Trucking fleets greatly benefit from collecting and acting on driver feedback, but this has traditionally been a difficult communications process to manage. Similarly, many fleets regularly experience costly errors due to gaps and delays in daily communications with drivers.
Too often, driver feedback loops are open-ended, or critical load details are ignored or lost in a flood of daily text messages, causing a driver to connect to the wrong trailer, unexpectedly encounter severe weather, or miss key updates about changes to a pickup or delivery appointment.
Paul Transportation, a 350-truck specialized flatbed carrier, wanted driver feedback on shop performance to improve its maintenance operations, but did not want to add more messages to its drivers’ daily routine.
In the spring of 2025, the fleet’s director of maintenance approached Trenton Sims, the company’s full-stack developer, with an idea to include a survey in their daily workflow. Drivers had been using the company’s PTI Fleet Fusion mobile app, built on the Eleos platform, for all communication needs since October 2024.
To collect survey responses, Sims used a unique Eleos platform feature to create a location-based modal window that opens when drivers arrive at Paul Transportation’s shop in Enid, Oklahoma. This modal window renders a pop-up message that requires user interaction before they can return to the main window, effectively blocking access to the rest of the app until the survey is completed.
Let’s examine how Paul Transportation and other fleets utilize this customizable Action Request feature to ensure drivers read, acknowledge, and promptly respond to critical communications.
Putting Action Requests to Work
For Paul Transportation, what began as a simple survey request quickly evolved into a robust feedback loop. Initially, Sims deployed the survey in the mobile app’s main menu as a link that drivers could voluntarily click to rate their shop experience. The survey was well-designed, but completion rates were lower than expected, likely because it was optional. Drivers often had other priorities and would skip it.
By using the Action Request feature, Sims found a way to require survey completion. He set up a geofence around the shop. When a driver stops within the geofence for 3 minutes, the Action Request appears, prompting them to complete the survey.
When drivers complete the survey form in the Eleos app, a third-party online survey tool collects and analyzes the results. Drivers can’t access the rest of the app until they complete the survey, which involves answering a few questions with a 5-point ranking, such as:
- How clean was the shop?
- How fast was your service?
- How was your overall experience today?
- Did you experience any issues?
- Did you get your concerns addressed?
Sims also added logic to prevent over-surveying. Drivers receive the survey at most once per week. In the online survey tool, managers have a dashboard to review responses, record resolutions, and prioritize recurring issues.
What Is an Action Request?
Compared to the driver’s To Do list or standard messages within the Eleos platform, the distinction between an Action Request and these is clear.
A To Do item can remain uncompleted beyond its due date, and a standard message might or might not be acknowledged by drivers. An Action Request, however, requires immediate recognition. Drivers must respond before proceeding.
Key features of an Action Request include:
- Custom Titles and Messages – Fleets can specify the request’s purpose, with a 250-character limit for instructions.
- Driver Responses – Options can include yes/no answers, acknowledgments, signatures, and completion of pre-populated forms.
- Location or Time Triggers – Requests can be based on geofences, time of day, and other system integrations.
- Snooze Button Control – Fleets choose whether drivers can postpone responding. A snooze lasts a configurable duration, after which the request reappears. For urgent issues, snooze can be turned off.
- Flexible Targeting – Action Requests can be directed to individual drivers, groups, or the entire fleet.
Real-World Uses Beyond Surveys
The usefulness of Action Requests goes well beyond shop surveys. Increasingly, fleets use them for any essential communications and workflows that require acknowledgment. The possibilities include:
- Payroll Cash Advances – One fleet uses Action Requests to ask drivers whether they want an advance before the next payday and to obtain a legal acknowledgement that the advance is not a loan. Drivers tap “Yes” or “No” and complete a pre-filled form.
- Rescheduled Appointments – Dispatchers can send updates like: “Your appointment has been rescheduled. Please confirm.” This type of message ensures drivers are aware of the change, helping to prevent them from arriving too early or too late.
- Severe Weather Alerts – Fleets can notify drivers about icy roads, high winds, or other hazards and require acknowledgment to confirm awareness.
- Wrong Trailer or Load Errors – When integrated with a TMS, Action Requests can halt a driver if the system detects a mismatch between the tractor and trailer. In these urgent cases, snooze can be disabled.
In these and many other scenarios, Action Requests enable fleets to transform critical communications into actionable, acknowledged events that no driver can overlook.
Closing the Communication Gap
In the case of Paul Logistics, what began as a simple survey idea evolved into an efficient and powerful tool for shop performance, driver engagement, and real-time management feedback.
The value of Action Requests lies in their adaptability. Whether securing legal acknowledgment of payroll advances, avoiding costly operational mistakes, or keeping drivers safe in harsh weather, fleets can customize the feature to meet the most urgent communication needs.
In a time when every mile and minute count, fleets can’t risk critical messages slipping through the cracks. With the Eleos platform, Action Requests can virtually guarantee this won’t happen by delivering operational clarity and driver accountability.
Ready to eliminate missed messages and costly errors? Discover how Eleos can help your fleet close the communication gap. Schedule your custom demo today.
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