TL;DR:

• AI Agent on Chat automates up to 50% of chat conversations. It ensures customers get fast, context-aware answers, product recommendations, and seamless handovers to human agents when needed.
• AI Agent goes beyond automated features like Flows and article recommendations. On top of basic automation features, AI Agent can handle complex inquiries like modifying orders and providing personalized product recommendations.
• Setting up AI Agent on Chat is quick. Brands can activate AI Agent with a few clicks, improving efficiency during peak seasons and reducing the need for follow-ups.‍
• Updating AI Agent’s knowledge and behavior ensures the best customer experience. Businesses should refine their Help Center, set Guidance instructions, personalize AI Agent’s tone, and test responses before going live.

It’s clear that shoppers want answers fast—chat accounts for 20% of all customer support tickets.

The appeal is obvious: Chat is an easy-to-access customer service channel for quick questions and a convenient and subtle way to cross-sell complementary products.

But without the right chat tool, brands risk losing these valuable opportunities.

Introducing AI Agent on Chat, a conversational AI assistant that can automate up to 50% of chat conversations. This new feature upgrades chat by combining agent knowledge with superhuman efficiency and response times.

Now, customers can guarantee personalized interactions at any point of the shopping journey—whether they’re looking for a quick answer or a tailored recommendation.

With AI powering every interaction, one-to-one conversations become a seamless part of every customer experience.

Why Chat is better with AI Agent

Before AI Agent, customers reaching out through chat outside business hours had two options: following pre-set Flows (automated FAQ conversations) or browsing through suggested Help Center articles. 

These features are great for quick answers to basic questions, but AI Agent takes support to the next level by handling more complex needs like modifying orders or offering personalized product recommendations.

With AI Agent in Chat, customers enjoy dynamic, real-time conversations available on multiple channels. AI Agent generates personalized responses that match exactly what customers ask for, automating 50% of chat interactions so agents get time back to upsell, create stronger relationships, and craft better experiences.

Related: How to optimize your Help Center for AI Agent

The key features of AI Agent on Chat 

Upgrade your chat support from a basic Q&A tool into an intelligent assistant that handles customer inquiries 24/7. Here's how AI Agent makes that possible:

Real-time conversations

AI Agent responds within 15 seconds or less, offering fast responses that result in frictionless conversations. Unlike traditional chatbots, AI Agent also adapts to your brand’s unique tone of voice to enhance the customer experience and assure shoppers their questions will be taken care of. 

24/7 availability

Today’s shoppers expect instant responses regardless of time zone or business hours. AI Agent on Chat means customers get the help they need, when they need it. This availability leads to higher customer satisfaction and fewer abandoned carts.

Instant product recommendations

AI Agent understands context and customer intent. Whether a shopper needs help finding the right product size or changes their mind and wants to compare features, AI Agent customizes its recommendations for each person.

Intelligent handovers

Some conversations, like technical issues or complaints, need a human touch. AI Agent recognizes these situations and smoothly transfers them to the right agent. 

Using Handover topics, you can choose which types of inquiries should go straight to human agents. Then, if AI Agent lacks the confidence to provide an answer or can’t locate relevant knowledge in its database, it automatically escalates the conversation.

Read more: Handover rules

Why enable AI Agent in Chat now?

Based on Hiver’s 2024 study, 62% of customers prefer live chat to other support channels. With AI Agent in Chat, agents can cut down average response times while customers get the answers they need in one conversation with zero wait times or follow-ups.

Easy setup

AI Agent on Chat is ready to use in a few clicks. Simply connect your Shopify store and Chat widget to AI Agent, and you’re ready to resolve questions asked by visitors and loyal customers faster than you ever have.

Capture the growing demand for live support

Chat is often a customer’s first touchpoint with your brand, whether they’ve just discovered your brand or are on their third order. Meet customer expectations by being available with AI Agent on Chat. The faster you can ease their concerns, the faster they can head to checkout.

Maximize team efficiency

AI Agent makes scaling support effortless, especially during peak seasons like Black Friday. While it handles repetitive support tickets like order status and shipping questions, your team can focus on high-priority tasks like requests from VIP customers.

Eliminate the need for follow-ups

Drawing from knowledge sources like your Help Center and policy pages means AI Agent can often resolve inquiries within one conversation. No more unnecessary back-and-forths. Quick resolutions = happier and more loyal customers.

How to activate AI Agent on Chat

Ready to get started? Here’s how to activate AI Agent on Chat:

1. Click Automate in the top left menu.
2. Select your store from the sidebar, then click on AI Agent.
3. In the Settings tab, under Chat Settings, select one or more Chat from the dropdown menu.
4. Toggle Enable AI Agent on Chat on.
5. Select Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Already use AI Agent for email? No need to set up Guidance and Handover topics all over again—AI Agent will behave the same way in Chat.

Best practices for setting up AI Agent on Chat

Get the most out of AI Agent on Chat by following these best practices. 

1. Prepare and optimize your knowledge base

The Help Center is AI Agent’s brain. This customer knowledge database is the key to AI Agent’s accurate and on-brand responses. To ensure your AI Agent is as trained as your human agents, include important topics in your Help Center like shipping, returns, cancellations, and account management.

No articles yet? No problem! Gorgias has 20+ article templates for you to use and modify. Or, even better, check out the AI Library for AI-generated articles based on your customer tickets.

2. Set restrictions with Guidance

AI tools perform best when you set limitations. A Guidance is the main way to control AI Agent’s behavior. It is a set of written instructions that outline how AI Agent should interact with customers, handle certain requests, and more.

We recommend publishing a Guidance on the top five questions you receive from customers.

Tip: AI Agent prioritizes Guidance above Help Center articles. Unlike Help Center articles, the content in your Guidance will not be customer-facing.

3. Personalize AI Agent's voice

The beauty of AI Agent is its ability to speak like one of your agents. Select from Friendly, Professional, or Sophisticated presets—or create a custom tone that aligns with your brand.

Need help finding your brand voice? Here are seven brand voice examples.

4. Test AI Agent’s responses before going live

Use test scenarios to see how AI Agent responds to common customer questions, such as order status, shipping questions, and return policies. To cover all your bases, test AI Agent as both a new and returning customer to make sure it delivers accurate responses no matter the customer's need.

5. Improve AI Agent’s behavior

AI Agent becomes smarter as it learns from you. Like a human agent, give your AI Agent feedback on its responses, from how it speaks, which topics it escalates, and what actions it takes in certain scenarios. 

There are multiple ways to give AI Agent feedback on a ticket:

• Mark AI Agent’s message or any of the resources it used as correct or incorrect.
• Suggest that AI Agent use a different resource if a better or more correct piece of knowledge exists.
• Report an issue to the Gorgias Product team.

Try AI Agent Actions on Chat

AI Agent can also perform actions like accessing Shopify order details and executing third-party app actions, such as updating shipping addresses and order cancellations, directly in Chat.

Excited to deliver an elevated chat experience? Book a demo now to experience the power of AI Agent on Chat.

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TL;DR:

Managing customer support as a Shopify store owner can feel like juggling too many tools at once.

Constantly switching tabs to look up orders, update customer information, or track returns wastes valuable time. Plus, it prevents your team from focusing on what really matters––delivering quick, personalized customer service. 

Gorgias’s Shopify integration solves this. It keeps all your Shopify data in one place, so your team spends less time toggling tabs and more time helping customers. The result? Faster responses, better service, and more revenue.

Below, we break down the eight key capabilities of this integration, each paired with practical use cases to showcase its real-world value.

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1. View Shopify data in tickets

What it does: Shopify order data is displayed directly within support tickets, allowing agents to view essential details like order status, customer information, and transaction history without leaving the helpdesk.

Use case: An agent handling a “Where’s my order?” request can instantly check tracking information and update the customer.

