How to Write Guidance with the “When, If, Then” Framework
TL;DR:
- AI Agent is only as good as the instructions you give it. Clear Guidance enables it to perform like your best support teammate.
- The “When, If, Then” framework makes writing Guidance easy and repeatable. Start with the scenario (when), define the conditions (if), and list specific actions (then) to create structured Guidance.
- Use Guidance to handle frequently asked questions, like returns, cancellations, or discount code inquiries, so your team can focus on more complex issues.
- If your Guidance isn’t working, formatting or logic gaps might be to blame. Check for missing conditions, unsupported tasks, or confusing formatting.
AI Agent is built to deliver fast, accurate support at scale, but like any teammate, it performs best when given clear and specific instructions.
That’s where Guidance comes in. Writing structured prompts that tell your AI Agent exactly what to do in a given scenario helps reduce escalations, speed up resolutions, and create a more consistent customer experience.
One simple, repeatable way to do that is with the “When, If, Then” framework.
In this post, we’ll show you how it works, using examples from our Gorgias Academy course, Improve AI Agent with Better Guidance.
You’ll learn how to write Guidance that results in:
- Fewer escalations
- Faster resolutions
- Smarter, more consistent AI behavior
Let’s break it down.
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What is Guidance?
Guidance is how you tell your AI Agent what to do. It’s a set of instructions that outlines how your AI Agent should respond in specific situations.
When Guidance is available, your AI Agent follows it first, even before checking your Help Center or website content.
That means if your Guidance is missing, unclear, or incomplete, your AI Agent might escalate the ticket, or worse, give a confusing or unhelpful response. Here’s an example:
Let’s say a customer wants to return an item. A human agent would send them a link to the return portal and explain the steps. But without that instruction in Guidance, your AI Agent might skip straight to escalation, turning a simple request into unnecessary work for your team.
That’s why clear, step-by-step Guidance is key to help your AI Agent respond the way your best support agent would.
Learn more: Create Guidance to give AI Agent custom instructions
Introducing the “When, If, Then” framework
Sometimes it’s hard to know where to start when writing Guidance. The “When, If, Then” framework gives you a simple, repeatable structure to follow, so there’s no need to guess.
Taking this approach mirrors how AI Agent processes information behind the scenes. When you write clear Guidance, your AI Agent can follow it step by step, just like a support teammate would.
Let’s walk through the three parts of the framework.
WHEN: Set the scenario
Start by identifying the situation your Guidance applies to. This is the trigger or scenario. Use it as the title of your Guidance so it’s easy to find later.
Example:
- WHEN a shopper asks to return an order
- WHEN a customer wants to cancel their subscription
Keep it simple and action-oriented. You’re setting the stage for what comes next.
IF: Add conditions
Once you’ve defined the scenario, add any conditions that determine what should happen. “If” statements help your AI Agent understand what to do based on specific details, like timing, order history, or customer tags.
Example:
- IF the order was placed less than or equal to 15 days ago
- IF the customer has a VIP tag in Shopify
Use as many “if” conditions as needed to guide different outcomes. Just make sure you cover all the possibilities so your AI Agent doesn’t get stuck.
THEN: Define the actions
This is where you tell your AI Agent exactly what to do. Be specific and use bullet points or numbered steps to keep things clear.
Example:
- Tell the shopper they’re eligible for a return
- Send them a link to the return portal
- Let them know they’ll receive a prepaid label once the form is submitted
The more clearly you outline the steps, the more consistently your AI Agent will perform.
The framework keeps your Guidance simple, structured, and easy to understand—for both your team and your AI Agent. When your AI Agent knows exactly what to do, it can deliver fast, accurate, and helpful responses that keep customers happy.
Put it all together
Say a shopper messages your store asking to return an item and you want AI Agent to send them to your return portal.
Here’s how this looks in a complete piece of Guidance:
WHEN a shopper asks to return an order:
IF the order was placed less than or equal to 15 days ago,
THEN
- Tell the shopper they’re eligible for a return
- Send them a link to the return portal
- Let them know they’ll receive a prepaid label via email once they submit the form
If you want to personalize it even more, you can use Shopify variables like tags to tailor the experience. For example:
IF [Tags] include VIP,
THEN provide the shopper with a discount code VIP25
The top 9 most common scenarios that need Guidance
These nine scenarios come up constantly in ecommerce support, and they’re perfect candidates for automation. They follow predictable patterns and are quick to resolve when your AI Agent knows what to do.
Use the examples below to jumpstart your setup. Each one is written using the When, If, Then framework and can be copied directly into Gorgias. Then, you can test out your Guidance by going to AI Agent > Test.
1. Where’s my order? (WISMO)
WHEN a customer asks about their order status:
IF tracking information is available,
THEN
- Provide the tracking number and link to the carrier's tracking page.
- Inform the customer of the expected delivery date.
IF tracking information is unavailable,
THEN
- Inform the customer that the order is being prepared for shipment.
- Provide an estimated shipping date.
2. What size should I order?
WHEN a customer inquires about product sizing for [item name]:
IF the customer asks what size to get, or mentions they’re unsure about sizing,
THEN
- Share the sizing chart or guide.
- Offer recommendations based on common fit feedback.
3. Can I change my shipping address?
WHEN a customer requests to change their shipping address:
IF the order has not been fulfilled,
THEN
- Confirm the new address with the customer.
- Update the shipping address in Shopify (or your chosen platform).
IF the order has already been fulfilled,
THEN
- Inform the customer that the address cannot be changed.
- Provide options for order interception or return.
4. Can I cancel my order?
WHEN a customer asks to cancel their order:
IF the order has not been fulfilled,
THEN
- Confirm that we can cancel their order.
- Tell them they’ll receive their refund in 5-10 business days.
IF the order has already been fulfilled,
THEN
- Inform the customer that the order cannot be cancelled.
- Help to initiate a return once the item is delivered.
5. How do I return an item?
WHEN a customer asks about returning an item:
IF the return is within the allowed return window of [x] days after the order was received,
THEN
- Provide the return instructions and link to the return portal.
- Inform the customer about the refund process.
IF the return window has expired,
THEN
- Inform the customer that the return period has ended.
- Offer alternative solutions if available.
6. Do you have any discount codes?
WHEN a customer inquires about discounts or promo codes:
IF there is an active promotion for [item name],
THEN
- Share the current discount code and its terms.
IF there are no active promotions for [item name],
THEN
- Inform the customer that there are no current promotions.
- Suggest subscribing to the newsletter or following social media for future promos.
7. I want to pause my subscription.
WHEN a customer requests to pause their subscription:
IF the customer has an active subscription,
THEN
- Provide instructions on how to pause the subscription through their account.
- Confirm the pause and inform them of the next billing date.
8. When will this item be back in stock?
WHEN a customer asks about product restocking:
IF a restock date is available,
THEN
- Inform the customer of the expected restock date.
IF the restock date is unknown,
THEN
- Offer to notify the customer when the product is back in stock.
- Suggest similar products.
9. Do you ship internationally?
WHEN a customer inquires about international shipping:
IF international shipping is available,
THEN
- Confirm that international shipping is offered.
- Provide estimated delivery times and any additional fees.
IF international shipping is not available,
THEN
- Inform the customer that shipping is limited to specific regions.
Troubleshooting: Why Guidance might not trigger
If your AI Agent isn’t following your Guidance, or it’s escalating tickets you thought it could handle, run through this quick checklist to spot the issue:
- Has a descriptive, easy-to-understand name: Name your Guidance based on the scenario (e.g. When a shopper asks about returns).
- Clear IF and THEN conditions: Make sure your Guidance spells out what to do when a condition is met.
- Covers all variations (no gaps in logic): Don’t leave your AI Agent hanging. Include fallback instructions for all scenarios.
- No wall-of-text formatting: Break things up with line breaks, headers, and spacing to help AI Agent scan quickly.
- Clearly written steps with bullets or numbers: Use lists to make actions easy to follow, like you would for a teammate.
- Doesn’t include unsupported tasks: Avoid unsupported instructions like “send macro,” “assign to agent,” or “delay the response.”
Bonus: Let AI do the heavy lifting
Don’t have time to write Guidance from scratch? The good news is AI can help with that, too.
AI-generated Guidance is available for all AI Agent subscribers. This feature analyzes your historical ticket data and uses it to generate ready-to-use, customizable prompts for your AI Agent.
Here’s what it does:
- Analyzes past tickets to identify common support scenarios
- Generates step-by-step Guidance based on what’s worked before
Ready to level up your Guidance?
Clear, structured Guidance is the key to unlocking better performance from your AI Agent. With just one well-written “When, If, Then” prompt, you can reduce escalations, speed up resolutions, and give your shoppers a smoother experience.
Not sure where to start? Try writing Guidance for one common question today—like returns, order status, or promo codes. Or, if you want to go deeper, check out our free Gorgias Academy course.
TL;DR:
- Your helpdesk shouldn't hold you back. If your team is buried in tickets or bouncing between tools, your platform might be the problem—not your process.
- Rising ticket volumes, slower response times, and clunky integrations are signs you’ve outgrown your platform. Don’t wait for these issues to impact revenue or retention.
- You’re not alone—fast-growing brands hit these roadblocks too. Dr. Bronner’s, Psycho Bunny, and Audien Hearing all switched platforms to support bigger growth with less friction.
- Helpdesk migration doesn’t have to be scary. With the right migration support, you can move quickly, avoid downtime, and give your team a tool they actually want to use.
As ticket volume grows, even the best CX teams start running into roadblocks: limited integrations, repetitive manual work, clunky interfaces, and slower response times. You patch things together. You make it work... until you can’t.
Many growing ecommerce brands find themselves trapped in a system that demands constant workarounds just to function.
If your current customer service platform feels more like a burden than a backbone, you’re not alone—and you’re not stuck.
In this post, we’ll walk through:
- The key signs it’s time to switch platforms
- What to prioritize when choosing your next one
- How brands like Pepper made a smooth move to Gorgias
The 5 warning signs you’ve outgrown your helpdesk
There’s a tipping point most brands hit as they scale. The signs are subtle at first—maybe your agents are taking longer to respond, or the volume of customer support tickets quietly outpaces your team. Then it starts affecting revenue, customer satisfaction, and retention. Big yikes.
Left unchecked, small inefficiencies can snowball into bigger operational challenges.
Catch these warning signs before they start costing you growth:
1. Rising ticket volume and slower resolution times
Support teams that are always playing catch-up rarely have time to focus on higher-value work. If your inbox is constantly overflowing or first response times are creeping up, it’s likely a sign your tools aren’t scaling with your business.
That’s exactly what happened with apparel brand Psycho Bunny.
“As we grew and expanded, we needed a tool that was better suited for Shopify, easier to manage, and offered better support to help us get the most out of the tool,” said Jean-Aymeri de Magistris, VP IT, Data & Analytics, and PMO at Psycho Bunny.
2. Agents constantly toggling between tabs and tools
If your agents are spending more time gathering context than solving problems, you’re losing time (and likely, patience) on both sides of the conversation. Fragmented tools can seriously undercut productivity.
Dr. Bronner’s experienced this firsthand, juggling Salesforce, spreadsheets, and disconnected systems.
“When I joined, we were logging calls and emails in Excel. It wasn’t scalable,” recalled Emily McEnany, Senior CX Manager at Dr. Bronner’s.
3. Clunky or missing integrations with your ecommerce stack
Some platforms require technical support even for small changes, such as custom workflows, new automations, or basic integrations. That may work at the start, but it becomes a bottleneck as your brand grows.
Disconnected systems strip away context, increasing the risk of mistakes. Whether it’s pulling up an order status or managing a return, agents need tools that work together, not against each other.
4. You’re stuck answering the same questions over and over
Every support team deals with repetitive inquiries. But without automation or self-service options, those tickets eat into your team’s time and keep you from focusing on higher-impact conversations.
Nude Project struggled to keep up with their ticket volume due to Zendesk’s lack of intuitive automation features. During Black Friday, the team received a record-high number of tickets—more than double their average volume.
