Plan: Essentials, Premium, Enterprise| Platform: All platforms
Overview
AfterShip Agent lets you analyze your shipment performance through meaningful conversation in AfterShip Tracking. Learn how to review delivery metrics, investigate performance changes, and share your findings using AfterShip Agent.
This guide walks you through asking a question, creating an insight report, exploring a proactive insight, and checking the data behind each answer. You can compare periods, find which carriers or destinations drive a change, and turn your findings into a report for your team.
Before You Begin
Limitations
AfterShip Agent suggests next steps but doesn't create or change rules, configurations, or operational workflows
The shipment records you can view depend on your permissions, your data, and display limits
Proactive insights depend on feature availability for your account and whether your data supports a finding
Ask a Question About Shipment Performance
Ask about a metric and a time period to get a short answer, chart, table, or report.
In AfterShip Tracking, open AfterShip Agent from the left navigation, or click the AfterShip Agent chat button in the lower-right corner.
Enter a question that includes the metric or business concern and the time period. For example, "What was my delivery rate last month?"
Click How was this generated below the response to review the data scope and context.
Enter a follow-up question to explore the result.
The AfterShip Agent chat panel with How was this generated below the response
Tip: To get a summary of the Analytics dashboard you have open, ask AfterShip Agent to "Summarize this dashboard."
Questions you can try
Start with a quick performance check, or combine a comparison, breakdown, and business question in one request.
What you want to understand | Example question |
Check delivery performance | What was my delivery rate last month? |
Explore shipment volume | Show weekly shipment volume for the last 90 days, broken down by destination country. |
Compare periods | Compare last month's on-time delivery rate with the previous month. Show the percentage-point change and the shipment counts behind each rate. |
Investigate slower deliveries | Did average transit time increase last month compared with the previous month? Break down the change by carrier and service, and compare the same shipping lanes in both periods. |
Explore delivery exceptions | Compare last month's exception rate with the previous month by carrier and destination country. Which groups had the largest increases, and how many shipments were affected? |
Investigate an on-time delivery decline | Our on-time delivery rate dropped last month. Identify where the decline is concentrated by carrier, service, and destination. Check whether it reflects changes within those groups or a different shipment mix, and explain what the data cannot determine. |
Prepare an operations review | Create a report comparing last month with the previous month across shipment volume, delivery rate, on-time delivery, transit time, and exception rate. Highlight the most important changes, include supporting charts, and suggest what to investigate next. |
For a more focused answer, include a carrier, service, destination, or shipping lane (the route between an origin and a destination). You can also name the output you need, such as a chart, comparison table, or report. If AfterShip Agent asks you to clarify the scope, answer in the same conversation.
Go further with follow-up questions
Continue in the same conversation to build on an answer without repeating the full question. For example:
"What was my delivery rate last month?"
"Compare it with the previous month."
"Break the change down by carrier."
"For the carrier with the largest decrease, break it down by service and destination."
"Summarize these findings in a report."
You can also change direction with requests such as "Only include shipments to Canada," "Use the previous quarter instead," or "Remove the carrier filter." Click How was this generated on the new response to confirm the updated scope.
Create an Insight Report
An insight report organizes your investigation into what changed, where it changed, and what needs further attention. Use it to prepare an operations review, examine carrier performance, or share the evidence behind a delivery issue with your team.
Open AfterShip Agent.
Describe the question, time period, and comparison you want to investigate, and ask for a report.
Click the report card in the conversation to open the report.
Review the findings and supporting data.
Enter follow-up questions in the chat panel.
Example requests
To start with a report:
Create a report comparing last month's on-time delivery with the previous month. Highlight the carriers and shipping lanes with the largest changes, show the supporting data, and suggest what to investigate next.
To turn an existing conversation into a report:
Turn this analysis into a report for our operations review.
What a report can tell you
Depending on your question and the available data, a report can answer:
Question | What the report shows |
What changed? | Performance against the comparison period, with the size and direction of the change |
Where is the change concentrated? | Carrier, service, destination, or shipping lane breakdowns |
How many shipments are affected? | Shipment counts and the population behind each rate |
What supports the finding? | Charts, tables, and explanations alongside the analysis scope |
What should you investigate next? | Suggested next steps and areas that need more information |
The report's structure follows your investigation. If information is missing or AfterShip Agent can't verify a possible explanation, the report states those limits. This helps your team separate a supported finding from an open question.
