Consumers’ Desire for Shipment Tracking Sparks AfterShip, Attentive Partnership

Saying post-purchase engagement via text messaging is crucial to customer retention, AfterShip and Attentive have announced a technology partnership that will help online merchants provide their customers with shipment tracking and notifications that are personalized and automated.

The technology partnership integrates AfterShip’s post-purchase and tracking platform for eCommerce businesses with Attentive’s conversational commerce platform, according to a Monday (Aug. 29) press release.

“Our partnership with Attentive gives eCommerce businesses a powerful tool in their arsenal and offers online retailers a joint solution that they can supercharge their SMS efforts around shipments and deliveries, building an even stronger post-purchase strategy that drives customer retention,” AfterShip Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer Andrew Chan said in the release.

With the integration of these tools, AfterShip’s comprehensive shipment tracking application programming interfaces (APIs) send the customer’s name, order ID and order tracking links to Attentive’s text messaging platform. There, “order in-transit” and “order delivered” notifications can be personalized and launched, according to the press release.

“[Ninety-seven percent] of customers want to receive shipping updates via text,” Attentive Director of Ecosystem Partnerships Greg Bauman said in the release. “This integration allows our mutual merchants to receive more details and personalized updates, creating a better customer experience and stronger loyalty.”

Too many businesses are focused on customer acquisition and advertising rather than what happens after the purchase, Chan told PYMNTS in a March interview.

Read more: Proactively Addressing eCommerce Delivery Delays Improves Customer Experience

“It’s time to change because the acquisition cost is so high,” Chan said at the time. “So, it’s a big shift of the trend for the top merchants to focus on retention, loyal customers, brand recognition — all those things.”

A post-purchase and tracking platform that offers branded shipment tracking, notifications, returns and exchanges, and helps businesses monitor shipments and delivery times, helps businesses deliver the services online customers now expect, Chan said.