Delivery Notifications - Email and SMS

Keep customers informed of delivery events using email and SMS delivery notifications. You can use EasyRoutes' completely customizable, no-code notifications, or with EasyRoutes for Shopify, you can work with Shopify's built-in notification templates.

Before making any deliveries we recommend you review the Order Tracking and Email & SMS Notifications tabs in your EasyRoutes Settings.

Click either link below for further details specific to the EasyRoutes product you're using:

• EasyRoutes for Shopify
• EasyRoutes for Web

EasyRoutes for Shopify

• EasyRoutes Email Notifications
• EasyRoutes SMS Notifications
• Shopify's Built in Notifications

EasyRoutes Email Notifications

Customize your delivery experience with custom email and SMS notifications. Add your logo, customize your text, and decide what gets sent and when. EasyRoutes Email and SMS notifications are available for users on the EasyRoutes Premium plan.

To use EasyRoutes email notifications, click the "Use EasyRoutes' brandable and customizable emails" radio button under the Notifications tab in your EasyRoutes settings. This will no longer send Shopify's built-in notifications. You can also use our custom SMS notifications alongside your built-in Shopify notifications instead.

By default, the Shopify sender email configured in your Shopify Settings will appear as the contact email at the bottom of your email and SMS notifications, and will be the address that any customer replies to your email notifications will be sent. To change the contact and reply-to email for your customer notification emails:

1. From EasyRoutes Settings > Notifications tab, scroll down to the Branding section.
2. Under the Contact email subsection, input the desired contact and reply-to email address:

In the Branding / Header box you can choose whether to display your store name or an image at the top of your email. You can also specify to what URL the logo will link to when clicked:

EasyRoutes emails will be sent from your store name and can be sent for the following events, and can be customized independently depending whether an order is Shopify-native or an imported order/custom stop:

• Ready for Delivery - Sent manually using a button on the route page, or optionally sent when the "Mark as Ready" button is clicked 
• Out for Delivery - Sent when your driver starts the delivery route
• Delivered - Sent when an order is marked as Delivered
• Missed Delivery - Sent when an order is marked as Attempted
• Driver is 3 Stops Away - Sent when a driver is three stops away*
• Delivery Scheduled - Sent manually using a button on the route page; requires that a route have a scheduled start date/time set, and no previous notifications (other than Ready for Delivery) have been sent for this route
• Delivery Rescheduled - Sent manually using a button on the route page; requires that a route have a scheduled start date/time set, and no previous notifications (other than Ready for Delivery and/or Out for Delivery) have been sent for this route

Just check the boxes next to the emails you want to send to your customers.

*Note: "Driver is 3 Stops Away" can be modified to increase/decrease how many stops away a driver must be before triggering the email. Click the "Driver is 3 Stops Away" title, navigate to the "Edit" tab, and increase or decrease the "Send when driver is this number of stops away" setting at the bottom of the page. Click Save to see this change reflected in your notifications list:

To preview how any of the notification emails will display, click on the name of the email. A modal pop-up will appear showing you what the email looks like:

To edit the contents of this email, click the Edit tab:

You can edit the subject of the email, as well as any of the text. To insert variable information, place your mouse cursor where you want to variable to appear and click on any of the buttons at the top. If the information is already included in your email, the button will turn blue.

Click on the "Preview with Example Data" tab at any time to see how your email is looking.

When you are happy with your edits, click the Save button to close the modal. Then click the "Save Settings" button at the top of your page to save all your settings.

When viewing any route, click the envelope icon below the route map to manually trigger certain notifications. Any notifications that are greyed out are not currently available (for example, if a route contains stops with Delivered orders, Scheduled and Rescheduled notifications will not be available):

EasyRoutes SMS Notifications

Additional usage-based fees will apply when sending SMS delivery notifications to your customers. Rates are based on the country of the recipient (view rates).

SMS Notifications can be sent for the following events, and can be customized independently depending whether an order is Shopify-native or an imported order/custom stop:

• Ready for Delivery - Sent manually using a button on route page or optionally sent when the "Fulfill Orders" button is clicked
• Out for Delivery - Sent when your driver starts the delivery route
• Delivered - Sent when an order is marked as Delivered
• Missed Delivery - Sent when an order is marked as Attempted
• Driver is 1 Stop Away - Sent when a driver is one stop away
• Delivery Scheduled - Sent manually using a button on the route page; requires that a route have a scheduled start date/time set, and no previous notifications (other than Ready for Delivery) have been sent for this route
• Delivery Rescheduled - Sent manually using a button on the route page; requires that a route have a scheduled start date/time set, and no previous notifications (other than Ready for Delivery and/or Out for Delivery) have been sent for this route

Just check the boxes next to the SMS notifications you want to send to your customers in your Notification Settings to enable the desired event.

