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Conversational Commerce: A Complete Beginner's Guide
Speaking to customers in real time is the future of ecommerce—faster, smarter, and built for how people actually shop today.
TL;DR:
- Conversational commerce replaces static support with real-time conversations. Instead of making customers wait or dig through FAQs, brands can respond instantly via chat, messaging apps, and voice assistants.
- The main types are live chat, AI assistants, messaging apps, and voice support. Each helps guide shoppers and answer questions instantly.
- It’s most effective during key moments like cart hesitation, post-purchase anxiety, and peak seasons. Proactive conversations reduce drop-offs and boost conversions.
- Start small and scale. Begin with repetitive questions or cart recovery, then layer in automation and AI as you grow.
While your competitors are still making customers wait days for email replies, the smartest brands are having conversations that close sales in real time.
Instead of forcing customers to search through FAQs or go through an automation loop, conversational commerce lets you have instant chats through live chat, messaging apps, and even AI assistants.
In this guide, we’ll explain conversational commerce, where it delivers the most value, and how to start using it to drive revenue and improve CX without overwhelming your team.
What is conversational commerce?
Conversational commerce means using real-time, two-way conversations as your storefront. Rather than bottling up questions in FAQ pages or forcing customers to wait for your support team to respond, you can instantly connect via:
- Chat
- AI agents
- Messaging apps
- Voice assistants
Maybe someone is on your product page and asks a question like, “Does this jacket run large?”. Through chat, they get an instant answer, increasing the chance of a sale. Or a shopper receives personalized recommendations via WhatsApp and checks out, all without leaving the app.
These channels allow you to meet customers where they already are, effortlessly. When paired with AI chatbots, you can deliver fast, accurate responses 24/7, even while your team is off the clock. That means better experiences for your customers and more sales captured for your brand.
Conversational commerce bridges the gap between shopping and support. It turns your support team (and AI tools) into revenue drivers by helping shoppers feel seen, heard, and ready to buy.
Types of conversational commerce
Conversational commerce means bringing your storefront into the flow of conversation, wherever that happens for your customers.
Here’s where those conversations typically happen:
- Live chat
- AI assistants
- Messaging apps
- Voice assistants
1. Live chat
This is a chat widget on your site, often in the bottom right corner, where shoppers can ask questions and receive immediate answers from a human agent or automation.
It’s a quick path to support or purchase, which one agent can manage multiple chats from simultaneously, boosting efficiency and keeping things personal.
2. AI assistants
These smart helpers use Natural Language Processing (NLP) to understand what shoppers mean beyond what they type. They guide customers through questions, offer product suggestions, handle FAQs, and can sometimes complete transactions right in the chat, even handling post‑purchase support like order status or returns.
Natural Language Processing (NLP): The processing of understanding and interpreting natural language using computers. NLP is used in tasks such as sentiment analysis, summarization, speech recognition, and more.
3. Messaging apps
Think WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, and SMS—the apps where customers already spend their time in their day-to-day. Instead of sending them to shop on your website, you bring the shopping to them. Answer their questions, provide recommendations, and win purchases in a channel they already trust.
4. Voice assistants
Voice assistance isn’t limited to smart speakers like Siri and Alexa anymore.
Now, AI voice support lets brands deliver natural conversations over the phone, without needing a massive contact center team. These AI voice agents can:
- Answer common questions using branded knowledge
- Route calls or escalate when needed
- Handle returns, exchanges, or order tracking
- Personalize support based on customer intent and past behavior
AI-powered voice support combines the human feel of a phone call with the speed and accuracy of automation. It's especially useful for high-ticket products, customers who prefer calling, or peak season overflow when your human team is maxed out.
The benefits of conversational commerce for ecommerce brands
Conversational commerce isn’t a CX buzzword. When done right, it directly impacts your bottom line.
Here’s how it pays off for ecommerce brands:
- Higher conversion rates
- Faster and more efficient support
- Bigger carts, fewer drop-offs
- Stronger customer relationships
1. Higher conversion rates
When customers can ask questions and get answers in real time, whether it's sizing info, shipping details, or help choosing between products, they’re far more likely to hit “buy.”
Success story: Clothing brand Tommy John generated $106K+ in sales in just two months through conversation-led upselling and cross-selling, with a 15% conversion rate.
2. Faster and more efficient support
Conversational commerce tools like AI agents help offload the repetitive support tasks, including answering questions like “Where’s my order?” or “What’s your return policy?”
With that time back, agents get time back to:
- Handle complex or sensitive customer issues
- Follow up with VIP customers
- Collaborate with marketing and sales teams to improve processes
- QA conversations to enhance human and AI agent performance
- Update knowledge docs used by AI tools for more accurate resolutions
Instead of getting buried in basic tickets, your team gets to do the work that really moves the needle for your customers and your business.
Related: Every successful marketing campaign starts with a customer question
3. Bigger carts, fewer drop-offs
The right nudge at the right moment, like a personalized recommendation from an AI shopping assistant, can turn a single item into a full cart. You can also recover more abandoned checkouts by re-engaging customers directly through chat or a messaging app.
Read more: You’re missing out on sales without an AI shopping assistant—here’s why
4. Stronger customer relationships
Conversational commerce lets you meet customers with a human (or human-like) touch. When your brand is helpful, fast, and easy to talk to, shoppers remember and return.
In the long run, that means better customer retention, higher lifetime value, and more organic growth through word of mouth.
When conversational commerce creates the biggest impact
Conversational commerce shines brightest when the stakes are high or when the moment is just right.
Here are the critical moments where a real-time conversation can make all the difference:
- When shoppers have items in their cart but are hesitating to check out
- Right after customers place an order, and anxiety starts to kick in
- During peak shopping seasons like Black Friday and Cyber Monday
- When customers are browsing complex products like skincare, makeup, or apparel
1. When shoppers have items in their cart but are hesitating to check out
A customer’s on your product page, they’ve added an item to their cart, but are hesitating. Maybe they’re unsure about sizing, shipping time, or which variation to choose. This is where a quick, helpful chat, automated or human, comes in and becomes the difference between bounce and conversion.
Pro tip: Use proactive chat prompts based on page behavior to start the conversation before the shopper leaves.
2. Right after customers place an order, and anxiety starts to kick in
After a customer hits “place order,” expect more questions to roll into your inbox. Where’s my order? How do I track it? What’s your return policy? Post-purchase excitement—and anxiety—is normal, and a smart AI agent helps you get ahead of these questions while putting customers at ease.
3. During peak shopping seasons like Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Black Friday. Holiday rush. Product drops. These are prime opportunities to boost revenue—but they also flood your support team. Conversational commerce tools help you scale without sacrificing quality, keeping shoppers happy and sales flowing.
4. When shoppers are browsing complex products like skincare, makeup, or apparel
If you sell skincare, supplements, tech, or anything that requires a bit of education, your customers likely need guidance before they commit. A personalized conversation helps them find the right fit and feel more confident in their purchase.
What to consider before you start
Conversational commerce sounds exciting, and it is. But before you dive in, it’s worth thinking through a few key factors to set your team (and your customers) up for success.
- Cost vs. ROI: Start small, scale smart
- Team resources: Who’s managing the conversations?
- Customer expectations: Meet them where they are
1. Cost vs. ROI: Start small, scale smart
You don’t need a full-blown chatbot army on Day 1. Start with your highest-impact touchpoints, like pre-sale FAQs or WISMO questions, and layer in automation over time. The goal is to generate clear ROI early, then expand once you see traction.
