Set up automatic notifications

What it is

Automatic notifications are the messages Routella sends to your customers on its own as their delivery moves along. You connect a way to reach people (WhatsApp, SMS text message, or email), then you pick which delivery moments should trigger a message, and you set the wording once. After that, Routella watches your deliveries and sends the right message at the right time, all by itself. You set it up one time and it keeps working for every future order.

Why it matters

Customers constantly wonder "where is my order?" Automatic messages answer that before they have to ask, so you get fewer "where's my stuff?" calls and your customers feel cared for. A "driver on the way" message means someone is actually home to receive it, which cuts failed deliveries. And a warm "delivered, thank you!" or review request at the end builds trust and brings people back, all without you or your dispatcher having to remember to do anything.

Step by step

1. 1
   Open the Customer Messaging area

   From your main dashboard, find and click the Customer Messaging button (it has a little paper-plane icon). A popup opens with four sections across the top: Templates, Messages, Channels, and Test. This popup is your home base for everything about automatic notifications.
2. 2
   Connect a way to reach customers (the Channels tab)

   Click the Channels tab first, because nothing can send until you connect at least one channel (a way to deliver messages). You have three choices. WhatsApp: scan a QR code with your phone, exactly like setting up WhatsApp Web (open WhatsApp on your phone, go to Settings, then Linked Devices, then Link a Device, and point your camera at the code on screen). Email: type your business email, then enter the short verification code Routella emails you, so replies come back to you and not to Routella. SMS (text messages): this is a paid subscription with no free SMS trial. Check the live country price list before checkout because sender routes and carrier support vary by destination. For a Canadian recipient, share Routella's SMS consent page and ask that customer to text START to +1 888-980-0584 from their own phone before you send delivery texts. Pick whichever channel fits how your customers like to be reached.
3. 3
   Go to Templates and choose which moments send a message

   Click the Templates tab. You'll see a card for each delivery moment: 'Order accepted for delivery', 'Order picked up', 'Delivery in progress', 'Driver on the way (ETA)' (ETA means the rough time the driver will arrive), 'Delivered successfully', 'Delivery failed', and 'Feedback request'. Each card has an on/off switch. Flip on the moments you want customers to hear about. A good starting set is 'Order accepted', 'Driver on the way', and 'Delivered'.
4. 4
   Edit the wording for each message

   On any card you turned on, open its editor to change the wording. Routella fills in real details automatically using placeholders, which are words inside curly braces. For example {name} becomes the customer's name, {orderId} becomes their order number, {trackingUrl} becomes their personal live-tracking link, {eta} becomes the arrival time, and {businessName} becomes your shop name. You can keep the ready-made wording or rewrite it in your own voice; just leave the curly-brace placeholders in place so the real info gets filled in. If you connected more than one channel, you can set separate wording for WhatsApp, SMS, and email.
5. 5
   Send yourself a test message (the Test tab)

   Click the Test tab, pick a channel, enter your own phone number or email, and send. This proves that Routella can submit the message to the provider. For SMS, the first green result means the provider accepted it; open Messages afterward to see the carrier's delivered or failed result. A provider-confirmed final SMS failure returns that message's debit to the wallet once.
6. 6
   Run a real delivery and watch it work

   Once a channel is connected and your chosen moments are on, you're done. As you create a delivery round and your driver picks up, heads out, and completes stops, Routella sends each message on its own at the matching moment. You don't press send for any of it.
7. 7
   Check what actually went out (the Messages tab)

   Click the Messages tab any time to see the history of every message Routella sent: who got it, on which channel, and whether it was delivered. If something failed, the row shows the reason (for example a bad phone number), so you can fix it. This is your proof and your troubleshooting log in one place.

Tips

• Start small. Turn on just two or three moments (like 'Order accepted', 'Driver on the way', and 'Delivered') so customers feel informed but not spammed. You can always turn on more later.
• Always keep the curly-brace placeholders, like {name} and {trackingUrl}, exactly as they are. They are how Routella drops in each customer's real details. If you delete them, the message goes out missing that info.
• Routella has built-in duplicate protection, so it won't send the same moment twice for the same order even if a status gets re-saved. You don't have to worry about double-texting people.
• Each customer is messaged in their own language automatically based on their delivery address and phone, so you can write your templates in plain English and customers still read them in their own language.

Common questions

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