A clean install is the foundation for everything else Post-Purchase Hub does. This guide walks through the whole process, from download to your first live setting, in under five minutes. What you need before you start Step 1: Upload the plugin Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose the .zip file, and click Install Now. WordPress handles the extraction automatically — no FTP or file manager needed. Step 2: Activate Click Activate once the upload finishes. Post-Purchase Hub checks for WooCommerce automatically; if it’s missing or outdated, you’ll see a clear notice telling you what to update first. Step 3: Find your settings Head to WooCommerce → Post-Purchase Hub. This is the only settings screen you need — cancellation windows, return policy, email branding, and the store-owner dashboard all live here. First-run checklist That’s the full install. From here, every setting is optional tuning — the plugin works with sensible defaults the moment it’s activated.

Every cancelled order that lands in your inbox costs you time: read the email, find the order, check if it’s shipped yet, reply, refund, repeat. Post-Purchase Hub moves that entire flow onto the customer’s account page, so most cancellations never touch your inbox at all. Here’s how to set it up. Why manual cancellation handling costs more than you think A single cancellation request usually means a support ticket, a manual order lookup, a refund, and a reply email — often across two or three tools. Multiply that by every order that gets cancelled in a week, and it adds up to hours you could spend anywhere else. Self-service cancellation removes the ticket entirely: the customer cancels, the order updates, and you get a summary instead of a queue. Step 1: Install and activate Post-Purchase Hub From your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin and select the Post-Purchase Hub .zip file. Once it’s uploaded, click Activate. The plugin detects WooCommerce automatically and adds a new settings page under WooCommerce → Post-Purchase Hub — no separate configuration wizard required. Step 2: Set your cancellation window This is the core setting: how long after checkout can a customer cancel without contacting you? For most physical-goods stores, somewhere between 30 minutes and 24 hours works well — long enough to catch mis-clicks and price regret, short enough that it doesn’t interfere with fast fulfillment. Digital products and made-to-order items usually need a shorter window, sometimes just a few minutes. You can set one window store-wide, or override it per product for items that need special handling — a print-on-demand shirt, for instance, might need a 10-minute window since production starts almost immediately. Step 3: See what the customer sees Once it’s configured, log into a test account and place a sample order. On the account page, you’ll see a live order timeline (Placed → Confirmed → Packed → Shipped → Delivered) with a Cancel button visible for as long as the order sits inside your configured window. After the window closes, the button disappears automatically — no manual policing required. Step 4: Test the full flow Cancel the test order as the customer would. You should see the order status update instantly, a cancellation confirmation email go out automatically, and the request appear in your store-owner dashboard under WooCommerce → Post-Purchase Hub for your records — even though no action was required from you. A quick checklist before you go live That’s the whole setup. From here, customers handle their own cancellations within the window you’ve set, and you only see the ones that need a second look.

Manual review keeps you in full control, but it also means every request waits on someone to check it. Auto-approval rules let you keep control where it matters and remove the wait everywhere else. Manual vs. auto-approval: the trade-off Manual review catches edge cases and fraud attempts, but it’s slow and doesn’t scale. Auto-approval is instant and consistent, but it only works well when your conditions are set thoughtfully. Most stores land somewhere in between. Setting conditions From WooCommerce → Post-Purchase Hub → Automation, you can auto-approve requests based on: What the dashboard shows Every request still appears in your store-owner dashboard, tagged either “Auto-approved” or “Needs review” — so you keep full visibility even for the requests that never needed your input. A reasonable starting point Start conservative: auto-approve only low-value cancellations, review everything else for a few weeks, then loosen the rules once you’ve seen how requests actually come in. It’s easier to open the gate wider later than to walk back a rule that let something slip through.

Generic WooCommerce emails look like generic WooCommerce emails — plain, unbranded, easy to mistake for spam. Post-Purchase Hub lets you fix that without writing a line of code. Why this matters more than it seems Order status emails are some of the highest-open-rate messages a store sends, because customers are actively waiting for them. A branded, clear email builds trust; a generic one just gets skimmed or ignored. Where to edit templates Go to WooCommerce → Post-Purchase Hub → Notifications. Each order status has its own template — confirmation, shipped, cancelled, return approved — editable independently. Adding your logo and colors Upload your logo once and it applies across every template. The accent color field controls buttons and the order-status highlight inside the email, so it’s worth matching to your site’s primary brand color. Personalizing the copy Merge tags like customer first name, order number, and estimated delivery date can be dropped into any template. A short, specific line (“Hey Sam, your order is on its way!”) reads far better than a form-letter greeting. Testing before you go live Use the built-in “Send test email” button to preview exactly what customers will see, including how it renders on mobile. Check this before publishing any change — email clients are notoriously inconsistent with formatting.

Your cancellation window and return policy are the two settings that shape almost everything customers experience with Post-Purchase Hub. Here’s how to set both well. Choosing a cancellation window by product type There’s no single right answer — it depends on how fast you fulfill. A few starting points: Store-wide default vs. per-product override Set one sensible default for your whole catalog, then override it on individual products that need special handling. This keeps the settings screen simple while still covering edge cases like fast-turnaround custom orders. Writing a return policy people actually read Skip the legal boilerplate. State the return window in days, what condition items need to be in, and who pays return shipping — in that order, in plain language. Customers skim; a policy they can read in ten seconds gets followed more often than one buried in a wall of text. Syncing to your fulfillment workflow Every return request logs to your store-owner dashboard the moment it’s submitted, with the order details attached — so whoever handles fulfillment doesn’t need a separate handoff or spreadsheet to track what’s pending.

WooCommerce’s default order status is a plain text list. Post-Purchase Hub replaces it with a visual timeline your customers can actually read at a glance — and you can customize every part of it. Where the timeline shows up By default, the timeline appears on the customer’s account page under each order, and again on the order confirmation screen right after checkout. Both use the same settings, so you only configure it once. Renaming and reordering steps The default steps are Placed, Confirmed, Packed, Shipped, and Delivered. If your fulfillment process looks different — say you have a “Quality Check” step, or skip “Packed” for digital goods — you can rename, remove, or reorder any step from the settings screen without touching code. Matching your store’s branding The timeline’s accent colors (completed, current, upcoming) are all adjustable, so it can sit naturally inside your theme instead of looking like a bolted-on plugin. Most stores match “completed” to their brand’s primary color and leave “current” as a warm accent so it’s easy to spot at a glance. Theme compatibility The timeline is built to inherit your active theme’s fonts and spacing automatically. If you’re using a heavily customized theme and something looks off, the settings screen includes a CSS override field for quick manual fixes. Once it’s styled the way you want, customers stop guessing where their order stands — and stop emailing you to ask.