Here’s how to gradually implement automation into your CX process:
- Identify your top repetitive questions. Use your support data to pinpoint your most common tickets. For most brands, these are WISMOs, shipping concerns, and product-specific questions.
- Create macros for your most-asked questions. These macros will be used to answer the top recurring questions. For agents, this means no more copy-pasting the same responses.
- Build out self-service automation flows. Once you’re feeling more comfortable with automation, set up self-service flows to let customers resolve their own needs, like checking order status, starting a return, or finding their size.
- Automate your top channels. Don’t stop at email. Automate responses on live chat, Instagram DMs, and SMS too. Shoppers expect speed everywhere, not just on your site.
- Maintain impact, then introduce conversational AI. If your CSAT is still healthy after these changes, you can expand to using conversational AI for faster support and team efficiency.
The goal isn’t to automate everything, it’s to automate smartly so your team can spend time where it counts: high-touch sales, VIP support, and strategic growth.
2. Team resources: Who’s managing the conversations?
Do you have in-house agents ready to handle live chat? Or do you need automation to handle the bulk of it? Make sure your setup aligns with your team’s bandwidth.
Pro tip: Tools like Gorgias AI Agent and Shopping Assistant can handle the support and sales heavy lifting, making them perfect for lean CX teams.
3. Customer expectations: Meet them where they are
Your customers aren’t just on your website. They’re messaging on Instagram, browsing via mobile, or checking their texts. To deliver great conversational commerce, you’ll want to show up in the places your shoppers already use.
Pro tip: Don’t spread your efforts too thin. Start with the channel that aligns with your goals and customer behavior, live chat, SMS, or social DMs, and build from there.
How to get started with conversational ecommerce in 2 steps
Ready to make conversational commerce part of your CX strategy? You don’t need to overhaul your tech stack or hire a whole new team. With Gorgias, you can start fast, stay lean, and scale smart.
Here’s how:
1. Start with AI Agent for 24/7 support
Gorgias AI Agent is designed to take repetitive tickets off your team’s plate, from “Where’s my order?” to “How do I make a return?” It understands natural language, pulls in relevant customer data, and responds in seconds—all using your brand’s approved knowledge.
The result is faster responses, fewer tickets, and more time back for your team.
2. Add Shopping Assistant to drive revenue
While AI Agent, covers the support front, Shopping Assistant is your digital salesperson. It engages high-intent shoppers in real time, recommends the right products, and even upsells or cross-sells based on what the customer is browsing.
Whether it’s helping someone choose the perfect shade or nudging them to complete their cart, Shopping Assistant is designed to increase AOV and reduce abandonment.
The future of ecommerce is conversational
Every time a shopper lands on your site, scrolls through Instagram, or replies to a shipping update, they’re opening the door to a conversation. The brands that show up quickly, helpfully, and with the right message, are the ones winning loyalty and revenue.
With AI Agent, you can automate accurate responses to common questions, giving your team time back without sacrificing customer experience. And with Shopping Assistant, you can turn those conversations into conversions, offering personalized recommendations, upsells, and discounts based on shopper intent.
You don’t need a massive team or months of setup to start. Just the right tools, and a strategy built for your customers.
Book a demo and learn how Gorgias helps you turn every conversation into an opportunity to grow.
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Best AI Helpdesk Tools: 10 Platforms Compared
TL;DR:
- The best AI helpdesks offer smart ticketing, self-service, and sales automation. They combine multi-channel support, give teams flexible AI control, and double as an upselling tool that drives revenue.
- Each tool has a unique strength. Gorgias is best for ecommerce brands , Zendesk offers enterprise-level customization, Intercom is great for SaaS engagement, and Tidio is easy for small teams.
- There are also standalone AI tools that integrate with existing helpdesks. Platforms like Ada, Siena, and Yuma offer automation without requiring a full platform switch.
- Advanced AI features vary in price and availability. Some are bundled, while others charge per resolution or limit access to higher tiers.
Every delayed reply, missed ticket, or frustrated customer costs more than just satisfaction—it hits revenue, loyalty, and your brand reputation. That’s why more and more brands are investing in AI helpdesks to automate the tedious parts of their job.
But with so many options on the market, choosing the right AI helpdesk can feel overwhelming. Should you prioritize conversational AI? Multi-channel support? No-code customization? Or pricing that scales with your team?
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We’ve reviewed the 10 best AI helpdesks available in 2025, evaluating them across AI capabilities, ease of use, integrations, analytics, and pricing.
How we evaluated the best AI helpdesks in 2025
To create this list, we evaluated each platform based on a combination of functionality, AI capabilities, usability, and industry applicability.
Our goal was to provide a resource that CX leaders, ecommerce managers, and support teams can rely on when choosing a helpdesk that fits their business needs.
Here’s how we approached the evaluation:
- Feature set assessment: Each tool was reviewed for its core helpdesk features, including ticket management, multi-channel support, workflow automation, and reporting capabilities.
- AI sophistication: Platforms were evaluated on the depth of their AI offerings. This included natural language processing (NLP), predictive analytics, proactive messaging, and automated resolution capabilities.
- Ease of use and setup: We considered setup time, onboarding complexity, and the learning curve for both agents and admins.
- Industry applicability: We examined which industries each tool serves best. Some platforms are tailored for ecommerce, while others are more enterprise or service-focused.
- Pricing transparency and scalability: We noted starting costs, AI feature availability by tier, and potential scaling considerations. Affordability and scalability were important, particularly for fast-growing teams that need to balance cost with AI functionality.
- Supporting resources: We reviewed customer support, integrations, documentation, and community resources. A strong helpdesk not only provides AI features but also ensures teams can implement and optimize them effectively.
By following this methodology, we created a balanced, objective view of each helpdesk, highlighting what makes them unique, their strengths, limitations, and who will benefit most from them.
The best AI helpdesks of 2025
Gorgias
Gorgias is an AI helpdesk designed for ecommerce brands, helping teams streamline support while boosting both efficiency and personalization.
By unifying all customer touchpoints—email, chat, social media, voice, and SMS—into a single dashboard, Gorgias allows support teams to manage interactions without toggling between platforms.
Unlike most helpdesks, its AI capabilities go beyond basic automation. In addition to support, its AI can influence sales by assisting, recommending, and upselling to customers based on their shopping behavior.
Best for: Scaling startups and mature ecommerce enterprises looking to expand support capacity without increasing headcount
Potential limitations: Gorgias is focused primarily on ecommerce brands, which means it may be less suitable for companies that don’t use ecommerce platforms.
Pricing: Starts at $10/month, with advanced AI features available as an add-on.
Main features:
- Automated ticket routing: AI triages incoming customer queries and assigns them to the right agent.
- AI-generated responses: Provides instant, context-aware replies to common questions.
- Sentiment analysis: Flags frustrated customers to prioritize urgent tickets.
- Multi-channel AI support: Integrates across email, chat, Shopify, social media, and 100+ ecommerce apps.
- Macros and workflow automation: AI suggests relevant responses and automates repetitive tasks.
AI features:
- AI Agent: Conversational AI that can update, refund, and replace orders, cancel/skip subscriptions, and even carry out custom-made actions.
- Shopping Assistant: A proactive AI tool that guides, upsells, and recommends products to shoppers through chat. It helps CX teams increase sales and AOV.
- Auto QA: Upgrades service quality by automatically evaluating 100% of private text conversations, whether handled by a human or AI. Each message is scored on metrics like Resolution Completeness, Brand Voice, and Accuracy.
