In this article, you will learn how to set up automatic SMS notifications, anonymize communications between driver and recipient, and set up dependency notifications (if applicable).
Notification Set-up & Triggers
The Communications tab allows an administrator to set up and customize any number of automated SMS messages that can be sent to a recipient based on varying driver actions and triggers.
Note: There can only be one notification per trigger. Below the notifications window, you will have the option to select the language in which you would like to communicate with your customers.
To add a new communication, select the “+” symbol located at the bottom right of the notifications window. The exact messaging of these notifications can be completely customized along with task-specific tags.
Onfleet offers the following triggers for notifications:
Task Started is triggered when the driver starts the task from the driver app.
Route Started is triggered when the driver starts a route plan. An “out for delivery” text, with an optional delivery window, is sent once to every pending recipient on the route. Available on Scale and Enterprise plans. See Route Started Notifications below.
ETA is triggered when the ETA falls below a certain threshold, which you specify. Note that these ETAs are calculated only for the current task. For future tasks, use Predicted ETA.
Driver Arriving is triggered when the driver is within 150 meters (~500 feet) of the destination.
Task Completed is triggered when the driver completes the task from the driver app and marks it as succeeded.
Task Failed is triggered when the driver completes the task from the driver app and marks it as failed.
Dependency Started is triggered when the driver has started a task that has dependent tasks linked to it. A notification will be sent out to all recipients attached to the dependent tasks. For more information, please review Dependency Notifications.
Dependency Completed is triggered when the driver has completed a task that has dependent tasks linked to it. A notification will be sent out to all the recipients attached to the dependent tasks.
Predicted ETA is triggered when the predicted ETA of a downstream unstarted task (i.e. not the current task) falls below the specified threshold.
Delay Is... is triggered when the task is delayed by a certain threshold, which you specify.
Route Started Notifications
Route Started notifications are available on Scale and Enterprise plans and require Route Plans to be enabled and in use. Tasks that are not part of a route plan will not receive this notification.
Route Started sends recipients an “out for delivery” text the moment their driver starts the route, with an estimated delivery window they can plan around.
Set up the notification
Go to Settings > Communications and select the “+” symbol to add a notification.
Select the Route Started trigger.
Directly below the trigger, set the delivery window: minutes before and minutes after the predicted arrival. Both default to 0. The window will never start earlier than the task’s “Complete After” time or the current time.
Write your message. To include the delivery window, add the ETA window tag. Use the rounded ETA window tag to round to the nearest 15 minutes (for example, “1:15pm - 3:30pm”).
Save the notification.
Note: After you edit the Route Started message, it can take up to about 30 minutes before newly started routes use the updated text.
The tracking page window is configured separately from the notification. To make sure recipients see the same window in the text and on the tracking page:
Go to Settings > Tracking Page.
Check Add an ETA Buffer.
Enter the same minutes before and minutes after values used in your Route Started notification.
If these values do not match, recipients will see a different window in the text than on the tracking page.