Connect AfterShip Tracking for WooCommerce to WhatsApp and AI Chat
Yes. AeroChat works directly with AfterShip Tracking for WooCommerce stores. Your WooCommerce store is built into AeroChat, and AfterShip connects through its own API. AeroChat reads the WooCommerce order, finds its tracking in AfterShip, and answers where the parcel is, when it will arrive and what to do when a delivery runs into a problem, on WhatsApp, Instagram, web chat and every other channel your shoppers use.
The AfterShip Tracking plugin, made by AfterShip, adds Tracking Number and Courier fields to your WooCommerce orders and imports those numbers into AfterShip, which follows the parcel across many carriers. Shoppers still message you on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, web chat or email to ask about their delivery. AeroChat answers from both systems. WooCommerce tells it whether the order has shipped. AfterShip tells it where the parcel is now. You describe the workflow in your own words, AeroChat builds it, and WooCommerce and AfterShip stay the places your team checks.
This page covers WooCommerce stores that use the AfterShip plugin. For AfterShip on its own, with any store, see connecting AfterShip to WhatsApp and AI chat.
What you can do with AfterShip, WooCommerce and AeroChat
- Answer “where is my order?” from the WooCommerce order. AeroChat reads the order in WooCommerce, finds its tracking in AfterShip and replies with the status, the carrier, the latest scan and the AfterShip tracking page.
- Answer “has it shipped yet?”. If the WooCommerce order has no tracking number yet, AeroChat says it is still being prepared and gives your dispatch times, instead of searching AfterShip for nothing.
- Give the expected delivery date. AeroChat reads the estimated delivery date AfterShip holds for the shipment and tells the customer when to expect it.
- Handle a delivery exception or failed attempt. When AfterShip shows an exception or a failed delivery attempt, AeroChat explains it in plain words, collects what your team needs, adds a note to the WooCommerce order and hands over.
- Tell the customer where to collect a parcel. When AfterShip shows a parcel as available for pickup, AeroChat gives the pickup location the carrier reported.
- Explain an order with several parcels. The plugin allows more than one tracking number per order. AeroChat gives the status of each parcel.
What it looks like on WhatsApp
Customer: When will order #7104 arrive? (example)
AeroChat: Order #7104 is in transit with DHL and left the sorting hub this morning. AfterShip expects it on Thursday, 13 November. You can follow every scan here: https://track.example.com/7104 (example)
In WooCommerce and AfterShip: nothing changes. AeroChat read the order and its tracking number in WooCommerce, then the status and estimated delivery date in AfterShip.
Customer: The courier says delivery failed? Order #7120. (example)
AeroChat: I’ve checked. The courier tried to deliver order #7120 this afternoon and nobody was available to receive it. Would you like our team to arrange a new delivery, and is the address on the order still right?
In WooCommerce and AfterShip: AfterShip shows a failed attempt. AeroChat adds an order note in WooCommerce with what the customer said and hands the conversation to the team.
Works on every chat channel
Your shoppers ask about deliveries wherever they already message you. The same WooCommerce and AfterShip connection and the same workflows run on each of these channels.
| Channel | What your shoppers can do |
|---|---|
| Message your WhatsApp Business number to ask where an order is, when it will arrive or what a delivery problem means. Voice notes are transcribed, so a spoken request works too. | |
| Do the same by direct message. A comment on your post can get an automatic reply that moves the conversation to a DM. | |
| Facebook Messenger | Do the same with your Facebook Page. Comments on your Page posts can get an automatic reply too. |
| Telegram | Do the same with your business on Telegram. |
| Web chat | Ask from the chat on your WooCommerce store, right on the order page. |
| Write to your Gmail or Office 365 address and get the same answer the chat gives. |
How the connection works
There are two parts. Your WooCommerce store is built into AeroChat. The AeroChat WordPress plugin syncs your products, stock, coupons and shipping, and orders connect through WooCommerce’s REST API with a consumer key and secret. See WooCommerce and AeroChat. AfterShip connects through its public Tracking API, documented at aftership.com/docs/tracking. Through it, AeroChat finds a tracking by tracking number or order ID and reads its status, checkpoints and delivery dates.
The AfterShip Tracking plugin keeps doing its job in your store. Your team enters the tracking number and courier on the WooCommerce order, the plugin imports it into AfterShip, and customers see a Track button on their order pages. That shared tracking number is how AeroChat matches a WooCommerce order to its AfterShip tracking.
- What AeroChat reads: from WooCommerce, the order with its status, items, customer email and phone, and the tracking number the plugin saved. From AfterShip, the tracking’s status, such as in transit, out for delivery, failed attempt, available for pickup, delivered or exception, with the carrier’s message, the checkpoints, the estimated delivery date, the pickup location and the AfterShip tracking page link.