Zendesk
Zendesk is a widely adopted AI helpdesk solution that caters to teams of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises. It’s known for its robust ticketing system, extensive integrations, and customizable workflows, making it a versatile choice for teams across industries.
Best for: Non-ecommerce enterprises and businesses like airlines and banks
Potential limitations: Advanced AI features and enterprise-level plans can be expensive for smaller teams, and some users report that customization for niche workflows can be time-consuming.
Pricing: Starts at $25/month per agent, with advanced AI features and enterprise options available on higher tiers.
Main features:
- Unified ticketing: Centralizes requests from email, chat, phone, social media, and messaging apps.
- Macros and workflow automation: Automates routine responses and processes to reduce agent workload.
- Advanced analytics: Offers real-time dashboards and reporting to track support performance and customer satisfaction.
- Multi-channel support: Integrates seamlessly with major ecommerce, CRM, and communication platforms.
AI features:
- Copilot: Assists support agents in providing consistent replies, suggests next steps, and can even perform actions on agents’ behalf.
- AI triage: Automatically categorizes tickets and routes them to the appropriate team member.
- Zendesk QA: Scores the quality of interactions to help you get an overview of support performance.
Intercom
Intercom combines live chat, messaging, and AI automation into a single platform that focuses on proactive customer engagement. Its conversational AI makes it easy for teams to interact with customers in real time, while its automation tools help reduce response times and increase efficiency.
Best for: SaaS companies, software companies, and mid-market teams
Potential limitations: Companies looking for a plug-and-play AI solution will need to invest time in setting up Intercom. Customers report a steep learning curve when creating workflows, organizing users, and implementing new automations.
Pricing: Starts at $39/month per seat. Fin AI is available as a standalone product for $0.99 per resolution (50 resolutions per month minimum) if you have an existing helpdesk.
Main features:
- Live chat and messaging: Provides instant support via website, mobile apps, and email.
- Inbox and workflow management: Centralizes customer conversations and automates repetitive tasks.
- Customer segmentation: Enables targeted messaging based on behavior, subscription plans, or engagement levels.
AI features:
- Fin AI: Intercom’s AI assistant responds to common questions, freeing agents to handle complex issues.
- Fin Tasks: Performs actions like retrieving order details, processing refunds, reorders, and more.
- Fin Insights: Provides a deep look into recurring trends and issues across conversations.
Gladly
Gladly is a customer service platform built around the concept of conversation-centric support, treating every customer interaction as a continuous dialogue rather than isolated tickets.
Best for: Customer-focused brands that prioritize personalized, ongoing conversations over transactional support—especially retail, financial services, and subscription businesses that want to strengthen loyalty.
Potential limitations: Smaller teams may find it more than they need, and advanced customization can require professional services.
Pricing: Available on request, with plans typically tailored to enterprise support teams and scaled based on users and features.
Main features:
- Unified customer timeline: Combines all interactions—email, chat, social, SMS—into a single, chronological view.
- Personalized workflows: Tailors automation and routing to individual customer needs.
- Team collaboration tools: Enables seamless handoffs and internal notes for faster issue resolution.
AI features:
- Gladly Hero: Customer profiles created from conversations that include preferences, relationships, and purchase history.
- Sidekick Chat: Instant answers to requests like returns, account updates, and refunds.
- Sidekick Voice: Real-time, AI-powered phone support with SMS follow-ups.
Kustomer
Kustomer is a CRM-centric AI helpdesk that integrates customer support and relationship management in one platform. Its AI capabilities allow teams to automate repetitive tasks, route tickets intelligently, and gain insights into customer history, making it ideal for businesses with complex support workflows.
Best for: Mid-to-large enterprises that prioritize powerful, custom reporting
Potential limitations: Users report an unintuitive and laggy interface, which can slow down large support teams that handle high support volumes.
Pricing: Starts at $89/month per seat, with AI features available as add-ons.
Main features:
- Unified customer profiles: Consolidates all interactions, purchases, and support history in one view.
- Workflow automation: Streamlines processes with rules-based ticket routing and escalation.
- Advanced reporting: Tracks key support metrics and agent performance.
AI features:
- AI Agents for Reps: Offers real-time assistance, from drafting responses to updating records and summarizing conversations.
- AI Agent for Customers: Allows the creation of multiple AI Agents for specialized tasks.
Tidio
Tidio is an AI-powered live chat and messaging platform built for small to mid-sized businesses looking to combine automation with personalized support. Its ease of setup and affordability make it a strong choice for teams new to AI helpdesks.
Best for: Small to mid-sized ecommerce or service-based businesses looking for an easy-to-use AI chat solution to automate FAQs
Potential limitations: May not scale well for large enterprise businesses.
Pricing: A free plan is available, with paid plans starting at $29/month per agent and AI features as add-ons.
Main features:
- Live chat and messenger integration: Supports website chat, email, and social messaging.
- Drag-and-drop chatbot builder: No coding required to deploy automated responses.
- Ticket management: Organizes queries for quick resolution by agents.
AI features:
- Lyro AI Agent: Conversational AI that answers questions based on support content.
Freshdesk
Freshdesk is a helpdesk platform that combines AI automation, omnichannel support, and workflow management. It’s known for ease of use and affordability, making it popular among SMBs and mid-market companies.
Best for: SMBs and mid-market companies looking for an affordable, easy-to-implement AI helpdesk
Potential limitations: Some advanced AI functionality is limited to higher-tier plans. Large enterprises may require additional configuration to fully leverage AI features.
Pricing: Plans start at $18/month per agent, with AI capabilities and advanced automation available on higher tiers.
Main features:
- Multi-channel ticketing: Consolidates email, chat, phone, and social support.
- Automation and workflows: Rules and macros automate repetitive tasks.
- Analytics and reporting: Provides insights into performance and customer satisfaction.
AI features:
- Freddy AI: Fetches order details, resolves questions, updates customer profiles, and more using approved data.
Standalone AI tools you can integrate with existing helpdesks
Not ready to move helpdesks? These standalone AI tools plug into your existing helpdesk to add automation, self-service, and conversational support.
Ada
Ada is focused on conversational automation, enabling teams to provide self-service solutions that reduce ticket volume while improving response times.
Its no-code interface makes it accessible for non-technical teams, and its AI capabilities allow for personalized customer interactions at scale.
Best for: Large enterprise businesses looking to reduce support tickets through chat-based support
Potential limitations: Basic features that are free on competitor platforms cost extra on Ada, which limits smaller businesses looking for an all-in-one solution.
Pricing: Starts at $499/month for essential AI features. Higher-tier plans are available on request.
Main features:
- No-code chatbot builder: Quickly design and deploy AI chatbots across web, mobile, and messaging apps.
- Ticket deflection: Automates repetitive queries to reduce human agent workload.
- Multi-language support: Offers conversational support in multiple languages to serve global audiences.
AI features:
- Ada Voice: AI-powered phone support that can respond to customers, take action, and escalate issues in real-time.
- Ada Email: Instant, personalized replies for email threads with the ability to hand off to agents.
Siena
Siena is focused on providing automated support for rapidly growing ecommerce and SaaS brands. With an emphasis on efficiency and self-service, Siena helps teams reduce ticket volume and respond faster, while giving managers visibility into performance metrics.
Best for: Mid-market ecommerce and SaaS companies that want to combine automation with insights
Potential limitations: Lacks clear visibility into AI performance, which can keep support teams in the dark about support performance and customer satisfaction.
Pricing: Starts at $500/month with automated tickets at $0.90 each.
