TL;DR:
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:
Let’s break it down.
{{lead-magnet-1}}
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
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.
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:
Keep it simple and action-oriented. You’re setting the stage for what comes next.
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:
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.
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:
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.
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
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
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.
WHEN a customer asks about their order status:
IF tracking information is available,
THEN
IF tracking information is unavailable,
THEN
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
WHEN a customer requests to change their shipping address:
IF the order has not been fulfilled,
THEN
IF the order has already been fulfilled,
THEN
WHEN a customer asks to cancel their order:
IF the order has not been fulfilled,
THEN
IF the order has already been fulfilled,
THEN
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
IF the return window has expired,
THEN
WHEN a customer inquires about discounts or promo codes:
IF there is an active promotion for [item name],
THEN
IF there are no active promotions for [item name],
THEN
WHEN a customer requests to pause their subscription:
IF the customer has an active subscription,
THEN
WHEN a customer asks about product restocking:
IF a restock date is available,
THEN
IF the restock date is unknown,
THEN
WHEN a customer inquires about international shipping:
IF international shipping is available,
THEN
IF international shipping is not available,
THEN
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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
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:
By systematizing the simple stuff, they freed up bandwidth to focus on what matters most—building relationships and solving more nuanced problems.
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.
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.
“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:
Most Gorgias customers are fully live within just a few days—ready to serve customers faster, smarter, and with less manual lift.
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:
And the results spoke for themselves:
See how Pepper made the switch happen (and why they’re never looking back):
If you’re seeing the warning signs, here’s a quick gut check:
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.
{{lead-magnet-1}}
TL;DR:
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.
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:
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:
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.
Start by setting up automated answers for the questions your team responds to every day, especially the ones that delay conversions:
There are a few ways to automate these questions in Gorgias:
Read more: How to optimize your help center for AI Agent
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:
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:
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:
High-intent questions are usually specific and goal-oriented — things like:
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.
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.
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.
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:
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
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.
Pay attention to repeat patterns that signal dissatisfaction. Common early indicators include:
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.
Once you’ve identified your at-risk customers, use win-back strategies, like:
When handled thoughtfully, a churn-risk customer can become one of your strongest advocates because you showed up when it mattered most.
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.
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:
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.
You don’t need to offer huge discounts to let customers know you appreciate them. Small, thoughtful gestures often make the biggest impact:
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.
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.
{{lead-magnet-1}}
The best in CX and ecommerce, right to your inbox
TL;DR
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.
{{lead-magnet-1}}
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%
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.
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:
There’s a clear difference between what ecommerce leaders and agents value in a tool and considering both is key to success.
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:
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.
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 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:
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
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:
{{lead-magnet-1}}
TL;DR:
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.
{{lead-magnet-1}}
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.
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:
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.
Based on real data from Gorgias, these are the top 10 tickets customers send across channels like chat, contact forms, and email:
What do most of these have in common? You can address them with clear, accessible policies.
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.
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.
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.
At the end of each product page, BlenderBottle shares a support menu where shoppers can find information on order status and replacement parts.
Read more: What's the secret to reducing WISMO requests?
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.
Audien Hearing has clear visual policies that make it simple for shoppers to find the info they need quickly.
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.
Saalt lets customers phrase questions themselves or choose from a dropdown menu.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
{{lead-magnet-2}}
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.
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.
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:
And even more specifically, your customers are likely looking for answers to three simple questions:
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Avoid:
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:
Each macro should strike a balance of clarity, empathy, and brand voice, offering both the what and the why.
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.
TL;DR:
AI is everywhere in customer service—powering live chats, drafting responses, and handling inquiries faster than ever.
But as AI takes on more of the customer experience, one question keeps coming up: Should brands tell customers when they’re talking to AI?
Legally, the answer depends on where you operate. Ethically? That’s where things get interesting. Some argue that transparency builds trust. Others worry it might undermine confidence in support interactions.
So, what’s the right move?
This guide breaks down the debate and gives CX leaders a framework to decide when (and how) to disclose AI—so you can strike the right balance between innovation and trust.
Depending on where your business operates, disclosure laws may be strict, vague, or nonexistent. Some laws, such as the California Bolstering Online Transparency Act, prohibit misleading consumers about the use of automated artificial identities.
For maximum legal protection, it’s best to proactively disclose AI use—even when not explicitly required.
A simple disclaimer can go a long way in avoiding legal headaches down the line. Here’s how to disclose AI use in customer interactions:
Truthfully, AI laws are evolving fast. That’s why we recommend consulting legal counsel to ensure your disclosure practices align with the latest requirements in your region.
But beyond avoiding legal trouble, transparency around AI usage can reinforce customer trust. If customers feel deceived, they may question the reliability of your brand, even if the AI delivers great service.
Related reading: How AI Agent works & gathers data
Research shows that 85% of consumers want companies to share AI assurance practices before bringing AI-driven products and experiences to market.
But what does “transparency” actually mean in this context? An article in Forbes broke it down, explaining that customers expect three key things:
How you disclose AI matters just as much as whether you disclose it. At the end of the day, AI isn’t inherently good or bad—it’s all about how it’s implemented and trained.
The way a brand approaches AI disclosure can impact trust, satisfaction, and even conversion rates—making it a decision that goes beyond simple legal requirements.
While some customers appreciate honesty, others may hesitate if they prefer human support. Brands must weigh the pros and cons to determine the best approach for their audience.
Let’s be honest: AI in customer service still carries baggage. While some consumers embrace AI-driven support, others hear "AI" and immediately picture frustrating, robotic chatbots that can’t understand their questions.
This is one of the biggest risks of transparency: customers who’ve had bad AI experiences in the past may assume the worst and disengage the moment they realize they’re not speaking to a human.
For brands that thrive on personal connection and high-touch service, openly stating that AI is involved could create skepticism or drop-off rates before customers even give it a chance.
Another challenge? The perception gap.
Even if AI is handling inquiries smoothly, some customers may assume it lacks the empathy, nuance, or problem-solving skills of a live agent. Certain industries may find that transparency about AI use leads to more escalations, not fewer, simply because customers expect a human touch.