“Connecting with customers through a screen is not always easy. With the high volume of messages, we need a tool that simplifies operational tasks while enabling effective communication and organization,” said Raquel J. Méndez, CX Manager at Nude Project.
5. Onboarding takes too long
Your platform should be easy for new hires to learn and for your team to evolve with. If ramping up agents takes weeks (or months), the platform might be getting in the way more than it’s helping.
Arcade Belts went through this process, trying one system, then switching back to one that better matched their needs.
“It just took a demo or two to realize what was actually going to support our team the way we needed,” their Ecommerce Coordinator, Grant, shared.
If any of these challenges sound familiar, you’re not alone.
The important part is recognizing when you’ve outgrown your current setup—and knowing that there are options out there to help you move faster.
What to look for when switching CX platforms
Switching platforms isn’t just about solving today’s problems. It’s about creating space for your team to be efficient, serve customers better, and turn support from a cost center into a real growth engine.
Need to migrate to a new platform? Look for the following:
1. A system that keeps up with rising ticket volumes
As your brand grows, support volume naturally increases.
Find a stable infrastructure that can handle that growth, has zero platform lag, and a robust engineering team that continuously makes the tool better for your needs.
To Psycho Bunny, Zendesk was a “legacy tool”—so they switched to Gorgias.
In just a few weeks, they migrated all historical conversations, tags, and Macros to Gorgias. Jean-Aymeri, their VP IT, credits Gorgias’s helpful onboarding specialists for making it effortless to integrate their apps and onboard their team onto a brand new tool.
Related: The engineering work that keeps Gorgias running smoothly
2. Automation for repetitive tasks (that maintains the human touch)
From “where’s my order” questions to return policies, prioritize AI tools that can automate repetitive inquiries.
Dr. Bronner’s implemented AI Agent to handle rising volumes of FAQs, allowing their team to focus on complex requests that require a human touch.
In just two months, they saw:
- 45% of all customer service tickets automated
- $100,000 saved per year by switching from Salesforce to Gorgias
- 4 days per month in team time savings
- 11% higher customer satisfaction score
By systematizing the simple stuff, they freed up bandwidth to focus on what matters most—building relationships and solving more nuanced problems.
3. Built-in features that turn support into sales
More brands are rethinking how support contributes to revenue. Look for a tool that combines support and sales. The most effective ones use AI to initiate upselling conversations, so your team can generate new revenue without needing to scale headcount at the same rate.
For jewelry brand Caitlyn Minimalist, which normally saw 30,000 tickets per month, AI Agent was the perfect fit. On top of answering FAQs, AI Agent also helped recommend products based on customer needs.
These conversations often begin as simple inquiries (“What should I get for my friend’s birthday?” or “What product suits me?”) and end in a purchase—handled entirely by AI. In fact, AI Agent’s conversion rates were 150% higher than the team average, proving that automation can support and sell.
4. A more efficient workflow—without relying on developers
The last thing scaling brands should have to worry about is relying on developers for basic changes. That includes being able to create macros and automations in-house and access key customer data without toggling across tools.
The platform should fit into your existing ecommerce stack—not fight against it.
That’s where Audien Hearing found themselves before switching to Gorgias.
“I’ve seen companies lose a lot of money because it’s not efficient,” said Zoe Kahn, former VP of CX. “You try to save money early on, but then you look at your helpdesk a year later and think, ‘Oh no, what’s happening?’”
Since switching from Richpanel, Audien Hearing’s CX team has been able to run CX on their own terms—without the bottlenecks.
They now resolve 9,000 tickets per month through self-service alone (including a customer knowledge base), cut first response times by 88%, and reduced return rates by 5%. With more time for one-on-one conversations, CSAT jumped from 80 to 86.
What migration actually looks like
“But migration sounds hard.”
We get it. Moving your entire CX operation can feel intimidating. But with the right partner (and the right platform), it doesn’t have to be.
Here’s how Gorgias makes switching smooth and stress-free:
- A dedicated onboarding team: Our team is with you every step of the way—from initial setup to post-launch optimization.
- A platform built for ecommerce workflows: Gorgias is designed to work the way ecommerce brands do, not the other way around.
- Fast setup and agent training: Most brands are up and running in days, not weeks. And because the interface is intuitive, teams can get comfortable quickly without heavy, time-consuming training.
- Full data migration support: Whether you’re moving from Gladly, Zendesk, or another platform, we’ll help you bring your history, macros, and workflows over smoothly.
Most Gorgias customers are fully live within just a few days—ready to serve customers faster, smarter, and with less manual lift.
How Pepper made a smooth switch to Gorgias
When fast-growing intimates brand Pepper outgrew their old CX platform, they knew they needed a system that could scale with them—without sacrificing speed or quality.
“Gladly didn’t offer any automation or inbox organization features. Our queue got really messy. We got 400 tickets a day during Black Friday, and we didn’t clear that backlog until the following Spring. We knew we couldn’t do that again,” explained Gabrielle McWhirter, CX Operations Lead at Pepper.
With Gorgias, Pepper was able to:
- Fully migrate their workflows and history
- Train their team quickly on the new platform
- Launch their AI Agent ("Penelope") to automate more than 50% of support tickets
And the results spoke for themselves:
- 16.5x ROI on AI-driven sales interactions
- 90%+ decrease in first response and resolution times
- 18% uplift in average order value
See how Pepper made the switch happen (and why they’re never looking back):
Is it time to make the switch?
If you’re seeing the warning signs, here’s a quick gut check:
- You’re drowning in tickets and toggling between tabs
- You can’t track or tie support to revenue
- You need better integration with your tech stack
- You’re not using automation, or it’s not actually saving time
- Your team dreads logging into your current tool
The right platform won’t just help your team work better. It’ll help you drive more revenue, boost customer retention, and actually make customers want to talk to you.
See what switching to Gorgias could do for your brand. Book a demo today.
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TL;DR:
- Your CX team drives revenue: Build trust, remove friction, and influence buying decisions across the customer journey
- Optimize existing processes: Automate tasks, address concerns proactively, and create efficient handoffs
- Spot risk early: Use tagging and sentiment detection to re-engage customers before they churn
- Protect VIPs: Prioritize loyal customers, create moments of delight, turn supporters into advocates
Rising tariffs. Shipping delays. Unpredictable price hikes. For ecommerce, it's an understatement to say the pressure is rising. If you're on the CX team, you're already facing the fire head-on — all the customer frustration, confusion, and hesitation.
CX teams are on the frontlines of support and sales. You're shaping customer trust, buying decisions, and brand loyalty.
From pre-sales conversations to loyalty programs, it’s time to rethink the customer journey, so you can turn every interaction into an opportunity to grow your revenue.
Reframe CX’s role across the customer journey
Customer service isn’t just about reacting to problems. It can be a proactive and strategic function that helps you stabilize and even grow your revenue.
Think about it this way: you have the power to turn everyday customer moments into wins.
At every stage of the customer journey, you can turn:
- Purchase hesitation -> confidence to buy (pre-sales)
- Concern → relief (post-purchase)
- Disinterest -> re-engagement (loyalty)
- Returning customers → brand advocates (advocacy)
This isn’t about being pushy for sales. It's about anticipating needs and putting systems in place that protect customer relationships and revenue.
As you update your CX workflow, keep these two questions in mind:
- How can I positively influence revenue?
- How can I reduce the risk of losing it?
1. Resolve pre-sales hesitation with education
Most pre-sales hesitation is rooted in uncertainty: What’s the return policy? How much is shipping? Will this fit? Will it arrive in time?
Reduce customer effort and build confidence with automation as your CX team’s first line of defense. Anything else more complicated, your agents can take care of.
Automate repetitive questions
Start by setting up automated answers for the questions your team responds to every day, especially the ones that delay conversions:
- Where is my order?
- Do you ship internationally?
- How much is shipping?
- Do you accept returns?
- Are your prices affected by tariffs?
There are a few ways to automate these questions in Gorgias:
- Flows: Automated conversations designed to resolve common inquiries without agent intervention
- AI Agent: Conversational AI that answers customer questions in chat and email, trained on your internal documents and brand voice
- Help Center: A self-serve, customer-facing knowledge base of help articles, FAQs, guides, and product resources
Read more: How to optimize your help center for AI Agent
Proactively guide shoppers
Be the compass for the wandering window shoppers and browsers. They might not know exactly what to get, but with the right nudge, you can guide them toward the right product and a fuller cart.
Try these chat prompts:
- Don’t know what size to get? Check out our sizing guide to get your perfect fit!
- Need help choosing the right carry-on? Here’s a quick comparison of our top sellers.
- We offer free shipping for orders over $60!
- What’s your skin type — dry, oily, or combination?
Offer discounts based on shopper intent
Sometimes, a discount is all a customer needs to take their order to checkout. Instead of storewide promo codes, use AI to offer tailored discounts to shoppers who show strong intent to buy. This can help reduce abandoned carts and leave customers with a great impression of your brand.
Here are some of the best times to offer a discount:
- A first-time shopper is hesitant because of the price
- A shopper adds an item to their cart, then asks about shipping or return policies
- A shopper asks if they should wait for a sale
Recommend products in real time
If shoppers can’t quickly find what they’re looking for, they’ll leave. Real-time product recommendations help resolve indecision and increase average order value.
Examples of when real-time suggestions drive conversions:
- A shopper asks for jeans in medium — AI suggests bestsellers in their size
- A returning customer mentions loving a nude-colored top — AI recommends similar or matching items
- A product is out of stock — AI suggests alternatives based on color or style
Hand off high-intent shoppers to live agents
High-intent questions are usually specific and goal-oriented — things like:
- What size should I get?
- How soon can this ship?
- Is this item still in stock?
When customers ask questions that directly impact their ability to purchase, it’s a strong buying signal. If they don’t get a fast response, they’ll probably abandon their cart.
So, how do you encourage shoppers to keep shopping?
Activate chat on your website and equip it with automated features, such as Flows, and/or conversational AI, like AI Agent.
No matter what setup you choose, always have a protocol ready to hand off to a human agent when needed.
In Gorgias, you can set up Rules or use AI Agent handover rules to automatically route conversations based on specific keywords, topics, or customer behavior.
2. Alleviate post-purchase concerns
After buying, customers may want to change their order or just need reassurance that everything is on its way.
If customers feel ignored during this critical window, you risk losing their business.
The easy fix? Eliminate friction, reassure customers, and make it easy for them to stay excited about their purchase.
Automate order status updates
Customers expect full visibility into their orders. Give them full access to this information, and you'll receive fewer WISMO requests.
Integrate your helpdesk with your 3PL or shipping provider to automatically send real-time updates on order status. If customers have an account portal, give them a tracking link.
Pro Tip: If delays are expected, automate messages to let customers know ahead of time. Being proactive keeps customers informed and reduces the need for reactive support.
Turn negative experiences into retention moments
When something goes wrong, like a delay, a lost package, or unexpected fees, it's how you respond that matters most.
Empower your CX team to act quickly. For example:
- Offer store credit, loyalty points, or free shipping perks to impacted customers
- Prioritize VIP or first-time buyers for fast-tracked resolutions
- Escalate critical post-purchase issues to senior agents
You can also use sentiment detection to flag frustrated customers early. Gorgias has built-in customer sentiment detection that automatically identifies tones like urgent, negative, positive, or even threatening language. You can create Rules that tag these conversations and route them to the right agent for faster handling.
Read more: Customer sentiments
3. Re-engage at-risk customers and reduce churn
Just because a customer is at risk doesn’t mean you’ve lost them. Identifying and re-engaging at-risk customers is one of the highest-impact things you can do to protect revenue.
Spot risk early
Pay attention to repeat patterns that signal dissatisfaction. Common early indicators include:
- Multiple shipping complaints
- Frequent refund or return requests
- Negative or urgent sentiment in support tickets
- Long periods of customer inactivity after purchase
Use sentiment detection and Ticket Fields (ticket properties) to tag these signals automatically. With this data identified, you’ll start to spot patterns that can help you address issues, giving customers a reason to stay.