Main features:
- Omnichannel support: Handles email, chat, and social media from a single dashboard.
- Custom workflows: Automates repetitive tasks and ticket routing based on rules and customer data.
- Reporting and analytics: Tracks support KPIs and team performance in real time.
AI features:
- Customer Service Agent: Provides contextual, automated responses for common queries.
- Reviews Agent: Responds to every customer review with personalized feedback.
- Siena Memory: Stores key details from customer interactions and turns them into insights reports.
Yuma
Yuma is focused on conversational automation and self-service solutions. It is designed to reduce agent workload while providing fast, personalized responses, making it appealing to growing ecommerce teams.
Best for: Established ecommerce brands looking to integrate sophisticated conversational AI alongside their current helpdesk
Potential limitations: Limited integrations with broader sales stacks mean brands prioritizing sales will have a hard time creating a smooth workflow.
Pricing: Starts at $350/month for 500 resolutions, with higher-tier plans for more resolutions.
Main features:
- Omnichannel support: Handles chat, email, and social messaging from one platform.
- Self-service portals: Allows customers to resolve common issues independently.
- Workflow automation: AI assists with repetitive tasks and ticket routing.
AI features:
- Support AI: Replies to customers on email, WhatsApp, SMS, and social media using your brand’s voice.
- Social AI: Instant responses to social media comments, DMs, and tags.
- Sales AI: Guides shoppers to the relevant product and tracks bestsellers.
What features to look for in a good AI helpdesk
The best AI helpdesk makes support efficient, personalized, and scalable.
Here’s a quick checklist of what to look for when evaluating an AI helpdesk:
- Smart ticket management
- Self-service workflows
- Multi-channel support
- Sales and upselling capabilities
- User-friendly AI controls
- Performance insights
- AI learning and improvement
Key takeaways from our review
The future of customer support is AI-driven, and the tools you choose today will define the efficiency, responsiveness, and satisfaction of your support team tomorrow.
If it's still early in your AI helpdesk journey, we have additional resources to help you learn more from the pros before getting started:
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Featured articles
Should You Offer Live Chat Support? A Guide for CX Teams
Should you offer live chat support? This guide covers the benefits, best practices, setup tips, and top platforms for ecommerce teams.
TL;DR:
- Live chat is the fastest way to help shoppers. It gives customers real-time answers and prevents drop-off.
- You don’t need a 24/7 team to run live chat. Automate FAQs and set clear hours to keep it manageable.
- Live chat improves conversions and customer loyalty. Shoppers who chat are more likely to make a purchase and return to your store.
- Start by automating questions like order tracking and returns. These are easy to answer and make up most of your volume.
- Gorgias makes it easy to launch and scale live chat. You can integrate with your store and go live in under a day.
According to 2025 Gorgias data, chat inquiries are resolved in 24 minutes versus two days on email. It’s no wonder customers prefer live chat over any other support channel.
If you aren’t already offering live chat, it might feel like a big commitment. But when the end product is happier customers, it’s high time to catch up.
Thinking about offering live chat? Learn more about the benefits of live chat customer support, how it differs from chatbots, when and how to use it, and the best live chat tools to use based on your team’s needs.
What is live chat support?
Live chat support is a form of customer service that uses a chat widget to intake customer inquiries. Ecommerce websites, browser-based tools, and mobile apps typically offer live chat in combination with other customer service channels like email, phone, and social media.
Depending on the business, live chat support availability can vary. Some businesses choose to run live chat within their operating hours, while others extend 24/7 availability with the help of automation, conversational AI, or a dedicated off-hours team.
Related: Customer service messaging: Tips and templates for SMS + conversational channels
How does live chat support differ from a chatbot?
The main difference between live chat and chatbots is the option to speak to a live human agent.
With live chat support, customers always have the option of speaking to a live human agent. Meanwhile, chatbots can only provide customers with automated responses, whether preconfigured or generated by AI.
Why should you offer live chat support?
Live chat doesn’t just make support faster—it helps you close more sales.
Aside from quick answers, customers want confidence to buy. In fact, Hiver reports that 63% of consumers prefer live chat over phone and social media, mainly because they get instant answers while they’re still browsing.
Here are the benefits of implementing live chat for your business:
- Customer satisfaction: Customers get the clarity they need while shopping
- Higher conversions: Live chat removes friction at checkout by resolving doubts in real time
- Faster resolutions: Support teams close tickets faster by solving issues right away
- Revenue retention: Agents can recommend the right product, reducing the chance of returns later
Read more: A guide to resolution time: How to measure and lower it
When does live chat make the biggest impact?
Live chat shines in situations where timing directly impacts whether a customer buys your product or walks away. These conversations often happen before a purchase, like when a shopper is deciding between products, has concerns about shipping, or wants to confirm your return policy.
Use live chat in these moments:
How automation makes live chat support scalable
You don’t need a large support team to offer high-quality live chat support. Sure, live chat can feel risky if you’re a brand with a lean CX team or high ticket volume, but when you automate the right types of conversations, it becomes one of the most impactful support channels.
What to automate first
Start with high-frequency, low-complexity inquiries. These are repetitive questions that don’t require an agent to resolve:
- Order tracking (where is my order)
- Shipping, return, exchange, and cancellation policies
- Basic troubleshooting
- Product education, like sizing or fit guides
These types of tickets typically make up the bulk of your live chat volume. Automating them clears the way for agents to focus on conversations that require more specialized knowledge and nuance.
Automation features that help you scale
The best live chat isn’t only a messaging tool, it also comes with features that make the support agents using it more productive.
Here are the top automation features to improve live chat:
- Macros: One-click prewritten replies to common questions that agents can send manually or automatically.
- Customer and product variables: Dynamic details—like name, order number, and delivery date—pulled from your ecommerce platform and inserted into messages can easily make interactions more personalized.
- Flows: Interactive Q&A scenarios that automatically answer customer questions in the chat widget.
- Routing: Prioritize or assign tickets to agents based on topic, urgency, or language for maximum efficiency.
- Conversational AI: Leave live chat on 24/7 with tools like Gorgias AI Agent to answer repetitive questions and update orders—even when your team is offline.
The dos and don’ts of replying to a live chat message
Good live chat messages are quick, helpful, and easy to follow. Poor live chat messages are slow, robotic, or long-winded.
Follow these guidelines to help keep your replies effective and consistent:
How to set up live chat without overwhelming your team
Adding live chat for the first time or want to make your current setup more manageable? Start with these five steps:
1. Set live chat hours
You don’t need to be online at all times to offer live chat. Start by choosing live chat hours that reflect your team’s availability and peak shopping hours.
Remember to display your availability on your website clearly to manage customer expectations.
2. Prioritize live chat tickets in your inbox
Customers who reach out to you via chat are active on your site and often close to purchasing.
Create rules in your helpdesk that flag live chat conversations as urgent, so they don’t get buried under slower channels like email. If you have a dedicated agent who handles chat, route all chat tickets to them for instant visibility.
3. Automate your first reply
Set up an auto-response that triggers immediately when someone starts a chat. Even a short message like “Hey! Thanks for your message, an agent will be right with you,” can reduce drop-off and give your team time to prep.
4. Edit your macros for live chat
Templates that work in email may be too wordy in chat. Shorten your macros, simplify the tone, and make sure each response fits cleanly into a chat window. Use dynamic variables to pull in details like order number or shipping status without slowing down your agents.