Despite the risks, transparency about AI can actually be a trust-building strategy when handled correctly.
Customers who value openness and ethical business practices tend to appreciate brands that don’t try to disguise AI as a human.
Being upfront also manages expectations. If a customer knows they’re speaking to AI, they’re less likely to feel misled or frustrated if they encounter a limitation. Instead of feeling like they were "tricked" into thinking they were talking to a human, they enter the conversation with the right mindset—often leading to higher satisfaction rates.
And then there’s the long-term brand impact.
If customers eventually realize (through phrasing, tone, or inconsistencies) that they weren’t speaking with a human when they thought they were, it can erode trust.
Deception—whether intentional or not—can backfire. Proactively disclosing AI use prevents backlash and reinforces credibility, especially as AI becomes a bigger part of the customer experience.
Arcade Belts, known for its high-quality belts, wanted to improve efficiency without compromising customer experience. By implementing Gorgias Automate, they reduced their reliance on manual support, creating self-service flows to handle common inquiries.
Initially, automation helped manage routine questions, such as product recommendations and shipping policies. But when they integrated Gorgias AI Agent, they cut their ticket volume in half.
The transition was so seamless that customers often couldn’t tell they were interacting with AI. “Getting tickets down to just a handful a day has been awesome,” shares Grant, Ecommerce Coordinator at Arcade Belts. ”A lot of times, I'll receive the response, ‘Wow, I didn't know that was AI.”
You can read more about how they’re using AI Agent here.
We mentioned it earlier, but deciding whether or not to disclose your use of AI in customer support depends on compliance, customer expectations, and business goals. That said, this four-part framework helps CX leaders evaluate the right approach for their brand:
Before making any decisions, ensure your brand is compliant with AI transparency regulations.
AI transparency should align with your brand’s values and customer experience strategy.
Rather than making assumptions, run controlled tests to see how AI disclosure affects customer satisfaction.
AI strategies shouldn’t be static. As customer preferences and AI capabilities evolve, brands should refine their approach accordingly.
If you decide to be transparent about AI in customer interactions, how you communicate it is just as important as the disclosure itself. Let’s talk about how to get it right and make AI work with your customer experience, not against it.
AI doesn’t have to sound like a corporate FAQ page. Giving it a personality that aligns with your brand makes interactions feel natural and engaging. Whether it’s playful, professional, or ultra-efficient, the way AI speaks should feel like a natural extension of your team, not an out-of-place add-on.
Instead of:
"I am an automated assistant. How may I assist you?"
Try something on-brand:
"Hey there! I’m your AI assistant, here to help—ask me anything!"
A small tweak in tone can make AI feel more human while still keeping transparency front and center.
Read more: AI tone of voice: Tips for on-brand customer communication
One of the biggest mistakes brands make? Leaving customers guessing whether they’re speaking to AI or a human. That uncertainty leads to frustration and distrust.
Instead, be clear about what AI can and can’t do. If it’s handling routine questions, product recommendations, or order tracking, say so. If complex issues will be escalated to a human agent, let customers know upfront.
Framing matters. Instead of making AI sound like a replacement, position it as a helpful extension of your support team—one that speeds up resolutions, but hands off conversations when needed.
Even the best AI has limits—and customers know it. Nothing is more frustrating than a bot endlessly looping through scripted responses when a customer just needs a real person to step in.
AI should be the first line of defense, but human agents should always be an option, especially for high-stakes or emotionally charged interactions.
A smooth handoff can sound like:
"Looks like this one needs a human touch! Connecting you with a support expert now."
AI disclosure doesn’t have to feel like an apology. Instead of focusing on limitations, highlight the benefits AI brings to the experience:
It’s the difference between:
"This is an AI agent. A human will follow up later."
vs.
"I’m your AI assistant! I can answer most questions instantly—but if you need extra help, I’ll connect you with a team member ASAP."
The right framing makes AI feel like an advantage, not a compromise.
AI perception isn’t static. Regularly analyzing sentiment data and customer feedback can help refine AI messaging over time—whether that means adjusting tone, improving explanations, or updating how AI is introduced.
When you follow these best practices, AI can be a real gamechanger for your customer support. Just take it from Jonas Paul…
Jonas Paul Eyewear, a direct-to-consumer brand specializing in kids' eyewear, needed a way to manage high volumes of tickets during the back-to-school season without overwhelming their customer care team.
To streamline these conversations, Jonas Paul implemented AI Agent to provide instant responses to FAQs. This allowed human agents to focus on more complex cases that required personalized attention.
“Being able to automate responses for things like prescription details and return policies has allowed us to focus more on the nuanced questions that require more time and care. It’s been a game changer for our team,” said Lynsay Schrader, Lab and Customer Service Senior Manager and Jonas Paul.
Jonas Paul saw a 96% decrease in First Response Time and a 2x ROI on Gorgias AI Agent with influenced revenue. You can dive in more here.
Whether or not your brand chooses to disclose AI in customer interactions, the key is to ensure AI enhances the customer experience without compromising transparency, accuracy, or brand identity.
So how can you get started? Gorgias AI Agent was built with both effectiveness and transparency in mind.
For every interaction, AI Agent provides an internal note detailing:
Excited to see how AI Agent can transform your brand? Book a demo.
{{lead-magnet-1}}
TL;DR:
The AI revolution in ecommerce customer support is already here. 77% of service teams are already using AI, and 92% say it improves time to resolution.
Brands that embrace AI can improve efficiency, scale faster, and deliver better customer experiences.
But what does that look like in practice?
In a recent Grow Your Business in 2025 with Conversational AI webinar, Kevin Gould, co-founder of Glamnetic, and Zoe Kahn, owner of Inevitable Agency & former VP of Retention and CX at Audien Hearing, shared how their teams use Gorgias AI Agent to streamline support, reduce workloads, and convert more shoppers into customers.
For them, AI isn’t just hype, it’s delivering real results—and Kevin and Zoe have seen it firsthand.