Build recovery flows
Once you’ve identified your at-risk customers, use win-back strategies, like:
- Offering discount codes, loyalty perks, or free returns
- Sending personalized emails or messages acknowledging the issue and offering solutions
- Prioritizing conversations for your most experienced agents or account managers
When handled thoughtfully, a churn-risk customer can become one of your strongest advocates because you showed up when it mattered most.
4. Build loyalty by surprising your best customers
Don’t forget, there are already customers who love you! These loyal customers don’t just come back to buy again — they bring friends, amplify your brand, and give your business stability when you need it most.
Identify and prioritize VIPs
Use customer data to identify customers who purchase frequently, spend more, or have referred others. Tag them as VIPs in your helpdesk so that their requests are prioritized.
For example, in Gorgias, you can use Customer Fields (customer labels and properties) to group your customers under:
- VIP
- Repeat purchaser
- High lifetime value
- Promoter
When you know who your top customers are, you can offer more personalized service and make sure every interaction strengthens their connection to your brand.
Create brand advocates through small gestures
You don’t need to offer huge discounts to let customers know you appreciate them. Small, thoughtful gestures often make the biggest impact:
- Send handwritten thank-you notes with their orders
- Offer a free gift, upgrade, or loyalty perk after a milestone purchase
- Include a referral code they can share with friends
- Feature loyal customers on your social media channels (with their permission)
If you’re using macros and automations, you can even trigger some of these surprise-and-delight actions automatically, making it easier to scale while keeping the personal touch.
Make revenue your outcome at any time
We know how overwhelming uncertain times can be. It’s easy to think you need to reinvent your entire strategy just to keep up.
But the truth is, you already have what you need. You have a team that knows your customers. You have conversations happening every day that can protect, nurture, and even grow your business.
By grounding yourself in what’s already working and creating proactive systems, you can turn uncertainty into strong and steady growth.
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2025 Ecommerce Trends: AI Adoption and Smarter Tech Stacks
TL;DR
- Ecommerce teams are overwhelmed by app overload, with 42% using six tools daily—leading to inefficiencies, rising costs, and poor customer experiences.
- Top brands are consolidating their tech stacks, choosing deeply integrated, ecommerce-specific platforms to simplify operations and lower costs.
- AI adoption and excitement are accelerating, with 77.2% of ecommerce professionals using AI daily and 55.3% rating their excitement as an 8-10 out of 10.
- Gorgias powers AI-driven support and sales in one platform, through a single workspace that helps ecommerce teams resolve faster, sell smarter, and operate more efficiently.
At Gorgias, we work with over 16,000 ecommerce brands and one common challenge emerges over and over:
Ecommerce tools are essential, but too many tools becomes a burden.
With different teams responsible for different functions, brands risk creating a disconnected tech stack that causes inefficiencies, reduces productivity, and ultimately impacts profitability.
Ecommerce teams are shuffling between tabs, copying and pasting order numbers, searching for customer data, and trying to piece it all together. It’s not only inefficient—it’s expensive, frustrating, and unsustainable as you scale.
So we dug into that data.
Our 2025 Ecommerce Trends Report surveyed ecommerce professionals across industries and job roles to understand what they really think about tech stacks and AI’s role in it.
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Ecommerce professionals are approaching app overload
There is now an ecommerce app for every possible use case a brand could need. But as businesses adopt new technologies for each part of their customer journey, their teams end up working out of dozens of platforms.
The study found that 42.28% of ecommerce pros use at least six apps daily to perform their role. Regardless of the number of apps used, integration and compatibility are a must. When technologies don’t talk to each other, you spend time context-switching instead of focusing on customer experience.
For Audien Hearing, Gorgias’s open API allowed them to create an integration with its warehouse software to manage returns directly in Gorgias rather than a shared Google spreadsheet. This integration helped them reduce returns by 5%, protecting their margins and leading to higher customer satisfaction.
Read more: How Audien Hearing Increased Efficiency for 75 Agents and Reduced Product Returns by 5%
Consolidation is the smartest move a brand can make
The most successful ecommerce brands aren’t necessarily using more tools—they’re using smarter tools. Leading businesses are opting for platforms that are deeply integrated, AI-compatible, and built specifically for ecommerce needs.
A growing tech stack also comes with a growing tech budget. Each new app has new costs, including subscriptions, set-up, management, and development fees. They quickly add up.
Nearly 40% of ecommerce professionals spend $5,000 to $50,000 annually on their tech stack.
Different roles have different priorities
We asked ecommerce professionals what they actually value in their tools. Unsurprisingly, the answer changed based on who we were talking to.
Top tool benefits included:
- Revenue growth for support leaders, revenue-focused roles, and founders
- Simplified workflows and time savings for support agents
There’s a clear difference between what ecommerce leaders and agents value in a tool and considering both is key to success.
Why brands hesitate to consolidate
Despite the benefits of using fewer, well-integrated tools, there are a few things that hold brands back from consolidating their tech stacks.
We asked respondents:
What, if any, are the biggest deterrents to consolidating your tech stack?
Top concerns are:
- Compatibility issues with existing software (52.4%)
- Direct costs (fees for software licenses, subscriptions, or customizations) (47.6%)
- Time required (40.3%)
AI adoption is accelerating—and it’s driving results
AI is dominating the world of ecommerce. It impacts every aspect of the customer journey, from brand discovery to the post-purchase experience. AI is actively reshaping the way ecommerce professionals work, so we wanted to know how they feel about it.
- 77.2% of ecommerce professionals use AI and automation to perform their role in 2025, compared to 69.3% in 2024.
- 55.3% of respondents rate their excitement for AI as an 8-10, compared to 45.6% in 2024.
Despite growing usage and excitement, teams still have their concerns with AI:
Read more: 8 AI Trends in Ecommerce: What’s Changing and How to Prepare
The AI shift—From just a support tool to a sales engine
The most impactful use cases we’ve seen aren’t just about reducing support ticket volume. AI is now driving revenue, increasing conversion rates, and enabling 24/7 coverage without expanding headcount.
Gorgias’s AI Agent is now capable of virtual sales assistance through personalized product recommendations, dynamic discounts to reduce cart abandonment, and cross-sells and upsells.
Top brands are already leveraging these new capabilities and seeing results. For example:
- TUSHY uses a Gorgias AI Agent to accurately answer pre-sale questions, leading to a 15% conversion rate, with AI Agent driving 2x more sales than human agents.
- Trove Brands enabled an AI Agent named Wally that cut misshipments by 70%, meaning reducing unwanted charges, avoidable fulfillment costs, high return rates, and customer frustration.
- Caitlyn Minimalist uses AI to reduce response times by 99% and saw a 150% increase in ticket conversions.
Gorgias: A one-tab tool for Conversational AI
We asked one final question to make ecommerce folks really reflect on how they work:
How many tabs do you currently have open?
The average ecommerce professional works with 22 open tabs. We’re not here to judge, but if you’re looking to close a few of those tabs, Gorgias might be what you’re missing.
Gorgias replaces all that complexity with a single workspace. From support to sales, order management to automation, it all happens inside one platform.
Ecommerce businesses can now leverage Gorgias’s Advanced AI for both support and sales. Within the same AI Agent, ecommerce brands can
- Fully resolve customer inquiries, not just respond
- Provide order tracking details
- Cancel, edit, and manage orders in Shopify and integrated apps
- Process returns and exchanges
- Provide tailored product recommendations
- Drive conversions
- And much more!
Get your copy of the 2025 Ecommerce Trends Report
This blog just skims the surface of what we uncover in our 2025 Ecommerce Trends report.
Want the full story?
Download the complete 2025 Ecommerce Trends: AI Adoption & Smarter Tech Stacks report to access:
- Data-backed insights and trends from ecommerce professionals
- The biggest barriers to consolidation—and how to overcome them
- Real-world case studies from leading brands like TUSHY, Caitlyn Minimalist, and July that are winning with AI
- Tactical recommendations to future-proof your ecommerce stack through AI-powered consolidation
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Store Policies by Industry, Explained: What to Include for Every Vertical
TL;DR:
- Clear policies reduce tickets. When customers can’t find return windows or shipping timelines, they turn to your support team — often unnecessarily.
- Each vertical has different CX needs. A fashion shopper wants fit info. An electronics buyer needs setup help. Tailor your policies to match.
- Proactive placement matters. Don’t bury policies in the footer — surface them in product pages, chat, emails, and account portals where customers actually look.
- Policy + AI = self-service support. Gorgias’s AI Agent can guide shoppers to answers instantly, reducing WISMO and freeing up your team for high-value work.
For many ecommerce teams, store policies are an afterthought, tucked away in the footer or buried deep in the FAQ. But they shouldn’t be.
Great customer experience (CX) starts before a customer reaches out. And with 55% of shoppers preferring self-service support, your store policies are often their first stop for answers.
In this guide, we break down the must-have policies for five key ecommerce verticals, based on real Gorgias ticket data. From shipping delays to subscription changes, you’ll learn how to prevent tickets before they happen.
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Why store policies are a CX power move
If you’re constantly fielding questions about returns, shipping times, or order changes, it’s a policy opportunity.
Well-crafted store policies are one of your CX team's most effective tools for setting expectations, building trust, and preventing support issues before they happen. When done right, they turn common friction points into effortless experiences.
Common blind spots that lead to tickets
When policies are vague or hard to find, customers turn to your inbox, driving up ticket volume and slowing down your support team.
Here are the most common blind spots we see:
- Unclear or missing return windows lead to questions like, “Can I still return this?”
- No defined process for exchanges or edits confuses customers who need to fix an order.
- Subscription rules hidden in fine print frustrate loyal customers trying to pause, skip, or cancel.
- Shipping timelines that shift without explanation cause “Where’s my order?” messages that could’ve been avoided.
When policies aren’t clear or easy to find, customers turn to your inbox. And that means more tickets, wait times, and pressure on your team.
Proactive policies = fewer tickets, happier customers
Based on real data from Gorgias, these are the top 10 tickets customers send across channels like chat, contact forms, and email:
- Order damaged
- No reply tickets
- Shipping policy
- Shipping change
- Order change
- Product question
- Return status
- Thank you tickets
- Discount request
- Shipping status
What do most of these have in common? You can address them with clear, accessible policies.
15 store policies you need, organized by industry
Customer expectations aren’t one-size-fits-all, and your store policies shouldn’t be either.
What shoppers expect from a fashion brand is very different from what they need from a wellness company or electronics provider.
We’ve broken down the top policy must-haves by vertical, using real-world examples from Gorgias customers and ticket data.
Use these examples as your plug-and-play guide to write better policies, reduce ticket volume, and create smoother support experiences — no matter what you sell.
1. Apparel and fashion
When it comes to fashion, uncertainty drives tickets. “Will this fit?” “Can I return it?” “Where’s my order?” The most successful fashion brands like Princess Polly cut down on support volume by making these answers easy to find before customers ever reach out.
Key policies to prioritize
- Returns and exchanges: Be clear on timeframes, conditions, and the process. Bonus points for adding visuals or quick links to return portals.
- Size guide and fit: To minimize confusion, include details on model sizing, garment measurements, and fit notes.
- Order changes: Let customers know how to update their order before it ships.
- Shipping timelines: Set expectations around processing and delivery windows (especially during peak seasons).
Where to share store policies
- Link return and shipping policies on product detail pages (PDPs).
- Trigger chat campaigns with the sizing guide when shoppers linger on product pages.
- Add return instructions in post-purchase emails to cut “How do I return this?” tickets.
2. Consumer goods
Consumer goods customers often want to know two things right away: “What’s it made of?” and “When will it get here?” These questions can quickly pile up in your inbox if your policies aren’t front and center.
Trove Brands, home to household favorites like BlenderBottle and Owala, solves this by proactively answering product and shipping questions across their site and emails.
