What shippers ask AI assistants before choosing a logistics company

Shippers ask about a particular route, a particular commodity and a particular deadline, and they ask what it should cost and what happens when it goes wrong. They do not ask which logistics company is best in general, which is what most provider content is written for.

The companion page on how a logistics company gets recommended by AI covers the fixes. This page is the question list.

The questions, in the words buyers use

Route and time

• "Transit time from this city to this city by road for a full truck"
• "Who moves part loads on this route and how long does consolidation take"
• "Fastest way to move an urgent consignment, road or air cargo"
• "City entry restrictions for trucks, what are the timings"

Cost

• "What should it cost to move this weight on this route"
• "What are detention, halting and loading charges"
• "Who pays for unloading labour at the destination"
• "How is part load freight calculated, by weight or by volume"

Paperwork and compliance

• "Who generates the e-way bill and what happens if it expires in transit"
• "What is a consignment note and why does the transporter need it"
• "Do I need a permit to move this commodity between states"
• "Is the transporter registered as a common carrier"

When it goes wrong

• "Goods damaged in transit, who pays and how do I claim"
• "Is transit insurance separate from the transporter's liability"
• "Shipment is late, what are my rights under the contract"
• "Vehicle has not moved for two days, what do I do"

What a good answer looks like

For route and time, a range in days for a named lane, with the conditions that extend it. A single number without conditions is discounted by any careful reader.

For cost, the structure rather than a rate. Name every component: base freight by distance and vehicle, loading and unloading, waiting beyond the free period, tolls and entry charges, and any seasonal or return load effect. Then explain how part load pricing works, including the volumetric basis, because that is the single most misunderstood thing in Indian road freight.

For paperwork, a plain sequence. Who generates the document, what it must carry, what happens when validity lapses in transit and what the remedy is. Link the official portal for the rules and be the practical account of what actually happens at a checkpost.

For claims, the difference between the carrier's liability and the shipper's own transit insurance, stated in two sentences, and then your own claims process with the time limit and the document list. Most disputes in this trade come from a shipper who assumed the transporter's liability covered full invoice value.

Where you are probably missing

• No lanes named, only a map of India with dots on it.
• No transit times, or only best case ones.
• Nothing on liability, which is the question a shipper asks their auditor about.
• No claims process, so the first damage becomes an argument rather than a procedure.
• No page on the e-way bill, although it is asked constantly and takes ten minutes to write.
• No page per special capability, such as cold chain, oversized, or appointment based retail deliveries.
• No tracking or integration detail, so a technical buyer cannot tell whether you can be connected to their system.

A worked example: how to compare two freight quotes

This is the question behind most of the others, and the provider who answers it becomes the one explaining the market rather than one of the options in it.

Write it as a checklist of what to normalise before comparing two numbers. Whether the rate is for a full vehicle or per kilogram, and if per kilogram, whether it is on actual weight or volumetric weight, and what divisor is used. Whether loading and unloading are included, and if not, who arranges and pays for labour at each end. How many free hours are allowed at loading and at unloading, and what is charged after. Whether tolls, state entry taxes and city entry charges are inside the rate. Whether a return load assumption is built in, and what happens if it does not materialise. What the transit commitment is and whether anything happens if it is missed. What the liability is, and whether declared value cover is included or extra. When payment is due and whether there is a discount for advance. Whether fuel movement is passed through, and how.

Then add the one line that makes it useful: the two items on that list that most often explain why a cheaper quote ends up costing more, which in road freight are usually unloading labour and detention. Finish by answering every item for your own quotes.

A shipper who uses that checklist once will send you their next enquiry, and an assistant asked how to compare freight quotes has something concrete to quote.

What these questions do not include

They do not include your company history, your fleet photographs or your vision statement. No shipper asks those and no assistant repeats them.

They also do not include a claim to be the cheapest or the fastest. Both are route specific and time specific, and an unqualified claim makes the checkable parts of your page look less reliable.

And they do not include a promise about transit time that you treat as a guarantee without saying what happens if it is missed. If there is no consequence, call it a typical transit. If there is a consequence, state it.

What to publish first

• A lane and transit page, with ranges and the conditions that change them.
• A pricing structure page, including detention and loading charges.
• A liability and claims page, with the time limit and the document list.
• An e-way bill and documentation page, written for a dispatch clerk.
• One page per special capability you genuinely have.
• A tracking and integration page, stating what data you can provide and how.
• The how to compare quotes page described above.

Common questions

Which page brings the best enquiries?

The lane pages, because a shipper searching a specific route is already buying. The comparison page brings the most citations, because it answers the category question rather than a company question. Write both.

Is publishing our detention charge risky?

It is the opposite. Detention disputes are the most common commercial argument in this trade and they happen because the charge was never agreed in writing. A published free period and a published hourly or daily charge turns an argument into a term, and it answers a question shippers ask before they choose.

We serve only one region. Should we say so?

Yes, and name the districts. A regional transporter that states its area is the correct answer to a regional question, and a national claim from a regional operation produces enquiries you cannot serve and reviews you do not want.

Do we need a page on tracking if we do not have an API?

Yes, and say what you do have: a daily status by message, a proof of delivery image within a stated time, a named person per account. Buyers ask whether they will know where the truck is. The honest answer, plainly stated, is better than an implied capability that fails on day one.

How do we build our own list?

Take the questions in your last fifty enquiry emails, in the customer's words, including the ones you lost, and the questions in every damage claim you handled last year. Ask them of two assistants without naming your company, and record which directories are cited, because those are where the category questions are being answered from.

What to do first

Write the lane and transit page and the liability and claims page. Then the e-way bill page, which takes an hour and answers a question asked every day in every dispatch office in the country.