Ahead, we’ll break down Kevin and Zoe’s firsthand experiences, covering:
Watch the full webinar replay here:
As ecommerce brands grow, so does the demand for fast, high-quality customer support. But hiring and training more agents isn’t always scalable—especially when a significant portion of support tickets are repetitive, like “Where’s my order?” or “How long does shipping take?”
That’s where AI comes in. Instead of bogging down human agents with routine questions, AI-powered support can handle high ticket volumes instantly, freeing up CX teams to focus on complex issues, relationship-building, and revenue-generating conversations.
Both Glamnetic and Audien Hearing have seen firsthand how AI can transform CX. Glamnetic reduced manual responses by 15,000–16,000 tickets, while Audien Hearing saw AI outperform some human agents in both response speed and upselling.
Related reading: How to build an effective AI-driven customer support strategy
As Glamnetic scaled, so did its customer support workload. Managing tens of thousands of tickets while maintaining fast, high-quality support became a challenge. Many of the inquiries Glamnetic receives are repetitive––think order updates, shipping questions, and product details.
The brand needed a way to streamline responses without losing the personal touch.
Here’s what made the difference: Glamnetic used AI Agent to automate responses for thousands of tickets, allowing human agents to focus on higher-value interactions that drive customer loyalty and sales.
Kevin Gould, co-founder of Glamnetic, was excited about infusing AI across the entire business. “CX felt like the first natural extension. A big part of that was [Gorgias] pushing us into it pretty quickly. We saw early on that AI could be a force multiplier for the business."
The results speak for themselves:
Read more: How Glamnetic uses AI Agent to handle 40% of Support Volume with "mind-blowing" results
"What’s really interesting is that AI handled 24% of tickets across the entire year…Now, we’ve gotten much smarter about how we deploy AI for revenue generation, and it’s been highly impactful. It’s well worth your time to deploy this across your company." —Kevin Gould, Co-founder, Glamnetic
Scaling customer support while keeping costs in check is a challenge for any fast-growing ecommerce brand—especially one focused on retention and long-term customer relationships.
For Audien Hearing, this meant managing a team of over 80 support agents while ensuring that every interaction added value to the customer experience.
Rather than endlessly hiring more agents, Audien Hearing turned to AI to optimize. AI Agent helped them handle high ticket volumes faster, without sacrificing quality. With AI handling routine inquiries, their team was able to focus on higher-value conversations that drove long-term growth.
Zoe Kahn, former VP of Retention & CX, notes the importance of efficiency when managing large teams, “Once you reach that scale, you have to figure out how to be efficient and adapt to the right tools. AI helped us a lot. That said, it’s not a magic button. It takes training and adjustment. Adopting AI with Gorgias has allowed our team to focus on the tasks that truly need a human touch."
The impact was undeniable:
Read more: How Audien Hearing increased efficiency for 75 agents and reduced product returns by 5%
"[AI Agent] ended up being one of our fastest agents—answering the most tickets and driving the most revenue. A lot of that revenue was potentially missed revenue because these were customers sitting on the site, asking questions about the products, and wanting an answer now so they could purchase…Now, AI can answer those questions immediately and convert those customers." —Zoe Kahn, former VP of Retention & CX, Audien Hearing
AI in customer support still raises eyebrows. Some brands worry about losing the human touch, while others fear AI will replace agents rather than support them.
Even Zoe Kahn was initially skeptical about AI’s role in customer experience:
"I wasn't fully convinced at first—I wanted humans talking to my customers. But as soon as I saw it working well, and just as great as some of my agents, if not even better because of faster responses, and we're having agents train it... it's much easier now with a bunch of wins.”
What changed? Seeing AI in action—handling repetitive, time-consuming tasks like order tracking and FAQs, while human agents focused on complex cases, upselling, and retention.
For Kevin Gould, AI wasn’t brought in to cut costs but to help the CX team work smarter, not harder:
“We try to think a lot about how to work smarter, not harder. On one end of the spectrum, there's a lot of tedious, repetitive emails that can be automated right off the jump. Then as you move up the stack, from servicing up to generating revenue, it starts to get really interesting. If our ultimate goal is to provide customers with the best experience possible, then why not free up our agents from tedious tasks and double down on the things that push us towards that goal?”
The key takeaway? AI isn’t automation just for the sake of automation. It’s for scaling smarter and freeing up CX teams to have the right conversations at the right time.
Related reading: How to automate half of your CX tasks
AI in ecommerce customer support started as a cost-saving tool and is now proving to be a revenue driver. Looking ahead to 2025, AI’s role in personalization, proactive selling, and marketing integration will only grow.
For Zoe Kahn, the future of AI involves building stronger customer relationships:
"Take time to create community with your customers. Have the ability to think not only about revenue driving but also customer retention. Every time you have an opportunity to talk to a customer, take it. If teams don't have that time that could be freed up from training an AI agent, we see them rushing through replies that could really ruin their relationships with customers."
This shift toward AI-powered personalization is something Kevin Gould is already seeing in action. He predicts AI will become a key player in conversational selling, guiding customers to the right products at the right time:
"Eventually, we'll get to a place where AI is going to become a great recommendation engine. If we sell press-on nails, and a consumer has bought a few different styles in the past, AI can quickly pivot into conversational selling."
Beyond support, Kevin also believes that AI is blurring the lines between CX and marketing. As brands gain deeper insights into customer behavior, AI-powered support will help fuel marketing campaigns, drive retention, and create highly personalized experiences:
"If I asked [my support agent] how she sees her job, she’d say it started four years ago as customer service, then evolved into customer experience. Over time, different layers of customer experience emerged to the point where it's now an integrated marketing role.
She's collaborating closely with marketing specialists—growth marketing, brand marketing, and more. At this point, this role is almost like an extension of the marketing team...It requires a balanced mindset that blends marketing expertise with a deep understanding of customer experience to be successful."
Related reading: 6 ways to increase conversions by 6%+ with onsite campaigns
In 2025, AI will go beyond responding to customers. It will anticipate their needs, personalize their journey, and turn support into a revenue-generating powerhouse.