Key policies to prioritize
- Shipping: Share estimated delivery times, carrier information, and instructions on how customers can track their orders.
- Product specs and materials: List dimensions, materials, care instructions, and safety notes to avoid product-related confusion.
- Damage/defect resolution: Set clear expectations around what qualifies as a defect and how customers can report it.
- Warranty or guarantee: Outline what’s covered, for how long, and how to claim it, especially important for durable goods.
At the end of each product page, BlenderBottle shares a support menu where shoppers can find information on order status and replacement parts.
Where to share store policies
- Embed product-related FAQs directly on PDPs to answer questions where they arise.
- Use conversational AI assistants like AI Agent to automatically resolve tickets related to product questions and damaged orders.
- Add warranty and damage policy links in order confirmation and shipping emails to keep customers informed.
Read more: What's the secret to reducing WISMO requests?
3. Consumer electronics
In electronics, clarity is everything. Customers want to know how to use the product, what to do if it doesn’t work, and how to get a replacement — without jumping through hoops.
Over-the-counter hearing aid company Audien Hearing nails this by creating crystal-clear support content around setup, shipping, and returns, so customers can troubleshoot confidently and independently.
Key policies to prioritize
- Warranty/repairs: Explain what’s covered, how to file a claim, and turnaround times for repairs or replacements.
- Returns and exchanges: Clearly state the return window, list of eligible items, processing time, and whether you accept refunds, in-store credit, or exchanges.
- Shipping and delivery expectations: Share average delivery timelines and what to expect once a product ships.
- Troubleshooting steps: Provide self-service guides for common issues like connectivity, battery life, or setup confusion.
Audien Hearing has clear visual policies that make it simple for shoppers to find the info they need quickly.
Where to share store policies
- In chat, set up an automated flow that answers questions like “How do I set this up?” or “Can I return this?”
- Let customers track their return or exchange process, especially when high-value items are involved.
- Create step-by-step guides, accompanied by video or images, in your Help Center for setup and basic troubleshooting.
- Include warranty and return information in the product packaging, so customers have it readily available in case something goes wrong.
4. Health and wellness
In the health and wellness space, trust and transparency are everything. Customers want to feel confident that the products they’re using are safe and that the support will be just as thoughtful as the product itself.
Brands like period underwear brand Saalt do this exceptionally well, pairing clear product education with empathetic policies that guide customers through everything from first use to subscription changes.
Key policies to prioritize
- Product safety and use: Provide detailed instructions, safety disclaimers, and FAQs for first-time users, especially for intimate or ingestible products.
- Returns (especially for hygiene items): Be upfront about what can and can’t be returned, and include compassionate language to build trust.
- Order change or cancellation: Make it easy to update or cancel orders, especially for items that ship quickly or automatically.
- Subscription FAQs: Clearly explain how to skip, pause, or cancel a subscription, and what benefits subscribers get.
Saalt lets customers phrase questions themselves or choose from a dropdown menu.
Where to share store policies
- Prioritize clarity on your contact form by using dropdowns or checkboxes to organize customer inquiries by topic.
- Let AI Agent handle recurring product questions like “How do I use this?” or “Is this safe?” to free up your team.
- Include shipping and return info in SMS flows so customers can get answers on-the-go, without needing to email.
5. Food and beverage
Food and beverage customers tend to be both curious and cautious. They want to know what they’re putting in their bodies — and what to do if something goes wrong with the order.
Brands like Everyday Dose get ahead of these concerns by making their policies clear, accessible, and customer-first.
Key policies to prioritize
- Ingredient and allergen disclaimers: Transparency is everything. List ingredients, possible allergens, and sourcing details to build trust.
- Subscription changes: Give customers full control to pause, skip, or cancel deliveries with minimal friction.
- Damaged orders: Outline what customers should do if a product arrives broken or spoiled, and how fast they can expect a replacement.
- Shipping and delivery FAQs: Cover delivery timeframes, how orders are packed, and what to do if a shipment is delayed.
Everyday Dose lists frequently asked questions and makes it simple for customers to find important allergen and ingredient information.
Given that Everyday Dose is a mushroom supplement brand, many shoppers will likely have questions around allergens and exact ingredients. On each of their product pages, there is a clear “Read the Label” button.
Everyday Dose also has a chat which encourages customers to click through to the correct support link or to track their order.
Where to share store policies
- Enable self-service order management on chat to give customers real-time updates on shipping status and subscription changes.
- Feature policy links prominently in your customer account portal — especially for managing subscriptions.
- Include your damage/return policy in post-purchase and thank-you emails, so customers know exactly what to do if something’s wrong.
Pro Tip: Use a conversational AI platform to handle common questions at scale. For example, Gorgias’s AI Agent can instantly respond to FAQs like “How much is shipping?” or “When will my order arrive?” — all in your brand’s voice. And when a request needs a human touch, it routes the ticket to the right agent automatically.
Best practices for writing and distributing store policies
Even the most well-written policy won’t reduce tickets if it’s buried three clicks deep in your footer. To truly support your customers (and lighten your team’s workload), your policies need to show up in the right places, at the right moments.
Here’s how to get them in front of customers when they need them most:
Surface policies across key customer touchpoints
- Product detail pages: Link to size guides, shipping timelines, or ingredient lists directly on PDPs.
- Chat: Use a combination of automated flows and conversational AI to proactively suggest relevant policies based on the customer’s question or page.
- Help center: Turn your most common ticket topics into easy-to-scan articles with clear titles and headers.
- Email flows: Include return and warranty info in post-purchase emails, shipping updates, and thank-you messages.
- Account portals: Make it easy for customers to manage subscriptions, view order policies, and find FAQs in their account dashboard.
- SMS or mobile support: Include quick policy reminders in transactional texts, like shipping delays or renewal reminders.
3 core elements of a strong store policy
- Clear: Use plain language, short sentences, and bullet points. Avoid legal jargon.
- Accessible: Link them prominently in your footer, header, Help Center homepage, chat, and product pages.
- Actionable: Tell customers exactly what to do — where to click, who to contact, and what to expect.
Well-placed policies turn support into a self-service experience. They empower your customers to get what they need without ever opening a ticket — and that’s a win for everyone.
Turn store policies into your first line of support
Clear, proactive policies do more than answer questions. They prevent tickets, build trust, and make your support team’s job easier. By tailoring your policies to your industry and placing them where customers actually need them, you turn potential friction points into smooth experiences.
Want to take it a step further? Book a demo to see Gorgias’s AI Agent handle common inquiries like shipping, returns, and product questions, across chat, email, and contact forms.
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How CX Leaders are Navigating Tariffs with Transparency
If you're an ecommerce leader right now, you’re likely facing a new wave of uncertainty. Rising tariffs, disrupted imports, and sudden cost increases are putting pressure on your margins, and your customer relationships.
At Gorgias, we are working with thousands of brands that are grappling with tough calls: adjust prices, shift sourcing, or absorb costs to protect loyalty. And while the supply chain is where these issues start, the customer experience is where they play out.
Whether you’re a growing DTC or an enterprise brand, your customers deserve transparency. We know the pressure you're under, and we're here to help you navigate it. To help you not only manage the conversation, but lead it with clarity, empathy, and speed.
Ecommerce brands are in an impossible position right now, following the 24 hours news cycle, and waiting to see how tariffs will cut into profits and impact their business.
For customers? It can create confusion, frustration, and a flurry of angry tickets if brands aren’t proactive and transparent. But here's the truth: how your team talks about tariffs is just as important as what they say.
These moments of friction, and how you communicate these changes to your customers can be opportunities to build trust, reduce churn, and even demonstrate the real revenue power of your team. In a moment when clarity and trust are everything, the role of CX leaders is more important than ever.
When tariffs hit, CX takes the call
Tariffs may seem like a back-end issue, but in reality, they shape front-end experiences—from product pricing and availability to fulfillment speed and satisfaction.
For ecommerce brands, especially those sourcing from China or shipping globally, these trade shifts hit close to home. Products get more expensive, shipping slows down, and some SKUs disappear altogether.
And CX teams are often the first to hear about it. The question isn’t if you should communicate tariff implications, but how.
What customers actually want to know
Here’s the good news: customers don’t expect you to control global trade policy. But they do expect honesty.
What matters most right now is:
- Transparency: Be clear about what’s changing and why.
- Timing: Tell them before they find out at checkout.
- Empathy: Acknowledge that increased prices or delays are frustrating and explain what you're doing to help.
And even more specifically, your customers are likely looking for answers to three simple questions:
- Did the price increase? Why?
- Why can’t I find this product anymore?
- Is my order going to be delayed?
In times of change, trust becomes foundational. If you're not upfront about what’s happening and how it affects them, customers will fill in the blank, or worse, turn to competitors.
How to talk tariffs without losing trust
Be clear, not complicated
Tariffs are complex, but your messaging shouldn’t be. Strip out the policy jargon and explain the changes in human terms. Let customers know what’s changing, why it’s happening, and what steps you’re taking to protect their experience.
Instead of: “Due to regulatory changes impacting import duties…”
Say: “Because of new tariffs, some of our prices have gone up. Here’s why, and what we’re doing to keep costs down.”
Say the same thing everywhere
From your Help Center to your agents to your email updates, your message should be consistent. Mismatched explanations create confusion and erode trust. Align your team on the key talking points and update scripts and automations across all customer touchpoints.
Speaking of your Help Center, now might be a great time to create an article specifically about tariffs and how you’re approaching them. The article can serve as a source of truth for your customers and your AI agents on the front lines answering questions.
Lead with empathy
Customers don’t just want the facts, they want to know you care. Acknowledge the frustration, and offer reassurance. Small gestures like a personalized note or a shipping perk can show you’re on their side.
Be specific and honest
Generic messages fall flat. Give customers details that they can rely on: Are the changes permanent? Are you absorbing part of the cost? Is a specific product impacted? When you’re upfront about the situation, and how you’re responding to it, you build credibility.
Decide how AI Agents should help
Times of uncertainty are times to cut costs, but it may also mean increased ticket volume. AI agents can help on the frontlines. But be sure to build your handovers to escalate to your team in the right moments to build trust.
Start with transparency: Beis sets the bar
Luggage brand, Beis, recently sent an email to customers that is a great example in customer-first communication. Rather than quietly raising prices or burying fees in checkout, they called it what it was: tariffs.
They explained the change clearly, why it was happening, and what customers could expect. And most importantly, they acknowledged the frustration. No spin, or vague language, just a clear message from a brand that respects its customers enough to be honest with them.
This kind of proactive messaging does more than prevent a flood of support tickets. It creates alignment between the brand and the customer. Beis didn’t make the rules but they’re navigating them with their customers, not in spite of them.
Make it a CX conversation, not just a policy page
Too often, tariff policies get relegated to the FAQ page or terms and conditions. Customers typically only land there after they’re already confused or upset.
Instead, CX should treat tariffs as a key part of the customer journey and be equipped to speak about them empathetically and clearly.
1. Proactive chat leads to fewer surprises
Add a proactive message to your chat widget that addresses tariff-related questions before they even come up. A short note like, “You may notice some pricing changes – here’s why,” with a link to your FAQ or a specific article, helps to deflect confusion and prevents cart abandonment.
2. Update your FAQ with key information
Surface timely information right where customers are most likely to look. Use your chat or search function to include a clear callout.
“Looking for information on recent pricing or shipping updates? Here’s what changed.”
This type of visibility empowers self-service, and reduces ticket volume.
3. Equip your agents with scripts that are genuine
Don’t leave your support team guessing. Create internal scripts with clear language on what to say (and what to avoid) when talking tariffs. Script empathy, not just compliance: Empower agents with language that acknowledges the inconvenience while reinforcing the brand's values.
Say:
- We’ve made some pricing updates due to new tariffs, and we’re doing everything we can to minimize the impact.
- We know this change may be frustrating. Here’s how we’re helping our customers through it.
Avoid:
- Overly technical or vague terms like “regulatory adjustments” or “economic climate shifts.”
