Let your customers know status of their orders automatically using text or email notifications where they will be able to see an order tracking page where they can view the order details and ETA. In this article, we will explain how to enable and configure 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 feature is made up of two parts:
- A notification email and/or a text message with the scheduled arrival time or time window, according to the route that is initially planned.
- A link to an order tracking page. The link is in the email and text message, and customers can access the order tracking page as often as they like for real-time arrival times.
With real time order tracking, your customers will have live arrival times at their fingertips.
As well as taking your customer service to the next level, real time order tracking is also an excellent way of reducing customer service inquiries about order statuses, tracking information, arrival times and completion reports.
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.
Configuring order tracking notifications
Once order tracking is enabled, you can set up how your customer notifications look and feel. Enabling order tracking will reveal a whole new set of options including:
- General - Set up basic info like your company logo, phone number, language, and driver information that the user will see on the tracking page.
- Proof of Delivery - Choose how to show your customers that their order has been delivered with a combination of a note, a signature, and/or photos. Learn more about proof of delivery here.
- Customer Feedback - Enable a survey for your customers to evaluate their experience with your team. Learn more about customer feedback surveys here.
- Notifications - Determine how your notifications will be sent either by text, email, or both. Learn how to customize notifications here.
- ETA Display - Customize how the ETA of your driver will be displayed to your customers as their delivery or appointment approaches on the day before, the day of, and just prior to arrival. Learn more about live ETAs here.
General settings
The general settings section is where you can set up basic info like your company logo, phone number, language, and driver information.
| Field | Use |
|---|---|
| Company logo | Upload an image in JPG, PNG, or GIF that is no larger than 100 KiB. The image will not be cropped or modified by OptimoRoute, so you should check the appearance in the notifications before sending them out. Learn more about adding a logo here. |
| Colors | Customize the theme colors on the ETA display of the tracking pages. Learn more how to change your colors here. |
| Company name | This is the name your customers will see on the tracking page as the company providing the service. |
| Support phone | This phone number is shown on the tracking page and can be shown in notification emails |
| Language | Choose the language your customers will see on their tracking page. |
| Sender name | This name will be shown in email header. |
| Sender email | The email address that appears as being the sender. By default emails are sent from info@optimo-tracking.com, but you can customize this. It does require email verification to enable. |
| Action button label | This is the button that takes your customers to their tracking page. By default, this is set to “Track Order”, but you can change the text of the button. |
| Show driver position | Control when the driver’s location is shown to your customers on their tracking page. The default option is, “Just prior to service”. You can also choose “Always” or “Never”. |
| Show driver's name | Enable or disable showing the driver’s name that is configured in the drivers section. |
| Show driver’s contact number | Enable or disable showing the driver’s contact number that is configured in the drivers section |
| Show vehicle information | Enable or disable showing the vehicle information for the vehicle assigned to that driver |
| Group notifications for orders at the same location | Enable or disable if notifications are sent individually for orders at the same location or not. |
Proof of delivery
Once the delivery or service task is completed, you can choose if you want your customers to be able to see the collected information on the real-time order tracking link. Choose how to show your customers that their order has been delivered with a combination of a note, a signature, and/or photos.
Customer feedback
Enable a survey for your customers to evaluate their experience with your team.
Notifications
When an order is scheduled for delivery or service, you can notify your customers using email or text notifications. Determine how your notifications will be sent either by text, email, or both. You can also set up and customize different types of notifications for different scenarios.
ETA display
The order tracking link directs customers to the order tracking page. The information presented on this page changes, as the arrival time approaches.
Information shown includes:
- Status of the order
- Scheduled time of arrival as a time range
- Estimated time of arrival
- Delivery address and map of address
- Order ID
Adding customer contact information
With realtime order tracking, you can manage your sending options via your order import file. A few additional columns will help you control which customers receive email and/or text message notifications – and which customers don’t receive any notifications at all.
Add these 3 columns to your import order file:
- A column for email addresses labeled ‘email’
- A column for phone numbers labeled ‘phone’
- A column labeled ‘notifications’
Manage the sending preferences like this:
This is an example of an order import file with all of the above combinations:
Cell number country code information:
- If you are sending text messages within your own country you don’t need to add your country’s code. Check your country settings here: Administration→ Settings → Localization → Country and make changes if needed.
- For sending text messages outside of your country you must have the country code for each cell number.
Tips:
|
Sending notification emails and text messages
Before you can send text messages, make sure you have enough credit on your account. Go to Administration → Billing to purchase credit and check your account.
Notification emails and text messages can be sent in advance or on the day that the service will take place – as long as the order has been scheduled.
To do this:
- Go to the "Plan and Optimize" tab
- Click on the blue "Share Routes" button
- From the dropdown menu, select "Send order notifications".
- Check the information in the box that appears – if it is correct, click on "Send notifications".
You can also send them by clicking the "Send notifications" button on the black status bar. The status bar also lets you know whether the emails and text messages for the date selected have not been sent (orange) and sent (green).
Once notifications have been sent, a "Notifications" tab will open up in "Plan and Optimize" that will contain a summary of the notifications that have been sent and their status.
Here you’ll be able to:
- See the delivery status of each email and/or text message.
- Fix the contact information for any failed deliveries, then resend by clicking "Send updates".
|
Tip: If you replan or add new orders during the day, you don’t need to worry about your customers receiving multiple emails and text messages. Notification emails and text messages are sent to each customer only once – only the customers from newly added orders will be sent emails and/or text messages. |
Learn more about how to customize your notifications and notification types.