The fashion retailer Princess Polly improved their customer experience team’s efficiency by using Gorgias's deep integration with Shopify. Agents can view and update customer and order data directly within Gorgias, eliminating the need to switch between multiple tabs.

Taking a streamlined approach led to a 40% increase in efficiency, an 80% decrease in resolution time, and a 95% decrease in first response time. 

2. Perform Shopify Actions

What it does: Agents can update Shopify order and customer data with Shopify Actions right in Gorgias.

Key features:

• Create a new order: Add existing products or custom items, apply discounts, modify quantities, add notes and tags, and choose to charge taxes. Then set the order as Paid or Pending and email the invoice to the customer.
• Duplicate an order: Replicate an existing order and make adjustments as needed.
• Cancel/refund an order: Cancel or refund orders by setting quantities to refund, specifying shipping amounts to refund, providing reasons for cancellation, restocking items, and notifying the customer.
• Edit shipping address: Update the shipping address for an order.
• Insert product links: Add product links or product cards from tickets so customers can add the product to their cart quickly.
• Display the customer’s cart: View the exact items the customer has in their cart at the moment they reach out via Chat.

Use case: Agents can perform Shopify actions directly from Gorgias, such as adding products, applying discounts, updating quantities, or issuing refunds.

3. Embed customer-specific Shopify data in Macros

What it does: Create templated responses called Macros with dynamic Shopify variables to automatically incorporate customer-specific information. 

Key features:

• Dynamic variables: Macros can include variables that pull real-time data from Shopify, such as order status, tracking numbers, and customer details.
• Automated actions: Beyond inserting dynamic content, Macros can perform actions like tagging tickets, setting statuses, or assigning conversations to specific agents. The automation streamlines workflows and ensures consistent handling of similar inquiries.

Use case: A customer inquires about their order. With one click, the agent uses a Macro that pulls in the order status and expected delivery date, creating a faster and more personalized response.

Take Try The World, a gourmet subscription service, needed a robust Shopify integration to handle an increasing volume of customer inquiries. By switching to Gorgias, they gained the ability to unify conversations and embed Shopify data directly into Macros. Now, agents can quickly generate personalized responses that includes order details, tracking links, and customer-specific information. 

Try the World’s support team’s efficiency skyrocketed, enabling them to handle 120 tickets per day, up from 80, and reduce response times to just one business day. 

4. Provide product information with Macros

What it does: Macros with embedded Shopify data let agents quickly and accurately share pre-sale information like product links, stock availability, and discount codes, helping to convert prospective customers into buyers.

Key features:

• Dynamic Shopify variables in Macros: Agents can use dynamic variables to pull real-time product information.
• Pre-built responses for common questions: Macros can include templated responses tailored for pre-sale inquiries, such as providing direct links to products or applying discount codes.

Use case: A customer asks if a specific product is available in their size and color. The agent can apply a Macro that automatically pulls the product's inventory details and includes a discount code, sending a response like this:

“Hi [customer name Macro],
Great news! The product [Shopify product information Macro] is currently in stock in the size and color you’re looking for. You can check it out here: [Product Link]. Use the code WELCOME10 at checkout for 10% off your first order! Let me know if you have any other questions!”

How it helps:

• Eliminates manual search and typing for agents.
• Ensures accurate, real-time product information for customers.
• Improves the likelihood of converting inquiries into sales.

5. Enable self-serve order management in Chat 

What it does: Using Gorgias Chat, customers can track orders or manage their purchases on their own with no agent assistance needed.

Key feature:

• Order management automation: Customers can access real-time order information, including status updates and tracking details, through the chat interface. This automation reduces the volume of live chat inquiries by up to 30%.

Use case: A customer wants to check the status of their recent purchase. By accessing Chat on your website, they can enter their email and order number and receive instant updates on their order's progress, including shipping and delivery information, without waiting for an agent's response.

How it helps:

• Automates routine inquiries and frees up your support team to handle more complex issues.
• Enhances customer satisfaction thanks to immediate responses.
• Reduces the need for multiple communication channels, consolidating support interactions in one place.

6. Use Shopify variables in Rules


What it does: Rules paired with Shopify variables can automate various support tasks, such as identifying specific customer segments or tagging tickets, to boost efficiency and consistency.

Key features:

• Automated tagging: Rules can automatically tag tickets based on specific Shopify data. For instance, you can set up a Rule to tag tickets from customers with high order counts or significant total spending as "VIP."
• Prioritization of tickets: Rules can prioritize tickets that meet certain criteria, such as high-value orders or repeat customers.

Use case: A customer with a history of substantial purchases contacts support. A rule detects that the customer's total spending exceeds a predefined threshold and automatically tags the ticket as "VIP." 

This tag can then trigger other workflows, such as assigning the ticket to a senior support agent or escalating its priority.

How it helps:

• Improves customer experience by prioritizing high-value customers.
• Maintains consistent service quality.

7. Track revenue with reporting

What it does: Gorgias offers comprehensive reporting that allows you to measure how your support interactions influence sales.

Key features:

• Tickets converted: Tracks the number of support tickets that led to a sale within five days of the ticket's creation.
• Conversion rate: Calculates the percentage of created tickets that resulted in sales, helping you assess the effectiveness of your support team's interactions.
• Total sales from support: Sums the revenue generated from orders associated with converted tickets, accounting for refunds and order adjustments to provide accurate figures.

These metrics are accessible under Statistics → Support Performance → Revenue in your Gorgias dashboard. You can filter the data by integration, ticket channel, tags, or specific time periods to gain detailed insights.

Use case: By analyzing Revenue Statistics, you can identify which support channels or agents are most effective in driving sales. For example, if live chat interactions have a higher conversion rate, you might allocate more resources to that channel. 

Additionally, recognizing top-performing agents can inform training programs to elevate overall team performance.

For example, One Block Down, a Milan-based streetwear brand, struggled to manage a growing volume of customer inquiries across multiple platforms. By integrating Gorgias with Shopify, they centralized all customer interactions into a single platform, giving agents instant access to crucial information like order history and returns directly within tickets.

The setup allowed the team to measure the direct impact of their support efforts on revenue. 

The result? An impressive 1,000% increase in support-generated revenue and a 1-hour average first response time. By connecting the dots between customer service and sales performance, One Block Down demonstrated how proactive, data-driven support can directly influence the bottom line.

How it helps:

• Quantifies the revenue generated from support interactions.
• Faster team optimization with data-driven insights.
• Understanding the correlation between support interactions and sales can help refine customer service strategies.

8. AI Agent integration

What it does: AI Agent automates Shopify actions like canceling orders, editing order details, and reshipping items.

Key features:

• Cancel Shopify order: AI Agent can automatically cancel unfulfilled orders upon customer request, restocking the items and issuing a full refund. A confirmation email is sent to the customer once the cancellation is complete.
• Edit order shipping address: When a customer needs to update their shipping address, AI Agent verifies if the order is unfulfilled, confirms the new address with the customer, and updates it in Shopify accordingly.
• Replace order item: AI Agent facilitates item replacements in orders by confirming the item to be removed and the new item to be added, checking stock availability, adjusting payments if necessary, and sending an updated order confirmation to the customer.
• Reship order for free: In cases where an order is lost in transit or arrives damaged, AI Agent can duplicate and resend the order at no additional charge.
• Remove order item: If a customer decides to remove an item from their order, AI Agent can handle the removal, restock the item in Shopify, process the refund for the removed item, and notify the customer of the updated order details.

Use case: A customer realizes they've entered an incorrect shipping address shortly after placing an order. They contact support, and AI Agent promptly verifies that the order is unfulfilled, confirms the correct address with the customer, updates the shipping information in Shopify, and sends a confirmation email—all without human intervention.

