Operator Outreach sends messages to your customers on your behalf across four key moments: welcoming new customers, nudging them to complete abandoned carts, replying to messages that come in after hours, and reaching back out to customers who haven’t ordered in a while. Once a campaign is set up, it runs on its own, so you can stay in touch with every customer without manually sending each message.
Note: Operator Outreach is available for all storefront customers
How it works
Operator Outreach runs four independent campaigns. You can turn each one on or off, customize the message, and review what’s been sent in each campaign’s Message History.
Campaign | Trigger | Message type | When it sends |
Welcome / First Order | A customer places their first order | Within 1 hour of the order | |
Abandoned Checkout | A customer views their cart but doesn’t check out | In-app chat | 30, 45, 60, or 90 minutes after last cart activity |
Auto-Reply Messages | A customer messages you during your off-hours | In-app chat | Immediately |
Lapsed Customer 'Winback" | A customer hasn’t ordered within the window you set | Sent at 9:00 AM in your time zone on the day they hit your inactivity window |
Each campaign has a one-message-per-day limit per customer, so no one will get multiple messages from the same campaign on the same day.
Getting Started
You’ll find all four campaigns under PMC > Tools > Operator Outreach. Click into any campaign to turn it on and set up the message.
The Operator Outreach landing page in PMC.
Every campaign includes a toggle to turn it on or off, configuration settings for the message and timing, a Message History log showing every message that’s been sent (date, channel, recipient, delivery status), and 30-day engagement counts so you can see activity at a glance.
Welcome / First Order
Send a welcome email to every new customer within an hour of their first order.
How to Enable
From Operator Outreach, click Welcome / First Order in the Active Automations panel
Toggle the campaign On, then click Edit
The Welcome / First Order campaign detail view.
Write your email subject and message. You can use placeholders like {{supplier_name}} to personalize the message
Click Save
The campaign will start sending emails on the next hourly run. Each customer only ever receives this email once — they won’t get it again if they place more orders later.
The message field comes pre-filled with a recommended default that you can use as-is or edit:
Subject: Welcome to {{supplier_name}}
Body: Hi! Welcome to {{supplier_name}}! We’re excited to help you reorder with ease. Your first order is complete — come back anytime to place your next one.
Available placeholders: {{restaurant_name}}, {{supplier_name}}, {{first_order_date}}
Here’s what the email looks like when it lands in a customer’s inbox:
Example Welcome / First Order email.
Abandoned Checkout
Nudge customers to come back and finish their order when they’ve added items to their cart but haven’t checked out.
Abandoned Checkout tile in the Active Automations panel.
How to Enable
From Operator Outreach, click Abandoned Checkout in the Active Automations panel
Toggle the campaign On, then click Edit
Choose how long to wait before sending — 30, 45, 60, or 90 minutes after the customer last touched their cart
Write the in-app chat message and click Save
Timing is approximate and can vary by up to 10 minutes, because the campaign checks for abandoned carts every 10 minutes.
When a message won’t send
The customer places the order before the delay is up
The cart is cancelled or emptied
The customer opens their cart again (the timer starts over each time)
The cart is deleted and a new one is started (the timer resets for the new cart)
The message field comes pre-filled with a recommended default:
Looks like you left some items in your cart. Ready to complete your order? We’ve saved everything for you.
Available placeholders: {{restaurant_name}}, {{supplier_name}}
Auto-Reply Messages
Automatically reply to customers who message you outside of your business hours, so they know when to expect an answer.
Auto-Reply Messages tile in the Active Automations panel.
How to Enable
From Operator Outreach, click Auto-Reply Messages in the Active Automations panel
Toggle the campaign On, then click Edit
Add your off-hours schedules — choose the days and a time range for each. Overnight schedules (e.g., 5:00 PM to 8:00 AM) are supported
Write the in-app chat message and click Save
You may need a separate schedule entry for each day. If two schedules overlap, the longer one wins.
Lapsed Customer Winback
Reach back out to customers who haven’t placed an order in a while.
Lapsed Customer Winback tile in the Active Automations panel.
How to Enable
From Operator Outreach, click Lapsed Customer Winback in the Active Automations panel
Toggle the campaign On, then click Edit
Set the inactivity window — in days, hours, or minutes
Write your email subject and message. You can use placeholders like {{supplier_name}} and {{last_order_date}} to personalize
Click Save
How the inactivity window works
The campaign only emails customers who are between X and 2X of your set inactivity period — not everyone who’s been inactive longer. For example, if you set the window to 30 days, only customers who’ve been inactive for 30–60 days will get the email. Anyone who’s been inactive longer than 60 days won’t.
This keeps the campaign from sending a flood of emails to every dormant customer the day you turn it on. Each customer only receives the email once per lapsed period — they won’t get repeat messages if they don’t come back.
The message field comes pre-filled with a recommended default:
Subject: We miss you at {{supplier_name}}
Body: Hey! We noticed it’s been a while since your last order from {{supplier_name}}. Need anything? We’re here to make reordering easy.
Available placeholders: {{restaurant_name}}, {{supplier_name}}, {{last_order_date}}
Here’s what the email looks like when it lands in a customer’s inbox:
Example Lapsed Customer Winback email.
FAQs
Can my customers opt out of these messages?
For the email campaigns (Welcome / First Order and Lapsed Customer Winback), your customers can manage their email notification preferences to unsubscribe. For the in-app chat campaigns (Abandoned Checkout and Auto-Reply Messages), there’s no individual opt-out, but customers can manage their push notification preferences.
What if a customer triggers the same campaign twice in one day?
Each campaign only sends one message per customer per day. If a customer already got an Abandoned Checkout message that day, a second abandoned cart won’t trigger another one. Same goes for Auto-Reply Messages.
Where can I see what messages have been sent?
Open any campaign to see its Message History — a log of every message sent, along with the date, channel, recipient, and delivery status. You’ll also see 30-day engagement counts at the top of each campaign.