A delivery is not always as simple, as picking up a parcel and dropping it off. Sometimes customers are not home. Sometimes addresses are incomplete. Sometimes someone wants to reschedule at the minute. Courier teams face these kinds of issues every day. That’s where AI voice agents come in. They can handle calls that would otherwise take time and effort. In this blog we’ll look at how AI voice agents work. We’ll also explore where courier companies can use them to make things easier.
What Are AI Voice Agents in Courier Services?
There are so many small things that courier companies need to call customers for. It could be a COD confirmation, a delivery update or simply asking if someone will be available to receive the parcel. AI voice agents can make these calls and talk to customers on their own. They can understand what the customer says and respond during the call.
Unlike recorded messages, AI voice agents for courier delivery can have two-way conversations. Similarly goes with the AI voice agents for logistics – they help businesses manage routine calling tasks without adding more work for their support teams.
How Do AI Voice Agents Work in Logistics?
A lot of delivery calls are pretty much the same. Is the customer available? Did they miss the delivery call? Do they want the parcel delivered today? These are some same and repetitive questions.
So, instead of someone calling for each of these things, an AI voice agent can do it and share the response with the team. Let’s say a parcel is out for delivery but the customer hasn’t yet confirmed their availability. The agent can call, ask them about it and note down their response. The following step could be that the team can then check these responses and take the next step without making every call themselves.
6 Key Applications of AI Voice Agents in Courier and Last-Mile Delivery
Courier deliveries involve plenty of customer calls and AI voice agents help handle these small conversations without keeping delivery teams busy on the phone all day.
Verification of the Address where Shipment is to be Delivered
Someone places an order in a hurry and only later notices that the flat number is missing and this is a common mistake that happens with most people. Or the delivery person has no clue which building to go to if you miss to add a landmark in your address. A quick call from the courier company before the parcel goes out can help catch these little mistakes early so that the delivery agent does not have to call or wait or ask around for your address.
Final Confirmation for COD Orders
Let’s you order something on Sunday but the next day you change your mind and don’t really want it anymore. And this happens with COD orders quite a bit. So, companies make an AI delivery confirmation call to the customer and ask if them whether they still want it before they send the parcel out. It’s a small check, but it may save the delivery person a trip where the parcel gets refused at the door.
Notification for Delivery Delays
The delivery of a parcel can be delayed and that is normal. But what gets annoying is waiting all day without knowing what’s going on. Customers keep checking their phones, tracking the parcel or calling customer support. So, instead customer calling in the first place a quick automated delivery calls from the courier company can at least tell them that the delivery won’t happen today and share an update if there’s one.
Failed Delivery Follow-ups
The last-mile delivery agent gets to the address, calls the customer and there’s no answer due to any reason – maybe they’re at work or maybe they went out for a bit. But the parcel is still undelivered, and someone has to figure out what happens next. A follow-up AI call for last-mile delivery can ask the customer when they’ll be available and if another delivery attempt would work.
Shipment Updates
There are different types of customers as not everyone keeps checking their tracking status. Some customers check it again and again, while others only remember the parcel when someone calls them. So, whenever the shipment is out for delivery or there’s any type of change in its status, a quick automated delivery call can tell them what’s the exact status.
Post-Delivery Feedback
Once the parcel reaches the customer, the whole thing is usually over. The courier company moves on to the next delivery and the customer gets busy with their day. But did the parcel arrive on time? Was there any issue with the delivery person? But there are things that can go unnoticed unless someone asks. A short automated feedback call after the parcel is delivered can give customers a chance to speak up and it is a good practice for every logistics company.
Key Benefits of AI Voice Agents for Courier Companies
A courier team has a lot to manage every day, and customer calls are a part of almost every step. Therefore given below are some of the benefits of AI voice agents for logistics.
- Think about the number of calls a courier team has to make every day – could be asking addresses, making order confirmation, or customer follow-up regarding delivery. This workload can be take over by AI voice agents, as they will reduce all the manual calling effort and give teams more time to focus on tasks that need their attention.
- A delivery attempt gets wasted when the customer isn’t available or the address turns out to be incorrect and the loss is bear by the courier company. These things can be avoided through a little communication beforehand the last-mile delivery. It gives the courier team a better chance of getting the parcel delivered on the first attempt.
- COD orders can be tricky sometimes in a manner that a customer may refuse the parcel at the door, even after placing the order. A confirmation call which is automated or AI-powered just before dispatch can help courier companies check if the customer still wants it or not.
- Customers don’t expect a call for every small thing but they do want to know about the whereabouts of their shipment, whether it is delayed or when they can expect it. Regular, useful updates through AI or automated calls can improve customer communication and also strengthen trust on the courier company.
- A wrong address, an unavailable customer or a failed delivery can hold up a shipment. And until someone finds out what happened, the next step is often delayed too. AI voice agents can collect the customer’s response sooner, so the concerned team can decide what needs to be done instead of spending time on repeated follow-up calls.
- The number of calls goes up as shipment volumes increase. And it is not a practical solution to hire more people just to manage these routine calls. In such scenarios, AI voice agents can handle several such conversations.
Future of AI Voice Agents In Last-Mile Delivery
AI voice agent won’t be replacing humans but they would be helping them to do jobs in a more better way, increasing their productivity. Their usage might be scene in various scenarios like rescheduling deliveries, confirming a suitable delivery time or collecting extra address details before a rider reaches the location.
Still AI voice agents cannot handle every situation, and the support of human team will still be needed. For example a customer might speak in a regional language or explain an issue in a way the AI voice agent cannot understand.
Here, the idea is quite simple – to let AI take care of everyday calls while keeping the human support available when a call needs personal attention.
Conclusion
A parcel can be out for delivery however it doesn’t really mean that the parcel is going to reach its customer without a few calls. There could be possibility that the last-mile delivery executive may need to check the address, ask when someone will be home or find out why the customer isn’t accepting the parcel. Now imagine handling these calls for hundreds of shipments every day. It takes up a lot of time.
Here, AI voice agents are like boon. And courier companies manage these conversations by taking help of AI voice agents without making every call manually. Human support remains just as important, however AI voice bot for delivery management are useful for routine and repitive work where no brains are needed.
FAQs
AI voice agents are simply nothing sort of a rocket science but are automated calling systems that can speak with customers, answer basic questions and collect responses related to their deliveries.
Last-mile delivery automation can takeover some of the repitive or tasks that do not require human efforts such as:
- COD orders confirmation
- Checking delivery availability
- Sharing updates on delays (if any)
- Follow-ups after a delivery attempt fails
Yes definitely. Small courier companies can use them to manage routine customer calls that do not need humans thus without adding more people to handle every confirmation or follow-up.
You can use AI voice bots to confirm the customer’s availability and check address details before the delivery executive reaches the location. This in turn help in lowering the chances of failed delivery attempts.