How it helps:

• Automating routine order management tasks reduces the workload on human agents.
• Quick and accurate responses to order modification requests lead to a better customer experience.
• Automated processes ensure consistency and accuracy in handling order changes, reducing the likelihood of human error.

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TL;DR:

• Full-screen pop-ups disrupt the shopping experience. They frustrate visitors by interrupting their browsing and increase bounce rates, driving 72% of customers away.
• Gorgias Convert offers a non-intrusive alternative. With a chat-based widget, it engages customers naturally without interrupting their journey.
• Convert tailors messages to shopper behavior. Personalized campaigns detect browsing habits, cart details, and exit intent to deliver relevant offers at the right moment.
• Shopify brands see measurable results with Convert. Users report conversion boosts of 6-10%, improved customer satisfaction, and revenue growth, proving its effectiveness over traditional pop-ups.

Looking to grow an email list to capture leads or offer welcome incentives? These days, the default solution is to plaster a full-screen pop-up on your homepage. 

It seems effective on the surface, collecting emails right off the bat, but dig deeper, and these pop-ups disrupt the shopping experience and skyrocket bounce rates—with 72% of customers exiting a website.

But how else do you get your message across?

That’s where Gorgias Convert comes in—a smarter, more customer-centric tool to drive conversions without pushing your visitors away. 

Below, we’ll explore why it’s time to move on from full-screen pop-ups and how Gorgias Convert offers a better alternative for Shopify brands looking to boost engagement and revenue.

What’s wrong with full-screen pop-ups?

Pop-ups can be an effective marketing tool, but their full-screen counterpart often creates more problems than they solve. These intrusive overlays pose several challenges that can harm both user experience and your bottom line.

Disruptive experience 

Full-screen pop-ups demand attention, often at the worst possible moment—like when a customer is browsing products or is just about to check out. This experience can frustrate visitors and lead them to abandon your site entirely.

High bounce rates

The BBC says every extra second a page takes to load can cost you 10% of your users—and pushy pop-ups don’t help. If your pop-ups are poorly timed or overly intrusive, visitors feel unwelcome, causing them to leave before exploring your offerings.

Lack of personalization

Traditional pop-ups are static and one-size-fits-all. They can’t adjust messaging based on where the customer is in their shopping journey or their behavior on your site.

Can be blocked

Many users employ ad blockers that filter out pop-ups altogether, meaning your message never even reaches a portion of your audience.

Why Gorgias Convert is the better alternative: 7 benefits

Gorgias Convert flips the script by offering a subtle, customer-friendly way to capture leads and drive sales without the drawbacks of full-screen pop-ups. Here’s why your Shopify brand should make the switch:

1. Non-intrusive 

Gorgias Convert integrates seamlessly into your store, using a chat-based widget that feels like a natural part of the browsing experience. Using chat to double as a supporting and converting tool is less disruptive, allowing customers to explore your store at their own pace.

2. Caters to user behavior

Convert makes it easy to bring any type of campaign to life. Catch the attention of the exact shoppers you want by detecting their browsing behavior, customer profile, cart attributes, and more.

For example, the exit intent campaign is the top-performing Convert campaign—it detects when a user is about to leave and displays a discount code. It’s fully customizable, allowing you to tailor offers based on how much time they’ve spent on a page, the number of items in their cart, or if they’ve visited more than three times without making a purchase.

3. Customizable messaging

Unlike one-size-fits-all pop-ups, Convert lets you tailor your messaging based on customer behavior, order history, and engagement. For example, if a customer is browsing a specific product, Convert can offer a relevant discount or incentive tied directly to that item.

4. Encourages conversations

With Convert, you’re not just collecting an email address—you’re starting a conversation. The tool allows you to engage with customers in real-time through pre-set flows that guide them toward taking action, whether it’s signing up for your newsletter, redeeming an offer, or completing a purchase.

Related: 6 types of conversational customer service + how to implement them

5. Mobile-friendly

In 2024, smartphones were responsible for generating 68 percent of online shopping orders. To meet shoppers where they are, Convert’s chat-style interactions are optimized for mobile users. Unlike traditional pop-ups that don’t display correctly on smaller screens, Convert maintains a seamless experience for shoppers who prefer to shop on the go.

6. Integrated with Shopify and Gorgias

Using Convert means you can combine immediate assistance with smart marketing through its native integration with Gorgias and Shopify. For example, if a customer hesitates to make a purchase, you can intervene with a live chat offer or product recommendation in real-time.

The Shopify integration also allows you to generate unique discount codes that expire within 48 hours—preventing them from being shared on unauthorized coupon sites. These codes are automatically created with customizable thresholds, such as discounts for specific collections or individual users, without manual setup.

7. A/B testing made easy

Convert allows you to test different messages and incentives, giving valuable insights into what resonates most with your audience. This data-driven approach ensures your lead capture strategy evolves with shoppers over time.

Read more: How campaign messaging can increase conversions

Rave reviews from real Shopify brands

Shopify brands using Gorgias Convert have led to a conversion rate boost of 6-10% more across their website, up to a 24% click-through rate and 43% click-to-order rate, and improved customer satisfaction. By prioritizing a frictionless shopping experience, these brands are turning casual visitors into loyal customers.

Here’s what some happy brands have to say about Convert:

Haircare brand, Kreyol Essence, influenced 13% of revenue with Convert campaigns: “With Convert, we’ve not only improved our conversion rates but also created a seamless, personalized shopping experience that our customers love. It’s like having a personal assistant for each shopper. Thanks to Convert, we can interact with our customers and surface key information at the right time, turning clicks into connections."

Brands using customer service management agency, TalentPop, love how easy it is to generate revenue with Convert: “Clients are constantly surprised and delighted by how effective Gorgias Convert is for revenue generation. They especially appreciate that Convert can be used to target a diverse range of customers across the entire purchasing journey.”

In five months, yoga brand Manduka, increased revenue by 284.15% after using Convert: “Gorgias Convert has helped us make the shopping experience more intuitive. We can give a nice prompt to remind people of promotions we’re running, highlight specific product features, or just remind them we're here to help and answer questions. The chat campaigns make it easy for customers because they lead them to us, as opposed to them having to search for how to contact us for assistance.”

Goodbye full-screen pop-ups, hello Gorgias Convert

Shoppers want personalized experiences that respect their time and preferences. Full-screen pop-ups belong to an era of intrusive marketing that shoppers would rather leave in the past.

Gorgias Convert for your Shopify brand means delivering impactful interactions, more conversions, and an easy path to long-term customer loyalty.

Ready to make the switch? Start your effortless shopping journey today with Gorgias Convert. Chat with our team!

Today, we’re announcing our deeper investment in conversational AI for ecommerce. 

"Since day one, Gorgias has been dedicated to helping ecommerce brands deliver exceptional customer experiences. We started with a helpdesk to centralize support, then introduced AI Agent to instantly resolve support questions,” says Romain Lapeyre, CEO of Gorgias.

“Now, we're taking the next leap forward with an AI Agent that powers the entire customer journey—anticipating buyer needs, boosting sales, and automating high-quality support. Today, I'm happy to announce Gorgias as the Conversational AI platform for ecommerce.”

Gorgias’s Conversational AI platform will let teams provide fast, scalable, and cost-effective support while helping them drive revenue growth. From automatic order changes and refunds to product recommendations and cross-sells, brands will be able to flawlessly combine their support and sales efforts.

The end result is an AI-powered customer journey where every customer interaction feels complete, personal, and connected, both before and after purchase.

Questions in Chat, resolved in seconds

Last year, we introduced AI Agent for email. 

Some brands call their AI Agent Lisa, some call it Wally, and most treat it like a real member of the team. But this reliable support sidekick was only available to answer customers on email—until now.

Get ready for instant responses that tackle support inquiries of all sizes. Now, your customers can enjoy fast responses that keep their shopping experience as smooth as possible.