- Any messaging that deflects responsibility or blames external factors without explanation.
4. Build smart macros for Tariff FAQs
If you’re using automation, make sure your AI Agent and autoresponders can explain tariff policies accurately and compassionately. Use macros to ensure fast, consistent replies, without sacrificing tone. Some key macro themes to create:
- Why did prices increase?
- Are tariffs permanent?
- Is my order delayed because of tariffs?
- Why is this product no longer available?
Each macro should strike a balance of clarity, empathy, and brand voice, offering both the what and the why.
You can’t control tariffs. But you can control trust.
Tariffs might be out of your control. But how you talk about them? That’s entirely in your hands.
This is your moment as a CX leader, not just to react but to lead. To turn friction into transparency, tension into trust, and confusion into connection. Because when policies change overnight and customer confidence is on the line, the brands that communicate with honesty, consistency, and care don’t just survive. They strengthen loyalty.
Your customers don’t expect perfection. They expect clarity. They expect empathy. And they expect you to show up.
At Gorgias, we’re here to make sure you can. With tools to automate answers, personalize conversations, and empower your team to deliver the kind of CX that builds long-term brand equity, even when times get tough.
Further reading
12 Ways to Upgrade Your Data and Trend Analysis With Ticket Fields
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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Which Gorgias Plan Should You Choose?
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
- In Explore, click the Dashboard icon in the left sidebar.
- Select the Zendesk Support dashboard.
- Click the Tickets tab.
- Set the Time to a one-month range.
- Note your monthly ticket volume in the Created tickets section.
Tidio
- Click the Usage & Plan button in the top right of the Tidio panel.
- Note your monthly ticket volume in the Customer service row under Current usage.
Shopify Inbox
- Go to Shopify Inbox > Overview.
- Note your monthly ticket volume under Conversation metrics.
Re:amaze
- Click on the Reports icon in the menu.
- Under Team Reports, click Overview.
- 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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How to Reduce CX Stress in 2025 with AI and Automation
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.
- Tackle repetitive questions
- Lower response times
- Keep a consistent tone of voice
- QA responses at scale
- Upsell customer conversations
- Let customers self-serve returns
- 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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How to Refresh Your Help Center for 2025: A Step-by-Step Guide
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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AI Quality Assurance: The New Standard for Customer Support QA
TL;DR:
- The landscape of QA is moving from manual to AI-powered, where AI can analyze every customer interaction, uncover patterns, and suggest data-driven changes at scale.
- Automating QA allows ticket reviews to be routine. This means customers will always receive high-quality support.
- Every customer interaction is reviewed with AI QA—not just a sample. This gives support leaders full visibility into performance and service quality.
- AI QA saves time and improves agent and Gorgias AI Agent feedback. By automating ticket reviews, agents receive instant, unbiased feedback, and leaders can focus on big-picture CX improvements.
This year, 71% of customer experience (CX) leaders are using AI and automation to handle the holiday shopping season. These tools, including AI agents and email autoresponders, speed up tasks like responding to customers and updating orders.
But answering tickets isn't enough. Responses must also be high-quality, whether from humans or AI. And while customer satisfaction (CSAT) is the standard measure of how successful these interactions are, they have major limits.
CSAT scores don’t tell the full story about whether agents were helpful or if they used on-brand language. These gray areas in quality lead to missed sales, higher return rates, and frustrated customers during peak periods.
AI quality assurance (QA) is changing that. In this article, we’ll see what QA looks like today, how AI can simplify the process, and how CX teams can use tools like Auto QA to improve quality across all conversations.
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Traditional customer support QA is falling by the wayside
Today, QA in customer support is a largely manual responsibility. Customer conversations are reviewed by CX team leads to ensure customer satisfaction and identify areas for agent coaching. Team leads evaluate agent responses against a checklist of best practices, including the proper use of language, product knowledge, consistency, and helpfulness.
However, reviewing tickets takes a long time.
QA is important, but it's hard to prioritize when customers are actively waiting for help with refunds, urgent order edits, or negative reviews. And when CX teams are under-resourced and short-staffed, it’s easy to put QA on the back burner.
What’s more, as AI plays a bigger role in responding to customers, quality assurance must evolve to ensure the quality of AI-generated responses, not just human responses.
Over time, the lack of QA in CX can hold back support teams for three reasons:
- Delayed feedback makes it harder for agents and AI tools to improve.
- Leaders have less time to train agents and refine workflows.
- Inconsistent service risks losing customer trust and loyalty.
What is AI-powered QA in CX?
AI-powered quality assurance (QA) uses AI to automate the process of reviewing customer interactions for resolution completeness, communication, language proficiency, and more.
Instead of team leads spending hours manually sifting through tickets, AI takes over and evaluates how well tickets were resolved by agents.
Shifting this traditionally manual work to an automated process pulls teams out of the weeds and into more beneficial work like speaking to customers and upselling.
With AI QA, routine ticket reviews are not just an optional part of your customer service strategy, they become a permanent part of it. The road to greater customer trust, resolution times, and stronger product knowledge becomes easier.
Read more: Why your strategy needs customer service quality assurance
Why choose AI-powered QA over manual QA?
Manual QA is like trying to review a handful of tickets during an incoming flood of new customer requests. Team leads can only focus on a small sample, leaving most interactions unchecked. Without complete visibility, creating a standard across all interactions is challenging.
Now, switch over to AI QA. You don’t have to choose between QA duty or answering tickets—QA checks are automatically done. You’ll still need to monitor AI’s performance, but now there’s more time to focus on creating strategies that improve the customer experience.
Here’s how AI QA and manual QA measure up to each other:
7 benefits of using AI quality assurance in CX
AI quality assurance helps CX leaders move beyond manual reviews by offering fast, thorough insights into performance and customer needs. Here are seven key benefits it brings to your team.
1. Improved visibility into customer interactions
AI QA reviews every ticket, giving CX leaders a complete view of agent performance and customer trends. Nothing slips through the cracks, so you can act on real data each and every single time.
What the team wins: Key areas to focus on to improve the customer experience.
What the customer wins: A consistent support experience where their concerns are fully addressed.
2. Instantly identify major customer pain points
Only a third of customers highly trust businesses, and without QA checks in place, that trust only deteriorates.
AI QA feedback can highlight confusing policies or common product issues that lead to unhappy customers. With instant feedback, teams can quickly make changes and create better, consistent customer experiences.
What the team wins: Faster fixes for recurring issues.
What the customer wins: A smoother, frustration-free experience.
3. Faster identification of process gaps
Agents can receive feedback that instantly highlights gaps in workflows or unclear escalation steps. This is an efficient way to resolve issues within the wider team before they become more significant problems.
What the team wins: Process issues are solved quickly.
What the customer wins: Faster resolutions with little to no delays.
4. Standardized scoring for AI and human agents
AI QA evaluates both Gorgias AI Agent and human agent interactions using the same criteria. This creates a level playing field and ensures all customer interactions meet the same quality standards.
What the team wins: Fair evaluations for both AI and human responses.
What the customer wins: High-quality support, no matter who handles the ticket.
5. More time for coaching and training
With less time spent on manual reviews, leaders can dedicate more energy to team development. Training sessions guided by AI insights help agents improve quickly and ensure the team delivers support that aligns with protocols.
What the team wins: More focused skill-building based on data.
What the customer wins: Clearer and more accurate support.
6. Drives continuous knowledge for the entire team
AI QA is helpful for showing agents which areas they need more training on, whether it's being better about using brand voice or polishing up on product knowledge. This leads to better support processes and stronger product understanding across the team.
What the team wins: Better support tactics and product expertise.
What the customer wins: Faster resolutions due to knowledgeable agents.
7. Enhanced customer experience through consistently high-quality support
Since all tickets are reviewed, teams can feel confident they’re delivering high-quality support on a regular basis. Customers get clear, helpful answers, while agents gain insights from every ticket with AI feedback.
What the team wins: Consistent support performance.
What the customer wins: Reliable support they can trust.
How accurate is AI QA?
AI QA analyzes tickets using predefined categories to evaluate how complete and helpful agent responses are. Let’s take a closer look at how it maintains accurate ticket reviews with an AI QA tool like Gorgias’s Auto QA.
It measures multiple metrics
Auto QA evaluates tickets based on three key areas: Resolution Completeness, Communication, and Language Proficiency.
For Resolution Completeness, it checks if all customer concerns were fully addressed. For example, if an agent resolves only one of two issues raised, the ticket is marked incomplete. Tickets where customers resolve issues on their own or don’t respond to follow-ups can still be graded as complete if handled appropriately.
Communication quality is scored on a scale of 1 to 5, assessing clarity, professionalism, and tone. Agents earn higher scores when they provide clear solutions and remain positive throughout the interaction.
Finally, Language Proficiency evaluates whether an agent displayed high proficiency in the language of the conversation. The score considers how well spelling, grammar, and syntax were employed.
Teams can improve AI with their own feedback
Auto QA isn’t set in stone. Team leads can expand on AI-generated feedback by adding their comments. For example, if a resolution is graded as ‘Incomplete,’ a team lead can explain why and provide additional context. This helps clarify the evaluation for the agent and also helps the AI model improve over time.
How to get started with AI quality assurance using Auto QA
Ready to bring the benefits of AI QA to your team? Here’s how to get started with Auto QA:
- Audit your current QA process to identify gaps. How do you currently review tickets? Pinpoint areas where manual QA falls short, such as inconsistent feedback or missed interactions.
- Pilot Auto QA with a small team. Introduce Auto QA to a small group of agents to test its impact. This allows you to find out how the new QA process fits into your workflow and how it affects agent performance.
- Use AI insights to refine processes. Analyze the feedback Auto QA provides to identify process gaps or recurring issues. Use these insights to update your workflow, improve training, and address root causes of customer pain points.
- Gradually scale adoption across the team. Once the pilot is successful, roll out Auto QA to more agents. Make sure everyone is trained on how to use its insights and integrate the tool into daily operations.
- Monitor and provide feedback to improve AI accuracy. Review Auto QA’s evaluations to ensure accuracy. Add manual feedback as needed to fine-tune its scoring on future tickets.
- Measure the impact on performance and satisfaction. Track key metrics like ticket close rates, resolution times, and customer satisfaction scores. Use this data to understand how Auto QA transforms your QA process and drives better results.
Make high-quality responses a standard with Auto QA
AI QA isn’t just about automating ticket reviews — it empowers CX leaders to focus on what truly matters: training and improving processes.
Leave spot-checking and inconsistent application of policies and brand voice in the past. As a built-in feature of Gorgias Automate, Auto QA makes high-quality customer interactions your brand’s standard.
Book a demo now.
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What to Do After Black Friday: A Guide to Post-BFCM Planning
TL;DR:
- Reflect quickly: Analyze customer service metrics like CSAT, FRT, and ticket volume immediately after BFCM to identify what worked and what didn’t.
- Optimize self-service: Update FAQs and help centers to address gaps revealed in BFCM support inquiries.
- Streamline operations: Audit staffing, inventory, and fulfillment to avoid bottlenecks in future peak seasons.
- Turn insights into action: Use BFCM data to set measurable goals and implement quick wins for success next year.
Nailing customer support during BFCM is all about staying ahead of the game and making smart moves—fast.
But the real key to success lies in what you do when the rush is over. Treating BFCM as a learning opportunity allows you to refine your customer experience (CX) and set yourself up for an even better performance next year.
Without a plan for what to do after Black Friday, it’s easy to repeat mistakes or overlook key trends that could make all the difference next year.
In this article, we’ll share a simple framework to help you evaluate your BFCM performance and turn insights into actionable steps for long-term CX improvement.
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Key areas to review post-BFCM
It’s best to reflect on key areas like customer service, tech performance, customer behavior, and operations right after BFCM versus waiting until late next year.
By taking a closer look now, you can spot what worked, fix what didn’t, and start applying those insights to other big sales events throughout the year—not just BFCM.
A little effort now = a lot of payoff later!
