AfterShip Tracking Common Scenario

One of the most common usage of the Commerce API is to import shipments to AfterShip Tracking, in order to send out the order/shipment update notification. Also the shopper can also visit AfterShip branded tracking page to view the order/shipment latest status or registering email/sms updates.

This document will describe several common usage scenarios for AfterShip Tracking, provided for your reference.

Please be sure to reach out to the AfterShip support team or contact your customer success manager to activate your store ID for AfterShip Tracking usage.

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1. Import the Order

The first step is to import your order into AfterShip system, you can import the your order with order endpoints. Once you have successfully imported orders, you can view the shipments under the AfterShip Tracking admin portal.

All sample requests in this tutorial will include only the minimum required fields necessary to utilize the desired feature. For detailed definitions of other fields, please visit Order API Reference.

Common Required Fields

Field	Description	Sample
source_id	The unique identifier of the order. For most of the case it should be the same as the order ID of your system.	CM1011
number	The order name	CM1011
currency	The curreny of the order	USD
status	The status of the order	open
order_total	The total price of the order	9.5
items	Items of order	-
items.*.source_id	A unique identifier for the line item in your system	9716591689898
items.*.title	The title of the product variant	Mobile Phone Case
itmes.*.quantity	The number of items that have been purchased	1
source_created_at	The date and time (ISO 8601 format) when an order was created	2023-02-16T01:00:10Z
source_updated_at	The date and time (ISO 8601 format) when an order was updated.	2023-02-16T01:00:10Z
shipments	Order shipments	-
shipments.*.source_id	A unique identifier for the shipment in your system.	321324145553321
shipments.*.tracking_number	Tracking number.	32332131122
shipments.*.slug	Unique code of the courier. Get couriers here: https://www.aftership.com/couriers.	fedex

Sample JSON

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2. Prepare the Request Data

Depending on the intended usage, you will need to include various auxiliary data along with the common fields outlined in the previous section.

2.1 Sending Email Notifications

AfterShip Tracking allows you to send email notifications for different delivery statuses. With swift email notifications, you can keep your customers updated about their order status.

Specific Required Fields

Field	Description	Sample
customer	Customer information object	-
customer.emails	The customer's email array	["[email protected]"]

Sample Request

2.2 Sending SMS Notifications

To use the sms notification feature, please add the valid customer phone numbers (customer.phones) to the order payload.

Specific Required Fields

Field	Description	Sample
customer	Customer information object	-
customer.phones	The customer's phone number array	["+12025553750"]

Sample Request

2.3 Notification workflow based on the order status

If you want to configure an notification workflow based on the status of an order, you will also have to provide the fulfillment_status.

Specific Required Fields

Field	Description	Sample
customer	Customer information object	-
customer.emails	The customer's email array	["[email protected]"]
customer.phones	The customer's phone array	["+12025553750"]
fulfillment_status	The status of fulfillment associated with the order	unfulfilled

Sample Request

2.4 Notification workflow using workflow trigger filters

If you want to set up an email/sms workflow using workflow trigger filters, you can use the corresponding fields in the following reference table:

Field	Trigger Filter Name	Example
number	Order number	CM1011
status	Order status	CM1011
items[*].product_categories	Product type	["makeup"]
shipping_address.country_region	Destination country/region	USA
shipments[*].slug	Slug	"fedex"
shipments[*].custom_fields	Custom fields	{"customer_tag": "testing"}
source	Please select automizely-private	-

Sample Request

2.5 Custom EDD

The custom estimated delivery date (Custom EDD) is used in cases where you already have a mechanism to calculate the estimated delivery date based on the shipping type, carrier, and destination. Please refer to here for more detail about Custom EDD feature.

The general formula for calculating the custom EDD for the selected industry type is as follows: Order date + Order cutoff & processing time + Transit time

Please refer to the table below for instructions on how to input the mentioned variables into the AfterShip system:

Variable	Description
Order date	The order creation time should be passed via the "source_created_at" field in the order payload.
Order cutoff & processing time	The processing time for an order is configured on the Tracking's admin page.
Transit time	The estimated shipping time is configured on the Tracking's admin page.

2.6 Segmentation

Please refer to here for more detail about Segmentation feature.

To use the Segmentation feature, you should send the required order information to AfterShip via Order API according to the referencetable below:

Commerce API Field Name	Segmentation Condition Field Name
order_total	Order -> Total billing amount
tags	Order -> Order tag
number	Order -> Order number
items[*].sku	Product -> Product SKU
items[*].product_categories	Product -> Product type
items[*].product_tags	Product -> Product tag
shipments[*].slug	Shipment -> Carrier
name	Shipment -> Shipment title
shipping_address.country_region	Shipment -> Destination country/region
shipping_address.state	Shipment -> Destination state
shipping_address.postal_code	Shipment -> Destination postal code
shipments[*].custom_fields	Custom field

2.7 Product Recommendation

The AfterShip product recommendation feature enables you to display the most suitable products to your shoppers based on various behaviors and criteria. To utilize this feature, you must import order and product resources into AfterShip.

Importing Products

Importing Orders

2.8 Product documents

If you want to use the Product documents feature, please import order and product resources according to the following examples:

Key field	description
order.shipments[*].custom_fields.package_count	The total number of packages to be unpacked for this shipment should be entered. For example, if the order requires 2 packages to be unpacked for shipment, please enter 2. Tracking will use this information to determine the last package of the shipment. Once Tracking confirms that the last package has been delivered, the product documents will be sent.

2.9 Notifications - Flow

To create a custom flow and utilize flow filters related to shopping behavior, you can import order, and product data following the examples provided below:

Key field	description
order.customer.source_id	A unique identifier for the customer. The ID will be used to calculate values related to SHOPPING BEHAVIOR.
order.financial_status	The financial_status should not be unpaid. Only when financial_status is not equal to 'unpaid', the order will be used to calculate values related to SHOPPING BEHAVIOR.
order.source_created_at	The creation time of the order used to calculate the number of orders within the relevant time period. Related SHOPPING BEHAVIOR：First order date,Last order date,Number of recent orders.
order.order_total	Related SHOPPING BEHAVIOR：Total spent,Avg. order value.
order.items[x].source_product_id	Related SHOPPING BEHAVIOR：Purchased products.
order.items[x].source_variant_id	Related SHOPPING BEHAVIOR：Purchased products.