Set Up Delivery Arriving Soon Notifications

Overview

Delivery arriving soon notifications help you proactively inform customers that their package is expected to arrive soon, either on the day before delivery or on the estimated delivery date (EDD).

By notifying customers ahead of time, you can:

• Help them plan for delivery
• Reduce missed or failed deliveries
• Improve post-purchase experience
• Streamline the overall delivery process

What are the delivery arriving soon notifications?

Delivery arriving soon notifications automatically notify customers when their shipment is approaching delivery. You can choose to send notifications:

• One day before the estimated delivery date, or
• On the estimated delivery date itself

Notifications are sent based on the customer’s local time zone to ensure timely and relevant delivery updates.

How to create a delivery arriving soon notification flow

Step 1: Create a new flow

1. Go to Notifications > Flows > Create flow in the AfterShip Tracking admin.
2. Navigate to the Estimated delivery date section. Select the Delivery arriving soon flow and click Create to use the pre-built flow.

or,

4. If you want to create a new flow from scratch.
5. Click Create flow.
6. Click Create from scratch from the top right corner. 
7. Navigate to the Estimated delivery date section. Click Create for the  Delivery arriving soon flow to enter the flow editor.

Step 2: Customize your notification flow

In the flow editor, you can edit the following sections:

1. Flow name: In this section, you can enter a suitable name for the flow.
2. Logic: This section consists of 3 blocks:

• Trigger split: Trigger splits are the conditions that are highly related to the Triggerevent and will split into Yes and No paths.
• Conditional split: Conditional splits are the general conditions and will split into Yes and No paths. 

Learn more conditional and trigger split filters and definitions.

• Random split (A/B test): In this block, you can randomly split your recipients into two groups (A and B) so that you can send different notifications and evaluate which one has the maximum engagement.

3. Timing: This section consists of

• Time delay: Set the waiting period between the previous step and the next step in the flow. Configuration options for the Time delay include, X minutes, X hours, and X days.

4. Actions: In this section, you have Send email and Send SMS blocks. You can decide how you want to notify your customers or your organization’s members. You can also choose to send notifications with different content to your customers and your organization’s members separately.

To customize the general settings, messaging, and style of your email template, check out this guide.

5. Trigger settings

On the right-hand side of the flow editor, you’ll see a Trigger event for which you can customize the settings. If you want to send precise updates to specific customers, use the filters provided in the trigger field.

• Trigger schedule: In this section, you can set shipments to trigger this flow either 1 day before the estimated delivery or on the day of delivery. Times are in the customer's local time zone.

This flow is triggered only for forward shipments. Return shipments are not supported.

Trigger options:

• Trigger filters: In this section, you can add additional filters to determine what triggers this flow. Trigger filters decide when a flow is activated. They look for specific events such as an order being placed, a shipment status changing, or a delivery issue occurring, and start the flow the moment those conditions are met.

• Flow filters: This filter applies to the entire flow and is checked before every step. Flow filters decide who qualifies to continue through the flow. They check filters like customer, order, shipment, or engagement details like order value, delivery status, email activity, or subscription status, and ensure only the right customers receive messages or action.

Learn more conditional and trigger split filters and definitions.

• Trigger frequency

Trigger frequency controls how often the same shipment is allowed to start this flow again. When it’s enabled, it prevents customers from receiving duplicate or repeated notifications if the trigger condition happens multiple times. You can select between the following options.

a. Shipments can only re-trigger this flow after

• You set a gap period (for example, 1 day).
• Once a shipment triggers this flow, it cannot trigger again until that time period has passed.
• After the gap period ends, the shipment is allowed to re-enter the flow if the trigger conditions are met again.
• You can choose the gap period in:

a. Days (starting at 12:00 am)

b. Hours

c. Minutes

This gives you flexibility depending on how sensitive or time-critical the message is.

