Common scenarios

Here's how Lumen responds in common real-world scenarios that merchants frequently encounter.

"Delivered" but customer never received it

What the customer says: "It says delivered but I never got my package."

What Lumen does: Lumen reports the order status as delivered based on the carrier's tracking data — because that's what Shopify shows. It cannot verify physical delivery.

What Lumen tells the customer: Lumen shares the delivery confirmation details (date, time, carrier) and offers to escalate to your support team since this requires human investigation.

What you should know: This is one of the most common escalation triggers. Make sure your escalation email is monitored so your team can follow up with the carrier or issue a replacement.

Split shipments (order shipped in multiple packages)

What the customer says: "Where is my order?" (and the order has 3 items shipped in 2 packages)

What Lumen does: Lumen shows the order as "partially fulfilled" or "fulfilled" depending on the fulfillment status. If there are multiple fulfillments with different tracking numbers, Lumen presents each one separately.

Example response: "Your order #1042 has been shipped in 2 packages. Package 1 (Blue T-Shirt) shipped via USPS, tracking 9400..., estimated delivery Feb 28. Package 2 (Running Shoes) shipped via FedEx, tracking 7891..., currently in transit."

Pre-orders and backorders

What the customer says: "When will my pre-order ship?"

What Lumen does: If the order is in Shopify as a confirmed order but hasn't been fulfilled yet, Lumen reports it as "confirmed" or "unfulfilled." Lumen cannot tell the difference between a regular unfulfilled order and a pre-order.

What Lumen tells the customer: "Your order #1088 is confirmed and is being prepared. It hasn't shipped yet, so there's no tracking information available. If you'd like an estimated shipping date, I can connect you with our support team."

Tip: If you use the AI persona feature (Pro+), you can add context like "Pre-orders typically ship within 4-6 weeks" so Lumen can provide more helpful responses.

International orders with long shipping times

What the customer says: "It's been 3 weeks and my order still hasn't arrived."

What Lumen does: Lumen checks the tracking data and reports the current status. For international shipments, tracking updates are often delayed or sparse once the package leaves the origin country.

What Lumen tells the customer: Lumen shares whatever tracking data is available. If the last update was "departed origin country" 2 weeks ago, that's what it reports — along with the carrier name so the customer can check with the carrier directly.

What you should know: International orders generate more WISMO queries because of longer transit times and less frequent tracking updates. This is where Lumen saves you the most time.

Customer provides the wrong order number

What the customer says: "Check order 9999" (which doesn't exist)

What Lumen does: Lumen searches and finds no match.

What Lumen tells the customer: "I wasn't able to find an order matching #9999. Could you double-check the number? You can find it in your order confirmation email. You can also try providing the email address you used when placing the order."

Customer asks about an order from another platform

What the customer says: "Where is my Amazon order?"

What Lumen does: Lumen only has access to Shopify orders. It won't find Amazon, Etsy, or other platform orders.

What Lumen tells the customer: "I can only look up orders placed on this store. For orders from other platforms, you'll need to check with that platform directly. If you have an order from our store, I'm happy to help — just share the order number or your email."

Order was cancelled or refunded

What the customer says: "What happened to my order?"

What Lumen does: Lumen reports the order status from Shopify, which will show as "cancelled" if the order was cancelled.

What Lumen tells the customer: "Your order #1055 was cancelled on February 20th." Lumen doesn't know the reason for cancellation or refund status — it offers to escalate if the customer needs more details.

Customer asks about orders during a sale or high-traffic event

What the customer says: Multiple customers asking about orders simultaneously during Black Friday.

What Lumen does: Handles each conversation independently and concurrently. During very high traffic, responses may take 3–5 seconds instead of the usual 1–2 seconds due to API rate limits, but the widget remains fully functional.

What you should know: Lumen is most valuable during sales events because WISMO volume spikes while your team is busiest. No extra configuration is needed — it scales automatically.

Customer uses a third-party fulfillment service (3PL)

What the customer says: "Where is my package?" (order fulfilled by ShipBob, ShipStation, etc.)

What Lumen does: Lumen reads whatever fulfillment data is in Shopify. Most 3PLs sync tracking numbers back to Shopify automatically, so Lumen can display them.

What you should know: If your 3PL doesn't sync tracking data to Shopify, Lumen will show the order as fulfilled but without tracking details. Check that your fulfillment service is pushing tracking updates to Shopify.