- What AeroChat writes: to WooCommerce, order notes when a recipe passes a delivery problem to your team. Nothing in AfterShip changes.
To connect AfterShip, open the API keys page in your AfterShip admin and create an API key. AfterShip’s API needs an AfterShip plan that includes API access. For WooCommerce, create a REST API key with read access, or read and write if AeroChat should add order notes.
You describe the workflow in your own words, for example “when a customer asks where their order is, read the tracking number on the WooCommerce order and give the AfterShip status and expected date”. AeroChat builds the workflow as a draft and asks for the WooCommerce and AfterShip keys by name. You enter them in the AeroChat dashboard. They never pass through the conversation.
AfterShip sits on top of the carriers you already use. Shipping stays billed to your own carrier and AfterShip accounts, never to AeroChat. Delivery with POS Malaysia is built into AeroChat. See POS Malaysia and AeroChat.
Workflows to copy
Six ready-made workflows for WooCommerce stores on AfterShip. Copy one into AeroChat, add your keys, and it runs on every channel.
1. Answer “where is my order?”
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer asks where their order is, ask for their order number and check that the email or phone number on the WooCommerce order matches them. Read the tracking number on the order. Find that tracking in AfterShip. Reply in one or two lines with the status, the carrier and the latest scan, and send the AfterShip tracking page link. Never share another customer’s order. Reply in the customer’s language.
2. Answer “has it shipped yet?”
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer asks about an order that has no tracking number in WooCommerce, tell them it is still being prepared and give our dispatch times from the knowledge base. If the order is past our dispatch time, hand the conversation to our team with the order number. Do not search AfterShip until the order has a tracking number.
3. Give the expected delivery date
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer asks when their order will arrive, find the tracking for the WooCommerce order in AfterShip and read the estimated delivery date. Tell them the date and say it is the carrier’s estimate. If there is no estimate yet, give the status and the tracking page link instead. Never promise a delivery date.
4. Handle a delivery exception or failed attempt
Copy this into AeroChat
When the AfterShip tracking for an order shows an exception or a failed delivery attempt, tell the customer what the carrier reported in plain words. Ask whether the delivery address on the WooCommerce order is still right and when they can receive it. Add an order note in WooCommerce with the status, the carrier’s message and what the customer said, and hand the conversation to our team.
5. Tell the customer where to collect a parcel
Copy this into AeroChat
When the AfterShip tracking shows the parcel as available for pickup, tell the customer it is waiting to be collected and give the pickup location the carrier reported. Remind them to bring their tracking number. If there is no pickup location, send the tracking page link.
6. Explain an order with several parcels
Copy this into AeroChat
When a WooCommerce order has more than one tracking number, find each one in AfterShip. List each parcel with its carrier, its status and its expected delivery date. If one is delivered and another is still on the way, say so clearly.
Who uses it
WooCommerce stores that already track their parcels in AfterShip use it to answer delivery questions in chat. These recipes fit a WooCommerce store:
What stays in WooCommerce and AfterShip
WooCommerce stays your record of orders, and your team enters tracking numbers there the same way. AfterShip stays the place that follows each parcel, sends your shipping notifications and hosts your tracking page.
AeroChat handles the conversation. It reads orders and tracking to answer customers, adds order notes when a delivery needs your team, and leaves the rest to WooCommerce, AfterShip and your team.
WhatsApp workflows that use AfterShip
These end-to-end WhatsApp workflows run with WooCommerce and AfterShip behind them. See them all in the WhatsApp workflows library.
Questions
Does AeroChat work with AfterShip Tracking for WooCommerce?
Yes. Your WooCommerce store is built into AeroChat, and AfterShip connects through its public API with a key from your AfterShip admin. AeroChat is not an AfterShip product, and AeroChat has no partnership with AfterShip.
Do I need to change my AfterShip plugin settings?
No. Keep entering tracking numbers and couriers on the WooCommerce order. The plugin imports them into AfterShip, and AeroChat reads both.
Where does the delivery date come from?
From AfterShip. AeroChat reads the estimated delivery date AfterShip holds for the tracking and says it is an estimate.
Which plan do I need?
On the AfterShip side, a plan that includes API access. On the AeroChat side, workflows via Skills are on every plan, with a 7-day free trial. Choose by message volume: Starter covers 500 AI responses a month, Growth 2,000 and Advanced 5,000. See plans.
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.
Answer your next delivery question in chat
Connect your WooCommerce store, paste the first recipe, add your AfterShip key, and ask your own number where a test order is.
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