5. Capture customer emails when live chat is offline
Customers don't stop having problems when your team clocks out. When someone tries to chat outside business hours, collect their email so an agent can follow up once your support team is back online.
Best live chat tools for CX and support teams
If you’re evaluating live chat software, here are five solid options to start with. Each one fits different team sizes and priorities.
Deliver faster support without adding headcount
Gorgias helps ecommerce brands deliver fast support without cutting into your budget. Automate common questions with conversational AI, resolve tickets in seconds, support and sell, and give your team the context they need to handle complex conversations with one tool.
Want live chat that takes support to the next level? Book a demo.
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The Complete Guide to Tracking Customer Orders on Shopify
Set up Shopify order tracking to keep customers informed, cut returns, and build loyalty with AfterShip, ShipBob, ShipStation, and more.
TL;DR:
- Customers expect real-time order tracking. Allow customers to track their orders from anywhere—from their email to your website—at any time to increase their sense of security, reduce returns, and build trust.
- Helpdesk + order tracking = efficient. Choose a solution like Aftership, ShipBob, or ShipStation that integrates with your CX platform. This lets you link shipping data with your customer data, resulting in faster support.
- Offer self-service tracking options. Ensure your shipping information is easily accessible to customers through email, live chat, SMS notifications, and on your website.
Today, order visibility is table stakes. Around 50% of consumers actively track their order status to confirm it's progressing smoothly and staying on schedule.
Whether it’s order anxiety or excitement, shoppers want to see their order's status and location at any given time. Even better when they can get real-time alerts via SMS or at each point in an order’s journey.
So if you haven’t set up order tracking yet, now’s the time, because your customers already expect it. Here’s everything you need to know about the benefits of tracking customer orders and how to implement an order tracking tool for your Shopify store.
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Why is order tracking so important for ecommerce?
Ecommerce vendors like Amazon have normalized order tracking. Today, most, if not all, customers expect to know where their order is.
Offering real-time tracking data for orders benefits both your customer and your business in five distinct ways:
- Peace of mind: Real-time tracking reassures shoppers and helps businesses monitor fulfillment.
- Fewer support tickets: Cuts down WISMO inquiries (18% of tickets) with automated updates.
- Lower returns: Accurate timelines reduce late-delivery returns and protect revenue.
- Stronger loyalty: Reliable tracking builds trust. Late or incorrect deliveries push shoppers away.
- Easy planning: Consumers need to know that an order is on its way to plan their day.
Recommended reading: Ecommerce returns: 10 best practices for taking your online store to the next level
How to set up order tracking for your Shopify store
Here’s how to set up order tracking for Shopify stores:
- Choose an order tracking tool
- Integrate your order tracking tool with Shopify
- Configure your order tracking app’s settings
- Integrate your order tracking app with your CX platform
As an example, we’ll show you how to set up order tracking on a Shopify store with AfterShip Tracking.
1) Choose an order tracking tool
First, choose an order tracking tool like ShipBob, ShipStation, or AfterShip. These tools pull order information, tracking numbers, and shipment status to generate shipping updates for your customers.
Pro Tip: It’s best if your order tracking app integrates with your helpdesk, so that you can offer faster, context-rich customer support.
Read more: 12 best shipping software tools for ecommerce stores
2) Integrate your order tracking tool with your ecommerce platform
Install your order tracking app of choice via the Shopify App Store. For us, it will be AfterShip Tracking.
To complete the integration, go to the AfterShip Tracking dashboard. Click Apps > View more apps > Shopify > Install app. You’ll be redirected to your Shopify settings. Read through the privacy and permission details and click Install app.
Pro Tip: Not sure if you did it correctly? Your store URL will be labelled as “Connected” on the Shopify connection page.
3) Configure your order tracking app’s settings
Time to load your order tracking app with your Shopify data. This is a crucial step to ensure your app uses your courier and order details.
On Aftership Tracking, go to Apps > Store connections > Actions to set up these two actions:
- Courier Mapping: This matches shipping company names between Shopify and AfterShip so tracking data flows correctly even when the same carrier has different names in each system.
- Auto-import settings: This controls which orders automatically sync from Shopify to AfterShip based on criteria like date range, payment status, and fulfillment status, so you only track the orders you want.
4) Integrate your order tracking app with your CX platform
Finally, connect your order tracking app to your helpdesk.
When customer messages, shipping data, and tracking information are connected, your team can:
- Get the full context with instant access to tracking numbers, shipping addresses, and estimated delivery dates
- Eliminate the need to switch tabs or copy/paste information between tools
- Resolve customer inquiries faster
Read more: How to connect AfterShip Tracking to Gorgias
The 6 key spots to add ‘Track My Order’
It’s important to make order tracking accessible to customers, wherever they are. And since more than 68% of orders are done through smartphones, it’s critical to design every tracking touchpoint with a mobile-first experience in mind.
Order tracking should be available in:
- Emails (order confirmation and automated replies): Include the receipt, tracking number, and a link to the tracking portal. Automated replies should also provide updates when customers ask about order status.
- SMS: Send the tracking number and portal link. Use for delivery updates, delays, or exceptions.
- Conversational AI in chat: Provide the order status, tracking number, and delivery estimate directly in the response.
- Self-service order management: Add a “track my order” button in the chat widget with order status, tracking number, and delivery date.
- Help Center (FAQ page): Embed a tracking tool where customers can enter their order number or email to see status and carrier tracking.
- Account portal: Show fulfillment status, tracking number, and carrier link in the “My Account” section for each order.
What are the best order tracking apps for ecommerce stores?
Depending on your needs and the ecommerce platform you use, choose from options that are both scalable and flexible.
ShipBob
ShipBob is a global logistics platform that helps ecommerce brands provide fast, affordable shipping and best-in-class order fulfillment. Its connected technology and fulfillment network improve delivery times, reduce costs, and elevate the customer experience.
Standout features:
- Distributed global fulfillment centers shortens delivery times
- Real-time inventory management and order tracking
- Affordable shipping rates through carrier partnerships
- Analytics tools to optimize fulfillment and logistics performance
Check out ShipBob in the Shopify App Store or the BigCommerce App Store.
AfterShip
AfterShip is a shipment tracking and notification platform that helps ecommerce brands keep customers informed and improve delivery transparency. It streamlines post-purchase communication and makes it easier to spot delivery issues before they affect customer experience.
Standout features:
- Seven customizable notification triggers (e.g., in transit, out for delivery, delivered)
- Easy-to-use email editor for branded tracking updates
- Filter and monitor tracking data to detect delivery issues early
- Branded tracking pages that keep customers on your site
- Detailed analytics to measure delivery performance and customer engagement
Check out AfterShip in the Shopify App Store and the BigCommerce App Store.
ShipStation
ShipStation is a shipping software solution that helps ecommerce businesses save time and money by comparing carrier rates and delivery times in one place. It automates shipping workflows to ensure customers get fast, cost-effective delivery.
Standout features:
- Compare rates and delivery speeds across multiple carriers
- Automate shipping processes, from label creation to returns
- Intuitive dashboards and user-friendly interfaces for efficient workflows
- Batch processing for high-volume order fulfillment
- Branded shipping labels, packing slips, and tracking pages
Check out ShipStation in the Shopify App Store and the BigCommerce App Store.
ShipMonk
ShipMonk is a third-party logistics (3PL) provider that helps ecommerce businesses scale with fast, affordable fulfillment services. Its technology-driven platform streamlines order, inventory, and warehouse management to deliver a seamless post-purchase experience.
