Set Up Automated Notifications for Failed Delivery Attempts

Plans: Enterprise Platforms: All eCommerce platforms, Commerce API

Overview

Failed delivery attempt notifications help you proactively communicate with customers when a delivery could not be completed, ensuring they are quickly informed and can take the necessary steps to arrange redelivery or collection.

By automating notifications for failed delivery attempts, you can:

Targeted Communication: Guarantees that customers receive updates in the most efficacious manner, augmenting engagement.
Streamlined Process: Minimizes manual oversight and facilitates smoother communication workflows.
Customer Satisfaction: Enhances transparency and promptness, elevating the overall customer experience.

What are the failed delivery attempt notifications?

Failed delivery attempt notifications automatically alert customers when a delivery could not be completed. The flow is designed to adapt its notification strategy based on customer engagement, ensuring that messages reach the right people through the right channel.

The flow works in two stages:

An initial notification is sent immediately when a failed delivery attempt is detected.
Additionally, if configured, a follow-up notification is triggered one day later if the shipment status is still unchanged, with the channel (email or SMS) determined by whether the customer opened the first email.

This intelligent escalation ensures consistent and timely communication without requiring manual intervention.

How to create a failed delivery attempt notification flow

Step 1: Create a new flow

Go to Notifications > Flows > Create flow in the AfterShip Tracking admin.
Navigate to the Shipment status section. Select the Failed attempt flow and click Create to use the pre-built flow.

or,

If you want to create a new flow from scratch.
Click Create flow.
Click Create from scratch from the top right corner.
Navigate to the Shipment status section. Click Create for the Failed attempt flow to enter the flow editor.

Step 2: Customize your notification flow

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

Flow name: In this section, you can enter a suitable name for the flow.
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.

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.
Trigger status unchanged: This block pauses the flow and checks whether the shipment status has remained on Failed delivery attempt after a defined waiting period. This determines whether a follow-up action is needed.

Learn How Timing Logic Works for AfterShip Tracking Notifications

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.

Trigger settings

On the right-hand side of the flow editor, you will find the Trigger event settings. These allow you to control exactly when and for which shipments the flow is activated.

Trigger filters

Add additional filters to determine what triggers this flow. Trigger filters decide when a flow is activated. They look for specific events such as a shipment status changing to Failed Attempt 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 evaluate conditions like customer, order, shipment, or engagement details such as order value, delivery status, email activity, or subscription status, ensuring only the right customers receive messages.

Learn more conditional and trigger split filters and definitions.

Trigger frequency

Trigger frequency controls how often the same shipment is allowed to re-enter this flow. When enabled, it prevents customers from receiving duplicate or repeated notifications if the trigger condition occurs 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 can 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

Example: If you set that shipments can only re-trigger this flow after 1 day, a shipment that triggers a Failed delivery attempt notification today will not trigger it again until the next day, even if the shipment status 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 shipment attempts delivery again
The shipment updates multiple times
The trigger conditions become true again
The customer will not receive this notification again for that same shipment.

If Trigger frequency is disabled, the same shipment can trigger the flow multiple times, so customers may receive duplicate messages whenever the shipment status changes.

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

Step 3: Add and customize email content

Drag an Email action from the sidebar and customize your email content. This will be the initial email notification sent to the customer.

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

Step 4: Customize SMS content

The Failed delivery attempt SMS notification automatically alerts customers when a delivery could not be completed and prompts them to take action. This proactive message reduces Where is my order? inquiries and ensures customers know exactly what to do next.

When enabled, this SMS notifies customers of the failed delivery attempt and provides a link to track the order or arrange redelivery in real time.

Drag the Send SMS action from the sidebar and customize the SMS content. This will be the initial SMS notification sent to the customer.
To customize the content of the SMS, click the {...} icon directly on the SMS block in the preview window of the flow editor and click Edit.

Step 5: Check shipment status and monitor customer engagement

This step is what makes the failed delivery attempt flow uniquely adaptive. Rather than sending a single notification and stopping, the flow checks in one day later to evaluate whether any action has been taken, and responds accordingly.

A. Check shipment status (Trigger status unchanged)

Drag a Trigger status unchanged block into your flow and set the time to 1 day. This instructs the flow to verify whether the shipment status is still on Failed Attempt one day after the initial email notification was sent.

If the status has changed (i.e., a redelivery has been scheduled or the package has been collected), no further action is taken.
If the status remains unchanged, the flow proceeds to evaluate whether the customer has engaged with the initial notification.

B. Monitor email interaction (Conditional split)

Add a Conditional split to the flow and select the Number of emails opened filter. This block splits the flow based on how the customer interacted with the first email.

Set the condition to: Number of emails opened = 0 in the last (1 day) 24 hours.

Yes path (condition met, email not opened): The customer has not opened the initial email at all. The flow proceeds to send an SMS notification to reach them through a different channel.
No path (condition not met, email was opened): The customer opened the email but did not take any action. The flow proceeds to send a follow-up email as a reminder.

Step 6: Send follow-up notifications

Based on the outcome of the conditional split in Step 5.B, the flow sends the appropriate follow-up notification to maximize the chance of customer action.

If the email was not opened, send an SMS

If the initial email was not opened after 24 hours, configure your flow to automatically send an SMS notification to the customer. This ensures the message reaches them through a second, more immediate channel.

When enabled, the SMS notifies the customer of the failed delivery and provides a link to track the order or take action in real time.

If the email was opened but no action was taken, send a follow-up email

If the customer opened the initial email but has not yet acted, configure your flow to send a follow-up email as a reminder. This gentle nudge helps re-engage customers who may have read the notification but not followed through on rescheduling or collecting their package.

By combining status monitoring with engagement-based routing, this flow ensures that every customer receives the most appropriate communication at the right time, significantly reducing the likelihood of a package being returned to sender.

Best practices

Send the initial failed delivery notification immediately to give customers the maximum time to act.
Use the Trigger status unchanged block set to 1 day to check whether a follow-up is needed before sending additional messages.
Route customers to SMS if they have not opened the initial email. This increases the chances of reaching them through a different channel.
Send a follow-up email if the customer opened the initial email but did not act, providing a gentle reminder with clear next steps.
Include redelivery instructions and the shipment progress bar in your email to reduce confusion and minimize support inquiries.

Additional resources

Updated on: 02/03/2026