Instant calling or a bulk campaign
AI Calls for NDR and RTO Reduction
An AI voice agent for NDR and RTO reduction calls the buyer as soon as a courier marks a delivery failed, finds out what actually happened and arranges a reattempt before the parcel heads back as RTO. Outpero runs these calls from your NDR feed by webhook or as a bulk campaign several times a day, and writes the buyer's chosen reattempt date, corrected address or cancellation back to your sheet or shipping panel.
* Time from the lead reaching Outpero to the first ring, under normal conditions. It depends on how quickly your lead source delivers the lead.
At a glance
AI Calls for NDR and RTO Reduction: the short version
| How it works here | |
|---|---|
| How it starts | Runs on a trigger or on a list, depending on the job |
| Languages | Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam and English |
| It captures | Buyer still wants the order (yes or no), Actual reason for the failed delivery, Reattempt date and time slot, Corrected address and landmark |
| You measure it by | NDR-to-delivered conversion and overall RTO rate |
| Cost | No setup fee · from ₹5/min · number ₹649/month · Prices exclude 18% GST |
Why NDR and RTO reduction breaks when people do it
In Indian ecommerce, a failed delivery attempt — the NDR — is often recorded as 'customer not available' or 'refused' when the buyer says nobody called them. Couriers give the seller a short window to act before the parcel is returned, and support teams working through hundreds of NDRs a day in a spreadsheet cannot reach every buyer in time. Every NDR that slips becomes an RTO: shipping paid both ways and a product stuck in transit for a week or more.
Step by step
How it works
- 01Pull the NDR list from your shipping aggregator several times a day, or send each new NDR to Outpero by webhook through Zapier or Make.
- 02The agent calls the buyer, names the order and the courier's stated failure reason, and asks what happened.
- 03It confirms whether the buyer still wants the order, then captures a reattempt date, a corrected address or landmark, or an alternate number.
- 04It sends a WhatsApp message with the order details and, where you allow it, a prepaid link to avoid cash problems at the door.
- 05The outcome is written to a Google Sheet or your shipping panel through a custom API call, so the reattempt is raised before the courier's deadline.
Hear how a call goes
A sample NDR and RTO reduction call
A call on an order marked undelivered by the courier, with the reason shown as customer not available. · Runs in Hindi with English words; shown here in English.
- Outpero AIHello, am I speaking with Vikram Singh? I'm an AI assistant from ShopNest about your order of ₹899 that did not get delivered yesterday.
- CallerYes, I was waiting the whole day. Nobody came and nobody called me.
- Outpero AII'm sorry about that. The courier has marked it as customer not available. Do you still want the order?
- CallerYes, I want it. Please deliver it again.
- Outpero AIThank you. Which day and time works for you, today evening or tomorrow morning?
- CallerTomorrow morning between 10 and 12. And call this number, my other phone is switched off.
- Outpero AINoted. Is the address, B-22, Sector 15, Noida, still correct, and any landmark for the rider?
- CallerYes. Near the Sector 15 metro gate.
- Outpero AII'll raise a reattempt for tomorrow between 10 and 12, and note that no call was received from the courier. I'm sending the details on WhatsApp now. Thank you, Vikram ji.
Buyer still wants the order, reattempt requested for tomorrow 10 am to 12 pm, same phone as contact number, landmark added, courier misreport flagged for the logistics team, summary written to the shipping sheet before the courier's reattempt cut-off.
An example written to show the shape of the call, not a recording or a customer result.
What it captures on every call
Measured on: NDR-to-delivered conversion and overall RTO rate.
Connect it
How the trigger reaches Outpero
| Where it comes from | How it gets to the agent |
|---|---|
| Shipping aggregator NDR export | Pull the NDR list from your shipping aggregator's panel several times a day and upload it as a CSV campaign. |
| Webhook per NDR event | Where your aggregator offers a webhook for failed deliveries, route it through Zapier or Make into an Outpero instant call. |
| Google Sheet for reattempt actions | The agent writes the new date, address fix and courier misreport flag into a sheet that your ops team uses to raise the reattempt. |
| Custom API to the shipping panel | If your panel exposes an API, the agent calls it with the buyer's reattempt request right after the conversation. |
Results go back out the same way: a webhook you provide, or a live spreadsheet or API call mid-call. WhatsApp messages and calendar bookings are opt-in per employee.
