UPS has integrated its customer-facing chatbot with its UPS My Choice service – which enables customers to reroute parcels that are on the way — allowing its customers to obtain information about planned and received deliveries without providing a tracking number.
It claims the move makes it the first U.S. package delivery company to offer a chatbot experience specifically designed for authenticated users. The chatbot enables a customer to log in to their UPS My Choice Account which can then provide customised information, including package location and delivery detail.
The chatbot, an Artificial-Intelligence-enabled platform that mimics human conversation, was initially launched last Autumn through Facebook Messenger, Skype and Amazon’s Alexa voice service to help users find UPS locations, get shipping rates and track packages.
“The integration of our chatbot with UPS My Choice is a big leap forward for the customer service UPS offers,” said Stuart Marcus, UPS vice president of customer technology marketing. “It also marks an important step as UPS continues to deploy leading-edge technologies to bring better, easier and simpler experiences to our consumer and business customers.”
“Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, along with big data and the internet of things, underpin many of the technologies that support UPS’s global logistics network,” said Bob Myrick, UPS principal architect of customer engagement technology. “They also enable important customer-facing technologies like UPS My Choice.”
Users of the UPS My Choice service receive email or text messages when their packages are on the way and can re-route packages where appropriate.
Facebook Messenger and Skype users can find the UPS chatbot by searching for “UPS Bot.” Amazon Alexa users can find it by searching for “UPS” in the Alexa Skill store and enabling the skill or by saying “Alexa, open UPS.”
The chatbot will be developed shortly to allow members to sign up for notifications via Facebook Messenger and Skype and to manage the delivery time and location of incoming packages through this interface.
Image credit: UPS