On top of improving first response times, AI Agent can play an even more critical role in unblocking sales, suggesting products, and driving upsells and cross-sells.

With responses sent in 15 seconds or less, brands can delight customers with near-instant resolutions.

Let your AI Agent take action

Actions let AI Agent perform customer requests on behalf of your support team. This includes changing shipping addresses, fetching fulfillment status, canceling orders, adding discounts, and more. 

You can use a library of pre-configured Actions for popular apps like Shopify, Rebuy, Loop, and more. And you don’t need any technical skills to set them up.

With almost half of queries requiring some kind of update, Actions is your go-to for complete resolutions so you can get more accomplished.

Quality built into every support ticket

Quality checks have traditionally been manual, time-consuming, and inconsistent. Our brand new Auto QA feature changes that by automatically scoring 100% of conversations on resolution completeness and communication quality—whether from a human or AI agent.

With Auto QA, team leads can:

• Scale quality consistently and easily. Both human and AI agents follow the same quality standards, allowing for consistent, high-quality customer experiences.
• Coach smarter. Use real-time QA ratings in tickets to give agents targeted feedback.
• Track team performance. The dashboard highlights metrics by agent, showing what’s working and where to improve.

Gain clarity on your AI Agent’s impact

Support teams should be in complete control of their AI. That’s why the AI Agent Report and AI Agent Insights were created—to help you know exactly how your AI Agent is performing and contributing to your customer service operations.

The AI Agent Report provides full visibility into AI Agent’s performance, covering metrics like first response Time, CSAT, and one-touch ticket resolutions. Fully integrated into your Support Performance Statistics dashboard, the report includes:

• The percentage of tickets automated by AI Agent
• The number of tickets closed by AI Agent
• Success rates for one-touch resolutions
• How satisfied customers are with AI Agent’s responses

AI Agent Insights takes it a step further. It analyzes AI Agent’s performance data and provides you with a dashboard of recommendations, including potential automation opportunities, popular ticket intents to optimize, and knowledge base improvements.

Meet your new AI sales assistant

Soon, we’ll be expanding AI Agent's skills with the launch of Shopping Assistant, a tool designed to assist customers on their shopping journey.

Shopping Assistanthelps brands boost their sales capabilities through smart product recommendations, on-page checkout assistance, and personalized conversations. Now it's easier to reduce cart abandonment, suggest complementary products to boost average order value, and overcome pre-sale objections.

This new tool will bridge the gap between marketing and CX, ensuring brands can scale personalized interactions 24/7 without increasing headcount.

Looking ahead with conversational AI

As we continue to innovate with conversational AI, our focus remains on helping you succeed.

By combining smarter tools with valuable insights, we’re creating opportunities for you to put your customers first and build deeper connections at every touchpoint.

Join us as we pave a new way for the future of ecommerce.

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TL;DR:

• Ticket Fields make it easy to organize ticket data. They let agents collect the right information by filling out specific fields before closing a ticket.
• Conditional Ticket Fields are smart fields that adapt based on the ticket type. These fields show up only when they’re needed, helping agents capture just the right details.
• Use Ticket Fields to spot trends and improve your CX. Track things like return reasons, product feedback, or refund patterns to make smarter decisions and keep customers happy.
• Get your team up to speed with quick, practical tools. Share a best practices deck, give them a handy cheat sheet, and run a quick demo to make Ticket Fields easy to understand and use.

Your customer service conversations contain a goldmine of insight about your shoppers—like why they reached out, trends in shopper behavior, and how your products or services perform.

But how do you turn thousands of unstructured support tickets into accurate, digestible, and actionable takeaways?

Ticket Fields are the answer. They give support teams extra layers of data by labeling tickets in a much smarter way than traditional tags. With the right setup, Ticket Fields can help you uncover patterns, make smarter decisions, and highlight the value customer experience (CX) brings to your entire organization.

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What are Ticket Fields?

Ticket Fields are customizable properties that allow CX teams to collect and organize information about tickets. Agents fill in ticket fields before closing the ticket, making it much easier to scale data collection.

Ticket Fields can be mandatory, requiring an agent to populate a field before closing the ticket. They can also be conditional, only appearing when relevant to the ticket.

There are four types of Ticket Fields: Dropdown, Number, Text, and Yes/No. Here are some ways to use each:

• Return Reason (Dropdown): Track why customers are returning items, such as incorrect sizing, damaged goods, or dissatisfaction. This can help you spot product deficiencies or fulfillment errors.
• Product Feedback (Text): Collect feedback about products directly from customers. Share this data with your product team and make it easier for them to make improvements that customers ask for.
• Refund Amount (Number): Use this to identify trends, like high refund rates for a specific product, and modify your refund policies to minimize losses.
• First-Time Buyer (Yes/No): Flag whether a customer is making their first purchase. Use this to address pain points among new customers.

Why Ticket Fields are more powerful than Tags

Unlike Tags, which are single-reason and non-conditional, Ticket Fields ensure key information, such as fulfillment details or cancellation reasons, is built into a ticket.

Think of Tags as stickers added to a ticket, while Ticket Fields are part of the ticket’s DNA itself, giving you much more control and insight.

Let’s take a closer look at why Ticket Fields are far superior at collecting data than Tags:

Mandatory fields for comprehensiveness

Agents manually apply Tags, which means it’s easy to forget to tag a ticket.

Ticket Fields, however, enforce structure by allowing CX managers to decide which fields are mandatory and which are optional. This flexibility ensures that all tickets contain the same basic details.

Conditional fields for a streamlined experience and in-depth data

Ticket Fields can be conditional, meaning certain types of tickets automatically include fields that must be filled in.

How does it work? Take a look at this example:

If the Contact Reason field is Cancellation, conditional ticket fields like Cancel Reason, Did We Cancel Subscription, and Order Number must also be filled out.

Here’s how it looks in the Field Conditions settings:

No more missing context, gaps in the data, or typing N/A in a field. Support teams can capture the data they need from each ticket every time.

Ease of migration

For CX teams transitioning from other helpdesks, being able to import historical ticket data with the field information intact is significant. This preserves workflows and existing data, helping teams get set up in no time without losing crucial information.

Tags, on the other hand, should be used to:

• Sort tickets in different Views. Tags are helpful for organizing your tickets into different views to aid your workflow. For example, you can focus on all urgent tickets by creating a view that only displays tickets tagged as “Urgent.” 
• Used as temporary categories for exceptions. Tags can be used to add extra detail to an existing category. For instance, if you have a field named “Subscription Type” with “Premium Plan” selected as value in the ticket, you can add a “Gift Subscription” Tag temporarily. 

12 Ticket Fields every CX team should consider for better reporting

Ticket Fields are incredibly adaptable, allowing you to capture the exact data your team needs to meet your goals—whether it’s tracking product trends, choosing a shipping carrier, or increasing customer satisfaction.

Here are 12 examples of custom Ticket Fields to level up your data analysis.

1. Contact reason

Type of ticket field: Dropdown

What to do with the data: Identify common reasons customers contact you and take proactive steps to address them.

The Contact Reason ticket field is an easy way to figure out why customers reach out to your support team in the first place.

You can quickly identify trends, such as a sudden spike in return requests, and investigate whether it's a website, fulfillment, product, or service issue.

Some common contact reasons:

• Status inquiry
• Discount
• Refund
• Product question
• Feedback

Note: Gorgias AI automatically suggests contact reasons, pre-filling the field with a prediction based on message content. Agents can accept or adjust the suggestion, helping the system become smarter over time as it learns from these interactions.

2. Resolution

Type of ticket field: Dropdown

What to do with the data: Assess the effectiveness of resolutions and refine your service level agreement.

The Resolution ticket field tracks the action taken to resolve a ticket. Analyzing how your team handles tickets and identifying opportunities to improve resolutions is essential.