1. Customer service metrics: Where did your team shine (or struggle)?
By analyzing key metrics, you can identify what worked, where your team excelled, and what areas need improvement to better prepare for future busy seasons. Key metrics include:
- Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): Gauge how happy customers were with their interactions. Look for trends in both positive and negative feedback to pinpoint what delighted or frustrated customers.
- First Response Time (FRT): Assess if your team met expectations for quick responses during peak periods.
- Average Resolution Time (ART): Evaluate how efficiently issues were resolved and whether there were any bottlenecks.
- Contact Rate: Examine whether there was a surge in inquiries, and uncover why.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): Determine how likely customers are to recommend your brand post-BFCM.
- Ticket Volume: Review peak times and common customer issues. This insight can help forecast future support needs and ensure your team is adequately prepared for high-demand events.
Tools like Gorgias’s Ticket Insights can reveal which issues—like discounts, shipping policies, or damaged orders—dominated your support tickets.
For a more comprehensive view, Gorgias’s Support Performance dashboard shows how customer service influenced sales, including tickets converted, conversion ratios, and total revenue. These insights are invaluable for understanding the connection between support efficiency and revenue growth.
Brands like Obvi, a leading supplement company, have leveraged Gorgias to enhance their support strategies.
Obvi serves a large number of shoppers seeking pre-sales guidance to choose the right supplements. By using Gorgias’s Flows and Article Recommendations, they provide instant, automated answers to frequently asked questions directly within Chat.
Here’s how it works:
- Flows offer shoppers a menu of common queries about products and shipping, providing fast answers to top concerns.
- For more specific questions, Article Recommendations scan Obvi’s Help Center articles and share the most relevant answer. For example:some text
- How do I mix Obvi collagen?
- Is Obvi vegan?
- Can I take collagen while pregnant?
To fine-tune their approach, Obvi uses data from their tickets to identify recurring customer questions. By analyzing the gaps between their initial FAQs and real customer inquiries, they adjusted their automated responses to better meet customer needs.
“We thought we knew what our FAQs were, but data from Gorgias was incredibly insightful to understand which FAQs to automate. That's one reason it's really valuable to have our Helpdesk tickets and automation features in one tool.”
—Ron Shah, CEO and Co-founder at Obvi
2. Technical performance: Did your tools hold up under pressure?
While marketing efforts often steal the spotlight, savvy brands know that backend systems are the unsung heroes of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Start by auditing critical areas such as platform downtime, checkout errors, or slow response times. These issues not only frustrate shoppers but can also lead to lost revenue and customer loyalty during your busiest shopping days of the year.
Next, evaluate how well your tools were able to manage peak volumes. Did your helpdesk, CRM, and ecommerce platforms work seamlessly together, or were there gaps in your integrations?
If switching between platforms slowed your team down or caused data silos, consider streamlining your tech stack with an all-in-one CX solution.
For example, conversational AI platforms like Gorgias enable CX teams to consolidate support, sales, and automation into a single tool. Gorgias combines Helpdesk and AI Agent to resolve customer issues efficiently, while Convert supports upselling and increasing customer lifetime value.
A streamlined, integrated platform not only boosts efficiency but also helps your CX team focus on what matters most: delivering exceptional customer experiences.
3. Customer trends and behavior: What did your shoppers really want?
Start by reviewing product demand, buying patterns, and cart-building behaviors. Were there any unexpected customer needs or shifts in preferences? Identifying these trends can help you refine your inventory planning, marketing strategies, and product offerings.
For example, here’s a detailed breakdown of what to look for:
Product demand shifts
Use these insights to adjust inventory planning for future campaigns. Ensure you have sufficient stock of trending products and create promotional bundles for underperforming items.
- Which products outperformed expectations? Were they planned bestsellers or surprise hits?
- Did slow-moving products unexpectedly gain traction, or did top-sellers underperform?
Cart-building behaviors
Tailor future cart-building promotions to encourage higher Average Order Value (AOV). For instance, highlight complementary products or offer discounts on bundles.
- Did customers prefer individual purchases, or did bundling promotions drive higher AOV?
- Were there abandoned cart trends tied to specific products or price thresholds?
Unexpected customer needs
Incorporate these suggestions into your product development or cross-sell strategies. Highlight related products in future campaigns to meet these emerging needs.
- Did reviews or support tickets indicate demand for features, colors, or sizes you didn’t offer?
- Were there inquiries about add-on products or product pairing ideas?
Self-serve helpfulness
If you have an FAQ page or Help Center, evaluate how well it performed. Did customers find the information they needed, or did they still open tickets for common questions?
Metrics like Article Views, Number of Searches, and Click-Through Rates can show how effectively your self-service resources meet customer needs.
If customers contact support for information already in your Help Center, it may indicate unclear articles or poor visibility of resources. This means you should rewrite unclear articles, optimize search terms, and ensure Help Center links are prominently displayed across your website and emails.
4. Operational challenges: Where did the stress show up most?
BFCM is a stress test for your operations, and reflecting on how well your systems handled the surge can help you uncover critical areas for improvement.
Staffing
Start by reviewing your staffing during peak periods. Did your customer service and warehouse teams feel overwhelmed, or were they adequately supported?
Questions to Ask:
- Were there enough team members to handle the workload?
- Did customer service or warehouse teams experience burnout or delays?
Next Steps:
- Plan staffing schedules around peak demand forecasts.
- Cross-train employees to cover high-pressure roles, such as fulfillment or customer support.
- Offer incentives, like performance bonuses, to encourage seasonal staff retention.
Preparing your team with a more flexible schedule and extra resources for high-demand areas can make all the difference.
Order fulfillment
If order fulfillment workflows slowed down or became error-prone, it may be time to optimize your processes.
Questions to Ask:
- Were there delays in shipping or errors in packaging?
- Did order accuracy or speed decline as volumes increased?
Next Steps:
- Audit fulfillment workflows to identify slow or repetitive steps.
- Invest in automation for picking, packing, and shipping processes.
- Partner with a third-party logistics (3PL) provider if in-house capacity was overwhelmed.
Inventory management
Stockouts or overstock situations during BFCM can directly impact both sales and customer satisfaction.
Questions to Ask:
- Did stockouts or overstock situations impact your Black Friday sales?
- Was inventory tracking accurate during the busiest days?
Next Steps:
- Implement real-time inventory tracking to reduce discrepancies.
- Use demand planning software to improve forecasting for top-selling products.
- Bundle slow-moving inventory with bestsellers in future holiday deals to avoid overstock.
Operational challenges often have a ripple effect on customer experience. By reflecting on these areas—staffing, fulfillment, and inventory—you can identify actionable improvements that streamline operations and create a smoother experience for both your team and your customers.
Building a CX improvement plan post-BFCM
Once you've reviewed the key areas of your BFCM performance, the next step is turning those insights into actionable strategies. Here’s how to build a CX improvement plan that sets you up for long-term success.
Step 1: Document lessons learned before they’re forgotten
Start by centralizing everything you’ve uncovered from your retro.
Use collaborative tools like Notion, Google Docs, or Trello to organize insights across customer service, tech performance, and operations.
And don’t just focus on observations—highlight actionable takeaways. For example, instead of noting “high contact rates,” document the underlying causes, like gaps in FAQs or unclear return policies.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the volume of data, let AI do the heavy lifting. Use prompts like these to quickly spot patterns:
- “Analyze the common themes in this ticket data and summarize the top three trends.”
- “Identify recurring customer complaints and suggest improvements to address them.”
- “Provide recommendations to optimize self-service options based on this dataset.”
AI tools can save you time and ensure nothing slips through the cracks as you plan your next steps.
Step 2: Tackle your biggest support pain points
Analyzing challenges in your CX processes can reveal quick wins and long-term improvements. Here are a few common support pain points and how to address them:
High contact rates
A surge in customer inquiries often signals that self-service options aren’t meeting expectations.
Solution: Add or update tools like chat widgets, Help Centers, and post-purchase emails to proactively answer common questions.
Inconsistent response times
This usually points to workflow inefficiencies or a lack of team bandwidth.
Solution: Use automation to prioritize urgent tickets, deflect repetitive inquiries, and ensure smoother workflows.
Low CSAT scores
Frustration with slow resolutions or insufficient empathy often leads to poor satisfaction ratings.
Solution: Invest in empathy training and implement faster resolution strategies, like automating FAQs or integrating sentiment detection tools to flag unhappy customers.
AI escalation issues
While tools like Gorgias’s AI Agent can streamline support, improper setup can lead to automation loops that frustrate customers.
Solution: Define rules for when AI should escalate to a human, feed it more comprehensive data (like updated Help Center articles), and set boundaries for topics it shouldn’t handle.
For example, even with the efficiency provided by their Helpdesk, Obvi found Black Friday and Cyber Monday to be a hectic and stressful period for their small customer support team—just one full-time agent and half of another team member’s time.
The influx of customer inquiries made it difficult to focus on more complex tickets that could save sales from unhappy customers or convert inquiries into purchases. Instead, their team was bogged down by thousands of repetitive questions, like “Where is my order?”
Automating answers to repetitive questions gave the Obvi team the room to focus on personalized and revenue-driving customer interactions, like engaging with their community of 75,000 women.
“Instantly, our CX team had time to prioritize important matters, like being active in our community of 75,000 women instead of sitting answering emails.”
—Ron Shah, CEO and Co-founder at Obvi
The extra bandwidth helped Obvi drive over 3x the purchases from support conversations compared to previous years. AI Agent also enabled their team to reach inbox zero by 6 pm—during Black Friday week!
By automating 27% of their inquiries, they not only improved their response times but also handled over 150 tickets daily with just 1.5 agents, driving 10x more sales during BFCM.
Step 3: Focus on quick wins that deliver big impact
Even the smallest changes can deliver a big impact.
For example, update FAQs based on ticket trends or refine chat flows to reduce repetitive questions. Consolidating your CX tools into an omnichannel helpdesk like Gorgias can also reduce agent workload while delivering consistent customer experiences.
Repetitive inquiries—like shipping updates, return questions, or product FAQs—don’t need to consume your team’s time. Automating these workflows can significantly lighten your team’s load while keeping response times quick.
Gorgias users, for example, can automate up to 60% of support tickets with conversational AI tools like AI Agent, enabling teams to focus on higher-value interactions.
Quick wins aren’t just about streamlining support—they can also drive measurable results.
For instance, Pajar, a footwear brand, leverages AI Agent to handle common inquiries in English and French. While this is a feature they use year-round, it’s handy during holiday shopping seasons when support teams are under pressure to respond quickly.
This freed up their small team of five agents to focus on complex tickets, achieving impressive results:
- Resolved 45% of queries with automation, surpassing their 30% goal.
- Reduced first response times to just 12 minutes.
- Maintained high satisfaction scores by delivering timely, accurate responses.
With tools like AI Agent and Sentiment Detection, you can automate prioritization for tickets—such as flagging urgent issues or unhappy customers—while still maintaining a personal touch.
Step 4: Level up training and leverage your team’s tools
Peak season often highlights gaps in both team training and CX tools. Addressing these areas not only improves your team’s ability to handle high-pressure situations but also fosters a stronger customer-first mindset across your organization.
Start by leveraging the feedback you’ve collected. Your team has so much data they can review between channels like email, SMS, chat, and social media—both compliments and complaints. You need to be willing to listen to every customer’s needs.
At Love Wellness, customer feedback is treated as a daily priority.
The team has a dedicated Slack channel for feedback, where team members regularly drop insights from all touchpoints. This collaborative approach helps them get familiar with recurring themes, dissect customer needs, and work together on solutions.
The Love Wellness team recommends scheduling recurring feedback share sessions with Product or Website teams—or even inviting those teams into Gorgias to create dedicated views for feedback categories like product improvements or website issues.
Beyond tools and processes, training is crucial. Their team also emphasizes the importance of fostering a customer-first mindset at all levels:
Customer service is one of the main ways they build trust with customers, especially in the personal care and women’s health niche. That’s why the Love Wellness team created an immersive customer experience training program that involves everyone—from the company's president to its office manager.