Standout features:
- Distributed fulfillment centers for faster, lower-cost shipping
- Real-time inventory and order management
- Automated picking, packing, and shipping workflows
- Scalable solutions tailored for ecommerce, subscription boxes, crowdfunding, and more
- Detailed reporting and analytics to optimize logistics
Check out ShipMonk in the Shopify App Store.
Easyship
Whether you ship 50 or 50,000 orders a month, Easyship can help you lower shipping costs and increase conversion rates. Use this extension to manage your post-purchase process in the most efficient way for your business.
Read more about Easyship in the Magento Marketplace.
Recommended reading: 12 best shipping software for ecommerce
Mageworx
The Mageworx Order Editor extension lets you edit customer errors. Quickly fix any mistakes customers make during checkout like incorrect street numbers, phone numbers, names, shipping, or billing details.
You can also add or remove products, change pricing, and add coupons after an order has been placed. This saves your customer support team from having to cancel the order and start it again from the beginning.
Learn more about Mageworx Order Editor in the Magento Marketplace.
Simplify order tracking with Gorgias
Use Gorgias to centralize order tracking, automate status updates, and deliver real-time delivery info, all in one place. By deflecting repetitive WISMO tickets, your team saves time, boosts CSAT, and focuses on higher-value conversations that drive retention and revenue.
Book a demo to see how Gorgias integrates with your order tracking system.
How CX Leaders are Actually Using AI: 6 Must-Know Lessons
What do Wildride, bareMinerals, OLIPOP, and Love Wellness have in common? They're turning AI into their most reliable team member.
TL;DR:
- Train your AI like a new hire. Give it tone guidelines, review weekly, and keep refining to stay on-brand.
- Adapt AI to real customer behavior. Adjust tone and timing to improve satisfaction, even if the answer stays the same.
- Use AI to drive sales, not just support. Top brands use it to answer product questions and guide pre-purchase decisions.
- Start small and improve as you go. Begin with one common question and test often to build momentum.
If you’ve been side-eyeing AI and wondering if it’s just hype, you’re not alone. A lot of CX leaders were skeptical, too:
“I used to be the loudest skeptic,” said Amber van den Berg, Head of CX at Wildride. “I was worried it would feel cold and robotic, completely disconnected from the warm, personal vibe we’d worked so hard to build.”
But fast forward to today, and teams at Wildride, OLIPOP, bareMinerals, and Love Wellness are using AI to do more than just deflect tickets. They’re…
- Cutting costs without cutting corners
- Driving revenue before a customer even checks out
- Delivering fast, on-brand, human-feeling support at scale
Here are six lessons you can steal from the brands doing it best.
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1. Think of AI as your sidekick
We need to get one point across clearly: AI isn’t about replacing your support team.
For brands with lean CX teams, burnout is a serious problem. And it’s one of the biggest reasons AI adoption is accelerating.
“I was constantly seeing the same frustrating inquiries—sponsorship asks, bachelorette party freebies, PR requests… 45% of our tickets were these kinds of messages,” said Nancy Sayo, Director of Consumer Services at global beauty brand, bareMinerals.
“Once I realized AI could handle them with kindness and consistency without pulling in my team, I was sold.”
Instead of thinking of AI as a replacement, think of it as an enhancement.
It’s about making sure your CX team doesn’t burn out answering the same five questions 50 times a day.
With Gorgias AI Agent, Nancy’s team now uses automation to absorb the high-volume, low-conversion noise, freeing up their seasoned agents to focus on real revenue-driving moments.
“We use AI to handle low-complexity tickets. And we route higher-value customers to our human sales team—people who’ve been doing makeup for over a decade and really know what they’re doing.”
TL;DR? The smartest teams use AI to take the weight of repetitive tickets (“Do you ship internationally?” “Can I get free samples?”) off their shoulders so agents can focus on conversations that build trust, drive loyalty, and increase LTV.
2. Train your AI like a team member
While you can get started with AI quickly for simple queries, we don't recommend using it “out of the box.” And honestly, that’s a good thing.
Brands that “set it and forget it” are missing the point. Because if you want AI to sound exactly like your brand—not like every other chatbot on the internet—you need to give it the same context you’d give a new hire.
Amber van den Berg, Head of Customer Experience at baby carrier brand Wildride, wrote out detailed tone guidelines, including:
- Dos and don’ts for customer conversations
- Approved Dutch-to-English translations
- Example replies for nuanced, emotional questions
- Pre-written macros for product recs and delivery issues
“Lisa, our AI agent, is basically a super well-trained intern who never sleeps. I give her the same updates I give my human team, and I review Lisa’s conversations every week,” said Amber. “If something feels off-brand, too robotic, or just not Wildride enough, I tweak it.”
The feedback never stops, and that’s what makes Lisa so effective.
Related: Meet Auto QA: Quality checks are here to stay
3. Let AI mirror the pacing of real conversations
Even when AI gets it right, customers might not always feel like it did. Especially if the tone of voice is off or if your customer base just isn’t used to automation.
“Our CSAT was low at first,” said Nancy Sayo of bareMinerals. “Even if the response was accurate and beautifully written, our older customers just didn’t want to interact with AI.”
So Nancy’s team adapted. Rather than giving customers a blunt “no” to product requests, they restructured the flow:
“If someone asked for free product, we’d say, ‘We’ll send this to the team and follow up.’ Then, 3-5 days later, the AI would close the loop. It softened the blow and made customers feel heard—even if the answer didn’t change.”
That simple tweak raised CSAT and created a better customer experience without requiring a human to step in.
Inside Gorgias, teams like bareMinerals review AI performance weekly, not just to catch mistakes, but to optimize for tone, satisfaction, and brand feel. They use:
- CSAT reporting to spot dips in sentiment
- Conversation analytics to flag where AI may be losing trust
- Macro editing to quickly adjust common replies
AI gives you the flexibility to test, tweak, and tailor your approach in a way traditional support channels never could.
4. Use AI to drive sales—not just support
Too many CX teams still treat AI like a glorified autoresponder. But the most forward-thinking brands are using it to guide shoppers to checkout.
“Our customers often ask: ‘Which carrier is better for warm weather?’ or ‘Will this fit both me and my taller partner?’” said Amber van den Berg, Head of CX at Wildride. “Lisa doesn’t just answer—she gives context, recommends features, and highlights small touches like the fact that a diaper fits in the side pocket.”
With Gorgias Shopping Assistant, brands can turn AI into a proactive sales assistant—answering product questions in real time, referencing what’s in the customer’s cart, and nudging them toward the best option with empathy.
5. CX insights should power the rest of your business
Great support doesn’t stop at the inbox. At Love Wellness, CX is the connective tissue between ecommerce, product, and marketing.
“We meet quarterly with our CX and ecommerce teams to review top questions, objections, and patterns,” said Mckay Elliot, Director of Amazon at Love Wellness. “That feedback goes straight into product development and PDP optimizations on both DTC and Amazon.”
But it’s not just a quarterly ritual. Feedback sharing is embedded in the culture, and they do this with a Slack channel dedicated to customer feedback.
Dropping in insights is part of the team’s daily and weekly responsibilities. It helps everyone stay close to the content, and it sparks real collaboration on what we can improve. They then use those insights to improve ad messaging and content.
Your team has so much data they can review between channels like email, SMS, chat, and social media—both compliments and complaints. You need to be willing to listen to every customer’s needs.
Read more: Why customer service is important (according to a VP of CX)
6. Don’t overthink it, start small
One of the biggest mistakes brands make with AI? Trying to do too much, too soon.
