Customer notifications
Gain a better understanding of what notifications to send to customers and what information to include in them
You'll need to send messages (typically emails) to your customers throughout an eCommerce transaction. These notifications provide customers with information on their purchases and inform them of important events. They also help keep your customers engaged throughout the entire process, leading to a more positive shopping experience and potentially increasing brand loyalty.
You must send certain notifications to customers to access to Digital River's MOR/SOR business model.
In many cases, you can configure webhook(s) to listen for events created by Digital River and use the data in these events to populate the emails before they get pushed to customers.
On this page, you'll find information on order notifications and subscription notifications, as well as the events in the Digital River APIs (when available) that can be used to trigger them.
Order notifications
In this section, you'll find basic information on what notifications to send to customers throughout an order's lifecycle:
Order confirmation
This notification informs your customers that their order has been approved and is currently being processed. It provides customers with a record of their purchase and assures them that the transaction is authentic.
In Required Purchase Notifications (refer to Learning tools for access information), you'll find a comprehensive list of what to include in this notification.
Recommended type
of triggering event: order.accepted
This same event type can also be used for subscription acquisition notifications.
Use the following table to learn which attributes in the event's data.object
contain values that can be used to populate the notification.
Notification information | Relevant attribute |
---|---|
The identifier of the order |
|
A description of each product |
|
The cost of each product |
|
Assessed taxes |
|
Applied discounts |
|
Shipping costs |
|
Total amount of order |
|
Shipment notification
Send this notification to customers when some or all of an order's goods have shipped. The message must indicate which items are in the shipment and should ideally include delivery tracking information.
In Required Purchase Notifications (refer to Learning tools for access information), you'll find a comprehensive list of what to include in this notification.
Recommended type
of triggering event: fulfillment.created
Use the following table to learn which attributes in the event's data.object
contain values that can be used to populate the notification.
Notification information | Relevant attribute |
---|---|
The identifier of the order |
|
A description of each shipped product |
|
The quantity of each shipped product |
|
The name of the designated carrier |
|
The designated carrier's tracking number |
|
A url that allows customers to access tracking details |
|
Successful cancellation
This notification informs customers that their order has been partially or fully cancelled. Regardless of the reason for the cancellation or who initiated the request, purchasers need to be notified which items will not be fulfilled.
In Required Purchase Notifications (refer to Learning tools for access information), you'll find a comprehensive list of what to include in this notification.
Recommended type
of triggering event: fulfillment.created
or order.cancelled
If your application supports partial order cancellations, then we recommend listening for fulfillment.created
and using it to trigger this message.
This is because the state
of each items[]
in an order must be cancelled
before Digital River creates an event with a type
of order.cancelled
.
For example, if an order contains multiple items[]
, each with a quantity
of 2
, and a customer uses your site’s UI to request that only one of those line items be fully cancelled, and, after approving that request, your system sends a POST /fulfillments
with an items[].cancelQuantity
of 2
, then Digital River generates fulfillment.created
but not order.cancelled
.
Use the following tables to learn which attributes in the event's data.object
contain values that can be used to populate the notification.
Notification information | Relevant attribute |
---|---|
The identifier of the order |
|
A description of each cancelled product |
|
The quantity of each cancelled product |
|
Failed cancellation
If customers request to have an order partially or fully cancelled but you can't honor their request for whatever reason, send a notification informing them that their goods are still scheduled for fulfillment.
In Required Purchase Notifications (refer to Learning tools for access information), you'll find a comprehensive list of what to include in this notification.
Unless Digital River coordinates a fulfillment, there are no events in the Digital River APIs that can be used to trigger this failed cancellation message.
Delayed shipment, right to cancel (1st and 2nd notices)
If a shipment is delayed, send a notification to customers that provides a revised date of when the goods are scheduled for delivery. If additional delays occur that cause that date to be pushed out even further, send customers a second notice. In both of these messages, you must give customers the option to cancel their purchase.
In Physical Goods Required Purchase Notifications (refer to Learning tools for access information), you'll find a comprehensive list of what to include in this notification.
Currently, no events in the Digital River APIs can trigger these delayed shipment notifications.
Refund confirmation
This notification confirms that a customer's refund request has been successfully processed.
In Required Purchase Notifications (refer to Learning tools for access information), you'll find a comprehensive list of what to include in this message.
Recommended type
of triggering event: order.refunded
Use the following table to learn which attributes in the event's data.object
contain values that can be used to populate the notification.
Notification information | Relevant attribute |
---|---|
The order identifier |
|
Total amount refunded on order |
|
The amount of each individual refund on the order (optional) |
|
Product return instructions
This message provides instructions to customers on how to return physical products they've purchased.
In Recommended Purchase Notifications (refer to Learning tools for access information), you'll find a comprehensive list of what to include in this notification.
Unless Digital River coordinates a fulfillment, no events currently exist in the Digital River APIs that can be used to trigger this message.
Subscription notifications
This section provides basic information on what notifications to send customers throughout a subscription's lifecycle and provides guidance on each notification's potential triggering event.