As Kevin Gould and Zoe Kahn shared, brands that embrace AI free up their teams to focus on high-impact conversations that build loyalty and boost sales.
From Glamnetic reducing 15,000+ manual responses to Audien Hearing’s AI-powered revenue wins, the results speak for themselves. AI helps brands personalize support, engage customers in real-time, and even drive conversational selling.
Ready to see how many routine tickets you could automate? Book a demo to see AI Agent in action.
{{lead-magnet-1}}
TL;DR:
Customer satisfaction scores (CSAT) have long been the go-to metric for measuring support quality, with 53% of customer experience leads relying on them. However, CSAT only tells you part of the story.
When customers rate their experience 3 out of 5, what does it really mean? Did they rate the agent’s actions or the company’s policies? Was an agent helpful or inefficient? Did they take unnecessary steps to get to the answer?
Quality assurance checks can fill these gaps, but manual QA is a heavy lift. Team leads often struggle to review more than a small sample of conversations, leaving many issues unchecked.
Auto QA redefines quality assurance for today’s support teams. It transforms QA from a manual task into an automated feedback engine that helps your team deliver excellent support, every single time.
Let's dive into how Auto QA works, how accurate its scoring is, and how you can add it to your support workflow to start improving customer conversations today.
Gorgias Auto QA upgrades the customer service QA process by automatically evaluating 100% of private text conversations, whether handled by a human or AI Agent.
Each message is scored on metrics like Resolution Completeness, Brand Voice, and Accuracy, helping teams fix and address areas of improvement.
With an automated QA process, brands can:
Let's explore a real-life scenario: A customer reaches out about a product issue, seeking troubleshooting help. Here’s how the interaction unfolds:
Customer: "Hi, my device broke, and I bought it less than a month ago. -Kelly"
Support Agent: "Hi Kelly, please send us a photo or a video so we can determine the issue with your device. -Michael"
The ticket is eventually closed, but the customer doesn't leave a CSAT score.
In this case, Auto QA would provide the following insights:
Auto QA uses a comprehensive scoring system that evaluates conversations on communication proficiency and knowledge accuracy.
To ensure accuracy, Auto QA only scores interactions with at least 250 characters and messages from both agents and customers. It's also smart enough to filter out automated responses, spam, and bot messages.
Auto QA automatically scores three main aspects:
For deeper feedback, certain criteria require manual scoring from team leads:
Whether you're just starting with quality checks or transitioning from manual QA, Auto QA can seamlessly fit into your existing processes. Here's how to get started.
What does “good” look like for your team? Review Auto QA's scoring system and decide which metrics matter most for your brand, from Resolution Completeness to Brand Voice. This will help you set realistic targets for your team to work toward.
Tip: Start by prioritizing a couple of areas. This could look like prioritizing a 5/5 Resolution Completeness score while deprioritizing Brand Voice. As your team gets comfortable with Auto QA, you can ramp up to improving Brand Voice.
Since some criteria—Accuracy, Efficiency, Internal Compliance, and Brand Voice—require manual scoring, it’s best to agree on how your team will use the scoring scale.
For example, each score from 1 to 5 receives a distinct piece of feedback. Here’s what that would look for the Efficiency criteria:
Start rolling out Auto QA through individual meetings with agents rather than overwhelming your team with a general training session. One-on-one conversations allow you to better address each agent's specific questions and concerns. Make sure to cover the following:
If regular one-on-one meetings aren't part of your routine, consider introducing Auto QA during your weekly team meetings or through a dedicated training session. Just remember to leave plenty of time for questions and walk through multiple examples to ensure everyone is comfortable with the system.
To solidify QA checks, create a simple routine for reviewing Auto QA insights with the Auto QA Report (navigate to Statistics > Auto QA).
Once you’ve collected a substantial amount of Auto QA data, there are a few follow-up actions you can take to continue having high-quality conversations:
Remember, Auto QA works alongside your existing processes—it doesn't replace them. Start small, focus on the metrics that matter most to your team, and scale up as you get comfortable with Auto QA.
We invited leading ecommerce brands to beta test Auto QA, and their feedback highlights how it's transforming quality assurance across support teams of all sizes.
amika's support team values the complete visibility beyond CSAT: "Auto QA dramatically widens the volume of tickets we can review," they share. "A 5-point scale only tells you so much, and relying on consumers providing feedback limits what you're able to learn from."
Peachybbies' CX team enjoys real-time improvement: "Being able to give real-time feedback is pivotal, especially during peak times," their team explains. "Auto QA catches pretty much everything I'd want a human QA agent to catch."
OSEA Malibu's managers discovered operational insights: "It helps managers understand when a macro or process is leading to incomplete conversations versus when an agent made a mistake," their support lead shares.
By prioritizing QA, your team can identify potential problems early, reduce errors, and improve overall performance, leading to a smoother, more reliable experience for customers––and your CX team.
In the long run, brands focusing on QA can gain a competitive edge. Book a demo now to see what Auto QA can do for you.
{{lead-magnet-1}}
There are tons of CX metrics you could be tracking. But where you spend your time is crucial as a customer experience leader.
According to recent data, these are the top five CX metrics for you to prioritize and improve on in 2025.
{{lead-magnet-1}}
Not tracking CX metrics is like putting a loaf of bread in the oven but leaving baking time to chance. Without a set timer, you could end up with an underbaked bowl of dough or a burnt mess. Unless you have a sixth sense, it’s going to be really challenging to end up with something good.
In the same vein, metrics provide clear parameters for success. Meet or exceed them and your team is doing well; fall short and you’ll be better equipped to identify pain points and solve them.
Here are a few additional reasons why setting customer support metrics is key to success.
Tip : AI and automation can be valuable sidekicks as you look to optimize and improve on metrics. That’s especially true for busy periods: in 2024, 70% of CX leaders relied on AI and automation during peak seasons.
Customers are done with being patient. One study found that two thirds of respondents valued speed to reply just as much as product price.
A recent survey we ran found the same thing.
