Handle customer messages

Add a contact form to your storefront and read, reply to, and keep track of customer messages in your Inbox.

Shoppers with a question who can't find a way to ask usually leave. A contact form gives them one, and the Inbox keeps every message in your dashboard instead of scattered across a personal email account.

Turn it on

Open Settings → Modules and enable Contact Form. This adds a contact form to your storefront and a Messages entry to your sidebar, with an unread count so you can see at a glance when something's waiting.

Read and reply

Open Messages to see everything that's come in, with the sender and their message. Replies go back to the customer by email.

If you've set up an email domain for your store, replies come from your own address rather than a generic one — see Email notifications & automation. It's a small thing that makes a big difference to how a reply lands.

Tip: Reply fast, even if the answer is "let me check". A same-day holding reply keeps a sale alive; a three-day silence rarely does.

What people actually ask

Most contact-form messages fall into a handful of buckets: where's my order, do you ship to X, will this be back in stock, and can I return this. Each one has a page you can answer with — or pre-empt:

If the same question keeps arriving, put the answer on a page and link it — see Add pages and content.

FAQ

Where do contact form messages go?

Into your Inbox in the dashboard, and you're notified by email so you don't have to keep checking.

Is this the same as support?

No. The Inbox is for messages from your customers. To reach the YNS team about your store, see Get help and support.

Can I turn the contact form off?

Yes — disable the Contact Form module. Your existing messages stay where they are.

Can customers attach files?

The contact form is built for questions rather than file transfers. For anything involving photos — a damaged item, say — ask the customer to reply to your email.

What's next