Read an on-time performance report
The example below compares 2 months of on-time delivery performance. Use the reading guide generated with it to move from the headline to the evidence.
An on-time performance insight report with the chat panel open
Summary: Read the direction and size of the change, alongside the shipment counts behind each rate.
Period comparison: Check the shipment volumes and outcomes for each month.
Performance by carrier: Use the carrier breakdown to find where a closer comparison is useful.
Chat panel: Click How was this generated below a response to review the data scope, or ask a follow-up such as "Compare the same services and destinations in both months."
Explore a Proactive Insight
Proactive insights highlight performance changes worth reviewing, even before you choose a metric or write a question.
Review an available insight and the performance change it describes.
Click Ask Agent on the insight.
Review the analysis, including the comparison period and affected groups.
Ask a follow-up question or request a report.
Follow-up questions to try
Goal | Example question |
Understand the change | What changed, which period is being compared, and how many shipments are included? |
Find where it's concentrated | Which carriers and destinations account for the largest share of this change? |
Check the comparison | Does the pattern still hold when comparing the same services and shipping lanes? |
Bring the findings together | Create a report summarizing this finding, the supporting evidence, and what we should investigate next. |
Understand Your Results
Verify the data behind an answer
Click How was this generated below any response to see the data scope and context AfterShip Agent used. Check these details:
Metric: What AfterShip Agent measures, and which shipments qualify
Dates: The period, time zone, and date field, such as shipment creation, pickup, or delivery date
Filters: The carriers, services, destinations, or other groups included
Comparison: The previous period or other baseline used
If the scope doesn't match your intent, correct it in a follow-up. For example, "Use pickup date instead of creation date, and keep the same date range and carrier filter." Then check How was this generated on the new response.
Keep comparisons meaningful
Factor | Why it matters |
Recent periods | Shipments may still be in transit, so a recent delivery rate can change as tracking updates arrive |
Small groups | A large percentage change based on a few shipments may not reflect a broader pattern |
Expected delivery date | On-time delivery depends on whether the analysis uses carrier, promised, or custom estimated delivery dates |
Shipment mix | Compare similar services and shipping lanes before drawing conclusions about carrier transit times |
Past exceptions | A shipment that had an exception may since have been delivered |
Review evidence before you act
AfterShip Agent identifies patterns and possible contributing factors. A concentration of delays in one carrier or region doesn't prove why the delays happened. Use the supporting evidence and stated limitations to decide what to investigate next.
What You Can Expect
After completing these steps:
You get answers as short text, charts, tables, or reports, depending on your question
You can open any insight report from its card and continue the investigation in chat
You can check the data scope of every response with How was this generated
FAQs
1. Why does an answer differ from my dashboard or export?
Differences in scope can produce different results. Click How was this generated below the response and compare the organization, metric definition, date field, date range, time zone, and filters with your dashboard or export.
2. Can AfterShip Agent tell me the root cause of a change?
AfterShip Agent can investigate possible contributing factors and explain the evidence for each one. Some causes, such as warehouse changes or carrier operations, need information outside your Tracking data. When the evidence is insufficient, AfterShip Agent states the uncertainty.
3. Can I see the shipments behind a finding?
Yes, when shipment details are supported and you have access. Ask in the same conversation, for example, "Show the shipments behind this finding." Check that the detail view uses the scope you intend to investigate.
4. Why don't I see a proactive insight?
Insights depend on feature availability for your account and whether your data supports a finding. You can still ask AfterShip Agent a question directly. A missing insight doesn't confirm that every shipment or metric is healthy.
Key Takeaways
AfterShip Agent answers shipment performance questions in a conversation within AfterShip Tracking
Include the metric and time period in your question for a focused answer
AfterShip Agent analyzes your Tracking data and doesn't change rules or configurations
Responses appear as text, charts, tables, or insight reports you can share with your team
Check How was this generated when an answer doesn't match your dashboard