Chatbot Tracker: Shipping Gifts And Customer Return Rate PYMNTS.com

Chatbots can help secure purchases but also ship packages. Just in time for the holidays, UPS has launched a beta version of its chatbot that will mimic human conversations to help users find shipping locations, learn shipping rates and track packages. Available through Facebook Messenger, Skype and Amazon, UPS' release said it is different from the UPS website or mobile app in that users can use brief phrases like "shipping rates" and receive a voice response. "We see chatbots becoming an important communication channel for our customers over the next few years, and we're setting the stage for the incorporation of artificial intelligence throughout our customer-facing technologies," Stuart Marcus, UPS vice president of customer technology marketing, said in a release. Investing in a chatbot is likely useful for UPS' functionality, especially at times of high volume, such as the holiday rush.