Notify one customer at a time
Notify customers one at a time in Upper using the Notify to Next Customer trigger, which sends a heads-up to the upcoming stop as the driver approaches.
Instead of messaging every stop on a route at once, Upper can notify customers one at a time. The Notify to Next Customer trigger sends a heads-up to the upcoming customer as the driver works through the route, so each person hears from you only when they are next in line.
Why this matters
For routes with variable arrival times, smaller delivery batches, or customers who would rather not get a heads-up hours in advance, notifying everyone at the start of the route is too noisy. Notifying one customer at a time keeps each message close to the moment the driver actually arrives.
How the Notify to Next Customer trigger works
Notify to Next Customer is one of the four built-in notification triggers. It sends a short message to the upcoming customer that the driver is on the way to them, rather than alerting every stop when the route begins.
This is useful when:
- Arrival times are unpredictable — the heads-up lands closer to the real arrival, not when the route starts.
- Deliveries are time-sensitive (food, pharmacy, courier) — the customer gets a short window of notice before the driver pulls up.
- You want fewer messages per customer — each person hears from you once, as their turn comes up.
Notify to Next Customer only appears on the Notifications page when your account has the "notify upcoming customer" setting enabled, so it is not visible on every account. If you do not see it under your triggers and want it turned on, contact support@upperinc.com.
Set it up
Set the trigger up the same way as any other notification trigger, on the Notifications settings page.
Open notification settings
Go to Manage > Settings > Notifications.
Turn on a channel
Toggle on Email delivery updates and/or Text Message (SMS). Each channel exposes its own set of trigger cards.
SMS notifications require the Professional plan or higher and a depot address on your account, and they draw from your Marketplace SMS balance (Notifications and Alerts). If the SMS toggle is disabled or shows a Pro badge, see Send SMS text notifications.
Enable Notify to Next Customer
Find the Notify to Next Customer card and turn its toggle on.
Choose which stop types it applies to
Use the stop-type selector on the card to pick which stop types send this notification: Delivery, Pickup, or Stop.
Send to one customer at a time
To make sure only the upcoming customer is messaged, leave the other triggers (Out For Delivery, After Delivery, Missed Delivery) turned off. Then save your settings.
Keep the SMS message short — the customer is about to see the driver pull up. The SMS message editor counts characters with a /140 indicator and shows how many segments your message will send in, so a brief heads-up keeps you to a single segment.
Customize the message
Like the other triggers, the Notify to Next Customer message is editable. Open the trigger's edit pencil to change the wording and insert merge tags (such as Customer Name, Delivery Time, Tracking Link, and Arriving In) so the heads-up reads the way you want. See Customize notification message templates for the full editor.
Labels are configurable per workspace. A workspace set up for service businesses may show this trigger as part of its Service notifications rather than Delivery, but it is the same feature.
Troubleshooting
Related
Notification variables and placeholders
Personalize Upper notification messages with tags like Customer Name, Delivery Time, and Tracking Link. Insert them as clickable chips and preview before saving.
Preview notification messages
Upper shows a live preview as you edit a notification template, rendering variables with sample data and tracking the SMS character count and segment split.