
What push does not cover
Notifications go to you, the owner, not to your customers; there is no push marketing to visitors. You still get an email for each order and message, so a missed push never means a missed order. If a device stops accepting push, for example after you clear browser data, it is removed and you switch it on again.
How it works, in three steps
Step 1
Open the card
In site settings or the store dashboard, find Push notifications on the device you want alerts on.
Step 2
Switch it on
Allow notifications when the browser asks; on iPhone, add the admin to the home screen first and switch it on from there.
Step 3
Send a test
Press Send test; Push is on should appear on every device you set up.
Limits worth knowing
- Push is set up per browser or device.
- iPhone and iPad need the admin added to the home screen before push works.
- Notifications cover new paid orders and form messages, for the owner only.
- Email notifications continue whether push is on or off.
Questions people ask
Do I need to keep the browser open?
No. Once allowed, the browser or phone receives notifications in the background, even when the sites admin is closed, as long as the browser itself is allowed to run. On iPhone, the home screen app must have been opened once with push switched on.
Can my staff get the notifications too?
Notifications go to every device where the account owner has switched push on. If staff use a shared device signed in to the account, such as the shop tablet, switch push on there. There is no separate staff list for notifications.
Why did my notifications stop?
A browser that reports a subscription as gone, after cleared data, a reinstall or revoked permission, is removed automatically. Open the Push notifications card on that device and switch it on again, then press Send test. Check also that the device is not in a focus or do not disturb mode.
Will I get a push for abandoned checkouts?
No. Pushes are sent for orders once they are paid and for submitted messages. An abandoned checkout expires without a notification, and it appears in the Orders screen only when you choose the Abandoned view. There is no automatic reminder email to the buyer either, so a quick personal follow up is the only recovery step.
Does push cost anything?
No. Push notifications are part of the sites admin on every plan where the feature applies, and there is no per notification charge. Orders themselves need the store, which is on the paid plans, while message notifications work for any published site with a form.
Can I turn notifications off for one site only?
Push is set per device for your account rather than per site, so a device with push on receives alerts for every site you own that takes orders or messages. If one site is noisy, turn push off on that device and rely on email, or keep push on a device you check during that site busy hours.
What does a notification look like?
A short title and line from the browser or phone, such as New order #1012 with the amount, or New message on the site name. Tapping it opens the order or the inbox in the sites admin, signed in as you, so you can mark an order ready or reply to a message straight away.
Make your own website
The button opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match yours, generate, then edit anything you like.
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More finished work of this kind is on the website examples hub.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .