Keep customers updated on their orders with automatic text or email notifications. Notifications can include a link to an order tracking page, where customers can view order details and the estimated arrival time (ETA). This article explains how to enable and set up order tracking notifications.
| Who can use this feature | |
|---|---|
| Pro and Custom plans | |
| Users that have administrator privileges | |
| All regions | |
What is order tracking?
Real-time Order Tracking keeps customers updated throughout a delivery or service. It includes:
- Email and text notifications. You can confirm the scheduled arrival time or time window, send updates when the driver is on the way, and notify customers when the order is complete.
- An order tracking page. Notifications can include a link to a unique tracking page. Customers can open the page at any time to see the latest order information, including the driver’s real-time location and live estimated arrival time (ETA).
After an order is complete, the tracking page can also show proof of delivery collected by the driver, such as a signature or photo.
Order tracking gives customers up-to-date information without requiring them to contact your team for order status, arrival times, or completion details.
Enabling order tracking
To enable order tracking:
- Go to Administration→Settings
- From the left menu, choose “Order Tracking”
- Then click the check box “Order tracking enabled”
- Configure your notifications
- Click “Save”
Now, you can start making configurations to the information that you send your customers. Below we will go through each customization and how to set them up.
Configuring order tracking notifications
Once you enable order tracking, you can customize what customers see and how they receive updates. The available settings include:
- General — Add your company logo, phone number, language, and driver information shown on the tracking page.
- Proof of delivery — Choose which delivery details customers can see, including notes, signatures, and photos.
- Customer feedback — Add a survey so customers can rate their experience with your team.
- Notifications — Choose whether to send notifications by text, email, or both.
- ETA display — Set how the driver’s ETA appears as the delivery or appointment gets closer, including the day before, the day of, and shortly before arrival.
General settings
Use General settings to customize the information customers see on the tracking page, including your company details, branding, and driver information.
| Field | Use |
|---|---|
| Company logo | Upload a JPG, PNG, or GIF file up to 100 KiB. OptimoRoute does not crop or modify the image, so check how it appears before sending notifications. Learn more about adding a logo. |
| Colors | Customize the theme colors used on the tracking page. Learn how to change your colors. |
| Company name | Enter the company name customers will see on the tracking page. |
| Support phone | Enter the phone number shown on the tracking page. You can also show this number in notification emails. |
| Language | Choose the language customers will see on the tracking page. |
| Sender name | Set the sender name shown in the email header. |
| Sender email | Set the email address used to send notifications. By default, emails are sent from info@optimo-tracking.com. You can use a custom sender email after verifying the address. |
| Action button label | Customize the button that opens the tracking page. The default label is "Track Order". |
| Show driver position | Choose when or if customers can see the driver's location on the tracking page. The default is "Just prior to service". You can also choose "Always" or "Never". |
| Show driver's name | Choose whether to show the assigned driver's name. |
| Show driver’s contact number | Choose whether to show the assigned driver's contact number. |
| Show vehicle information | Choose whether to show information about the vehicle assigned to the driver. |
| Group notifications for orders at the same location | Choose whether orders at the same location receive separate or grouped notifications. |
Proof of delivery
After a delivery or service is complete, you can show collected proof of delivery on the order tracking page.
Choose which information customers can see, including notes, signatures, and photos. If you do not have proof of delivery set up, OptimoRoute will prompt you to enable it.
Learn more about proof of delivery.
Customer feedback
Enable a survey so customers can rate their experience with your team.
Learn more about customer feedback surveys.
Notifications
When an order is scheduled for delivery or service, you can notify customers by email, text message, or both.
You can also customize different notification types for different stages of an order.
Learn more about how to customize notifications.
ETA display
The order tracking link takes customers to a tracking page. The information on this page changes as the scheduled arrival gets closer.
The page can show:
- Order status
- Scheduled arrival time or time window
- Estimated arrival time (ETA)
- Delivery or service address and map
- Order ID
Adding customer contact information
You can add customer contact information directly to an order or include it in your order import file.
Adding contact information to an order
To add contact information directly to an order:
- Go to "Plan and Optimize"
- Select the order you want to update.
- Select "Details" from the left menu.
- Enter the customer's email address or phone number.
- Click Save.
After you add contact information, you need to set up the notification preferences of the customer for this order.
- Open the order
- Go to "Order Tracking" in the left menu.
- Choose how this customer wants to be notified for this order
- Click Save.
Options include
- Email — Sends notifications by email
- Text message — Sends notifications by SMS text message
- Both — Sends notifications by email and text message
- Do not notify — Customer will not receive any notifications
Importing contact information
To import contact information, add these three columns to your spreadsheet:
- email — Customer email address
- phone — Customer phone number
- notifications — Controls which notifications the customer receives
Use the notifications column to set each customer's notification preferences.
Here is an example of an order import file with different notification settings:
Phone number country codes
- For text messages sent within your country, you do not need to add your country's calling code. Check your country under Administration → Settings → Localization → Country.
- For text messages sent to another country, include the country calling code in each phone number.
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Tips:
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Sending notification emails and text messages
Before sending text messages, make sure your account has enough text message credits. Go to Administration → Billing to check your balance or purchase more credit.
You can send notifications in advance or on the day of the delivery or service, as long as the order has been scheduled.
To do this:
- Go to "Plan and Optimize."
- Click "Share Routes".
- Select "Send order notifications".
- Review the information.
- Click "Send notifications".
You can also select "Send notifications" from the black status bar. The status bar shows whether notifications for the selected date have been sent.
- Orange — Notifications have not been sent.
- Green — Notifications have been sent.
Notifications summary
After you send notifications, a "Notifications" tab appears in "Plan and Optimize". It shows the notifications that were sent and their delivery status.
From this tab, you can:
- Check the delivery status of each email or text message.
- Fix contact information for failed deliveries and select "Send updates" to try again.
Learn more about how to customize your notifications and notification types.
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If you replan routes, OptimoRoute does not resend notifications customers have already received. The exception is ETA update notifications, which can be sent when an order’s ETA changes significantly. Customers with newly added orders will still receive their notifications. |
Customer replies to notifications
Customers cannot reply to text message notifications. Text messages are sent from a no-reply number.
Customers can only reply to email notifications if you use a verified branded sender email. Replies are sent to the verified sender email address. Learn how to set up a sender email here.
Opting out of notifications
Customers can opt out of text or email notifications from the messages they receive.
After a customer opts out, OptimoRoute will not send them new notifications. These notifications will not appear in the "Notifications" tab.
Opt out of SMS/Text
To stop text notifications, reply "STOP" to the message.
To opt back in, reply "START" or "UNSTOP".
Opt out of email
To stop email notifications, select "Unsubscribe" in the email.
To opt back in, open the original tracking link, go to the unsubscribe page, and resubscribe.