Track a Parcel on WhatsApp with Shippo
Yes. AeroChat works directly with Shippo. When a customer sends an order or tracking number, AeroChat asks Shippo’s tracking API for the parcel’s status and history and replies with where it is, the latest scan and the expected delivery date where the carrier gives one.
This recipe answers “where is my parcel?” for businesses that sell in chat and ship with Shippo, whatever store system they use. Part of connecting Shippo to WhatsApp and AI chat.
What happens today
Customers who bought through WhatsApp or Instagram ask about delivery in the same chat. The answer is in Shippo or on the carrier’s site, so someone has to look it up and type it back, often for the same parcel more than once. Late at night or at the weekend, nobody answers until the next working day.
The flow that works
- The customer asks where their parcel is.
- AeroChat asks for the order number or tracking number, and finds the order in your store system if it has the order number.
- It asks Shippo for the tracking status using the carrier and tracking number.
- It replies with the status in plain words, the latest scan with place and time, and the expected delivery date if Shippo returns one.
- For a failed delivery or a return to sender, it hands the conversation to your team.
What it looks like on WhatsApp
Customer: Hi, any news on my parcel? Tracking 1Z999AA10123456784 (example)
AeroChat: It is in transit with UPS. Last scan: Memphis TN, today at 4:12am (example). Expected delivery is Friday.
In Shippo: nothing changes. AeroChat read the tracking status and history for that tracking number.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer asks where their parcel is, follow these steps.
- Ask for the order number or the tracking number.
- If they give an order number, find the order in our store system with the email or phone number on it, and read the carrier and tracking number saved on the order.
- Get the tracking status from Shippo for that carrier and tracking number.
- Reply with the status in plain words: label created, in transit, delivered, returned or a delivery problem. Add the latest scan with place and time, and the expected delivery date if Shippo returns one.
- If the status shows a failure, a return to sender, or delivered but they have not received it, apologize and hand the conversation to our team with the tracking history.
- If Shippo cannot find the tracking number, ask them to check it, and hand over to our team if it still fails.
Never invent a delivery date. Never share another customer’s details. Reply in the customer’s language.
Change the handover rules to match how your team handles lost parcels before you paste it.
What to connect
- Shippo. Open the API page in your Shippo settings and copy your live API token. Paste it in when AeroChat asks.
- Your store system. Where the order and its tracking number are saved, for example WooCommerce, Wix or a Google Sheets store.
Shippo’s docs say tracking is included for labels bought in Shippo, and charged per tracking number for parcels shipped outside Shippo. Some carriers only allow tracking for shipments created through Shippo. Any tracking charges go to your own Shippo account. Shippo can also send tracking updates to a webhook. Where you set that up, AeroChat can pass a status change on to the customer in the conversation they started.
After you paste the recipe, AeroChat builds the workflow as a draft and shows a checklist: connect Shippo, then switch it on. If it built the connection from Shippo’s public documentation at docs.goshippo.com, 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 tracking problems go to your team.
- Whether customers can track by tracking number alone or must give an order number.
- What AeroChat may offer for a late parcel, if anything.
The result to expect
Customers who bought in chat get delivery answers in the same chat, at any hour. Your team only sees the parcels that need action.
Measure it with your own numbers: tracking questions answered in chat without your team, for a month before and after.
Next: see the shorter parcel status recipe and every Shippo workflow.
Works on every chat channel
This workflow runs the same way on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, TikTok Shop buyer chat, Telegram, the chat on your website and email, with the same Shippo connection behind it. See what each channel does on the Shippo integration page.
Track your first parcel in chat
Paste the recipe, add your Shippo token, and send your own chat a tracking number.
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Sign up for an annual plan on Growth or above and we’ll set up your workflows and connect Shippo for you, free. See plans.
On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.