In our 2024 customer expectations survey, we asked CX leads and agents which metric they used to track success. Here’s what they said:
Resolution time is going to be a key differentiator for your team this year. It should be your primary focus when it comes to optimizing different facets of your customer service strategy.
Resolution time is the average time it takes to resolve a customer request from start to finish.
To calculate resolution time, you’ll take the total resolution time within a set period and divide it by the total number of customer interactions your team tackled within that same time frame.
Average resolution time = Total resolution time in a defined period / Total number of customer interactions resolved in that period
According to a 2023 study from Statista, 70% of support leaders noted that the customer support metrics that AI had the greatest positive effect on was resolution time.
You can use automation features to send Macros to answer common questions, or leverage AI to interact as an agent via email or chat. The instant nature of these tools means that customers won’t have to wait in a queue for your team to get to them.
For example, Wildride implemented Gorgias AI Agent to manage an influx of 1,000 tickets per week. After AI Agent took over 33% of email inquiries, the team saw a 24% decrease in resolution time. That allowed the team to focus on more complex issues, streamline their support process, and make their customers happier.
First response time is the length of time it takes for a customer service team to send the initial reply to a customer inquiry.
To calculate average first response time, take the total amount of time it took for your team to respond to initial customer requests and divide by the total number of tickets within a set time frame.
Your team is busy––when they’re not tackling repetitive questions, they’re helping customers with complicated or high-effort requests. All of that work is going to bog down your FRT, especially during more buzzy periods like sales, new releases, or over the holidays.
By using AI to jump in to handle those more routine requests, you can significantly reduce your FRT and give your team time back to tackle more heavy-lift needs.
For example, AI Agent helped Glamnetic achieve a 91% improvement in first response time during Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2024. They got FRT down from their pre-AI Agent time of eight minutes to 40 seconds.
Here’s what that looked like in practice:
CSAT scores show how satisfied customers are with a product, service, or interaction, typically gathered through surveys.
CSAT is calculated via a five-point rating scale survey sent to customers after a support interaction, where one is the worst experience and five is the best. While it can be calculated in different ways, at Gorgias the average of all survey responses is your CSAT score.
When customers reach out for support, they’re expecting a fast response––regardless if they have an issue or are contemplating their next purchase.
That’s why using automation or AI tools to provide that lightning quick response, even if it directs shoppers to a self-service resource, can be extremely effective in raising CSAT scores. These responses could be sent by an AI agent that responds like a human agent would or an automated Macro built to fire off pre-crafted templates to common questions.
In luxury golf brand VESSEL’s case, customers felt that the AI responses were helpful and seemed on-par with the level of support they’d expect from a human agent.
“Our customers expect almost immediate responses, and so being able to automate that, even if it's not necessarily the exact answer that they're looking for, but being able to send over information to give them the reassurance that we're looking into it or trying to find an answer, whatever it may be, that's been a huge help to our team,” says Lauren Reams, the Customer Experience Manager at VESSEL.
The direct or indirect effect of customer service or business activities on generating sales or revenue.
There are different ways to calculate revenue generated and the sales impact of customer support, and quantifying the indirect impact can be difficult. But generally, the formula looks like this:
ROI = [ (Money earned - Money spent) / Money spent ] x 100
Resource: How to measure & improve customer service ROI
Leveraging AI and automation can provide significant cost savings because it acts as an additional agent who can tackle repetitive questions, translating to money saved on the time it would take for human agents to manually answer those questions.
The results are tangible: by automating 48% of inquiries, Dr. Bronner's saved $5,248 in the first month, and $100K in the first year.
Jonas Paul Eyewear saw revenue influenced by AI Agent as well: the team tracked $600 of sales revenue directly to the tool after it effectively answered pre-sales support questions from shoppers.
Ticket volume is the total number of customer service inquiries that a team receives over a specific period of time.
The customer support tool you use will be able to calculate ticket volume for you, as it’s the total number of tickets that have come in within a set amount of time. If you don’t use a CX platform yet and are still using something like Gmail or Excel, you’ll perform this count manually.
Set rules to trigger automated responses to common questions, or ask an AI agent to completely take them off your team’s plate.
Arcade Belts, for example, saw a 50% reduction in ticket volume by using Gorgias AI Agent.
Tracking CX metrics is valuable for more than just gauging your program's effectiveness. The more you improve upon your CX metrics, the more you can leverage them to prove your support function’s value within your company.
How to use metrics to evaluate AI performanceIf you want to transform customer experience for the long term, the AI tools you use should never be “set it and forget it” solutions. Just as you do with your human agents, you can use metrics to evaluate your AI agent to make sure it’s performing well. If you use Gorgias, you’ll find these metrics under the AI Agent dashboard.
To review AI Agent’s performance:
It’s also easy to retrain your AI's performance by adjusting settings like Guidance, refining the internal documents it draws from, setting up brand voice, or creating a Handover topic list to escalate certain types of tickets to human agents.
Whether you’re new to being a CX leader or you’re a seasoned pro, tracking and improving on your CX metrics will help your team stand out among the rest. A key way to improve them is to leverage AI and Automation tools, and Gorgias is here to help you do it.
{{lead-magnet-2}}
TL;DR:
It’s clear that shoppers want answers fast—chat accounts for 20% of all customer support tickets.
The appeal is obvious: Chat is an easy-to-access customer service channel for quick questions and a convenient and subtle way to cross-sell complementary products.
But without the right chat tool, brands risk losing these valuable opportunities.
Introducing AI Agent on Chat, a conversational AI assistant that can automate up to 50% of chat conversations. This new feature upgrades chat by combining agent knowledge with superhuman efficiency and response times.
Now, customers can guarantee personalized interactions at any point of the shopping journey—whether they’re looking for a quick answer or a tailored recommendation.
With AI powering every interaction, one-to-one conversations become a seamless part of every customer experience.
Before AI Agent, customers reaching out through chat outside business hours had two options: following pre-set Flows (automated FAQ conversations) or browsing through suggested Help Center articles.
