WooCommerce: Send Email to Admin Every 3 Hours (Cron Job)

This snippet consists of many WooCommerce tasks: setting up a “WordPress Cron Job” (i.e. schedule a hook that runs on a specific time interval), getting the WooCommerce completed orders from the database, and finally sending a simple email to the store admin.

Complex, but as usual you can simply copy/paste and re-adapt it to your unique specifications. For example, I’m using it to send a survey email to each customer who has placed an order. There are thousands of applications, so this is just the start. Enjoy!

Snippet (PHP): Set up a Cron Job to Send WooCommerce Completed Orders to Admin Every 3 Hours

As I wrote in the introduction, there are 3 distinct code sections: the one where I create and schedule the cron job every 3 hours, the one where I query the database for completed orders in the last 3 hours, and the one where I generate the email.

To view and debug cron jobs in WordPress, I use “Advanced Cron Manager” from WordPress.org: https://wordpress.org/plugins/advanced-cron-manager/. Please note cron jobs won’t run unless there is frequent website traffic – otherwise it is advised to set them up via your hosting cPanel.

/**
 * @snippet       Schedule Email to WooCommerce Admin Every 3 Hours
 * @how-to        businessbloomer.com/woocommerce-customization
 * @sourcecode    https://businessbloomer.com/?p=106360
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli, Business Bloomer
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 3.5.4
 * @community     https://businessbloomer.com/club/
 */ 

// ---- ---- ----
// A. Define a cron job interval if it doesn't exist

add_filter( 'cron_schedules', 'bbloomer_check_every_3_hours' );

function bbloomer_check_every_3_hours( $schedules ) {
    $schedules['every_three_hours'] = array(
        'interval' => 10800,
        'display'  => __( 'Every 3 hours' ),
    );
    return $schedules;
}

// ---- ---- ----
// B. Schedule an event unless already scheduled

add_action( 'wp', 'bbloomer_custom_cron_job' );

function bbloomer_custom_cron_job() {
	if ( ! wp_next_scheduled( 'bbloomer_woocommerce_send_email_digest' ) ) {
		wp_schedule_event( time(), 'every_three_hours', 'bbloomer_woocommerce_send_email_digest' );
	}
}

// ---- ---- ----
// C. Trigger email when hook runs

add_action( 'bbloomer_woocommerce_send_email_digest', 'bbloomer_generate_email_digest' );

// ---- ---- ----
// D. Generate email content and send email if there are completed orders

function bbloomer_generate_email_digest() {	
	$range = 180; // 3 hours in minutes
	$completed_orders = bbloomer_get_completed_orders_before_after( strtotime( '-' . absint( $end ) . ' MINUTES', current_time( 'timestamp' ) ), current_time( 'timestamp' ) );
	if ( $completed_orders ) {
		$email_subject = "Completed Orders Email Digest";
		$email_content = "Completed Order IDs: " . implode( "|", $completed_orders );
		wp_mail( 'your@email.com', $email_subject, $email_content );
	}
}

// ---- ---- ----
// E. Query WooCommerce database for completed orders between two timestamps

function bbloomer_get_completed_orders_before_after( $date_one, $date_two ) {
	global $wpdb;
	$completed_orders = $wpdb->get_col(
		$wpdb->prepare(
			"SELECT posts.ID
			FROM {$wpdb->prefix}posts AS posts
			WHERE posts.post_type = 'shop_order'
			AND posts.post_status = 'wc-completed'
			AND posts.post_modified >= '%s' 
			AND posts.post_modified <= '%s'",
			date( 'Y/m/d H:i:s', absint( $date_one ) ),
			date( 'Y/m/d H:i:s', absint( $date_two ) )
		)
	);
	return $completed_orders;
}