This holistic approach ensures that every team member, regardless of their role, understands the company’s purpose and how their actions contribute to a seamless customer experience.
Step 5: Prove the ROI of CX to get more resources
Your customer support team isn’t just there to clear tickets—it’s a key driver of revenue, retention, and customer lifetime value (CLV). Yet, too many teams measure success based solely on metrics like response and resolution times. While these are important, they’re only part of the story.
As Zoe Kahn, Manager of Customer Experience and Retention at Chomps, explains:
“Aiming for overly broad goals of ‘surprising and delighting’ customers without a real understanding of how support impacts the whole customer journey or business ROI is a common pitfall. Customer experience, largely driven by the support team, touches every stage of the journey—from pre-sales to post-sales—and directly influences more sales and loyalty.”
To demonstrate CX’s value, it’s crucial to track metrics that reflect your team’s true impact on the business. For example:
- Customer Retention Rate (CRR): How well does your team retain customers over time?
- CSAT Scores: Are your customers satisfied enough to return or recommend your brand?
- Revenue From Support Conversations: How many sales are driven by proactive or reactive support interactions?
By focusing on these KPIs, you’ll incentivize your support team to go beyond answering questions and actively contribute to business goals. This could include suggesting products during conversations, encouraging happy customers to leave reviews, or proactively addressing issues that lead to churn.
Teams using Gorgias have even greater opportunities to prove ROI through tools like the Revenue Statistics dashboard, which tracks metrics like tickets converted into sales, conversion rates, and total revenue driven by support interactions.
“Without knowing how much money your customer experience (CX) drives, you’ll never fully understand your impact on the business or have the data needed to advocate for more resources from leadership.”
—Zoe Kahn, Chomps
Set smarter goals next year
The best way to close out your post-BFCM retro is by setting clear, measurable goals for next year. Use this year’s insights to create actionable targets that enhance your customer support and CX strategy:
- Reduce ticket volume: Implement or improve self-service options like FAQs, chatbots, and Help Centers.
- Decrease response and resolution times: Optimize workflows, invest in automation, or plan for better staffing during peak periods.
- Boost CSAT: Address recurring customer pain points, streamline support processes, and train your team to deliver more empathetic, effective service.
Tools like Gorgias make it easier to turn these goals into reality. With powerful automation, integrated insights, and scalable support solutions, you can transform this year’s lessons into meaningful, lasting improvements.
Start planning now to make next year’s BFCM your smoothest—and most successful—yet!
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How We Keep Talent Density High and Impact Higher at Gorgias
TL;DR:
- High talent density means a team where every member is highly skilled and performs at their peak. This creates a positive ripple effect, where talented individuals enhance each other's effectiveness and drive overall success.
- Gorgias maintains high talent density by following three pillars: hire great talent, part ways with non-performers, and nurture your talent pool.
- Train managers to share 100% honest feedback with direct reports. Honest feedback, performance improvement plans, and fair severance ensure a respectful and constructive approach to managing team dynamics.
- Measure talent density with key metrics. These include performance scores over time, cross-evaluation reviews, regrettable attrition rates, and transparent promotions to ensure fairness and improvement.
At Gorgias, we’ve embraced the concept of high talent density, introduced by Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings in No Rules Rules, as a foundation of how we operate. The idea is simple: a team is at its best when every member is highly skilled and performing at their peak.
I’ll walk you through exactly how we’ve built a workplace that prioritizes talent density by breaking down what the concept means, how it shapes our hiring process, and how we keep Gorgias a rewarding environment to grow in.
What is high talent density?
High talent density refers to having a team where each member is highly skilled and performs at their best. When a group consists of top performers, their collective effectiveness increases. Hastings notes, "Talented people make one another more effective."
For example, in a team of five exceptional employees, each individual's high performance elevates the group's overall success. If there is even one underperformer, a team's effectiveness decreases by 30 to 40 percent.
The three pillars of high talent density
We follow three pillars to maintain and grow high talent density. These pillars guide how we build and sustain a team of exceptional performers at Gorgias.
- Hire Great Talent: We look for people who excel in their roles today and show the potential to grow with the company in the future.
- Part Ways with Non-Performers: We prioritize honest feedback and offer support for improvement, but we’re not afraid to make changes when necessary.
- Nurture Your Talent Pool: We invest in our team’s development, ensuring everyone has the tools and opportunities to succeed as the company grows.
To bring this to life, we’ll use an analogy of colors to represent different types of performers in our talent pool:
Let’s take a closer look at how we practice each of these pillars below.
Pillar #1: Hire great talents
Every manager wants to hire someone exceptional, but even with the best intentions, it doesn’t always work out.
To clarify, we’re looking for someone great to do the job now but has the potential to grow and stay strong as the company evolves.
Here’s how we approach it.
Pay well (i.e. transparently and competitively)
Let’s be upfront: great talent often comes with a higher price tag.
The first step in building high talent density is offering competitive pay. Exceptional people expect to be compensated for their contributions, and rightly so.
A single outstanding hire, even if paid 50% more than two average employees, often delivers far greater results.
This is especially true in creative roles, where the impact of a single talent can be worth that of several others. It’s certainly not easy to prioritize compensation when resources are tight, but talented people are an investment — and talent is usually expensive.
Related: How we built an international SAAS salary calculator for our distributed team
Focus on sourcing, not just applicants
Great candidates don’t always come knocking on your door. The best talent is often already employed, not actively looking for a new role.
To hire the best, we go beyond applications and invest heavily in proactive sourcing.
Use a structured recruiting playbook
At Gorgias, we rely on scorecards and standardized feedback forms to assess every applicant fairly and thoroughly. We also include role-specific assessments or assignments as part of the process.
While some argue that take-home tasks are no longer standard, we’ve found them invaluable. A strong interview doesn’t always translate into strong performance, and these assignments often reveal critical insights into a candidate’s true capabilities.
Referrals are another piece of the puzzle. A-players tend to know and recommend other A-players. While leveraging referrals, we also keep a close eye on maintaining diversity to make sure everyone gets the same chance.
Pillar #2: Part ways with non-performers
Regularly assess your talent pool
Performance isn’t static. Someone who was a top performer last year might not meet expectations today, especially as the company grows and their role evolves.
To stay objective, we pair performance reviews with bi-yearly cross-evaluation talent reviews. Cross-evaluations provide a broader perspective, helping managers see beyond potential biases and assess whether a top talent has changed in performance quality.
These regular evaluations ensure we’re always aware of who is meeting expectations and who may need support or a more difficult conversation.
Enforce honest feedback with your managers
While Netflix's philosophy is to immediately separate with employees when they underperform, we believe in a more empathetic approach that follows our company’s core value of being 100% honest.
At Gorgias, we train managers to deliver clear, actionable feedback so team members always know where they stand and how they can improve. To us, honesty means being thoughtful, encouraging, and focused on helping people grow.
We also use Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) as a tool for growth. We don’t simply view them as compliance tools, but as opportunities for employees to get back on their feet. In fact, 50% of our PIPs result in team members regaining performance.
Provide fair and generous severance packages
Sometimes, despite feedback and coaching, parting ways becomes the best option for both the employee and company. When that happens, we believe in making the transition as respectful and fair as possible.
Offering a strong severance package not only supports employees during their transition but also empowers managers to make tough decisions confidently. It reflects our shared responsibility and ensures we treat people with dignity, even when their time with us comes to an end.
Pillar #3: Nurture your talent pool
Help talent grow alongside the company
When a company grows, employees need to match that pace to keep delivering at a high level. This requires consistent learning and development to meet the challenges of each new stage.
Growth doesn’t happen by accident. As Daniel Coyle explains in The Talent Code, greatness isn’t born; it’s grown through “deep practice.”
To encourage growth, Gorgias managers hold career conversations every six weeks, focusing on the “3Es”: education, exposure, and experience. These discussions identify growth areas, leverage networks, and clarify the steps team members can take to excel.
We also reward our top performers with opportunities beyond financial incentives. From double learning stipends to travel experiences and executive mentorships, these rewards keep our “dark green” talents motivated and engaged.
Read more: Why we don’t increase salaries based on performance
Cultivate a positive and collaborative environment
In the pursuit of high talent density, results are important, but so is maintaining a positive, team-oriented environment.
A top performer with a toxic attitude can harm the environment you’re working hard to build. For that reason, we hire and nurture people who align with our values, show respect for others, and contribute to a collaborative culture. Both the what (talented employees) and the how (exemplary behavior) matter.
Implement pressure management programs
I believe this is one of the toughest topics when it comes to talent management.
Top performers are eager to work hard and prove their worth. Oftentimes, they approach work intensely and passionately. However, too much intensity can lead to exhaustion. And, of course, tired employees can’t deliver well.
That’s why managing pressure is crucial to maintaining high talent density. Introducing programs and initiatives that support the well-being of your employees helps prevent stress and burnout.
We take a tailored approach to prevent burnout, recognizing that one size doesn’t fit all. Having strong management training and great HRBPs (HR Business Partners) are the most impactful pieces. They help uncover the underlying issues of burnout: lack of vacation time, heavy workload, personal challenges, or misalignment.
Once the issues are clear, we provide the right tools to help. This could include coaching, training, enhanced benefits, or adjusted workloads.
How we measure, refine, and design our talent pool
We use specific metrics to gain insights into the effectiveness of our talent management strategies and refine our approach as needed.
Here are the metrics we track to evaluate talent density:
- Performance scores over time: We track average performance scores across the company (excluding new hires) to monitor overall talent density.
- Cross-evaluation reviews: Our biannual talent reviews include cross-evaluations, introducing variables like leadership, learning agility, and drive to ensure a holistic assessment.
- Regrettable attrition rate: We analyze turnover rates to identify potential issues and address them proactively.
- Transparent promotions: We’ve developed a promotion process that prioritizes fairness and merit. Managers must document and justify promotions, holding them accountable for consistency and equity.
By regularly tracking these metrics, we can see where we may be falling short — whether that’s being slow to part ways with low performers, struggling to attract great talent, or losing top performers unnecessarily.
Building strong organizational design
The ultimate goal of having strong talent density is to build a well-performing organization.
After each talent review, HRBPs will work hand in hand with managers to refine the organizational chart. They identify opportunities for improvement, such as promoting top talent, adjusting scopes of responsibility, or making changes to strengthen the team.
Ultimately, you should always make sure that your top performers are leading the most critical and top-priority initiatives.
A personal note on the journey to high talent density
In my role as VP of People at Gorgias, I’ve seen how fast growth fuels the resources and opportunities needed to attract and develop exceptional talent. High performers thrive in environments with big goals and fast results, but it’s up to us to create the right conditions for them to succeed.
Sustaining high talent density takes dedication and humility. It means holding ourselves to high standards while being transparent. While we’ve made great strides, there’s always more to learn and refine.
As we continue this journey, let us remain humble, acknowledging that there is always room for growth and improvement.
How 10 Brands Transformed Customer Support Into Revenue in 2024
TL;DR:
- Support automation cuts resolution times and saves brands thousands. Dr. Bronner's and LSKD automated 40–45% of tickets, saving $100K annually and cutting resolution times to just over a minute.
- Phone support is a profitable yet underutilized support channel. Obvi boosted revenue by $22K in 2 months using phone support alongside Gorgias for upselling and subscription retention.
- Automating returns results in new sales and cost savings. Rumpl recouped $8K in return fees with automated returns, while Pajar resolved tickets in 12 minutes using bilingual AI support.
- App integrations enhance the customer experience. Shopify, Aircall, and Loop Returns integrations helped brands like Jonas Paul Eyewear slash response times by 96% during peak seasons.
Scaling great customer support is often seen as a challenge, especially when ticket volumes climb and customer expectations rise. But for CX leads and executives, it’s essential to recognize that support isn’t just a cost center—it’s a profit driver. Exceptional customer support builds loyalty, drives repeat business, and creates upselling opportunities, directly boosting revenue.
