Chatbot development for the Russian Post

Situation

The majority of requests received by the call centre of the Russian Post are typical.
People want to know:

Where is my parcel?
Where is the nearest post office?
How to collect the parcel?
What is the cost of delivery?

Although all of this is already automated on the Russian Post website, it takes a long time to look for the information you need (and sometimes there are no answers ) and even longer – to call the 8 800… number. Apart from that, the Russian Post employees have to spend their time to process all these requests.

It would be way more convenient to get all the information directly in the messenger on your smartphone without having to call to the operator.

Challenge

To develop a chatbot for the Russian Post that would allow to:

reduce the load on the call centre,

make receiving information for customers easier

Launch

July 2017 г. →

December 2017 г. →

The chatbot tracks parcels

The chatbot not only tracks the current location of your postage, thanks to over 100 knots in its algorithm, it knows exactly when and what information to give to the user.

It takes into account the place of dispatch and the type of correspondence, determines the deadline for the parcel’s arrival, compares it with the current status and predicts the delivery time. And if the time changes, it sends the user a notification.

Once the package arrives at the post office, the chatbot informs the recipient about it. In case if the postage is missing, it sends instructions on what to do next.

Calculates the delivery cost

First, the chatbot clarifies all the necessary parameters: the delivery method, the type of postage, destination, weight, cost, etc. After that, it calculates the cost and the approximate delivery time.

Finds the nearest post office

The chatbot finds the nearest post office branch depending on the user’s current location, the particular address or the postcode.

Responds to frequently asked questions

This feature will be available in Spring 2018. At the moment we are preparing the list of questions and answers based on the call centre requests database. For instance, what to do if you lost your package notification.

Connects you to the operator

Our chatbot is only in the process of becoming almighty wizard that has all the answers, so if it doesn’t understand the user’s question, it suggests to speak to the real operator instead.

Collects customer feedback

In about half an hour after using the bot (but no more than once a day), it will ask a user to rate it. There is a daily upload of the bot statistics and users ratings.

All negatively rated communication records go directly to the bot’s operators for further analysis in order to improve the chatbot performance.

Results

We launched our chatbot on Viber in July 2017. In just two weeks, without any advertising and special announcements, only by being posted on Viber’s public accounts, it got its first 5000 users.

In the middle of September, after a successful launch on Viber, we added the same bot to the Russian Post website. By the first month, the load on the call centre operators responding to common questions was reduced by 10%. And by the New Year, it has decreased twice compared to the previous year.

In the beginning of December, we launched the bot on Telegram. Next step – VK, Facebook and WhatsApp.

To find out what’s going on with your letter or package, you just need to send the tracking number to the chatbot once. And that’s all. You can forget or even lose it – the bot will notify you about any changes in the status of your postage. It's very convenient – we at JetStyle love using it!