The skills of the chatbot will help consignees to track their parcels or redirect it, 24/7
Anyone who receives parcels with DPD now has an additional channel for contacting the digital innovation leader: consignees can now ask “Phil”, the DPD chatbot, about the current status of their shipments. The service is integrated into the DPD Belgium website and can be used both on a desktop PC and on mobile devices.
“Our chatbot Phil is an additional channel that our consignees can use to find out where their parcel is quickly and directly,” Carl Pardoen, Customer Experience Director at DPD Belux. "Have you, as a consignee missed the delivery or would you like to reschedule it? Simply ask the DPD chatbot Phil. He will give you the right instructions to redirect you parcel.“
The new chatbot couldn’t be easier to use. When a user visits dpd.be, Phil is first displayed in a minimized window. On desktop PCs there is a red chat window entitled “Chat with DPD”. On smartphones as well, the user can easily start to chat with Phil. The chat window opens with a click on the relevant area. Users can then ask Phil about the status of a parcel – for example by clicking the question “Where is my parcel?” If the initial question doesn’t contain all the necessary data, the chatbot will ask for more information. The bot will then provide the consignee with all the necessary answers within a very short time.
If someone asks a question that Phil is currently unable to answer, the customer will not be left without support. In such cases the DPD chatbot will automatically provide a link or contact options under which a member of the service team can be reached. Phil is the first point of contact and can deal with many enquiries automatically.
The use of the chatbot is an optional contact channel. All existing contact options are, of course, still available: ranging from personal telephone support via service enquiries, an online form or a dedicated sales contact.
Digital services: simple and fast
In order to provide consignees with maximum flexibility, DPD Belux’s digital services are designed to achieve the desired result quickly and easily. A core element is a delivery forecast which is accurate to one hour. In addition, consignees can use map-supported live tracking to see exactly how far away the delivery driver is. Thanks to this maximum transparency, consignees can estimate exactly whether or not they will be at home for the upcoming delivery attempt. If they aren’t going to be at home they can simply postpone the delivery – or choose an alternative delivery option. This makes it easy for them to integrate taking delivery of parcels into their everyday routine. Further features – such as a digital service rating – round off the functionalities of the myDPD App and the website. The myDPD consignee portal has over 5 million views per month. 130 000 people are registered, this is up to 1% of the total Belgian population! 58 000 already downloaded the myDPD app.