That’s where Gorgias comes in. In this blog, we’ll show you how brands like Rumpl, TalentPop, Stylest, and Baby Gold have turned their support challenges into measurable wins with the power of automation and smart tools.
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1. Obvi boosted revenue by $22,000 in just 2 months with Gorgias and phone support
Obvi was leaving money on the table. Without phone support, they faced challenges like subscription drop-offs and missed upsell opportunities. Voice as a support channel wasn’t on their radar, so valuable revenue streams slipped through the cracks. Plus, they lacked a proactive strategy to retain subscriptions.
By integrating Gorgias’ omnichannel support tech, Obvi transformed their customer experience. They introduced a personalized, phone-based support system tailored to upselling and subscription retention, and partnered with Aventus’ Learning Management System (ALMS) to give their agents expert training.
The result?
A customer support system that delivered exceptional service while boosting revenue.
Results achieved:
- Saved 271 subscription orders, equalling $21,244 in revenue.
- Achieved an average of 20+ upsells per week.
- Enhanced customer satisfaction and retention through personalized interactions.
With Gorgias and phone support, Obvi unlocked the potential of voice to grow their business and deepen customer loyalty.
2. Jonas Paul Eyewear slashed response times by 96% with AI Agent
During peak seasons like back-to-school, Jonas Paul Eyewear struggled to keep up with the sheer volume of customer inquiries. The small customer care team was overwhelmed with repetitive questions, leading to slower response times and increased stress. They needed an efficient solution to handle the increased load while maintaining excellent service.
By partnering with Gorgias, Jonas Paul Eyewear transformed their customer service operations. AI Agent automated responses to common queries like prescription details and return policies, freeing up their team to focus on more complex issues.
An integration with Aircall allowed agents to handle phone calls directly within Gorgias, with access to customer interaction history and Shopify data. A Klaviyo integration streamlined inquiries related to home try-on kits and orders. Together, these tools created a customer-focused experience.
Results achieved:
- Despite a 28% increase in tickets, the team reduced first response time by 96%.
- AI Agent influenced $600 in sales in a single month, nearly doubling its $360/month cost.
- Automated over 30% of support volume, eliminating the need for temporary staff during busy periods.
"With faster responses and more proactive support through AI, we are seeing happier customers, which obviously translates into more retention and more brand loyalty. Overall with the improvement in first response time, we've really seen an uptick in customer satisfaction and less of an escalation in tickets."
—Lynsay Schrader, Lab and Customer Service Senior Manager at Jonas Paul Eyewear
3. Dr. Bronner’s saved $100K annually by automating 45% of customer interactions
As Dr. Bronner's business grew, so did their customer support challenges. The limitations of their previous system, Salesforce, made it difficult for their small customer experience (CX) team to handle increasing inquiries, especially repetitive questions. As a result, customers experienced longer response times, and the brand needed a more effective solution.
By switching to Gorgias, Dr. Bronner's transformed their customer support operations. They implemented AI Agent to automate routine inquiries, allowing their team to focus on more complex, personalized interactions.
The addition of a comprehensive Help Center empowered customers to find answers independently. At the same time, integrations with Shopify, Aircall, and Loop Returns streamlined the management of orders, returns, and voice communications — all within a single platform.
Results achieved:
- Saved $100,000 annually by replacing Salesforce, reducing licensing and development costs.
- Automated over 45% of customer interactions within two months.
- Increased customer satisfaction scores by 11% through faster responses and personalized service.
- Reduced resolution time by 74%, enabling the team to address inquiries more effectively.
"Our CX team is small, which is why leaning into automation was so crucial for us. We were really at a turning point at the beginning of the year, and we knew that we had to make a change. We had to make our tools work for us, not against us. Gorgias was a huge opportunity, and we decided to jump in head first. Within the first 30 days, we were able to automate 30% of customer interactions and are now up to 45%."
—Emily McEnany, Senior CX Manager at Dr. Bronner’s
4. Pajar automated 45% of tickets to cut response times from days to minutes
Peak seasons like winter, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday brought immense pressure to Pajar’s small customer service team of five agents. With high ticket volumes and a bilingual customer base (English and French), maintaining quick response times and delivering excellent service became a major challenge. They needed a solution to streamline operations and keep their customers happy.
Partnering with Gorgias proved to be a game-changer. Pajar implemented AI Agent to handle common inquiries in both English and French, freeing their team to focus on complex tickets. Automation reduced repetitive tasks, improving team efficiency, while Gorgias’ 30-in-30 onboarding program helped them quickly hit their automation goals.
Results achieved:
- Surpassed their 30% goal by fully resolving 45% of queries with automation.
- Achieved a first response time of just 12 minutes and 15 seconds, and a resolution time of 1 day and 20 hours.
- Maintained high satisfaction scores by delivering timely, accurate responses in English and French.
"We were nervous to get started at first, but as soon as we had the implementation call it was a huge weight off of our shoulders — we knew it was going to be great. And we were right. The first day we turned it on, we started seeing results right away."
—Noémie Rousseau, Customer Service Manager at Pajar
5. LSKD tripled email automation and boosted customer satisfaction with AI Agent
LSKD, a popular Australian activewear brand, struggled to keep up with a high volume of customer inquiries during peak periods. Their previous system couldn’t handle repetitive queries efficiently, leading to slower response times and an overburdened support team. To maintain their commitment to excellent customer service, they needed a smarter solution.
Gorgias delivered. By implementing AI Agent, LSKD automated responses to common questions, enabling their team to focus on complex, high-value interactions. Automation streamlined workflows, reducing manual tasks, while integration with Shopify provided instant access to customer order data. LSKD could respond faster and more accurately, improving the overall customer experience.
Results achieved:
- Automated 40% of tickets overall with Gorgias AI Agent.
- Reduced first response time from 1 day 2 hours to 1 minute and 2 seconds.
- Reduced resolution time from 1 day 19 hours to 1 minute and 8 seconds.
"Gorgias AI Agent is going to be a game-changer for us during BFCM. With the ability to provide immediate, personalized responses, we’re confident it will not only reduce the volume of repetitive inquiries but also ensure our community feels supported during the busiest time of the year.”
—Kailey Burton, Community Experience Head Coach at LSKD
6. Baby Gold automated 20% of emails and cut resolution time down to 1 minute 4 seconds
Baby Gold, a jewelry brand known for its personalized pieces, faced growing challenges in meeting customer demands for quick and efficient support. Their existing customer service system lacked the automation needed to manage repetitive inquiries, leading to slower response times and an increased workload for their team.
They needed a solution to improve efficiency and meet customer expectations for rapid assistance.
AI Agent autonomously resolved customer email tickets by learning the brand’s unique policies and voice while automation reduced manual tasks. Easy integration with their existing systems provided agents with instant access to customer data, enabling quicker, more accurate responses and improving overall efficiency.
Results achieved:
- Achieved a 20% email automation rate after joining the AI Agent Beta program.
- Reached a first response time of 49 seconds and a resolution time of 1 minute and 4 seconds.
- Answered 1,361 tickets within two weeks.
"I feel that nowadays, people expect quick responses and rapid assistance. AI and tools such as AI Agent are perfect to meet these expectations."
—Sindi Melgar, Customer Service Manager at Baby Gold
7. Psycho Bunny answers tickets 10x faster with AI Agent
Psycho Bunny, a bold menswear brand known for its edgy take on classic styles, faced a challenge: how to maintain a stellar customer experience while scaling their multi-million dollar business. With a focus on improving key performance indicators (KPIs) and customer satisfaction (CSAT), they needed a solution to boost efficiency without adding to their customer support team’s workload.
Psycho Bunny implemented AI Agent to handle routine customer inquiries, such as order status, returns, and exchanges, freeing up human agents to focus on more complex, high-value interactions.
With automation managing 26% of tickets and integration with existing systems, Gorgias provided the tools to streamline operations and deliver exceptional service, all from one unified platform.
Results achieved:
- Resolved 26% of customer tickets through AI Agent.
- Reduced first response time by 99.8% and resolution time by 99.4%.
- Queries are answered 10x faster than the team average thanks to AI Agent, with a 4.67 CSAT score.
"I already love Gorgias because its email and chat capabilities are ahead of the competition, so I trust Gorgias to also build the best AI agent. And having all our CX tools within the same system is important—I don’t want yet another dashboard to check."
—Tosha Moyer, Senior Customer Experience Manager at Psycho Bunny
8. Stylest achieved a 35.56% conversion rate with Gorgias Convert
Stylest, a swimwear brand, set its sights on a big goal: to boost visitor engagement and convert more casual browsers into loyal customers. They wanted to increase sales and highlight their best-selling styles while providing an enjoyable shopping experience.
To achieve this, Stylest partnered with ECOM DEPARTMENT and implemented Gorgias Convert, an onsite marketing tool designed to optimize customer interactions and drive conversions. With Convert, they launched targeted campaigns that effectively guided visitors toward completing their purchases without disrupting the shopping experience.
Results achieved:
- Achieved an impressive 35.56% conversion rate through exit intent campaigns.
- Campaigns contributed to a 20% lift in Average Order Value (AOV) revenue.
- Over 90 days, campaigns influenced 3% of total revenue, with a peak impact of 18%.
9. TalentPop expanded its customer base by 410 clients through a strategic partnership with Gorgias
TalentPop, a customer service management agency serving ecommerce brands, set out to expand its client base and elevate its service offerings. To achieve these goals, they needed a partner that could align with their go-to-market strategies, provide innovative tools, and help attract new business.
TalentPop tapped into Gorgias’s robust platform and co-selling initiatives to acquire mutual customers.
They received tailored guidance to plan forward-thinking strategies, looking 1–2 years ahead, while maintaining a high standard of service delivery. Access to essential tools and operational support allowed TalentPop to streamline processes, boost efficiency, and increase revenue from customer support services.
Results achieved:
- Acquired 410 mutual customers through effective co-selling efforts.
- Perfectly aligned go-to-market strategies with Gorgias, critical for winning key accounts.
- Helped their client Silky Gem to automate 40% of 5,000 monthly tickets.
"Gorgias has been instrumental in TalentPop’s growth from the start of our partnership. They have provided key prospect opportunities, supported us in winning accounts, and invested in TalentPop by bringing on best-in-class customer service agents to support their teams."
—Olivia Parker, Senior Partnerships Manager at TalentPop
10. Rumpl recouped $8,000 in return fees and achieved 4.89 CSAT
Rumpl’s manual, 3PL-dependent returns process was time-consuming and inefficient, with resolutions taking 2–3 weeks. A reliance on shared Excel sheets created operational bottlenecks during busy periods and frustrated customers.
By integrating Loop Returns with Gorgias, Rumpl automated and streamlined their returns process. Customers could manage returns and exchanges via an automated portal in the Gorgias chat widget. Self-service tools and automated communications reduced manual workloads, while centralized support within Gorgias improved efficiency and visibility.
Results achieved:
- Cut first resolution time by 39% with automation.
- Recouped $8,000 in return fees by converting 31.4% of returned revenue into exchanges or store credit.
- Boosted CSAT to 4.89 by delivering quicker, more efficient service.
"The Gorgias/Loop integration has been really useful for us. Being able to view return info in Gorgias, then open that return in Loop with one click, makes it super easy to navigate and resolve any issues the customer might have."
—Jacob Cantu, Senior Customer & People Experience Manager at Rumpl
Turn customer support into your brand’s growth engine
Great customer support goes beyond answering questions. It involves building trust, driving loyalty, and turning everyday interactions into opportunities for growth. From streamlining returns to automating repetitive tasks, brands like Rumpl, TalentPop, Stylest, and Baby Gold show how the right tools can transform support into a revenue-driving powerhouse.
With Gorgias, you can work smarter, resolve issues faster, and create exceptional experiences that keep your customers coming back.
Want to see how Gorgias can help you scale your support and grow your business? Book a demo today and discover the tools that will take your customer experience to the next level.
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