For example, you could analyze how often issues are resolved with replacements versus discounts. If you find replacements are overused for minor issues, you might implement a policy to provide discounts instead, helping to reduce costs without harming customer satisfaction.

Here are some values to add to the Resolution ticket field:

• Sent more information
• Replacement sent
• Discount given
• Refund
• Sent tracking order information
• No action taken

3. Feedback

Type of ticket field: Dropdown

What to do with the data: Use both positive and negative feedback to update your policies, escalation process, customer-facing resources, product, and more.

The Feedback ticket field can capture general feedback about your brand or feedback specific to your products.

This field is an excellent way to carry out product research. For example, if you’re a food brand, you can create a dropdown that categorizes feedback by sentiment, such as “Too Sweet,” “Too Salty,” “General Dislike,” and “Artificial Taste.” Once you’ve received a decent amount of feedback, you can return to the test kitchen and perfect your recipe.

4. Product

Type of ticket field: Dropdown

What to do with the data: Track product trends and prioritize improvements.

The Product field is valuable for tracking which items generate the most inquiries. If you have a large inventory, incorporating a Product ticket field can help flag which products are causing the most issues or trouble for shoppers.

If a product is the most used value, this could indicate frequent issues with the product, such as quality issues, defects, or missing information on its product page.

If a product is the least used value, it may not be generating much attention. If this is due to low sales, consider enhancing its visibility through marketing to attract more shoppers. However, being the least used value can also be good news, meaning your product performs well, and shoppers have no complaints.

Pro Tip: To understand which specific products are getting returned, add a conditional “Product” ticket field.

5. Defect

Type of ticket field: Dropdown + conditional field

What to do with the data: Identify recurring quality issues and fix root causes.

Track the most prominent defects reported by customers with a Defect ticket field. This can help you monitor product quality and adjust production, manufacturer, or supplier processes.

For deeper insights, add a conditional “Product” field to pinpoint which products experience specific defects. For example, if you’re a bag brand, you might find that a certain backpack is usually tied to a “Zipper” defect. This can be a valuable insight to pass on to your product team to alter the design or adjust your manufacturing process.

Here’s a look at the dropdown values for the Defect ticket field:

6. Cancellation reason

Type of ticket field: Dropdown

What to do with the data: Lower churn by addressing cancellation triggers.

If you’re a subscription-based business with a climbing cancellation rate, adding a Cancellation Reason ticket field can help you stop the churn. This field tracks why customers cancel orders or subscriptions. It’s a powerful way to identify patterns, such as price sensitivity or delivery delays, and to take steps to retain customers.

Cancellation reason examples:

• Too expensive
• Bad product-customer fit
• Don’t need it
• Moving to a competitor
• Poor customer service

7. Shipping carrier

Type of ticket field: Dropdown + conditional field

What to do with the data: Evaluate shipping carrier performance and improve logistics.

For any ecommerce brand, your shipping carrier is a big contributor to customer satisfaction. The faster a customer’s order gets to them, the better.

Use a Shipping Carrier ticket field to track the shipping carrier for tickets related to delivery issues. This will provide insights into which carriers perform poorly, enabling you to modify your logistics and order fulfillment processes.

Pair the Shipping Carrier field with a conditional “Shipping Issue” field to identify potential correlations. For example, if “Delayed” is a top shipping issue for a certain carrier, it may be time to change your logistics process.

8. Purchase origin

Type of ticket field: Dropdown

What to do with the data: Learn how customers find your brand and see what types of customers and issues are tied to the purchase source.

The Purchase Origin field helps you see where customers are coming from. Are they buying directly from your website? Or from social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok? 

Dig deeper, and you may also spot connections between purchase origin and common issues.

For your marketing team, this data will help improve strategies at all levels, from advertising and messaging to targeting the right platforms.

9. Customer escalation

Type of ticket field: Yes/No

What to do with the data: Reduce escalations by revising escalation processes and retraining agents.

The Customer Escalation field tracks whether a ticket was escalated to a manager. It helps teams identify training needs and improve processes to reduce escalations. 

As the use of AI agents increases in ecommerce customer service, having a clear view of which tickets are escalated can help pinpoint gaps in AI performance and identify scenarios that require human intervention. 

Analyzing this data over time can guide updates to AI workflows and agent training, reducing the need for escalations altogether.

10. Discount percentage

Type of ticket field: Number

What to do with the data: Understand how discounts impact customer satisfaction.

The Discount Percentage ticket field tracks the percentage of a discount applied to a customer's order, offering insights into how promotions affect customer behavior. 

For example, if customers using a 20% discount frequently contact support about order confusion or dissatisfaction, it might indicate unclear promotion terms or product descriptions. This data helps brands refine promotional messaging and determine whether higher discounts lead to increased ticket volumes, customer satisfaction, or sales.

11. First-time buyer

Type of ticket field: Yes/No + conditional field

What to do with the data: Improve the customer experience for brand new customers.

The First-Time Buyer field flags whether a customer is making their first purchase, making it easier to spot and support new shoppers. When a customer is marked as a first-time buyer, a conditional “Customer Sentiment” field can appear to capture how they feel about their experience.

First-time buyers often have questions about products or need recommendations to feel confident about their purchase. Pairing this ticket field with sentiment data helps to identify common pain points, preferences, and patterns among new customers so your team can finetune the customer experience and leave a lasting first impression.

12. Months in use

Type of ticket field: Number

What to do with the data: Analyze product performance over time.

The Months in Use field tracks how long customers have been using a product. It’s perfect for spotting when items start breaking down, spoiling, or losing effectiveness.

This data helps brands figure out where durability, shelf life, or packaging could be improved to keep customers happy and products performing as expected.

Who benefits from Ticket Fields?

Ticket Fields provide value across the entire CX ecosystem, from agents to decision-makers.

• Support teams: Gain a deeper understanding of shopper behavior and where issues arise from.
• Operations teams: Identify and resolve operational inefficiencies in your support, fulfillment, and feedback workflows.
• Data and tech teams: Analyze Ticket Fields reports from the support team that provide detailed customer service and product data that can inform other departments like product.
• Executives: Get visibility into CX operations, including shipping, damaged items, cancellations, and team performance, to make data-backed decisions.

How to make Ticket Fields a core part of your support process

Ticket Fields are only as powerful as the processes that support them. Follow these five steps to help your team turn support tickets into valuable data for better reporting.

1. Define your data and reporting goals

Decide what insights your team needs to improve workflows, product quality, or customer satisfaction. For example, if you want to track cancellations, set up fields like "Cancellation Reason" and "Refund Amount." Keep your Ticket Fields focused on data your team can use.

2. Set up Ticket Fields

Use Gorgias to configure Ticket Fields in a structured and easy-to-use format. Keep dropdown options concise and specific to avoid confusion. Then, run a test ticket or two to confirm the setup works smoothly for agents.

Read more: Create and edit Ticket Fields

3. Train and onboard your team

Create a presentation deck that clearly explains the purpose of every Ticket Field, the options agents can select for each field, and how the fields tie into the team’s data goals. For added visuals, include flowcharts to show when and how to use each field.

Pro Tip: Give agents a quick reference tool they can easily consult by providing a cheat sheet summarizing Ticket Field best practices.

4. Implement changes based on insights

Whether the data points to gaps in your workflows, product details, or customer education, acting on these patterns is how you drive meaningful change. 

Here are some fixes, from low to high effort, that your team can implement:

• Update FAQs in your Chat Flows
• Edit automated responses
• Retrain your AI agent with new information
• Add relevant answers to your Help Center
• Optimize product pages with more details like usage instructions, ingredients, or sizing charts
• Modify product categorization on your website
• Adjust internal workflows
• Renegotiate contracts with underperforming shipping carriers
• Redesign or reformulate products

5. Review Ticket Field data in monthly meetings

Schedule a monthly meeting to review your Ticket Fields Statistics and evaluate their impact on your support workflows and customer satisfaction. 

