Back to All Articles

Heybreez: how delivery companies cut failed deliveries with automated calls

HeybreezAI
A COD confirmation call in Gulf Arabic and English updates an order live: payment confirmed, delivery slot moved to tomorrow after 18:00, address completed.

Delivery companies can use Heybreez to reduce failed deliveries by calling customers before the driver sets out. Our automated call confirms the cash-on-delivery (COD) order, checks the address and agrees a time the customer will be in, and the outcome goes back to your order or dispatch system. We retry missed calls. A customer who needs a person is transferred with the context of the call.

Operations teams across support, sales, healthcare, and logistics run voice AI on Heybreez. Each call here is a workflow you build in Heybreez, not a separate delivery product.

COD confirmation first

The COD confirmation call is the first one to automate, because it stops a driver leaving with an order the customer no longer wants or cannot pay for.

Confirm before dispatch

The call confirms the order and that payment will be ready at the door. Our voice systems manage confirmations, reminders, cancellations and real-time updates, integrated directly with your internal tools, and function calls run inside the call for system updates and data lookups. A cancellation reaches your system before the parcel is loaded.

A worked COD call

A COD workflow can open with the order reference and the amount due. The agent asks whether the customer still wants the order and will have payment ready. A yes is written to the order as confirmed. A no opens a branch to cancel or to move the delivery to another slot, and the result is written back before the call ends.

Day-before availability

A call the day before checks that the customer will be in during the delivery window, before routes are planned.

The agent asks whether the window still suits. If it does, the confirmation goes to dispatch. If it does not, the call moves straight into rescheduling.

Rescheduling to a new slot

When the window does not suit, the agent offers other slots and writes the accepted one back during the call. Our platform retrieves live data and updates state mid-conversation, so the agent can offer slots from your system while the customer is on the line. If no slot works, the call goes to a person on your team.

Address capture

The same call can complete an address that arrived without a flat number or a landmark.

The agent asks for the missing details, reads the full address back to the customer and writes it to the order during the call. Our data extraction also pulls structured information from every call, custom fields included, with no manual note-taking. The address field is part of your workflow configuration.

Arabic and English mixed

Our agent detects each caller’s language and dialect automatically, including Emirati, Gulf and Saudi Arabic, and adapts as the conversation goes. Calls in the Middle East and North Africa can mix Arabic and English for names, dates and addresses. Our post on evaluating Arabic dialect voice agents sets out the test: the agent must recognise the switch and must not transcribe English digits as Arabic words.

A Gulf Arabic example

Run this case through our test step before go-live. A customer answers in Gulf Arabic, gives the building name and flat number in English and says “tomorrow after 6”. The agent should read the address back, confirm a slot after 18:00 and write the corrected address and the new slot to the order before the call ends.

Day-of calls in a batch

On delivery day, a Batch Calling run calls each customer on that day’s list before the driver arrives.

Each call is personalised with your contact data, so the agent can open with the customer’s name and the agreed window. Every call is recorded and logged automatically. A customer who will not be in can move the delivery before the van reaches the street.

Recovery after a missed drop

When an attempt fails, a recovery call goes to the customer to rearrange the delivery.

We run branching follow-up journeys that carry the operation on after the first call. The agent refers to the missed attempt and opens rescheduling. The customer’s answer decides the branch: a new slot, a cancellation or a transfer to your team.

Retries for unanswered calls

An unanswered call is retried, not dropped.

We retry missed calls automatically and schedule callbacks. Our Campaigns product retries calls that do not connect because nobody answered, the line was busy or the call failed. When a customer asks to be called back at a set time, the call goes out at that time. Our post on automatic retries and callbacks for outbound calls covers the mechanics.

Handoff to a person

When the customer wants a human, your team picks up the call already knowing what was said.

We transfer calls between AI agents, departments or live human agents, based on real-time context. Context transfers with the call, so neither your team nor the customer starts from zero. Nobody has to read the order number out again.

Write-back to your systems

Each call outcome can be written back to your order or dispatch system. Orders reach Heybreez the same way as any campaign: you upload the day’s contact list, choose the workflow and the numbers to call from, and the platform works through it.

Our Custom APIs connect any internal system via our open API layer, and Zapier connects Heybreez to any tool in your stack via automated workflows. Each update then sits where your dispatch team works.

Our view is that a call only counts when its outcome changes the order. Karim Malhas, our founder and CEO, put it this way in our post Voice AI Vendors Are Selling Half a Product: “The market solved pieces of voice. It didn’t solve the operation of voice.”

Real conversations

Customers talk to our agent as they would to a person.

Low-latency streaming and advanced turn-taking give interruption-aware conversations in real time. A customer can cut in to change the slot or query the amount, and the agent responds to what was said.

What to measure

Measure deliveries, not answered calls.

Track COD orders confirmed or cancelled before dispatch and first-attempt deliveries. Add reschedules agreed before arrival and orders the calls did not reach. Count returns to the sender as well. Compare called orders with a similar set of orders that were not called. We record and transcribe every call and tag it by sentiment, intent and outcome. Our monitoring shows transcripts, outcomes, call volume, latency and drop-off points, so you can see where calls end without a usable result.

Where to start

Start with the COD confirmation call and the day-before call, then add the day-of and recovery calls.

You can go live in hours, not weeks. Our test step lets you validate before you go live, so the first calls your customers hear are ones you have already checked.

Questions before go-live

Settle these for your own setup before you go live.

Call data and compliance

Call data is encrypted at rest and in transit. Our Trust Center lists HIPAA, SOC 2 Type 1, SOC 2 Type 2 and GDPR Article 27 under Compliance. Agree where your call data is processed and stored before launch.

Calling windows and consent

Set the hours your calls go out and the consent basis for calling customers about their orders. Our Campaigns follow the calling windows you set. Agree the consent position for your customer data with your legal team.

Telemarketing rules

UAE Cabinet Resolution No. (56) of 2024 Concerning the Telemarketing Regulations covers calls “for marketing, advertising or promoting the products or services”. If a delivery call also promotes anything, check it against the resolution with your legal team.

Frequently asked questions

When do the calls go out?

We start with a COD confirmation before the order is dispatched and an availability check the day before delivery. On delivery day a batch run calls each customer ahead of the driver, and a recovery call follows any failed attempt, all inside the calling windows you set.

How does the COD confirmation call work?

The call can open with the amount due and the order reference, then the agent asks if the customer still wants the order and can pay at the door. If they say yes, the order is marked confirmed; if not, your workflow branches to cancel the order or move it to another slot and writes the outcome to the order before the call ends.

What if the customer does not answer?

We try again automatically, so an unanswered call is not lost. A customer who asks for a callback at a particular time is called at that time.

Which languages does the agent speak?

Our agent recognises each caller’s language and dialect automatically. That includes Emirati, Gulf and Saudi Arabic, and the agent adapts as the call goes on. Callers in the Middle East and North Africa can switch to English for an address or a date, so put that case through our test step before go-live.

How long does setup take?

You can be live in hours rather than weeks. Setup means building the workflow in Heybreez, with the fields it captures and the system each outcome is written back to, then checking the calls in our test step before your customers hear them. After that, the daily routine is uploading the contact list and choosing the workflow and the numbers to call from.

Hear it on your phone

Our demo is an automated call to your phone, so you hear the agent before you build anything.

Try our live demo: on our contact page, press Run a Live Demo under Build What Works, enter your name and phone number, then press Get a Call and our agent calls you.

References

Build What Works.