Customer messaging (WhatsApp, SMS, email)

What it is

Customer Messaging is the one place in Routella where your customers get told what is happening with their delivery, without you typing anything. When an order moves through its stages — order received, picked, on its way, arriving soon, delivered, or a missed attempt — Routella can send a friendly note automatically. You choose how it goes out: WhatsApp, a text message (SMS), email, or a mix. Each message can carry the customer's name, order number, your business name, and a live tracking link, all filled in for you. You find it under Customer messages in your dashboard menu. It has these tabs across the top: Templates (the messages themselves), Outbox (what is waiting to go out and what was already sent), Asked to stop (customers who replied STOP), Channels (where you connect WhatsApp, SMS, and email), and Test (send yourself a sample).

Why it matters

People feel calmer when they know where their order is, and a steady stream of "we got it / it's on the way / it's been delivered" notes means far fewer "where is my order?" calls and messages for you. A tracking link in the message lets the customer watch the driver instead of phoning. Better updates also lead to more good reviews, because the feedback request lands right after a smooth delivery. And because it is all automatic, you get this without adding work to your day — set it once, and every future order gets the same polished experience.

Step by step

1. 1
   Open Customer Messaging from your dashboard

   Sign in to Routella and open Customer messages from your dashboard menu. Across the top you'll see the tabs Templates, Outbox, Asked to stop, Channels, and Test. You'll start in Channels to connect a way to send, then move to Templates to choose what gets sent.
2. 2
   Connect at least one channel in the Channels tab

   Click the Channels tab. For WhatsApp using your own number, scan the QR code with your phone (on your phone open WhatsApp → Settings → Linked Devices → Link a Device, then point it at the code on screen) — it links just like WhatsApp Web. Email is free: type your business email and the sender name customers will see, then enter the verification code Routella emails you. SMS (text messages) needs a paid plan with no free SMS trial. Check the live country price list first: Routella stops checkout if your saved business country is not ready, and adds the plan's sending balance only after the payment provider confirms the paid cycle. In Canada, the owner of each customer phone must first text START to +1 888-980-0584; typing their number into an order does not opt them in. You don't need all three — start with whichever one your customers use most.
3. 3
   Reconnect your own WhatsApp when Routella asks

   If the dashboard shows "WhatsApp security update," choose "Reconnect WhatsApp." Routella opens Customer Messaging → Channels, where you scan the fresh QR code from WhatsApp → Settings → Linked Devices → Link a Device. Updates from that number can resume after the new connection finishes. "Remind me later" hides that exact notice for 24 hours on the current Routella account; it does not reconnect WhatsApp, and a newer reconnect request still appears.
4. 4
   Turn on the delivery messages you want in the Templates tab

   Click the Templates tab. You'll see a card for each moment a message can go out — for example order received, order picked, on its way, arriving soon, delivered, missed delivery, and a feedback request after delivery. Each card has an Enabled / Disabled checkbox on the right. Tick the ones you want customers to receive. A genuinely new order created through the custom API runs the same enabled Order received notification. If the sending system safely retries the same API request with the same idempotency key, Routella returns the existing order instead of sending that notification again. A card also shows a short reason for the message and a small preview so you know exactly what fires and when.
5. 5
   Pick which channels each message uses

   On each message card there's a row labelled "Sends via" with WhatsApp, SMS, and Email chips. Click a channel to add it (a dashed chip turns solid) or click the small X on a chip to remove it. You can send the same update over more than one channel — for example WhatsApp plus email — and Routella will use the customer's phone for WhatsApp/SMS and their email for email. If a customer has no phone, an enabled email still goes out.
6. 6
   Edit the wording (where allowed)

   On a message card, click "Edit template" to change the text. Words in curly brackets like {name}, {orderNumber}, {businessName}, and {trackingUrl} are placeholders — Routella swaps in the real values when it sends, so leave those in place and write around them. One thing to know: if you send through Routella's own shared WhatsApp number, WhatsApp itself requires fixed, pre-approved wording. You choose from the wording options currently approved for that update; some updates have one option and others have three. Your own connected WhatsApp number, SMS, and email all use your editable text freely.
7. 7
   Send yourself a test, then watch real sends

   Click the Test tab, choose a channel, enter your own phone or email, and send a sample. Heads up: a test SMS uses your SMS balance, and a test through Routella's shared WhatsApp uses one conversation from your monthly quota. A send confirmation first means the provider accepted the message; then Outbox → Sent shows whether the carrier delivered or finally failed it. If an authenticated final SMS failure arrives, Routella returns that message's debit to the SMS wallet once.

Tips

• Email is the easy free win — it costs nothing once verified and works even when a customer has no phone number on file, so turning it on for delivered and feedback messages is a safe starting point.
• Keep the placeholders. If you delete {trackingUrl} the customer loses their live tracking link, and if you delete {businessName} they may not see who the delivery is from. Type your wording around the curly-bracket bits, not over them.
• Don't add the same channel twice for a message expecting two notes — if you turn on both your own WhatsApp and Routella's shared WhatsApp for one event, the customer gets the message twice. The card warns you when that's the case.
• Check the "Failed messages" button now and then. A common, harmless reason is that a customer's number simply isn't registered on WhatsApp — for those people, having email or SMS also enabled means they still get the update.

Common questions

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