Will Shortcodes Work on Any Page?

ThankRedirect shortcodes will work on any WordPress page — but they need the right URL parameters to display real order data. This is a common source of confusion, so here’s exactly how it works.

How Shortcodes Get Their Data

ThankRedirect shortcodes read the order_id and key query parameters from the page URL. These parameters look like this:

https://yourstore.com/thank-you?order_id=123&key=wc_order_abc123xyz

ThankRedirect automatically adds these parameters to the URL when it redirects a customer after checkout. When the shortcode loads, it reads these parameters, verifies the order key for security, and displays the correct order data.

Why Shortcodes Show Demo Content in the Editor

When you’re editing or previewing the page in WordPress without an actual order in the URL, the shortcodes can’t find a real order — so they display placeholder demo text like “Order #1234” or “John Doe”. This is expected and intentional — it lets you see how your layout looks without needing to place a real order every time you edit the page.

The demo content is replaced with real data the moment a customer lands on the page through ThankRedirect’s redirect flow.

Testing Your Shortcodes

To see real order data on your page:

1. Place a real test order on your store (or use a free/zero-value product)
2. Complete checkout — you should be redirected to your custom page
3. Check that the shortcodes are displaying the correct order data

Alternatively, manually append valid order parameters to your page URL:

1. Go to WooCommerce → Orders and open any order
2. Note the order ID (shown in the URL or at the top of the order)
3. Find the order key: it’s in the order URL on the frontend — e.g., wc_order_abc123xyz
4. Visit: https://yourstore.com/your-thank-you-page/?order_id=XXX&key=wc_order_XXX

Shortcodes on External Pages

ThankRedirect shortcodes only work on WordPress pages (they use WordPress’s shortcode system). They will not work on:

• External landing page tools (ClickFunnels, Leadpages, Unbounce, etc.)
• Pages hosted on a different domain or subdomain without WordPress + ThankRedirect installed
• Plain HTML files

For external pages, use URL Personalisation (Pro) to pass order data as URL parameters, and read them on the page using the external tool’s own dynamic text features.

Shortcode Security

ThankRedirect verifies the key parameter against the stored order key before displaying any data. This prevents customers from seeing each other’s order details by guessing order IDs. If the key doesn’t match the order, the shortcode will display nothing (or demo content).

Pro tip: If you’re using a page builder and the shortcode isn’t rendering at all (not even demo content), make sure you’re placing the shortcode inside a Shortcode widget or Text widget — not inside an HTML widget with escaping enabled, which might strip the square brackets.