Book a Delivery from WhatsApp with ShipStation
This recipe turns a shipping request on WhatsApp into a ShipStation shipment, with the address the customer confirmed and the service they chose. Part of connecting ShipStation to WhatsApp and AI chat.
What happens today
Some orders are agreed in chat: a customer reorders on WhatsApp, a wholesale buyer asks for samples, or a replacement needs to go out. Someone types the address into ShipStation, compares rates, buys the label and messages the tracking number back. These orders sit outside the store, so they wait longer and the address is copied by hand.
The flow that works
- AeroChat confirms what is being sent.
- It asks for the recipient’s name, phone number and full address.
- It compares ShipStation rates for the package and lets the customer choose a service.
- It creates the shipment and the label with the chosen carrier service.
- It sends the tracking number.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer on WhatsApp asks us to ship an order, follow these steps.
- Confirm the order number and the items being sent.
- Ask for the recipient’s name, phone number, street address, city, state or region, postcode and country. Read the address back and ask them to confirm it.
- Work out the package from the sizes in our knowledge base. Use a 1 lb box, 10 x 8 x 4 in (example values), if the item is not listed.
- Compare ShipStation rates from our warehouse for our ground and express services (example) and tell them the price and delivery estimate for each.
- Create the shipment in ShipStation with the service they chose, their address, the package and the order number as the reference.
- Create the label for that shipment.
- Send them the carrier name and tracking number.
- If no service covers their address, or the order is larger than our standard packages, hand the conversation to our team.
If they ask to cancel before the parcel ships, void the label and confirm. Reply in the customer’s language.
Change the package sizes and carrier services to the ones your ShipStation account uses before you paste it. If you want your team to check each shipment first, tell AeroChat to create the shipment only and leave the label to your team.
What to connect
- ShipStation. On the API Settings page in ShipStation, check that your plan includes API access and generate an API key. Copy it straight away, because it is shown only once, and paste it in when AeroChat asks.
- Your knowledge base. Upload your products with their package sizes and your shipping rules, so AeroChat sends the right package details.
Labels are billed to your own ShipStation and carrier accounts. POS Malaysia delivery is built into AeroChat, so you only need this recipe if you already ship with ShipStation.
After you paste the recipe, AeroChat builds the workflow as a draft and shows a checklist: connect ShipStation, add your knowledge base if the recipe uses one, then switch it on. If it built the connection from ShipStation’s public documentation, the checklist asks you to check it once against the current docs.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
What you still decide
- Which carrier services customers can choose.
- Whether AeroChat creates the label or leaves it for your team.
- Which shipments need your team, such as international or high-value orders.
The result to expect
Orders agreed in chat ship as fast as store orders, with an address the customer confirmed. The customer has the tracking number before they leave the chat.
Measure it with your own numbers: shipments created from chat, and address corrections, for a month before and after.
Next: answer where-is-my-parcel questions.
Works on every chat channel
This workflow runs the same way on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, the chat on your website and email, with the same ShipStation connection behind it. See what each channel does on the ShipStation integration page.
Book your first ShipStation shipment from chat
Paste the recipe, add your ShipStation key, and send a test order in the chat yourself.
Start your 7-day free trial. No credit card needed.
On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.