Think about the last time a customer called your store to ask about their order. Where is it? When is it going to be delivered? In almost every case, the information they’re asking for already exists in your ERP. They just don’t have access to it. Automated event notifications solve this.
The Call Your Team Shouldn’t Have to Take
Every day, your support team fields calls from customers asking the same question: what’s happening with my order? Someone has to look up the order, check the status, and relay the information. It’s not complicated work, but it adds up fast — especially for retailers processing dozens or hundreds of orders at any given time.
The order status is there. The delivery date is there. The receiving confirmation is there. The customer just doesn’t have access to it.
Automated event notifications solve this by pushing that information to the customer at the moment it becomes relevant. When an order is confirmed, they get a message. When their product arrives at the warehouse, they get a message. When the truck is on its way, they get a message.
The customer stays informed without picking up the phone. Your team spends less time answering status questions and more time on work that actually requires a human being. And the customer’s perception of your business improves because they feel taken care of — even though nobody on your staff did anything manually.
What Automated Event Notifications Actually Are
Event notifications are triggered messages — sent via text or email — that fire automatically when something happens in your ERP. They’re not marketing emails. They’re not promotional blasts. They’re operational communications tied to real events in the customer’s order lifecycle.
The “event” is the trigger. An order gets written. A special order arrives from the vendor. A delivery gets scheduled for a specific date and time window. A delivery is completed. Each of these events already gets recorded in your system as part of normal operations. Automated notifications simply take that event and push a message to the customer without anyone on your team having to remember to do it.
This is different from having a team member manually email or call a customer when their order ships. Manual communication depends on someone remembering, having time, and following through consistently. Automated notifications happen every time, for every order, without fail. The consistency is what makes them powerful.
Manual communication depends on someone remembering, having time, and following through consistently. Automated notifications happen every time, for every order, without fail.
The Moments That Matter Most
Not every event in the order lifecycle needs a notification. The goal isn’t to flood your customer’s inbox. It’s to communicate at the moments where silence creates anxiety or prompts a phone call.
For furniture retailers, those moments tend to follow a predictable pattern:
- Order confirmation. The customer just committed to a purchase, often a significant one. An immediate confirmation sets the tone for the entire relationship. Without it, the customer leaves your store and wonders if everything went through.
- Special order updates. The gap between “I bought it” and “it’s here” can stretch weeks or months. That gap is where customer anxiety lives. A notification when the product arrives at your warehouse reassures the customer without them having to call.
- Delivery scheduling. When a delivery date and time window get assigned, the customer needs to know. This reduces missed deliveries and the rescheduling headaches that come with them.
- Day-of delivery updates. A message confirming the window, and another when the truck is on its way, gives the customer confidence that it’s actually happening. Customers who know the truck is 30 minutes away are ready when it arrives.
- Post-delivery follow-up. A message after delivery thanking the customer and inviting feedback closes the loop. This is where customer service and customer retention intersect.
The Impact on Support Call Volume
The most immediate, measurable benefit of automated notifications is a reduction in inbound support calls. When customers know what’s happening with their order at every stage, they don’t need to call and ask.
This isn’t a small efficiency gain. For furniture retailers with active delivery operations, order status inquiries can represent a meaningful percentage of total inbound calls. Every one of those calls takes a support team member’s time, and the customer had to wait on hold or navigate a phone tree to get a simple answer that could have been delivered proactively.
Reducing that call volume doesn’t just free up your support team. It changes the nature of the calls they do take. Instead of spending time on routine status checks, they can focus on the issues that actually require attention: service requests, warranty questions, complex scheduling, and customer concerns that need a human touch.
Your team gets to do more meaningful work. Your customers get faster answers to their real problems. And nobody wastes time on a call that a text message could have prevented.
Free Your Team for Higher-Value Work
When routine status inquiries are handled automatically, your support team focuses on service requests, warranty questions, and complex issues that genuinely require a human touch.
Getting Started
If your ERP supports automated notifications and you haven’t configured them yet, the best approach is to start with two or three high-impact triggers and build from there.
Order confirmation and delivery scheduling are the most universally valuable starting points. They cover the two moments where customer anxiety is highest and inbound calls are most frequent. Get those running consistently, see the impact, and then add special order updates, day-of delivery messages, and post-delivery follow-ups over time.
For STORIS Retailers
STORIS supports text and email event notifications that tie directly into the order lifecycle. The triggers are configurable, the messages are customizable, and the setup doesn’t require a separate third-party platform. If you haven’t explored this feature, it’s worth a conversation with your support team about what it takes to turn it on.
For the effort involved, few tools in your ERP deliver a faster return than automated notifications. Less call volume, happier customers, and a post-purchase experience that feels modern and professional — all from a feature that most retailers already have access to and just haven’t activated yet.
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