EasyRoutes will attempt to use the first available phone number in a stop's Shopify Order in the following priority order:

1. If the order is a Shopify Local Delivery order, the mobile phone number entered into the local delivery checkout shipping method input field (e.g. with the default instruction text: "We may use this number to call or text you about your delivery.")
2. The phone number as seen an order's Contact Information section:
   1. This is usually from when a customer provides their phone number instead of an email as the contact during checkout. This can be enabled in your checkout settings. (Settings > Checkout > "Select what contact method customers use to check out." > Phone number or email)
   2. Orders can also be edited to include a phone number in the "Contact information" section afterwards.
3. The phone number in the order customer's profile (alongside their email address in their customer profile)
4. The phone number in the order's shipping address, if available.

To preview what an SMS message looks like, click on the name of the message. A modal pop-up appears showing you what the text message looks like.

To edit the contents of this email, click the Edit tab.

You can edit any of the text. To insert variable information, place your mouse cursor where you want to variable to appear in your text and click on any of the buttons at the top. If the information is already included in the SMS body, the button will turn blue.

Manual / Imported Stops

Manual stops (whether imported by CSV or manually added to a route) require additional configuration as they don't have the same data as Shopify orders. You can configure the settings and notification templates by under the "Imported Orders" section for Email and SMS custom notifications.

For manually added stops the stop email and/or phone number must be included:

For imported stops the email and/or phone number columns should be selected:

Viewing what notifications have been triggered

To review what notifications have been triggered for a particular stop, use the View Notification History action when viewing a route.

Shopify's Built-in Notifications

To use Shopify's Built-In Notifications, click the "Use Shopify's built-in notifications" radio button under the Notifications tab in your EasyRoutes settings.

If your customer checked out with Local Delivery, the Local Delivery notifications will be used, otherwise the Shipping notifications will be used. Refer to your store's notification settings for more details.

Note that Draft Orders will use Shipping notifications as at this time Shopify does not allow creating Local Delivery orders. If you wish to test Local Delivery notifications you will have to create a Local Delivery order by checking out using Local Delivery from your store.

Currently, we attempt to send a notification using your Shopify Notification templates for the following events - these events are mapped to states that are a part of a fulfilled order. EasyRoutes currently will attempt to fulfill your order for accessing these notifications.

*For SMS notifications, here's the Shopify Help Centre article on the topic. Shopify only sends an order confirmation SMS notification in select countries.

EasyRoutes will also attach an order tracking status link to orders that are fulfilled by our app. When you Fulfill the orders in your route a tracking number will be included in the Shipping Confirmation email sent to your customers.

Shopify will only send notifications once per notification event type on fulfillments. For example, if an order is attempted and rerouted, the fulfillment needs to be cancelled in order to resend Out for Delivery notifications.

When tracking links are not enabled you can configure which notifications EasyRoutes will automatically send to customers during specific delivery events. 

Shipping Method

If you do not use Shopify Local Delivery, then we map to these notifications titled "Shipping" under your Settings -> Notifications in your store's Shopify Admin:

• Out for delivery
• Delivered

Note that Out for Delivery and Delivered notifications must be checked and enabled in order for EasyRoutes to send a notification.

If the order was placed with a "standard" shipping method (e.g. a custom shipping method), then we will use the Shipping notifications (i.e,. same ones that a third-party shipper like Fedex / UPS would integrate with to trigger notifications). This also means that "attempted delivery" will only send an email if the order was Local Delivery. There is no Missed Delivery notification template for Shipping.

Local Delivery

If you use Shopify Local Delivery, then we map to these notifications titled "Local Delivery" under your Settings -> Notifications in your store's Shopify Admin:

• Out for delivery
• Delivered
• Missed delivery

Note that Out for Delivery, Missed Delivered and Delivered notifications must be checked and enabled in order for EasyRoutes to send a notification.

For example, if your store is configured with Shopify Local Delivery. And an order was placed with Local Delivery as the shipping method (i.e,. store has it configured), then we will use the Local Delivery notifications.

Clicking this button will update your order status and trigger the Out for Delivery notification email to all the customers in that route and take you to our mobile-friendly driver view. If you do not not want to send this notification, uncheck the "Sent to the customer automatically after orders with tracking information are out for delivery" and "Sent to the customer when their local order is out for delivery" in your Shopify Notifications settings as per above. Similarly, you can customize this for your Delivered and Missed Delivery notifications:

Out for Delivery

When you or your driver views a delivery route, they will see a "Start Delivery Route" button at the top-right of their screen. You can skip "Start Delivery Route" by clicking on the "Driver View" button instead and trigger notifications above (e.g. Mark as Delivered) per stop only as you need instead if you want to keep your orders unfulfilled before or during the delivery of your route. 