During the meeting, discuss:

• What trends do the reports reveal?
• Are agents consistently filling out each field?
• Which fields are consistently filled out and provide actionable insights?
• Have our priorities changed, making some fields less useful?

Lastly, remember to document the insights and update your team regularly to keep everyone aligned.

Drive smarter decisions with Ticket Fields

Gorgias’s Ticket Fields turn ticket data into insights you can actually use. Spot trends, improve workflows, and make faster, smarter decisions.

Are you ready to see it in action? Book a demo, and let us show you how Ticket Fields can elevate your support.

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TL;DR:

• Gorgias subscriptions are billed monthly or yearly. Yearly plans get two months free.
• Gorgias uses ticket-based pricing by charging per billable ticket, automated interactions, and overages. Gorgias does not charge per user.
• Billable tickets are tickets answered by an agent or Rule. The messages within a ticket are not charged individually.
• Overages happen when you exceed your plan’s ticket volume. When your business grows and your usage increases, we will notify you when it’s time to upgrade to the next plan.
• Find your monthly ticket volume by using our pricing page.

Not sure which Gorgias plan is right for you? It all starts with understanding how many customer interactions you handle each month.

Whether you’re just starting out with 50 tickets or managing thousands across different channels, we’ve got you covered.

Our ticket-based pricing grows with your business, making it flexible and easy to scale.

This guide will help you figure out your ticket volume, explore the plan options, and find the perfect fit for your needs.

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How does Gorgias’s pricing structure work?

Billing is based on a monthly or annual subscription, with plans determined by the number of billable helpdesk tickets, automated interactions, and overages.

A billable ticket is any ticket where an agent or Rule (an action that triggers based on certain conditions) responds to a customer's message. Each ticket you receive on your helpdesk is counted as one billable ticket, no matter how many messages are exchanged in the thread.

An automated interaction is a customer request resolved with AI Agent features, including Flows, Order Management, Article Recommendations, and AI Agent.

Important: A billable ticket can also be classified as an automated interaction depending on the timing of the responses. If an agent or Rule responds more than 72 hours after the automated interaction, it will be billed as both. If the response is within 72 hours, it will be billed as a single billable ticket.

Overages occur when your billable ticket/automated interaction volume exceeds the number included in your plan. Consider changing to a yearly plan if your volume fluctuates from month to month. We will also notify you when to upgrade to the next plan to save money.

This structure applies to all our products and add-ons, making it flexible and scalable to fit businesses of any size:

• Helpdesk 🖥️: All-in-one inbox with 100+ ecommerce app integrations; charged by billable tickets
• AI Agent 🤖: AI-powered features that can automate 60% of support interactions, including conversational AI; charged by automated interactions
• Voice ☎️: Support channel add-on; charged by Voice tickets
• SMS 💬: Support channel add-on; charged by SMS tickets

Why ticket-based pricing, not seat-based?

Gorgias uses a ticket-based pricing model, allowing you to grow headcount without worrying about increased costs. We believe in AI-powered CX, and as AI tools become universal, brands can rely on agents to handle tasks more effectively at accelerated speeds.

Take a look at the advantages of paying by ticket volume:

• Cost-effective: You can have unlimited support agents without incurring additional costs.
• Efficiency through automation: Pairing our automation-focused platform with ticket-based pricing means deflecting and automating tickets is the goal, which helps businesses improve efficiency and reduce manual workload.
• Flexibility: Managing costs is more straightforward with ticket-based pricing, as companies can pay overage fees rather than temporarily upgrading to a higher-tier plan.

How to find your current monthly ticket volume

You may be coming from another helpdesk or currently trying out Gorgias. If you’re considering switching to Gorgias, it’s important to know your current monthly ticket volume.

Below, we show you how to find your monthly ticket volume whether you’re using Zendesk, Tidio, Shopify Inbox, Re:amaze, or the Gorgias trial.

Find your monthly ticket volume on different helpdesks

Here’s how to find ticket volume on the helpdesk platforms Zendesk, Tidio, Shopify Inbox, and Re:amaze.

Zendesk

1. In Explore, click the Dashboard icon in the left sidebar.
2. Select the Zendesk Support dashboard.
3. Click the Tickets tab.
4. Set the Time to a one-month range.
5. Note your monthly ticket volume in the Created tickets section.

Tidio

1. Click the Usage & Plan button in the top right of the Tidio panel. 
2. Note your monthly ticket volume in the Customer service row under Current usage.

Shopify Inbox

1. Go to Shopify Inbox > Overview.
2. Note your monthly ticket volume under Conversation metrics.

Re:amaze

1. Click on the Reports icon in the menu.
2. Under Team Reports, click Overview.
3. Note your monthly ticket volume under Last 30 Days Volume.

Find your monthly ticket volume on the 7-day Gorgias trial

Here’s a four-step guide to accurately gauge your monthly ticket volume on the Gorgias trial.

Step 1: Connect all your support channels 

Immediately after sign-up, connect all the channels you offer support on, such as email, social media, voice, SMS, etc. All messages from these channels will now be consolidated in the Helpdesk. 

Use Gorgias to reply to all incoming messages for the entire 7 days. This is crucial because only replies sent from the helpdesk will count as billable tickets. This process ensures you select the right pricing plan after the trial ends.

Find your ticket volume in Statistics > Support Performance > Overview. There, you can view your ticket volume (created, closed, and open tickets) and support metrics like first response time and resolution time.

Step 2: Note the total tickets used at the end of the 7-day trial

Go to Statistics > Account > Billing & usage > Usage & Plans. To get your estimated monthly ticket volume, multiply the number of tickets used by 4 (for four weeks). For average yearly ticket volume, multiply the resulting number by 12.

Step 3: Estimate the number of automated interactions

As a starting point, we recommend automating 10-20% of your annual ticket volume to increase repeat purchases, reduce response times, and increase overall customer satisfaction. 

Multiply your yearly ticket volume by 0.2 to find the optimum number of automated interactions you need.

Step 4: Use the pricing calculator

Once you’re ready to find the plan that works for you, input your anticipated number of tickets, automated interactions, and Voice and SMS tickets per month into the pricing calculator.

How the Gorgias pricing calculator works

Our pricing calculator is designed to help you find the most cost-effective plan for your business needs in four simple steps.

Step 1: Estimate your customer support ticket volume per month

Use the slider to set the number of tickets your store receives per month, ranging from 0 to 10,000.

Not sure how many tickets you receive per month? On average, brands receive one support ticket for every 15 orders.

Step 2: Select your helpdesk plan

You can choose from four plan options. The first is a base plan with the number of tickets you can use per month and the overage fee. The following plans are the base plan with the addition of automated tickets, ranging from 10%-30% automation.

Pro Tip: Based on 2023 data, brands that automated 20% of their tickets substantially reduced response times and resolution times and increased CSAT. 

Step 3: Choose your add-ons

Expand your customer service channels by adding Voice and SMS tickets to your plan.

• Voice add-on: Select your monthly voice ticket volume if you receive and make calls. There is also a pay-as-you-go option.
• SMS add-on: Select your monthly SMS ticket volume if you send and receive SMS texts. There is also a pay-as-you-go option.

Step 4: Select a monthly or yearly plan

Lastly, finalize your selection by toggling the option to pay on a monthly or yearly basis. You’ll see your final plan summary along with the time and money you save. When you’re ready, click ‘Book a Demo’ to get started with Gorgias.

Which plan should I choose?

Choosing the right Gorgias plan depends on your estimated ticket volume. Here are our recommendations based on your monthly ticket volume.

