The Otter 'Always On' Feature

Summary

The Otter ‘Always On’ feature automatically turns offline stores back on to avoid lost sales! This article will explain how this feature works and how to best navigate it.

Benefits

• Automates the reopening of stores. With 'Always On', you can ensure that your online stores are open just like your physical stores. 
• Customize how it works. 'Always On' allows you to set flexible guardrails that trigger automatic reopening. You are also able to deactivate the feature when stores are about to close, or when your kitchen staff manually pauses a delivery. These customizations allow you to make sure it only works when needed.
• Review your operational health. The 'Always On' feature will give you on-demand access to an easy-to-use dashboard to review performance, including number of alerts sent and estimated lost sales prevented. All of these details are available by using the Analytics app in your Otter Dashboard.

Product Overview

'Always On' protects your sales by ensuring that your stores are always online. 

• Our system automatically checks store availability every 10 minutes.
• A text message alert is sent to the registered contact(s) when a store is detected as paused during operating hours and meets the 'guardrails' you set (we will cover how to set 'guardrails' later in the article.
  • A text message alert is sent for each delivery provider that the store goes offline for (example: if both Doordash & Uber Eats goes offline, the registered contact(s) will receive 2 separate text message alerts).  

  • The 'Always On' alert will display the name of the store (the brand and which channel or Delivery Service Provider) and remind the user(s) that it will be automatically turned on if no response is received. Below is an example of the text message alert:

• The store is automatically unpaused after 5 minutes if we don’t receive a "NO" response to the alert.

Guardrails

Guardrails are settings that you can set to tailor your 'Always On' experience to your needs. These are available to ensure that there are no underlying issues with your stores.

1. Operator pauses. You can choose to receive alerts when a staff member or an operator manually pauses a store. 
   For example: If a staff member pauses a store, there will be [no] alert and store unpausing.
2. Excessive pauses. You can specify whether a store should be unpaused after repeated consecutive pausing within a specific timeframe. This guardrail is important because consecutive pausing may signal other problems with the store.
   For example: Within a 1-hour window, a store will not be unpaused for a third time after two consecutive unpausing events.
3. Closing time sensitivity. You can set conditions for unpausing based on the store's closing time. This can be beneficial when the kitchen is already closed.
   For example: Alerts and unpausing will not happen 30 minutes before store closing.

4. Timeout for missed and canceled orders: You can decide not to automatically unpause a store based on missed or canceled orders. This is beneficial as Delivery Service Providers may penalize stores that consecutively miss or cancel orders.

   For example: After 1 detected missed order, the store will not be unpaused.

Responding to 'Always On' alerts

You have 5 minutes to respond to an alert. If there is more than one response, the first response is used. See below for response options and the results:

• NO: Store will be kept paused.
• STOP: Opt out of all alerts. You will stop receiving alerts for all stores. This only applies to the contact that responded; other contacts registered to the store are unaffected.

Setting up your guardrails

The Operator Pause guardrail can be set up by visiting https://manager.tryotter.com/settings/always-on. Once in your account: 

Select Settings
Select 'Always on' from the left-hand panel. Here you can toggle 'On' the guardrail.

All other guardrails can be made available by reaching out to your CSM directly. 

Updating your guardrail settings

Once your guardrails have been setup, you can change the settings by visiting https://manager.tryotter.com/settings/always-on.

Here you can select which locations you would want to enable Always On for. Deselecting a location will opt them out of Always On but can still be enrolled as part of Live Alerts. You can also have Always On automatically turn a store back on if your staff turns it off for any reason (operator-paused stores).

The settings page also shows you estimates on Always On’s impact and the number of unpauses it will trigger. 

If you need additional help or information, you can contact support via the following:

• Chat - Our live agents are available 24/7 to help you through your Otter device. Tap the chat button on the top right corner of the home screen.
• SMS/Text or Telephone - Send us a text or give us a call anytime at 1-888-681-8837 for prompt service from our support experts.