Example, If you set that shipments can only re-trigger this flow after 1 day. A shipment that triggers a “Delivery arriving soon” notification today will not trigger it again until the next day, even if the estimated delivery date updates or re-qualifies.

b. Shipments can never re-trigger this flow 

If this option is selected, each shipment can only enter this flow once, even if:

• The estimated delivery date changes
• The shipment updates multiple times
• The trigger conditions (if applied) become true again

The customer will not get this notification again for that same shipment.

• If the Trigger frequency option is disabled, the same shipment can trigger the flow multiple times, so customers may receive duplicate messages whenever shipment data or delivery dates update.

6. Once all the settings are done, Enable the status of the flow.
7. Click Save on the top right corner of the dashboard.

Step 3: Customize email content

1. To customize the content of the flow email, click the {...} icon directly on the email block on the preview window and click Edit.
2. Select how you would like to create/edit email content from the dropdown menu at the top of the email editor.

• Easy email editor (Legacy)
• Advanced email editor
• Basic email editor
• HTML editor

Special email sections for delivery arriving soon notifications

Apart from the standard sections that each notification hosts to provide relevant order information to customers, there are certain pre-built sections specific to the delivery arriving soon that are supported to provide additional information to customers. 

These pre-built sections are only available in basic email and advanced email editor for customization in each flow.

Let’s look at each one of those sections in detail to see what information they provide pertaining to a specific flow. 

These sections help set customer expectations and reduce delivery-related inquiries.

Step 4: Customize SMS content

The Delivery arriving soon SMS notification automatically alerts customers when their order is close to being delivered. This proactive message helps set expectations, reducing “Where is my order?” inquiries, and improves the overall delivery experience.

When enabled, this SMS notifies customers that their shipment is nearing delivery and provides a link to track the order in real time.

To customize the content of the flow email, click the {...} icon directly on the SMS block on the preview window of the flow editor and click Edit. On the SMS notification editor, configure the following settings

1. Compliance and settings:

To send tracking updates and important notifications to customers, you are required to go through a compliant SMS setup

• Set up an active sender number by selecting supported regions, providing company and contact information, defining their SMS use case, and confirming TCPA/GDPR compliance. 
• Sender numbers are assigned based on the destination country, with an AfterShip branded sender ID used in certain regions.
• Once enabled, you can manage subscription keywords (START/STOP), customize opt-out messages by language and region, enable URL shortening, and schedule messages using quiet hours based on the recipient’s timezone. These settings help ensure regulatory compliance while giving customers clear control over their SMS preferences.

For more information, refer to this article 

2.  Enable SMS  quite hours

If quiet hours are enabled, the SMS will not be sent during restricted times. Instead, it will be delivered during the next allowed sending window.

3. SMS name

This name is for your reference only and will not be shown to customers.

4. Customize SMS content

You can customize the SMS text using the message editor. The editor supports dynamic variables, such as:

• *|ORGANIZATION_NAME|*– your store name
• *|TRACKING_URL|* – a live tracking page for the order

These variables automatically populate for each customer, allowing one message template to work for all shipments. You incorporate (retrieve) new variables from the list to add additional information regarding the customer order or shipment by clicking the {...} option. 

• To further comply with SMS regulations, you can include the opt-out instructions such as Reply STOP to unsubscribe to provide customers greater flexibility over what notifications they would like to receive.

5. Send a test SMS with the option to choose mock or real data to see how the notification would look like to customers.

6. Save the changes if everything if as per your requirements.

SMS notification for delivery arriving soon

Best practices

• Use day-before notifications to help customers prepare for delivery.
• Use same-day notifications for time-sensitive or high-value shipments.
• Include shipment items and progress bars to clearly communicate what’s arriving and when.
• Pair with SMS for urgent delivery reminders when appropriate.

Additional resources

• Schedule Automated Notifications
• Set Up AfterShip Emails Notifications with the Drag-and-Drop (Basic Email) Editor

Updated on: 24/02/2026