Rolling out AI should feel like a phased launch, not a switch flip. The best results come from starting simple, testing often, and iterating as you go.
“We started with one simple question—‘Do you ship internationally?’—and built from there,” said Amber van den Berg of Wildride.
“And if it doesn’t work? You can always turn it off,” added Anne Dyer, Sr. Manager of CX & Loyalty Marketing at OLIPOP. “The key is to test, review, and keep iterating. AI should enhance your human experience, not replace it.”
If your helpdesk supports it, start in a test environment to preview answers before going live. Then roll out automation gradually by channel, topic, or ticket type and QA every step of the way.
For most brands, the best starting point is high-volume, low-complexity tickets like:
- “Where’s my order?”
- Subscription pauses or cancellations
- Returns and exchanges
- Store policies and FAQs
You don’t need to solve everything on day 1. Just commit to one question, one channel, and one hour per week. That’s where real momentum starts.
Related: Store policies by industry, explained: What to include for every vertical
How do you measure the impact of AI in CX?
Most CX teams are used to tracking classic metrics like ticket volume and CSAT. But when AI enters the mix, your definition of success shifts. It’s not all about how fast you handle tickets anymore—it’s about how customers feel after conversations with AI, team efficiency, and the quality of every interaction.
Here are the metric CX teams used to track without AI—and what they track now with AI:
The best use of AI makes space for human touch
AI isn’t here to replace your CX team. It’s here to free them up, so they can focus on deeper, more meaningful conversations that build loyalty and drive revenue.
So if you’re on the fence, start small. Train it. Review weekly. Build the muscle.
You’ll be surprised how quickly AI becomes your favorite intern.
If you want more tips from the experts featured today, you can:
Further reading
Event #1: Optimizing Brand Experience To Drive Revenue
Last thursday, we organized our first event at Gorgias. It was the perfect opportunity to celebrate our new round of funding and recent moving to a new office in SOMA, while discussing brand culture and customer experience.
Special thanks to our speakers Renee L. Halvorsen from Marine Layer, Alicia Levine from Sunski, Dorian Greenow from Keto-Mojo and Anthony Benedettini from Dry Farm Wines.
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Here are the key takeaways you should remember:
- As an e-commerce brand, you cannot compete on price with Amazon and powerful dropshippers. That’s why brand experience is your key differentiation factor.
- Building a strong brand experience requires to be present on each distribution channel. Don’t let your resellers do the job for you! Sunski for example prepares “environment kits” for their resellers and marketplaces. This way, customers can experience Sunski’s spirit beyond its website.
- When building brand experience, your community is your key success factor. Create a pool of ambassadors who will promote your brand, and reward them with presents, promo codes, and dedicated attention.
- Bet on your own team! Building a great mindset within your team will help you create a strong and consistent brand image. At Keto-Mojo, each member of the team does customer service, so that everyone focus on what customers really need. Besides, the founder should inspire a culture of passion and dedication to the product.
You missed our event? Don’t worry, it was the very first of many!
Curious about how Gorgias can optimize customer service? Create an account here and get started in a few minutes!
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Announcing the ReCharge integration
Recharge is the most popular subscription app in the Shopify app store and is the preferred solution for Shopify Plus stores. Over 10,000 Shopify merchants chose ReCharge to help sell products on a recurring basis, including stores like Dr. Axe, Hubble Contacts, and 5 Hour Energy.
The challenge is, when a customer has an issue with their subscription, the support team needs to jump between their helpdesk, Shopify and the ReCharge platform to fix the problem. This negatively impacts response time. Agents end up wasting hours per week going to ReCharge to skip a box for a customer, edit a subscription, etc. One of the key advantages of using Gorgias is to manage all your customer support in one place. A few months ago, our customer Darn Good Yarn asked us to build an integration with ReCharge. They no longer wanted to switch between ReCharge, Shopify and their helpdesk. This was completely aligned with our vision, so we decided to build it.
Today, we're excited to announce we've partnered with ReCharge to launch this integration.
Here are the key benefits:
- Display ReCharge subscriptions next to support tickets.
- Edit ReCharge subscriptions in one click from your helpdesk: refund charges, skip monthly payments or cancel subscriptions from Gorgias
- When a customer ask to edit their subscription, you can send them an auto-response with the link to manage the subscription.
“Gorgias gives us a holistic view of our customers. This way we can provide them with fast and personalized help”
Nicole Snow, DarnGoodYarn
Let’s take the example of Averill John. She wants to cancel her subscription to the Yummy Box and has just sent an email to your support.
Here is how your helpdesk looks like:
You can see that Astrid has been assigned to this ticket and that this ticket is tagged “Ambassador”. It means that Averill is one of your super loyal customers.
On the right, you can see the ReCharge account data of Averill. Here, Averill has a monthly subscription to the Yummy Box and will be charged on the 15th of October.
Astrid can skip the October charge in one-click on the “Skip charge on subscription” button. It will immediately set the action within ReCharge. Response time? Less than 1 minute!
If you're already a Gorgias customer, head to your account and go to Integrations to connect ReCharge. If not, you can create an account here and get started in a few minutes.
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Announcing the Aircall integration
One of the key advantages of using Gorgias is to provide a unified support experience to your customers across all channels. A few months ago, some of our customers asked us to build a phone integration. Traditional helpdesk integrations simply log calls as tickets. We wanted to go one step further and associate the phone call with the right customer.
Today, we're excited to announce we've partnered with Aircall to build this integration.
Aircall arms small-to-medium sized business (SMBs) with a phone system built for modern business. With zero hardware to manage, dozens of integration options to explore, and the ability to add local numbers in more than 40 countries, support teams can easily provide phone support in minutes.
Here are the benefits of this new integration:
- When a customer calls your company in Aircall, it creates a ticket in Gorgias and automatically matches it with the corresponding Shopify customer. This way, your staff can edit orders while they are on the phone with the customer.
- Your team sees all previous interactions they had with each customer, under their timeline.
- Get omni-channel statistics. Gorgias stats include Aircall phone data. For instance, you can monitor if you're getting more return requests over the phone or through Facebook Messenger.
If you're already a Gorgias customer, head to your account and go to Integrations to connect Aircall. If not, you can create an account here and get started in a few minutes.
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We're integrating with LoyaltyLion!
Great news! Today, we're announcing a new integration with LoyaltyLion. LoyaltyLion is a digital loyalty framework that gives ecommerce stores innovative ways to engage and retain customers.
Our mutual customer Darn Good Yarn uses it to successfully increase customer retention. When they switched from Freshdesk to Gorgias to manage customer support, they wanted to leverage their loyalty program for customer support.
We used their feedback to build the integration with LoyaltyLion, which they have been using for a couple months in beta. Today, we're excited to make it available to all our users.
What is the LoyaltyLion integration?
Here are some of the benefits of this integration:
- Display how many points a customer has when they contact your support team
- When you respond to customer support requests, award loyalty points to customers directly in Gorgias
- Include the customer's personal referral url in your responses. This way, if they are happy about your support, they'll refer their friends to your store.
Overall, this allows your team to use your loyalty program for customer service.
"We love being able to issue our customers loyalty points directly from Gorgias! It's a great way to boost efficiency and also customer retention."
Chloe Kesler, Customer Support manager at Darn Good Yarn
How can I use the LoyaltyLion Integration?
The integration is immediately available on your Gorgias account. If you don't have an account, you can create one here. Then, follow the instructions in our documentation and you can get started!
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How to leverage customer support to increase sales?
