Customer Role-Based Shipment Notifications
Plans: Pro, Premium, Enterprise Platforms: Tracking API
AfterShip Tracking’s Role-Based Shipment Notifications enable merchants to assign different roles to parties involved in a shipment and use these defined customer roles to trigger and send customized delivery notifications.
This is particularly useful for scenarios like gift deliveries, where the sender (gifter) and recipient (giftee) must receive different notifications.
The feature is currently in the beta testing phase and is available only to a select group of whitelisted customers. If you want to access the feature, please contact our support team.
Merchants can set up notifications based on the Shipment status— In transit, Out for delivery, Delivered—and the Estimated delivery date (when the package is expected to arrive) and customize them to target specific customer roles, such as the sender (gifter) or the receiver (giftee). For example, the sender might receive a notification when the package is in transit, while the receiver gets an update on the expected delivery date. This allows businesses to send relevant, tailored updates to different parties involved in the shipment.
Customer roles can be assigned based on different shipment import methods, with some being supported now and others coming soon.
Log in to your AfterShip Tracking admin dashboard.
Go to the Notifications tab, then Flows.
Click Create flow from the top-right corner.
Select the status that you want to trigger and customize the trigger flow and notification content accordingly. You can find the supported statuses here.
Click Create to open the flow editor.
In the flow editor, you can trigger filter or split notifications based on customer roles to send personalized messages.
Example: Let's say you're sending a shipment status update notification, and you want to customize it based on whether the recipient is the Buyer or the Receiver.
You can apply a Trigger filter to send a different message to the Buyer and the Receiver. This filter triggers the flow based on the Customer role you specify. The customer role serves as the condition for initiating the flow, and the notification will be sent to customers who meet that role's criteria.
Trigger filter for Buyer: If the customer's role is "Buyer", you can send a notification like:
Your order has been shipped and is on its way!
Trigger filter for Receiver: If the customer's role is "Receiver", you could send a notification like:
A gift is on its way! Your package is scheduled to arrive soon.
By using the Trigger filter, you ensure that only the right content is sent to the correct party.
With a Trigger split, you can send separate notifications to both the Buyer and the Receiver, even if they are the same person. The split divides the flow into Yes and No paths. By using the customer role (Buyer) as a condition, customers who meet the defined role will follow the Yes path, while those who don’t will follow the No path. The No path can then be further customized to send specific delivery notifications based on the customer's role (Receiver).
Example: For a shipment that is in transit, you can send a customized notification to both the buyer and the receiver.
Buyer notification
Your purchase is on its way! You can track your order status here.
Receiver notification
A gift is on the way for you! Here's the estimated delivery date.
By splitting the notification, both roles get their tailored updates, improving the communication for both parties involved.
Role values are case-sensitive. Make sure to match the exact case when setting up filters or splits (e.g., "Buyer" vs. "buyer").
Learn more conditional and trigger split filters and definitions.
Customer language: With the Tracking API, you can assign different language values to customers for a shipment.
Multilingual notification matching: The system determines the language of the notification based on the following hierarchy:
Customer's language
Shipment's language
Default language
Overview
AfterShip Tracking’s Role-Based Shipment Notifications enable merchants to assign different roles to parties involved in a shipment and use these defined customer roles to trigger and send customized delivery notifications.
This is particularly useful for scenarios like gift deliveries, where the sender (gifter) and recipient (giftee) must receive different notifications.
The feature is currently in the beta testing phase and is available only to a select group of whitelisted customers. If you want to access the feature, please contact our support team.
Supported notification types
Merchants can set up notifications based on the Shipment status— In transit, Out for delivery, Delivered—and the Estimated delivery date (when the package is expected to arrive) and customize them to target specific customer roles, such as the sender (gifter) or the receiver (giftee). For example, the sender might receive a notification when the package is in transit, while the receiver gets an update on the expected delivery date. This allows businesses to send relevant, tailored updates to different parties involved in the shipment.
How to assign roles to customers
Customer roles can be assigned based on different shipment import methods, with some being supported now and others coming soon.
| Shipment import method | Customer role source | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking API | User input | Supported |
| Tracking CSV | User input | Supporting soon |
| Ecommerce platform | Auto-mapped from order data (Buyer, Receiver) | Supporting soon |
| Commerce API | Auto-mapped from order data (Buyer, Receiver) | Supporting soon |
| Order CSV | Auto-mapped from order data (Buyer, Receiver) | Supporting soon |
How to set up notifications based on customer roles
Log in to your AfterShip Tracking admin dashboard.
Go to the Notifications tab, then Flows.
Click Create flow from the top-right corner.
Select the status that you want to trigger and customize the trigger flow and notification content accordingly. You can find the supported statuses here.
Click Create to open the flow editor.
In the flow editor, you can trigger filter or split notifications based on customer roles to send personalized messages.
Example: Let's say you're sending a shipment status update notification, and you want to customize it based on whether the recipient is the Buyer or the Receiver.
1. Trigger filter
You can apply a Trigger filter to send a different message to the Buyer and the Receiver. This filter triggers the flow based on the Customer role you specify. The customer role serves as the condition for initiating the flow, and the notification will be sent to customers who meet that role's criteria.
Trigger filter for Buyer: If the customer's role is "Buyer", you can send a notification like:
Your order has been shipped and is on its way!
Trigger filter for Receiver: If the customer's role is "Receiver", you could send a notification like:
A gift is on its way! Your package is scheduled to arrive soon.
By using the Trigger filter, you ensure that only the right content is sent to the correct party.
2. Trigger split
With a Trigger split, you can send separate notifications to both the Buyer and the Receiver, even if they are the same person. The split divides the flow into Yes and No paths. By using the customer role (Buyer) as a condition, customers who meet the defined role will follow the Yes path, while those who don’t will follow the No path. The No path can then be further customized to send specific delivery notifications based on the customer's role (Receiver).
Example: For a shipment that is in transit, you can send a customized notification to both the buyer and the receiver.
Buyer notification
Your purchase is on its way! You can track your order status here.
Receiver notification
A gift is on the way for you! Here's the estimated delivery date.
By splitting the notification, both roles get their tailored updates, improving the communication for both parties involved.
Role values are case-sensitive. Make sure to match the exact case when setting up filters or splits (e.g., "Buyer" vs. "buyer").
Learn more conditional and trigger split filters and definitions.
Additional considerations
Multilingual Notifications
Customer language: With the Tracking API, you can assign different language values to customers for a shipment.
Multilingual notification matching: The system determines the language of the notification based on the following hierarchy:
Customer's language
Shipment's language
Default language
Updated on: 24/01/2025
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