Refer to Subscription Purchase Notifications (see Learning tools for access information) to be provided with a comprehensive list of what's required and what's recommended in these messages.
Triggering events
If you're using Digital River's subscription service, we indicate which type
of event can be used to trigger each subscription notification. However, if you engage a third-party subscription service (except for acquisition confirmation notifications), you'll need to listen for relevant triggering events emanating from that service.
Acquisition confirmation
This notification informs customers that they have successfully acquired one or more subscription-based products.
Recommended type
of triggering event: order.accepted
Use the following table to learn which attributes in the event's data.object
contain values that can be used to populate the notification.
Notification information | Relevant attribute |
---|---|
The identifier of the acquisition order |
|
A description of each subscription product | For each
|
The cost of each subscription product | For each |
Assessed taxes |
|
Applied discounts |
|
Shipping costs |
|
Total amount of order |
|
Trial conversion notification
This notification informs customers that their promotional trial period has ended, and they will be billed on a recurring basis for the subscription's products in the future.
Recommended type
of triggering event: subscription.extended
Use the following table to learn which attributes in the event's data.object
contain values that can be used to populate the notification.
Notification information | Relevant attribute |
---|---|
Description of subscription | |
The date the free trial was activated |
|
The first scheduled billing date |
|
A description of each product in the subscription |
|
The cost and quantity of each product in the subscription |
|
The payment method to be charged |
|
Taxes to be assessed |
|
A subtotal of the amount that the customer is to be charged |
|
The total amount that the customer is to be charged |
|
Renewal reminder
This notification reminds customers that their recurring products are scheduled to renew soon. It should include the subscription's name and a description of its goods, the amount the customer will be charged, and the upcoming billing date.
Recommended type
of triggering event: subscription.reminder
Use the following table to learn which attributes in the event's data.object
contain values that can be used to populate the notification.
Notification information | Relevant attribute |
---|---|
Description of subscription | |
Start date of subscription |
|
The next scheduled billing date |
|
A description of each product in the subscription |
|
The cost and quantity of each product in the subscription |
|
Payment method to be charged |
|
Taxes to be assessed |
|
A subtotal of the amount that the customer is to be charged |
|
The total amount that the customer is to be charged |
|
Renewal confirmation
This notification informs customers that their subscription has been renewed and their designated payment method was successfully charged.
Recommended type
of triggering event: subscription.extended
Use the following table to learn which attributes in the event's data.object
contain values that can be used to populate the notification.
Notification information | Relevant attribute |
---|---|
The order identifier |
|
Description of subscription | |
Start date of subscription |
|
A description of each product in the subscription |
|
The cost and quantity of each product in the subscription |
|
The payment method that was charged |
|
Assessed taxes |
|
Applied discounts |
|
A subtotal of the amount charged |
|
The total amount charged |
|
Next scheduled billing date |
|
Subscription cancelled notification
This notification informs customers that their request to cancel a subscription has been successfully processed. It should ideally contain details on the cancelled products.
Recommended type
of triggering event: subscription.updated
Use the following table to learn which attributes in the event's data.object
contain values that can be used to populate the notification.
Notification information | Relevant attribute |
---|---|
The effective cancellation date |
|
A description of each cancelled subscription product |
|
Updated terms
This notification informs customers of an update to their subscription's terms and conditions. It should describe the upcoming changes and provide a way for customers to cancel the subscription if they don't agree with them.
Recommended type
of triggering event: subscription.updated
Use the following table to learn which attributes in the event's data.object
contain values that can be used to populate the notification.
Notification information | Relevant attribute |
---|---|
The updated terms |
|
A description of each product in the description |
|
Billing failed notification
This notification informs customers that an unsuccessful attempt was made to charge the payment method funding their subscription. To avoid losing access to their recurring products, the message should contain instructions on how customers can update or replace this payment method.
Recommended type
of triggering event: subscription.payment_failed
Use the following table to learn which attributes in the event's data.object
contain values that can be used to populate the notification.
Notification information | Relevant attribute |
---|---|
Description of subscription | |
Payment method that could not be charged |
|
The number of unsuccessful billing attempts that have been made so far |
|
A description of the products that customers will lose access to unless they take action |
|
Subscription failed notification
This message informs customers that their subscription has been deactivated because payment couldn't be collected during the designated billing period. It's recommended that you include instructions on how customers can reactivate their subscriptions.
Recommended type
of triggering event: subscription.failed
Use the following table to learn which attributes in the event's data.object
contain values that can be used to populate the notification.
Notification information | Relevant attribute |
---|---|
Description of failed subscription |
|
Description of products in failed subscription |
|
The date that the subscription failed |
|
Payment method expiration
Prior to a subscription's renewal, this message informs customers that the designated payment method has either expired or will expire before the scheduled renewal date. The notification should provide customers with a way to either update the subscription's current payment method or replace it with a new one.
In the Digital River APIs, no events currently exist that can be used to trigger this notification.
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