Opening line
How it opens the call
नमस्ते, courier ने बताया है कि कल आपका ₹899 का order deliver नहीं हो पाया — क्या आपको उनका कोई call आया था? आज या कल, कब deliver करवाएँ?
“Hello, the courier reports your ₹899 order could not be delivered yesterday — did you get any call from them? When should we have it delivered, today or tomorrow?”
The same call runs in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam and English.
Price it
What NDR and RTO reduction would cost you
Estimate: NDR and RTO reduction
Defaults are an example for ndr calls, not a promise. Change any number to match your business.
Calls that actually connect — unanswered calls are not billed.
1 channel is included with your number; each extra is ₹649/month.
- Talk time per month
- 2,340 min
- Calling (₹5/min)
- ₹11,700
- Number + 2 channels
- ₹1,298
- Subtotal
- ₹12,998
- GST (18%)
- ₹2,340
About ₹8 per connected call before GST.
Run it well
What to track — and what goes wrong
| Track | How to read it |
|---|---|
| Reattempt success after a call | Compare delivery success on called NDRs versus uncalled ones; a poor result suggests the courier, not the buyer, is the issue. |
| Courier misreports flagged | Repeated flags against one courier or region are your evidence for a service discussion. |
| Buyers who no longer want the order | A big share here points to order quality or COD impulse problems upstream. |
| Time from NDR to buyer contact | Calls made after the courier's reattempt window closes are wasted, so watch this lag closely. |
- !Calling hours after the NDR deadline, when the courier has already initiated return.
- !Not feeding the reattempt request back into the shipping panel, leaving the call as an isolated note.
- !Ignoring the courier's stated reason instead of checking it against what the buyer says.
- !Calling the alternate number that was on the label without first trying the order phone.
If you ship few orders, or your courier's own delivery team already calls reliably, the extra calls add little. It also cannot fix delivery problems caused by an unserviceable pincode.
Questions people ask
How quickly should an NDR be called?
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The same day, and ideally within a few hours of the failed attempt, because couriers allow only a limited window before the parcel is marked for return. Running an NDR bulk campaign two or three times a day, or triggering a call on each new NDR by webhook, keeps the reattempt request ahead of that deadline.
What if the buyer says the courier never came?
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That is common, and the agent records it as a courier misreport alongside the buyer's own words. The reattempt is still raised, and the transcript gives your operations team evidence when escalating with the courier partner. Over a month, misreports grouped by courier and pincode show which partner is driving your RTO.
Can the agent change the delivery address?
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It captures the corrected address, landmark and pincode on the call and reads them back for confirmation. Whether the change can be applied depends on your courier — some allow edits on a reattempt, some only within the same pincode. The agent writes the update to your sheet or panel, and your operations team or API applies it.
Is NDR calling different from COD confirmation?
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Yes. COD confirmation happens before dispatch and filters out fake or impulse orders. NDR calling happens after a failed delivery and rescues genuine orders that went wrong in transit. Most brands with a high COD share run both, from the same Outpero account as separate campaigns with their own scripts.
Which languages work for NDR calls?
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Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam and Indian English, with natural switching to English mid-sentence. Choose the language from the pincode or state in your NDR list. For buyers in Bengali-, Gujarati- or Odia-speaking areas, call in Hindi or English, since those three languages are not yet available on Outpero.
How much does an AI voice agent for NDR and RTO reduction cost?
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Outpero has no setup fee and no monthly base fee — you pay only for connected talk time, from ₹5 per minute (1 credit = ₹1, credits never expire), plus ₹649/month for a dedicated calling number. You pay only for the minutes the agent is actually talking. Prices exclude 18% GST.
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