Australia Post reduces bounce rate from 30% to 1.75% with Redocly Developer Portal
One of the world’s most innovative postal services completely overhauled their API consumer experience with Redocly on-premise.
“You’ve got mail!” And if you’re anywhere near Australia, chances are the sender was a tiny API call blazing through a server in Melbourne. We talked to Neha Jaiswal, Product Manager for the API Platform & Central Services at Australia Post. Back in October 2020, the Aussie giant decided to switch their internally-built Developer Portal to Redocly to fuel the next wave of API-driven economy.
- Neha
This is the story of a wonderful collaboration that pushed the... envelope 💌 and set new standards in API consumer experiences.
Product Manager, API Platform & Central Services
Bye AngularJS. Hello OpenAPI 3.0
- Neha
Australia Post's postal service was always a frontrunner in innovation, from pioneering mechanical mail processing back in 1967 to creating the country’s first government-accredited digital identity verification service. Along their journey, they’ve amassed an impressive list of APIs that power countless online businesses and connect the world… in the most tangible, physical sense.
When they got to know Redocly in late 2020, they needed a robust developer portal solution to future-proof and fuel their vision for years to come.
AngularJS... fast-forward 4 years 🤔
Like most companies marching towards API maturity, Auspost had built their first developer portal internally. But as of late 2020, it was still running on Angular 1.5 and presented a host of usability deal-breakers:
- No support for the latest OpenAPI standard (OAS3)
- Try-out feature was available only for Basic Auth and API Key
- No search functionality, making it hard for new developers to find APIs from a rapidly growing list
With Angular 1.X going out of official support a few months down the line, time had come for Auspost to make the fateful “build vs. buy” decision when it came to their API documentation.
Redocly: the Developer Portal ticking all the (mail)boxes
Armed with a list of essential and nice-to-have features, Neha and team got down to shopping around for developer portal frameworks. When they came across Redocly, our Developer Portal product offered everything Auspost needed.
There was OAS2.0 and 3.0 support out of the box, with plans to extend to 3.1 as soon as it was released. And the Redocly tech stack was as future-proofed as they come, being built in React and TypeScript and available as a pre-built Docker image.
But Neha and team were especially sold on all the API consumer experience boosters. The three-panel layout is responsive and synchronizes the menu and scrolling without extra tweaking, and the search function can blaze through the entire reference and documentation with ease. But most importantly, trying out requests supports multiple auth options:
- Neha
This last one was paramount for Auspost, so let’s explore it in detail.
- OAS2 and OAS3 support
- React and TypeScript
- Responsive three-panel
- Menu/scrolling sync
- Pre-built Docker image
- Try-out for different auth
- Powerful search
Try-it panel with multiple auth
🛂 👌API documentation and developer portals work best when they are able to accurately simulate real-life scenarios. Users need to be able to try out the actual requests and responses they will be allowed to use in day to day operations, which requires granular authentication options that maintain the highest security standards.
This functionality was paramount for Auspost, because their APIs power a wide range of businesses – mobile apps, delivery third-parties, ecommerce stores, other postal services and many more, each with different requirements and permissions.
The old developer portal had the try out functionality only for the Basic Auth and API key-based authentication, but Redocly let Auspost add OAuth2 and OpenID Connect options to the Try-it functionality, working with our team to roll out the integration in no time and with minimal overhead. Now, both internal and external developers can choose their preferred authentication flows when testing APIs.
How to try APIs with different credentials
Effortless on-premise implementation
To retain full control and maximum security, including legal compliance, Australia Post decided to go for an on-premise implementation, one of Redocly’s popular enterprise features.
From the start, both our teams worked closely together to figure out and deliver the exact mix of features that Auspost needed.
- Neha
And let us tell you, this collaboration was so much fun! Well, not only fun, but an invaluable learning exercise for all of us. Our CTO Roman Hotsiy directly oversaw the Auspost integration, so we’ll let you hear it from him:
Roman Hotsiy
CO-FOUNDER & CTOHow Australia Post is using Redocly
Developer Portal
A beautifully designed, sleek portal for developers to get started with Auspost APIs.
On-premise
Enhanced security, full compliance and fine-grained control over the API experience.
We both keep on delivering
metaphorically and quite literally 💌
MAIL’S IN THE BOX!
↑
36
↓
28%
+21
As APIs proliferate to conquer the Hello World, Australia Post is ready to welcome all developers building innovative solutions that will physically connect the world even more. Future-proofed for years to come and customizable in every nook and cranny, their Redocly-powered developer portal will be up to the task.
- Neha
Our teams keep collaborating regularly on improving the Auspost developer portal, pushing the envelope on what’s possible. Going forward, we plan to expand our partnership with Auspost by adding new features that they themselves recommended, including release logs, improved API documentation and CMS capability.
REST easy, Neha and team. We’ll keep on delivering, so that your APIs can keep delivering 🚀📭