These features are great for quick answers to basic questions, but AI Agent takes support to the next level by handling more complex needs like modifying orders or offering personalized product recommendations.
With AI Agent in Chat, customers enjoy dynamic, real-time conversations available on multiple channels. AI Agent generates personalized responses that match exactly what customers ask for, automating 50% of chat interactions so agents get time back to upsell, create stronger relationships, and craft better experiences.
Related: How to optimize your Help Center for AI Agent
Upgrade your chat support from a basic Q&A tool into an intelligent assistant that handles customer inquiries 24/7. Here's how AI Agent makes that possible:
AI Agent responds within 15 seconds or less, offering fast responses that result in frictionless conversations. Unlike traditional chatbots, AI Agent also adapts to your brand’s unique tone of voice to enhance the customer experience and assure shoppers their questions will be taken care of.
Today’s shoppers expect instant responses regardless of time zone or business hours. AI Agent on Chat means customers get the help they need, when they need it. This availability leads to higher customer satisfaction and fewer abandoned carts.
AI Agent understands context and customer intent. Whether a shopper needs help finding the right product size or changes their mind and wants to compare features, AI Agent customizes its recommendations for each person.
Some conversations, like technical issues or complaints, need a human touch. AI Agent recognizes these situations and smoothly transfers them to the right agent.
Using Handover topics, you can choose which types of inquiries should go straight to human agents. Then, if AI Agent lacks the confidence to provide an answer or can’t locate relevant knowledge in its database, it automatically escalates the conversation.
Read more: Handover rules
Based on Hiver’s 2024 study, 62% of customers prefer live chat to other support channels. With AI Agent in Chat, agents can cut down average response times while customers get the answers they need in one conversation with zero wait times or follow-ups.
AI Agent on Chat is ready to use in a few clicks. Simply connect your Shopify store and Chat widget to AI Agent, and you’re ready to resolve questions asked by visitors and loyal customers faster than you ever have.
Chat is often a customer’s first touchpoint with your brand, whether they’ve just discovered your brand or are on their third order. Meet customer expectations by being available with AI Agent on Chat. The faster you can ease their concerns, the faster they can head to checkout.
AI Agent makes scaling support effortless, especially during peak seasons like Black Friday. While it handles repetitive support tickets like order status and shipping questions, your team can focus on high-priority tasks like requests from VIP customers.
Drawing from knowledge sources like your Help Center and policy pages means AI Agent can often resolve inquiries within one conversation. No more unnecessary back-and-forths. Quick resolutions = happier and more loyal customers.
Ready to get started? Here’s how to activate AI Agent on Chat:
Already use AI Agent for email? No need to set up Guidance and Handover topics all over again—AI Agent will behave the same way in Chat.
Get the most out of AI Agent on Chat by following these best practices.
The Help Center is AI Agent’s brain. This customer knowledge database is the key to AI Agent’s accurate and on-brand responses. To ensure your AI Agent is as trained as your human agents, include important topics in your Help Center like shipping, returns, cancellations, and account management.
No articles yet? No problem! Gorgias has 20+ article templates for you to use and modify. Or, even better, check out the AI Library for AI-generated articles based on your customer tickets.
AI tools perform best when you set limitations. A Guidance is the main way to control AI Agent’s behavior. It is a set of written instructions that outline how AI Agent should interact with customers, handle certain requests, and more.
We recommend publishing a Guidance on the top five questions you receive from customers.
Tip: AI Agent prioritizes Guidance above Help Center articles. Unlike Help Center articles, the content in your Guidance will not be customer-facing.
The beauty of AI Agent is its ability to speak like one of your agents. Select from Friendly, Professional, or Sophisticated presets—or create a custom tone that aligns with your brand.
Need help finding your brand voice? Here are seven brand voice examples.
Use test scenarios to see how AI Agent responds to common customer questions, such as order status, shipping questions, and return policies. To cover all your bases, test AI Agent as both a new and returning customer to make sure it delivers accurate responses no matter the customer's need.
AI Agent becomes smarter as it learns from you. Like a human agent, give your AI Agent feedback on its responses, from how it speaks, which topics it escalates, and what actions it takes in certain scenarios.
There are multiple ways to give AI Agent feedback on a ticket:
AI Agent can also perform actions like accessing Shopify order details and executing third-party app actions, such as updating shipping addresses and order cancellations, directly in Chat.
Excited to deliver an elevated chat experience? Book a demo now to experience the power of AI Agent on Chat.
{{lead-magnet-1}}
TL;DR:
Managing customer support as a Shopify store owner can feel like juggling too many tools at once.
Constantly switching tabs to look up orders, update customer information, or track returns wastes valuable time. Plus, it prevents your team from focusing on what really matters––delivering quick, personalized customer service.
Gorgias’s Shopify integration solves this. It keeps all your Shopify data in one place, so your team spends less time toggling tabs and more time helping customers. The result? Faster responses, better service, and more revenue.
Below, we break down the eight key capabilities of this integration, each paired with practical use cases to showcase its real-world value.
{{lead-magnet-1}}
What it does: Shopify order data is displayed directly within support tickets, allowing agents to view essential details like order status, customer information, and transaction history without leaving the helpdesk.
Use case: An agent handling a “Where’s my order?” request can instantly check tracking information and update the customer.
The fashion retailer Princess Polly improved their customer experience team’s efficiency by using Gorgias's deep integration with Shopify. Agents can view and update customer and order data directly within Gorgias, eliminating the need to switch between multiple tabs.
Taking a streamlined approach led to a 40% increase in efficiency, an 80% decrease in resolution time, and a 95% decrease in first response time.
What it does: Agents can update Shopify order and customer data with Shopify Actions right in Gorgias.
Key features:
Use case: Agents can perform Shopify actions directly from Gorgias, such as adding products, applying discounts, updating quantities, or issuing refunds.
What it does: Create templated responses called Macros with dynamic Shopify variables to automatically incorporate customer-specific information.
Key features:
Use case: A customer inquires about their order. With one click, the agent uses a Macro that pulls in the order status and expected delivery date, creating a faster and more personalized response.
