WooCommerce Shipping

This document outlines the process and benefits of integrating WooCommerce Shipping, a tool for printing USPS and DHL labels directly from your WooCommerce dashboard, with the Advanced Shipment Tracking (AST) plugin for WooCommerce. This integration is designed to streamline your fulfillment workflow and improve the order tracking experience.

Overview of WooCommerce Shipping Integration

WooCommerce Shipping simplifies the process of creating shipping labels for USPS and DHL by integrating directly with WooCommerce and the respective carrier websites to autofill customer address information.

The Problem Addressed

When using WooCommerce Shipping & Tax to generate a shipping label, the tracking information (number, link, and provider) is displayed in the Shipping Label Metabox on your WooCommerce order edit page. However, this process has some limitations:

• Manual Order Status Update: You need to manually change the order status to ‘Completed’ (shipped) to fulfill each order.
• Tracking Information Entry: Each tracking number and shipping provider name must be manually copied from the Shipping Label Metabox and pasted into the Shipment Tracking panel. This process is cumbersome, especially with a high volume of orders, and is prone to errors.
• Limited Fulfillment Automation: The WooCommerce Shipping plugin does not automatically update the order status or fully automate the fulfillment workflow.
• Basic Tracking Info in Emails: The shipping confirmation email includes only the tracking ID and provider name, which may not deliver the best user experience.

WooCommerce Shipping Tracking Integration Solution

Our AST tracking integration addresses these issues by automatically retrieving tracking information from WooCommerce Shipping and updating the AST shipment tracking order meta.

Enabling WooCommerce Shipping Tracking Integration

To activate the WooCommerce Shipping integration:

1. Navigate: Go to your WordPress admin and select WooCommerce > Shipment Tracking > Integrations.
2. Locate and Enable: Find the WooCommerce Shipping integration and enable it.
3. AutoComplete Option: Choose to enable the ‘AutoComplete shipped orders’ option to have AST automatically update the order status to ‘Shipped’. If you prefer to control this manually, you can leave this option disabled.

Post-Integration Workflow

Once enabled, whenever you create a shipping label using WooCommerce Shipping, the shipment tracking data (including the tracking number and carrier) is automatically updated in AST’s shipment tracking order meta.

Handling Carrier Name Discrepancies

• Name Mismatch Issue: WooCommerce Shipping might use different names for shipping carriers than those listed in AST’s shipping carriers.
• Solution: Use the ‘Map Shipping Carriers’ option to align the names received from WooCommerce Shipping with the standardized names in AST. This ensures that the tracking link is included in the shipping confirmation email.

Best Practices and Notes

• Regularly Sync Carriers: Ensure your carrier list in AST is up to date for accurate mapping and tracking.
• Verify Integration Functionality: Regularly check that the integration is working as expected, especially after updates to either plugin.
• Inform Customers: Make sure customers are aware of tracking features and encourage them to track their shipments for enhanced service satisfaction.

By integrating WooCommerce Shipping with AST, you can significantly enhance your order fulfillment process, ensuring tracking information is accurately and efficiently applied and communicated.