Answer Where-Is-My-Parcel Questions on WhatsApp with AfterShip
Yes. AeroChat works directly with AfterShip. It finds the customer’s shipment in AfterShip and replies with the live status, the carrier, the expected delivery date and your tracking page link while the customer is still in the chat.
This recipe answers “where is my parcel?” on WhatsApp from AfterShip itself, so the customer gets the real status without waiting for your team. Part of connecting AfterShip to WhatsApp and AI chat.
What happens today
Customers message to ask where their order is, often more than once while it is on the way. Someone opens AfterShip, searches for the order, reads the latest scan and types a reply. After a sale or a holiday weekend these messages pile up, and each customer waits for an answer AfterShip already has.
The flow that works
- AeroChat asks for the order number, or takes the tracking number or email the customer gives.
- It finds the matching shipment in AfterShip.
- It reads the latest status, the carrier and the estimated delivery date.
- It replies in one or two lines and sends your AfterShip tracking page link.
- If AfterShip shows an exception, such as a failed delivery, it hands the conversation to your team.
What it looks like on WhatsApp
Customer: Hello, I ordered a serum last week and haven’t got it yet. Order 10377. (example)
AeroChat: Thanks. Your parcel is out for delivery with Ninja Van today. You can follow it here: https://track.example.com/10377 (example)
Customer: Great, thanks!
In AfterShip: nothing changes. AeroChat read the shipment for order 10377: status out for delivery, carrier Ninja Van, delivery expected today.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer asks where their order is, follow these steps.
- If you do not know which order they mean, ask: “Can I have your order number?” If they send a tracking number instead, use that.
- Find the shipment in AfterShip by the order number or tracking number. If neither works, ask for the email they ordered with and search by that.
- If the parcel has not been picked up by the carrier yet, say it is being packed and will ship soon.
- If it is in transit or out for delivery, give the status, the carrier and the expected delivery date, and send the tracking page link.
- If it is delivered, say when, and ask them to check with neighbours or the building if they cannot find it.
- If AfterShip shows an exception, a failed delivery attempt or no update for more than 5 days (example), apologise and hand the conversation to our team.
If the order has more than one parcel, give the status of each. Never share another customer’s details. Reply in the customer’s language.
Change the number of days without an update, and what you say about delivered parcels, to match how your business works before you paste it.
What to connect
- AfterShip. Open the API keys page in your AfterShip admin, choose Create an API key and paste it in when AeroChat asks. AfterShip includes API access on its Premium tracking plan and above.
- Status changes (optional). AfterShip can send tracking updates to a webhook. If you set one up for AeroChat, a status change such as “out for delivery” can be passed on to the customer in the conversation they started.
- Your knowledge base. Upload your shipping times and what to do about a lost or late parcel, so AeroChat answers the follow-up questions.
Labels and shipping stay billed to your own carrier and AfterShip accounts. POS Malaysia delivery is built into AeroChat, so you only need this recipe if you already track your parcels in AfterShip.
After you paste the recipe, AeroChat builds the workflow as a draft and shows a checklist: connect AfterShip, add your knowledge base if the recipe uses one, then switch it on. If it built the connection from AfterShip’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
- How long a parcel can go without an update before your team steps in.
- What AeroChat says about late, lost or delivered-but-missing parcels.
- Who gets the handover when a delivery goes wrong.
The result to expect
Customers get the live status of their parcel as soon as they ask, at any hour. Your team only sees the deliveries that need a person.
Measure it with your own numbers: parcel-status messages your team answers by hand, and the time to reply, for a month before and after.
Next: start returns in chat with AfterShip. For more delivery workflows, see delivery updates on WhatsApp.
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 AfterShip connection behind it. See what each channel does on the AfterShip integration page.
Answer your first parcel question from AfterShip
Paste the recipe, add your AfterShip API key, and ask about a recent order in the chat yourself.
Start your 7-day free trial. No credit card needed.
Sign up for an annual plan on Growth or above and we’ll set up your workflows and connect AfterShip for you, free. See plans.
On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.