Most customers are loyal to brands because they know what level of service they can expect. As a result, providing an above-average customer experience is key to increase repeat in sales.
It’s relatively easy to provide great support when you get started with your store: your team gets a few dozens of support requests a day, and they respond to them almost instantly. The thing is, this level of service is very hard to maintain as you scale. Response time usually drops, and most brands start using standardized macros to keep up with the pace, which is a poor customer experience.
Your sales have increased, good. Now, you need to get your customer support up to speed
Source: Gorgias customers during the Thanksgiving peak
At Gorgias, we’ve been chatting with 400 stores over the past year, and we’ve seen a lot of them working on crossing this “chasm”.
This post shares learning on how you can build a customer support organization that will scale with your business, and provide best-in-class customer service, which will drive customer retention.
Step 1: Run an audit of your support organization
A good place to start is to list the most common reasons customers are contacting you about. Go ahead and manually classify 200 tickets from your support inbox. This should take you about an hour. You can build categories from scratch, or use this spreadsheet of the most common requests for e-commerce companies we built.
Now, you should be able to understand what problems are causing the most pain to customers.
If a specific type of request is above 10% of requests, then it’s a good candidate for optimization. For instance, if you’re getting a lot of “where is my order” questions, here are a few things you can do to deflect those:
- Add a tracking section for customers to track their package on your site. Aftership can help here.
- Send updates to customers about issues with delivery, through SMS or email.
Now that you have a good understanding of the reasons customers are contacting you for, you can map the customer journey, and identify what actions your agents need to take to respond to tickets.
Later, you can use this for training purposes, and to identify optimization opportunities.
At Piper, we basically studied the whole customer journey and tried to identify all reasons why someone could contact us (based on previous history). This helped us quickly identify where customers were "blocked"
Finally, let’s analyze the efficiency of your team. Of course, every business is different, but you can use this table to figure out how efficient your agents are compared to other stores. A good metric to track it is ticket closed per month. Just make sure that satisfaction remains consistent.
Related: Learn more about the impact of live chat on sales. And see how Gorgias live chat can help you turn more browsers into buyers with chat campaigns.
Step 2: Figure out how you can improve the customer experience
Now, let’s work on creating “wow moments” for your customers. If you manage to exceed customers expectations when they contact you, you’re most likely to increase their loyalty and have them refer your store to their friends.
Here are a few ways you can create “wow moments”.
Make it easy for customers to contact you
You should be where your customers are. For example, if you have a Facebook page with a large audience, consider it as a real customer support channel. The point is, you should provide the same level of assistance across all support channels that your customer will use.
Also, don't be afraid to contact customers first, especially when they have items in their shopping cart. Offering help or a discount code at the right time could make the difference between a sale and an abandoned cart.
Example: providing high quality support on Facebook
70% of customers consider Facebook as a live chat support. To maximize customer satisfaction, your response time should be no more than 1 min. You’ll then be listed as a very responsive page, which will encourage your customers to respond.
You can also leverage public posts to build relationship with your customers. Another easy way to facilitate customer communication is to remove the need for customers to repeat themselves. On your support platform, make sure your merge Facebook conversations with email tickets. This way, if the customer switches channel, your team will have access to the context of what the customer said before.
Related: Check out our trends and best practices for customer support.
Personalize every interaction with customer support
You should leverage every data point you have about the customer to personalize the way you communicate with them:
For how long they have been a customer
Their order preference
Their location
The days of the “we value your business” are over.
Always go an extra mile for your customers. If the customer asks for the status of their order, don’t respond only with the tracking number. Go get the order status on UPS so the customer doesn’t have to do it themselves when they’ll receive your email in the subway with poor network connection.
Another good thing to do is to use a specific tone with your customer, that matches the brand image you want to convey.
If you’re into gifs, you can use them to build a brand tone your own set of gifs, designed for your own brand, and use them in your support emails. You can hire an illustrator on Upwork for that, or build them yourself.
Related: Tips to respond to angry customer emails.
Step 3: Give your team the “ironman suit” for support
Now that you know the level of support you aim at giving your customers, and you know what actions your agents need to take to get the delivery info, create an RMAs, etc., you can start optimizing the process for them.
Display rich customer profiles for your agents
To personalize messages, your agents need to have access to customer data. You can leverage the standard Shopify integration from your help desk as a starting point.
Though, it can be relevant to connect other data points to your help desk:
- Display fulfillment data. Shippo is great for that
- Inventory data: Stitch, display inventory to the reps
- NPS responses
- Responses to last promotions
If you’re on Zendesk, enabling the Shopify integration is a good start: it shows how much the customer has spent, and the past orders.
Some Gorgias customers have pretty advanced widgets that display data from Shopify, Stitch & Shipstation. This way, all the customer information is available.
Empower your reps to perform actions from support conversations
You can create custom widgets for your help desk, so that your agents can trigger actions from your help desk. Here are the most helpful actions:
- Create a coupon
- Place a replacement order
- Cancelling an order
- Create an RMA
This is a bit more tricky to implement. You need to build a custom app with buttons that will trigger actions - there are some good tutorials for Zendesk, Freshdesk & Help Scout. At Gorgias, we’ve built integrations with Stitch, Shipstation to embed these actions in the product, and enable you to add your own.
Other 3rd party apps like Chargedesk enable you to refund customers in one click.
Step 4: Track your progress
Our goal here is to improve the customer experience to drive sales. A good way to track the efficiency of your support work is to compare the behavior of customers that have been in contact with customer support from those who have not.
Shopify helps you easily to this. You can create an integration between your help desk and Shopify to tag customers who reach out to support, using the Shopify API. Say you add a “customer_support” tag to them.
Then, you can use Shopify statistics to monitor how the cohort of customers who have been in touch with your support team behaves, and assess the impact of your efforts with customer support.
Another way to proceed is to tag orders that generated a support tickets. This way, if you work on improving delivery notifications, you can monitor the impact.
Final thoughts
Building a scalable support team that provides an amazing customer experience takes time.
Try to test different “wow moments”, iterate on the way you personalize messages, on the tone you’re using, and always track your progress. Among the teams we surveyed, several mentioned they managed to increase sales repeat by 30% after implementing these tactics.
Want to learn more about how customer support can improve your conversion rate and lead to more purchases? Check out our guides to ecommerce upselling and Shopify abandoned cart recovery.
Celery + Gorgias
Celery just released their API on Github, currently in beta. Here are some of the cool stuff you can do with it in Gorgias.
Display customer information
When you receive an email from a customer, you can connect your Celery account and see customer information (orders, shipping address, etc.). Here’s what it looks like:
To configure it, grab your Celery access_token, head to integrations, and add an HTTP integration using this URL:
https://api.trycelery.com/v2/orders?buyer.email={ticket.requester.email}
Then you can customize the sidebar to only show the Celery data you need to respond to customers. Click the cog and simply drag and drop elements you want to show.
Refunds, order change... without leaving tickets
Celery’s API enables you to perform a few actions from your favorite helpdesk:
- Edit an order
- Cancel an order
- Issue a refund
- Create a coupon
Here’s an example of how you can cancel an order from Gorgias itself. Say you already have a macro to cancel an order. Add an HTTP action to it, in this case:
https://api.trycelery.com/v2/orders/{ticket.requester.customer.data[0].number}/order_cancel
Then, when you use this macro and send it to the customer, it will automatically cancel the last order at the same time:
We hope this integration with Celery can save you time. If you'd like to try Celery with Gorgias, shoot us a note! At support@gorgias.com.
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