Take Try The World, a gourmet subscription service, needed a robust Shopify integration to handle an increasing volume of customer inquiries. By switching to Gorgias, they gained the ability to unify conversations and embed Shopify data directly into Macros. Now, agents can quickly generate personalized responses that includes order details, tracking links, and customer-specific information.
Try the World’s support team’s efficiency skyrocketed, enabling them to handle 120 tickets per day, up from 80, and reduce response times to just one business day.
What it does: Macros with embedded Shopify data let agents quickly and accurately share pre-sale information like product links, stock availability, and discount codes, helping to convert prospective customers into buyers.
Key features:
Use case: A customer asks if a specific product is available in their size and color. The agent can apply a Macro that automatically pulls the product's inventory details and includes a discount code, sending a response like this:
“Hi [customer name Macro],
Great news! The product [Shopify product information Macro] is currently in stock in the size and color you’re looking for. You can check it out here: [Product Link]. Use the code WELCOME10 at checkout for 10% off your first order! Let me know if you have any other questions!”
How it helps:
What it does: Using Gorgias Chat, customers can track orders or manage their purchases on their own with no agent assistance needed.
Key feature:
Use case: A customer wants to check the status of their recent purchase. By accessing Chat on your website, they can enter their email and order number and receive instant updates on their order's progress, including shipping and delivery information, without waiting for an agent's response.
How it helps:
What it does: Rules paired with Shopify variables can automate various support tasks, such as identifying specific customer segments or tagging tickets, to boost efficiency and consistency.
Key features:
Use case: A customer with a history of substantial purchases contacts support. A rule detects that the customer's total spending exceeds a predefined threshold and automatically tags the ticket as "VIP."
This tag can then trigger other workflows, such as assigning the ticket to a senior support agent or escalating its priority.
How it helps:
What it does: Gorgias offers comprehensive reporting that allows you to measure how your support interactions influence sales.
Key features:
These metrics are accessible under Statistics → Support Performance → Revenue in your Gorgias dashboard. You can filter the data by integration, ticket channel, tags, or specific time periods to gain detailed insights.
Use case: By analyzing Revenue Statistics, you can identify which support channels or agents are most effective in driving sales. For example, if live chat interactions have a higher conversion rate, you might allocate more resources to that channel.
Additionally, recognizing top-performing agents can inform training programs to elevate overall team performance.
For example, One Block Down, a Milan-based streetwear brand, struggled to manage a growing volume of customer inquiries across multiple platforms. By integrating Gorgias with Shopify, they centralized all customer interactions into a single platform, giving agents instant access to crucial information like order history and returns directly within tickets.
The setup allowed the team to measure the direct impact of their support efforts on revenue.
The result? An impressive 1,000% increase in support-generated revenue and a 1-hour average first response time. By connecting the dots between customer service and sales performance, One Block Down demonstrated how proactive, data-driven support can directly influence the bottom line.
How it helps:
What it does: AI Agent automates Shopify actions like canceling orders, editing order details, and reshipping items.
Key features:
Use case: A customer realizes they've entered an incorrect shipping address shortly after placing an order. They contact support, and AI Agent promptly verifies that the order is unfulfilled, confirms the correct address with the customer, updates the shipping information in Shopify, and sends a confirmation email—all without human intervention.
How it helps:
{{lead-magnet-2}}
TL;DR:
Looking to grow an email list to capture leads or offer welcome incentives? These days, the default solution is to plaster a full-screen pop-up on your homepage.
It seems effective on the surface, collecting emails right off the bat, but dig deeper, and these pop-ups disrupt the shopping experience and skyrocket bounce rates—with 72% of customers exiting a website.
But how else do you get your message across?
That’s where Gorgias Convert comes in—a smarter, more customer-centric tool to drive conversions without pushing your visitors away.
Below, we’ll explore why it’s time to move on from full-screen pop-ups and how Gorgias Convert offers a better alternative for Shopify brands looking to boost engagement and revenue.
Pop-ups can be an effective marketing tool, but their full-screen counterpart often creates more problems than they solve. These intrusive overlays pose several challenges that can harm both user experience and your bottom line.
Full-screen pop-ups demand attention, often at the worst possible moment—like when a customer is browsing products or is just about to check out. This experience can frustrate visitors and lead them to abandon your site entirely.
The BBC says every extra second a page takes to load can cost you 10% of your users—and pushy pop-ups don’t help. If your pop-ups are poorly timed or overly intrusive, visitors feel unwelcome, causing them to leave before exploring your offerings.
Traditional pop-ups are static and one-size-fits-all. They can’t adjust messaging based on where the customer is in their shopping journey or their behavior on your site.
Many users employ ad blockers that filter out pop-ups altogether, meaning your message never even reaches a portion of your audience.
Gorgias Convert flips the script by offering a subtle, customer-friendly way to capture leads and drive sales without the drawbacks of full-screen pop-ups. Here’s why your Shopify brand should make the switch:
Gorgias Convert integrates seamlessly into your store, using a chat-based widget that feels like a natural part of the browsing experience. Using chat to double as a supporting and converting tool is less disruptive, allowing customers to explore your store at their own pace.
Convert makes it easy to bring any type of campaign to life. Catch the attention of the exact shoppers you want by detecting their browsing behavior, customer profile, cart attributes, and more.
For example, the exit intent campaign is the top-performing Convert campaign—it detects when a user is about to leave and displays a discount code. It’s fully customizable, allowing you to tailor offers based on how much time they’ve spent on a page, the number of items in their cart, or if they’ve visited more than three times without making a purchase.
Unlike one-size-fits-all pop-ups, Convert lets you tailor your messaging based on customer behavior, order history, and engagement. For example, if a customer is browsing a specific product, Convert can offer a relevant discount or incentive tied directly to that item.
With Convert, you’re not just collecting an email address—you’re starting a conversation. The tool allows you to engage with customers in real-time through pre-set flows that guide them toward taking action, whether it’s signing up for your newsletter, redeeming an offer, or completing a purchase.