Pro Tip: We include Automate in every recommendation because it can automatically resolve up to 60% of your customer inquiries, freeing you from repetitive work and allowing you to focus on more complex tasks.

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TL;DR:

• Automate repetitive questions to give agents time back. Use tools like Help Centers, Flows, and AI agents to handle common queries so agents can take care of more complex issues.
• Lower response times with automation. Set up automated email responses, use Flows, and leverage AI Agents to reply to customers faster.
• Maintain a consistent tone of voice with AI. Automate QA processes and provide custom tone instructions to ensure every response aligns with your brand's voice.‍
• Self-serve returns and use chat campaigns to upsell. Use tools like Loop Returns for self-serve returns and Gorgias Convert to boost revenue with personalized upselling campaigns.

According to Salesforce research, 77% of support staff have dealt with increased and complex workflows compared to the year prior. In addition, 56% of agents have experienced burnout due to support work. 

As teams transition into the next era of CX—one where almost every customer expects efficiency, convenience, and friendly and knowledgeable service –– they’ll need the support of more than just a stellar lead to avoid the stress that comes with the job.   

AI and automation are valuable and impactful tools that can aid teams in providing these top-notch experiences while helping agents lower their own stress. 

Here are seven ways to leverage AI and automation to increase agent productivity, meet customer expectations, and decrease burnout on CX teams. 

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How to reduce stress with AI and automation

While there will always be reasons for human intervention, here are seven support challenges that AI and automation can solve for CX teams long term. 

1. Tackle repetitive questions 
2. Lower response times
3. Keep a consistent tone of voice
4. QA responses at scale
5. Upsell customer conversations
6. Let customers self-serve returns
7. Address common points of confusion

1) Tackle repetitive questions

Every CX team receives repetitive questions like “where is my order” (WISMO), “can I change my shipping address,” or “what is your return policy” every single day. These questions add up over time, creating frustration and burnout for agents and longer response times for customers. 

Instead, teams can leverage AI and automation to answer these questions and take time back for other essential tasks. 

How to use AI and automation to reduce repetitive questions 

If you use Gorgias, there are a couple of ways to put automation to work. 

• Lowest effort: Create a Help Center. Help Centers are beneficial for a couple of reasons. First, they give customers an avenue for self-service. Second, they're the primary knowledge source that Gorgias AI Agent draws from. To make setup a breeze, browse 50 help center templates with included answers, all customizable to your brand’s policies.  
• Medium effort: Set up Flows. Flows guide simple automated interactions that get customers the answers they need. Flows might help customers understand sizing, learn how long delivery will take, or find warranty information.  
• Highest effort: Activate AI Agent. AI Agent is conversational AI that can handle repetitive tickets for teams by learning your brand’s policies, tone of voice, and specific instructions. 

"Gorgias's AI Agent has been a game-changer for us, allowing us to automate nearly half of our customer service inquiries. This efficiency means we don’t need to hire additional staff to manage routine tasks, which has saved us the equivalent of two full-time positions.

—Noémie Rousseau, Customer Service Manager at Pajar

Resource: How to automate half of your CX tasks

2) Lower response times

Many customers get frustrated due to delayed support responses, especially if (they believe) they’re asking a simple question. Not only can AI and automation support by offering responses to these questions, they allow human agents to respond faster to customers who have more complex questions. 

How to use AI and automation to lower response times  

• Lowest effort: Use automated acknowledgment responses to reassure customers that you’ve heard them, and provide a time frame for when they can expect to hear back. This can be as simple as setting up an email to trigger each time a customer sends in a support request. 
• Medium effort: Set up Flows in Chat to give customers quick, automated answers to common questions.
• Highest effort: Use AI Agent to answer customers 10x faster than your human agents. 

AI Agent has been an effective tool for the team at luxe golf accessory shop VESSEL. “Now we’re able to get back to people so much faster than before,” says Lauren Reams, their Customer Experience Manager. 

“We can quickly collect information – avoiding the back and forth questions like what is your name, email or shipping address. Using AI to eliminate the back and forth has been great, and getting back to customers much faster than before has been the biggest win for our team.” 

3) ​​Keep a consistent tone of voice

If customers see an inconsistent tone of voice across responses, it’ll affect your brand credibility. It also causes confusion and may create issues maintaining repeat and loyal customers. 

How to use AI and automation to keep tone of voice consistent 

• Lowest effort: Set up AI Agent’s tone of voice with custom instructions. While AI Agent comes with three pre-set options (Friendly, Professional, and Sophisticated), you can also provide custom Guidance for how you’d like it to sound.
• Medium effort: Use Macros or templated responses to always keep agents on brand.  
• ‍Highest effort: Conduct agent training via an automated QA system. Auto QA can provide instant feedback on agent responses to ensure they’re on brand and use the right tone of voice.

4) QA responses at scale

Manual quality assurance checks are time-consuming and often inconsistent. But they’re key to providing great support at scale while maintaining a high standard across thousands of interactions. Aside from catching any errors, a regular QA process also builds trust with customers, increases personalization, and helps agents improve over time. 

How to use AI and automation for QA

Automated quality assurance can provide up to 90% accuracy, according to research by McKinsey. To ensure 100% of your customer conversations are checked, used Auto QA. This AI-powered QA tool evaluates your team's responses—AI or human—based on Resolution Completeness, Communication, and Language Proficiency.

5) Upsell customer conversations

When CX teams are bogged down with an overwhelming amount of tickets, there’s going to be a lack of time and opportunity to upsell in customer conversations. This is especially true when dealing with angry or upset customers, and during high-impact periods like BFCM. 

How to use AI and automation for upselling 

Activate onsite marketing campaigns with Gorgias Convert to provide product recommendations and promote current discounts, sales, or campaigns.

For example, you can use AI to promote relevant items to shoppers to increase their cart value. You might highlight items that are frequently bought together, or show a bundle that would make a great gift for someone. Research shows that these types of personalized recommendations can increase average order value (AOV) by 15%. 

Resource: 5 Holiday Onsite Campaigns to Maximize Year-End Sales

6) Let customers self-serve returns

The National Retail Federation (NRF) projects that retail returns will total $890 billion in 2024. With so many brands losing money from returns, it’s essential that you find ways to mitigate them. 

How to use AI and automation for returns

By switching to Gorgias, Audien Hearing saw nearly a 5% drop in return rates. And Rumpl saw $8,000 in recouped return fees by integrating Loop Returns with Gorgias. 

Loop lets customers self-serve returns through a returns portal that encourages exchanges instead. It makes the entire process a breeze, and eliminates back and forth between customers and busy support teams. 

7) Address common points of confusion

Many times, issues that were completely avoidable are escalated, leaving support teams with more tickets and already frustrated customers. These issues are likely common points of confusion that you can easily solve before they ever reach your customers. 

How to use AI and automation to ease confusion

If you use Gorgias, here’s how you can leverage automation:  

• Lowest effort: Update your Help Center to address FAQs or policies customers have found confusing in the past. 
• Medium effort: Create Flows to address frequently asked questions. 
• Highest effort: Set up AI Agent’s handover rules to only escalate certain topics to your human team. 

“I’ve been in this role for four years and this was probably our best back to school season yet. In past years, you knew you were going to come in and be bogged down – but this year was way more seamless and much less stressful and that’s thanks to AI Agent.”

—Danae Kaminski, Customer Care Team Lead at Jonas Paul Eyewear

Get time back to do what really matters 

At Gorgias, our goal is to create solutions to the real problems CX professionals face every day. Tools like AI Agent make it possible for teams to provide better customer experiences, reduce agent stress, and create more cohesive and positive working environments overall.  

”Thanks to the time we've saved by automating many of our routine tasks, our team has had the chance to bond more,” says Noémie. 

“We even had time for a team picnic and painted a picnic table outside! It’s been great to step away and spend time as a team occasionally, knowing that our customers are still being taken care of by the AI Agent. It’s really improved team morale.”

