Send automatic messages to customers
Turn on automatic email and SMS updates in Upper so customers hear from you at each delivery stage — out for delivery, delivered, and missed.
Upper can send automatic email and SMS messages to your customers as drivers work through a route. Once you turn them on, the updates send on their own — your team does not send anything by hand.
You manage all of this from Settings > Notifications. There you switch on the channels you want (email, SMS, or both) and enable a message for each delivery event.
Some workspaces use service-business labels instead of delivery labels. If your account is set up that way, you may see Out For Service, After Service, and Missed Service in place of the delivery wording below. They work the same way.
What the messages cover
Each channel offers a message you can turn on for these delivery events:
| Message | When it sends |
|---|---|
| Out For Delivery | When the stop is out for delivery |
| After Delivery | After the stop is completed successfully |
| Missed Delivery | When the stop could not be completed |
| Notify to Next Customer | A heads-up to the upcoming customer that the driver is approaching |
Notify to Next Customer only appears if your account has it enabled, so you may not see it. The other three messages are available on every account that has notifications turned on.
Each message has its own on/off toggle, so you can use one, several, or all of them.
Before you start
- Customer contact details on each stop — email messages need a customer email address; SMS messages need a phone number. Add these when you import stops or build routes.
- SMS prerequisites — SMS is not available on the Starter plan. Sending SMS also requires a depot address on the account and an SMS balance. See SMS pricing and how to top up your balance.
Turn on automatic messages
Open notification settings
Go to Settings > Notifications.
Switch on a channel
Turn on Email delivery updates, Text Message (SMS), or both. When a channel is on, its message cards appear below.
Enable the messages you want
For each event you want to cover — Out For Delivery, After Delivery, Missed Delivery, and Notify to Next Customer if available — turn on its toggle.
Choose which stop types each message applies to
Each message card has a Select stop types picker with Delivery, Pickup, and Stop. Leave all selected, or narrow it to the stop types you want that message to fire on.
(Optional) Edit the wording
Open a message's editor to change its text. The defaults work out of the box, so this step is optional. See Customize notification message templates.
What's in each message
Each message uses a template with merge tags written in [Square Brackets] — for example [Company Name], [Tracking Link], [Earliest Time], and [Latest Time]. Upper fills these in for each customer before sending. Email messages also include a subject line.
Email is sent from do-not-reply@upperinc.com.
To change the wording, subject, or tags, see Customize notification message templates.
Want to message a single customer ahead of the driver rather than the whole route? See Notify one customer at a time.
Set quiet hours (optional)
If you do not want messages going out overnight, use Settings > Smart Scheduling to hold notifications during quiet hours and release them afterward. You can choose which channels quiet hours apply to and mark specific messages to always send immediately.
Troubleshooting
Related
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.
Send delivery photos to customers
Share proof of delivery photos, signatures, and notes with customers in Upper through the tracking page link in the After Delivery notification.