Related: 6 types of conversational customer service + how to implement them
In 2024, smartphones were responsible for generating 68 percent of online shopping orders. To meet shoppers where they are, Convert’s chat-style interactions are optimized for mobile users. Unlike traditional pop-ups that don’t display correctly on smaller screens, Convert maintains a seamless experience for shoppers who prefer to shop on the go.
Using Convert means you can combine immediate assistance with smart marketing through its native integration with Gorgias and Shopify. For example, if a customer hesitates to make a purchase, you can intervene with a live chat offer or product recommendation in real-time.
The Shopify integration also allows you to generate unique discount codes that expire within 48 hours—preventing them from being shared on unauthorized coupon sites. These codes are automatically created with customizable thresholds, such as discounts for specific collections or individual users, without manual setup.
Convert allows you to test different messages and incentives, giving valuable insights into what resonates most with your audience. This data-driven approach ensures your lead capture strategy evolves with shoppers over time.
Read more: How campaign messaging can increase conversions
Shopify brands using Gorgias Convert have led to a conversion rate boost of 6-10% more across their website, up to a 24% click-through rate and 43% click-to-order rate, and improved customer satisfaction. By prioritizing a frictionless shopping experience, these brands are turning casual visitors into loyal customers.
Here’s what some happy brands have to say about Convert:
Haircare brand, Kreyol Essence, influenced 13% of revenue with Convert campaigns: “With Convert, we’ve not only improved our conversion rates but also created a seamless, personalized shopping experience that our customers love. It’s like having a personal assistant for each shopper. Thanks to Convert, we can interact with our customers and surface key information at the right time, turning clicks into connections."
Brands using customer service management agency, TalentPop, love how easy it is to generate revenue with Convert: “Clients are constantly surprised and delighted by how effective Gorgias Convert is for revenue generation. They especially appreciate that Convert can be used to target a diverse range of customers across the entire purchasing journey.”
In five months, yoga brand Manduka, increased revenue by 284.15% after using Convert: “Gorgias Convert has helped us make the shopping experience more intuitive. We can give a nice prompt to remind people of promotions we’re running, highlight specific product features, or just remind them we're here to help and answer questions. The chat campaigns make it easy for customers because they lead them to us, as opposed to them having to search for how to contact us for assistance.”
Shoppers want personalized experiences that respect their time and preferences. Full-screen pop-ups belong to an era of intrusive marketing that shoppers would rather leave in the past.
Gorgias Convert for your Shopify brand means delivering impactful interactions, more conversions, and an easy path to long-term customer loyalty.
Ready to make the switch? Start your effortless shopping journey today with Gorgias Convert. Chat with our team!
Today, we’re announcing our deeper investment in conversational AI for ecommerce.
"Since day one, Gorgias has been dedicated to helping ecommerce brands deliver exceptional customer experiences. We started with a helpdesk to centralize support, then introduced AI Agent to instantly resolve support questions,” says Romain Lapeyre, CEO of Gorgias.
“Now, we're taking the next leap forward with an AI Agent that powers the entire customer journey—anticipating buyer needs, boosting sales, and automating high-quality support. Today, I'm happy to announce Gorgias as the Conversational AI platform for ecommerce.”
Gorgias’s Conversational AI platform will let teams provide fast, scalable, and cost-effective support while helping them drive revenue growth. From automatic order changes and refunds to product recommendations and cross-sells, brands will be able to flawlessly combine their support and sales efforts.
The end result is an AI-powered customer journey where every customer interaction feels complete, personal, and connected, both before and after purchase.
Last year, we introduced AI Agent for email.
Some brands call their AI Agent Lisa, some call it Wally, and most treat it like a real member of the team. But this reliable support sidekick was only available to answer customers on email—until now.
Get ready for instant responses that tackle support inquiries of all sizes. Now, your customers can enjoy fast responses that keep their shopping experience as smooth as possible.
On top of improving first response times, AI Agent can play an even more critical role in unblocking sales, suggesting products, and driving upsells and cross-sells.
With responses sent in 15 seconds or less, brands can delight customers with near-instant resolutions.
Actions let AI Agent perform customer requests on behalf of your support team. This includes changing shipping addresses, fetching fulfillment status, canceling orders, adding discounts, and more.
You can use a library of pre-configured Actions for popular apps like Shopify, Rebuy, Loop, and more. And you don’t need any technical skills to set them up.
With almost half of queries requiring some kind of update, Actions is your go-to for complete resolutions so you can get more accomplished.
Quality checks have traditionally been manual, time-consuming, and inconsistent. Our brand new Auto QA feature changes that by automatically scoring 100% of conversations on resolution completeness and communication quality—whether from a human or AI agent.
With Auto QA, team leads can:
Support teams should be in complete control of their AI. That’s why the AI Agent Report and AI Agent Insights were created—to help you know exactly how your AI Agent is performing and contributing to your customer service operations.
The AI Agent Report provides full visibility into AI Agent’s performance, covering metrics like first response Time, CSAT, and one-touch ticket resolutions. Fully integrated into your Support Performance Statistics dashboard, the report includes:
AI Agent Insights takes it a step further. It analyzes AI Agent’s performance data and provides you with a dashboard of recommendations, including potential automation opportunities, popular ticket intents to optimize, and knowledge base improvements.
Soon, we’ll be expanding AI Agent's skills with the launch of Shopping Assistant, a tool designed to assist customers on their shopping journey.
Shopping Assistanthelps brands boost their sales capabilities through smart product recommendations, on-page checkout assistance, and personalized conversations. Now it's easier to reduce cart abandonment, suggest complementary products to boost average order value, and overcome pre-sale objections.
This new tool will bridge the gap between marketing and CX, ensuring brands can scale personalized interactions 24/7 without increasing headcount.
As we continue to innovate with conversational AI, our focus remains on helping you succeed.
By combining smarter tools with valuable insights, we’re creating opportunities for you to put your customers first and build deeper connections at every touchpoint.
Join us as we pave a new way for the future of ecommerce.
{{lead-magnet-1}}