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TL;DR:

• Audit your help center. Review analytics, gather feedback, and test usability to identify gaps and outdated content.
• Update and optimize content. Add trending FAQs, visuals, and clear formatting to improve readability and usability.
• Boost accessibility and SEO. Place links across your site, optimize with keywords, and integrate with proactive support tools.
• Leverage AI for better support. Use your help center to train AI tools and regularly update content for accuracy.

The start of a new year is the perfect time to give your help center the refresh it deserves. For many ecommerce brands, the help center is one of the most underused support tools—yet it's also one of the most powerful. 88% of customers already search your website for some kind of knowledge base or FAQ.

Customers expect fast answers, and a well-designed, updated help center can meet their needs while taking some weight off your support team. We’ll walk you through why refreshing matters and how to do it.

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Why refresh your help center?

90% of consumers worldwide consider issue resolution their top priority for customer service. A robust help center gives you the tools to meet this expectation, delivering fast and reliable solutions that simplify your customers’ lives.

A well-designed help center benefits both your customers and your team. For customers, it lets them solve problems quickly and independently. Instead of waiting for an email response or queuing for live chat, a help center empowers them to find answers on their own terms 24/7. 

For your team, a refreshed help center is transformative, too. Here’s what a help center update can achieve:

• Deflect repetitive pre-sale questions: Save your agents from answering the same FAQs over and over by addressing common queries proactively in your help center.
• Support your team: Equip agents with easy access to up-to-date product, service, and policy information. You’ll reduce response times, and your team will deliver consistent answers.
• Train AI tools: Turn your help center into a powerful data source for AI tools. Comprehensive, structured content helps AI provide accurate and consistent responses, giving customers fast solutions and further reducing ticket volume.

In short, refreshing your help center will improve customer experience and boost efficiency across your entire customer service strategy. It’s a win-win for everyone.

How to refresh your help center: 4 steps to follow

Refreshing your help center doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By breaking the process into clear, actionable steps, you can transform your help center into a powerful self-service tool that delights customers and supports your team. 

Here are four key steps to guide your refresh.

Step 1: Audit your existing help center

Before making any major changes, you need to understand where your help center currently stands. A thorough audit will help you identify areas for improvement and ensure you make targeted updates.

Here's how to start:

Review analytics

Dive into your help center metrics to spot underperforming content. Look at article views, time-on-page, and bounce rates. Low engagement might mean the content is unclear, irrelevant, or hard to find.

With a customer experience platform like Gorgias, you can view the performance of each article:

Survey your customers

Customer feedback is invaluable. Use surveys or follow-up emails to ask customers what information they had trouble finding. Their responses can highlight blind spots in your help center.

Add CSAT questions

At the end of each help center article, include a simple question like, "Was this content helpful?" Use the feedback to pinpoint which articles are effective and which may need improvement.

Test usability

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Try searching for answers to common questions. Is the layout intuitive? Are the search results helpful? A smooth user experience is key to a successful help center.

Evaluate content freshness

Check if your articles are outdated or missing important updates, like new product features or policy changes.

Read more: How to create and optimize a customer knowledge base

Step 2: Update and optimize your help center content

Fresh, well-organized content is the backbone of a great help center. Customers rely on clear and accurate information, so investing in your content can transform your help center into a powerful self-service tool. 

Here’s how to refresh your content and make it shine:

Add trending FAQs

Regularly analyze support tickets to identify common and emerging questions. Integrate these into your knowledge base to address customer needs proactively and reduce incoming tickets.

Create multimedia content

Text alone isn’t always enough. Use images, GIFs, and videos to break down complex topics and make instructions easier to follow. For example, a quick explainer video can save customers time and eliminate confusion.

Princess Polly’s customer help center exemplifies what a great help center should look like. Its visually appealing design ensures that customers can quickly navigate to the information they need. Whether they’re looking for help with shipping, payments, returns, or any other issue, the intuitive layout makes the process simple and stress-free.

Gorgias lets you customize fonts, logos, and headers for your Help Center without any coding. If you want more customization, you can dip into HTML and CSS to tailor specific elements.

Standardize your tone

Ensure your content reflects your brand voice while staying approachable and customer-friendly. Consistency builds trust and reinforces your brand identity.

Need help finding your brand voice? Read AI Tone of Voice: Tips for On-Brand Customer Communication for guidance.

Update outdated articles

Review older content for inaccuracies or missing information, such as policy changes or new product details. 

Structure for readability

Use bullet points, short paragraphs, and clear headings to make articles easy to scan. Most customers skim for quick answers—design your content to match their behavior.

Step 3: Make your help center easy to find

Even the most well-crafted help center is ineffective if customers can’t locate it. Ensuring visibility across all customer touchpoints is key to driving engagement and making self-service the first stop for support. Here’s how to do it:

Link it everywhere

Make your help center easily accessible by placing links in strategic locations, such as your website’s header, footer, and main navigation menu. Include links in transactional emails, like order confirmations, tracking updates, or shipping updates, where customers often have questions.

Improve SEO

Optimize your help center articles with keywords your customers are likely to search for. Use clear, concise titles, meta descriptions, and headings to boost search engine visibility and help customers find answers directly from Google.

Integrate with support tools

Use tools like automated chat and automated email responses to proactively surface relevant help center articles. For instance, when customers type a question in a chatbox, suggest related articles before escalating to a support agent.

Read more: Offer more self-serve options with Flows: 10 use cases & best practices

Promote it proactively

Don’t wait for customers to stumble upon your help center—promote it! Highlight it in onboarding emails, social media posts, and banners on your site.

Jonas Paul Eyewear ensures their help center is easy to access by prominently linking it in the website’s footer under the “Quick Links” section. The thoughtful placement ensures customers can quickly navigate to the help center from any page, making it a convenient resource for addressing their questions or concerns.

Read more: Boost your Help Center's visibility: Proven strategies to increase article views

Step 4: Use your help center to power AI tools

Your help center isn’t just for customers—it will also level up your AI-driven support strategy. By structuring your knowledge base effectively, you enable AI tools to deliver accurate, reliable, and consistent answers to customer queries.

Here’s how to make it work:

Create comprehensive content

Ensure your help center articles cover a wide range of customer questions in detail. This makes it easier for AI tools to pull relevant information and respond accurately.

Structure for machine readability

Organize your content with clear headings, bullet points, and simple language. Well-structured articles are easier for AI to parse and interpret.

Focus on consistency

Use uniform terminology across articles to prevent confusion and ensure AI tools can quickly identify relevant data.

Update regularly

Keep your knowledge base fresh by adding new FAQs, updating outdated content, and incorporating customer feedback. Up-to-date information ensures AI tools provide answers that align with your latest products, policies, and services.

Test AI performance

Periodically review how well your AI tools are using your help center content to address customer needs. Identify gaps in information and fine-tune articles as needed.

Dr. Bronner’s built their help center to power AI Agent, a conversational support assistant that answers both transactional and personalized customer inquiries in the same style as a human agent. Making this change helps the brand save $100,000 a year and decrease their resolution time by 74%.

💡Pro Tip: Transform your help center into an AI training powerhouse with Gorgias’s help center AI optimization guide. This guide offers actionable tips for making your knowledge base AI-ready.

By using your help center to power AI tools, you’ll improve customer self-service options and lighten the load on your support team. AI-enhanced support delivers faster resolutions, higher customer satisfaction, and a scalable approach to customer service.

Elevate your support strategy with a help center refresh

Refreshing your help center isn’t just about improving customer experience—it’s a game-changer for your entire support strategy. With tools like Gorgias’s Help Center, you can empower customers to self-serve while equipping your team with the resources they need to excel.

In 2025, make your help center the cornerstone of your support operations—and watch the results speak for themselves.

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