You can also uncheck this from EasyRoutes Settings -> Driver settings if you do not want your drivers to 'start a route', and you are looking for them to mark each stop as needed:

The Out for Delivery notification can also be sent individually for each order by marking that order as "Out for delivery":

Delivered

When the "Mark as Delivered" button is pressed, your order status will be updated and a "Delivered" email is automatically sent to that customer:

Attempted Delivery

Missed Delivery notifications are only available for Local Delivery orders. A Missed Delivery email notification is sent when the order has been marked as "Attempted Delivery":

Viewing what notifications have been triggered

To review what notifications have been triggered for a particular order, review your order's timeline. For more on how to use your Timeline for an order, review this Shopify Help article. You can easily access your order's timeline for a stop via View Notification History when viewing a route.

Text / SMS Notifications

For SMS notifications, here's the Shopify Help article on the topic.

Shopify uses the contact information section of the order under the "Customer" section in an Order, which is provided by the customer at checkout to determine what kind of notifications are sent. You can add or modify the order's contact information to change how these notifications are sent.

EasyRoutes for Web

• EasyRoutes Email Notifications
• EasyRoutes SMS Notifications

EasyRoutes Email Notifications

Customize your delivery experience with custom email and SMS notifications. Add your logo, customize your text, and decide what gets sent and when. EasyRoutes Email and SMS notifications are available for users on the EasyRoutes Premium plan.

By default, the store email input when registering your EasyRoutes account will appear as the contact email at the bottom of your email and SMS notifications, and will be the address that any customer replies to your email notifications will be sent. To change the contact and reply-to email for your customer notification emails:

1. From EasyRoutes Settings > Notifications tab, scroll down to the Branding section.
2. Under the Contact email subsection, input the desired contact and reply-to email address:

In the Branding > Header section you can choose whether to display your store name or an image/logo at the top of your email. You can also specify to what URL the image will link to when clicked:

EasyRoutes emails will be sent from your store name and can be sent for the following events:

• Ready for Delivery - Sent manually using a button on route page or optionally sent when the "Mark as Ready" button is clicked 
• Out for Delivery - Sent when your driver starts the delivery route
• Delivered - Sent when an order is marked as Delivered
• Missed Delivery - Sent when an order is marked as Attempted
• Driver is 3 Stops Away - Sent when a driver is three stops away*
• Delivery Scheduled - Sent manually using a button on the route page; requires that a route have a scheduled start date/time set, and no previous notifications (other than Ready for Delivery) have been sent for this route
• Delivery Rescheduled - Sent manually using a button on the route page; requires that a route have a scheduled start date/time set, and no previous notifications (other than Ready for Delivery and/or Out for Delivery) have been sent for this route

Just check the boxes next to the emails you want to send to your customers.

*Note: "Driver is 3 Stops Away" can be modified to increase/decrease how many stops away a driver must be before triggering the email. Click the "Driver is 3 Stops Away" title, navigate to the "Edit" tab, and increase or decrease the "Send when driver is this number of stops away" setting at the bottom of the page. Click Save to see this change reflected in your notifications list:

To preview how any of the notification emails will display, click on the name of the email. A modal pop-up will appear showing you what the email looks like:

To edit the contents of this email, click the Edit tab:

You can edit the subject of the email, as well as any of the text. To insert variable information, place your mouse cursor where you want to variable to appear and click on any of the buttons at the top. If the information is already included in your email, the button will turn blue.

Click on the "Preview with Example Data" tab at any time to see how your email is looking.

When you are happy with your edits, click the Save button to close the modal. Then click the "Save Settings" button at the top of your page to save all your settings.

When viewing any route, click the envelope icon below the route map to manually trigger certain notifications. Any notifications that are greyed out are not currently available (for example, if a route contains stops with Delivered orders, Scheduled and Rescheduled notifications will not be available):

EasyRoutes SMS Notifications

Additional usage-based fees will apply when sending SMS delivery notifications to your customers. Rates are based on the country of the recipient (view rates).

SMS Notifications can be sent for the following events:

• Ready for Delivery - Sent manually using a button on route page or optionally sent when the "Fulfill Orders" button is clicked
• Out for Delivery - Sent when your driver starts the delivery route
• Delivered - Sent when an order is marked as Delivered
• Missed Delivery - Sent when an order is marked as Attempted
• Driver is 1 Stop Away - Sent when a driver is one stop away
• Delivery Scheduled - Sent manually using a button on the route page; requires that a route have a scheduled start date/time set, and no previous notifications (other than Ready for Delivery) have been sent for this route
• Delivery Rescheduled - Sent manually using a button on the route page; requires that a route have a scheduled start date/time set, and no previous notifications (other than Ready for Delivery and/or Out for Delivery) have been sent for this route

Just check the boxes next to the SMS notifications you want to send to your customers in your Notification Settings to enable the desired event.

To preview what an SMS message looks like, click on the name of the message. A modal pop-up appears showing you what the text message looks like.

To edit the contents of this email, click the Edit tab.

You can edit any of the text. To insert variable information, place your mouse cursor where you want to variable to appear in your text and click on any of the buttons at the top. If the information is already included in the SMS body, the button will turn blue.

Viewing what notifications have been triggered

To review what notifications have been triggered for a particular stop, use the View Notification History action when viewing a route.