TL;DR:

• Most food & beverage support tickets during BFCM are predictable. Subscription cancellations, WISMO, and product questions make up the bulk—so prep answers ahead of time.
• Proactive CX site updates can drastically cut down repetitive tickets. Add ingredient lists, cooking instructions, and clear refund policies to product pages and FAQs.
• FAQ pages should go deep, not just broad. Answer hyper-specific questions like “Will this break my fast?” to help customers self-serve without hesitation.‍
• Transparency about stock reduces confusion and cart abandonment. Show inventory levels, set up waitlists, and clearly state cancellation windows.

In 2024, Shopify merchants drove $11.5 billion in sales over Black Friday Cyber Monday. Now, BFCM is quickly approaching, with some brands and major retailers already hosting sales.

If you’re feeling late to prepare for the season or want to maximize the number of sales you’ll make, we’ll cover how food and beverage CX teams can serve up better self-serve resources for this year’s BFCM. 

Learn how to answer and deflect customers’ top questions before they’re escalated to your support team.

💡 Your guide to everything peak season → The Gorgias BFCM Hub

Handling BFCM as a food & beverage brand

During busy seasons like BFCM and beyond, staying on top of routine customer asks can be an extreme challenge. 

“Every founder thinks BFCM is the highest peak feeling of nervousness,” says Ron Shah, CEO and Co-founder of supplement brand Obvi. 

“It’s a tough week. So anything that makes our team’s life easier instantly means we can focus more on things that need the time,” he continues. 

Anticipating contact reasons and preparing methods (like automated responses, macros, and enabling an AI Agent) is something that can help. Below, find the top contact reasons for food and beverage companies in 2025. 

Top contact reasons in the food & beverage industry 

According to Gorgias proprietary data, the top reason customers reach out to brands in the food and beverage industry is to cancel a subscription (13%) followed by order status questions (9.1%).

7 ways to improve your self-serve resources before BFCM

1. Add informative blurbs on product pages 
2. Craft additional help center and FAQ articles 
3. Automate responses with AI or Macros 
4. Get specific about product availability
5. Provide order cancellation and refund policies upfront
6. Add how-to information
7. Build resources to help with buying decisions 

1) Add informative blurbs on product pages

Because product detail queries represent 5.7% of contact reasons for the food and beverage industry, the more information you provide on your product pages, the better. 

Include things like calorie content, nutritional information, and all ingredients.  

For example, ready-to-heat meal company The Dinner Ladies includes a dropdown menu on each product page for further reading. Categories include serving instructions, a full ingredient list, allergens, nutritional information, and even a handy “size guide” that shows how many people the meal serves. 

2) Craft additional Help Center and FAQ articles

FAQ pages make up the information hub of your website. They exist to provide customers with a way to get their questions answered without reaching out to you.   

This includes information like how food should be stored, how long its shelf life is, delivery range, and serving instructions. FAQs can even direct customers toward finding out where their order is and what its status is. 

In the context of BFCM, FAQs are all about deflecting repetitive questions away from your team and assisting shoppers in finding what they need faster. 

That’s the strategy for German supplement brand mybacs. 

“Our focus is to improve automations to make it easier for customers to self-handle their requests. This goes hand in hand with making our FAQs more comprehensive to give customers all the information they need,” says Alexander Grassmann, its Co-Founder & COO.

As you contemplate what to add to your FAQ page, remember that more information is usually better. That’s the approach Everyday Dose takes, answering even hyper-specific questions like, “Will it break my fast?” or “Do I have to use milk?”

While the FAQs you choose to add will be specific to your products, peruse the top-notch food and bev FAQ pages below. 

Time for some FAQ inspo:

• Juice Plus+ FAQ
• Everyday Dose FAQ
• Chamberlain Coffee FAQ
• Jurassic Fruit FAQ
• Rebel Cheese FAQ
• The Dinner Ladies FAQ

3) Automate responses with AI or macros

AI Agents and AI-powered Shopping Assistants are easy to set up and are extremely effective in handling customer interactions––especially during BFCM.  

“I told our team we were going to onboard Gorgias AI Agent for BFCM, so a good portion of tickets would be handled automatically,” says Ron Shah, CEO and Co-founder at Obvi. “There was a huge sigh of relief knowing that customers were going to be taken care of.” 

And, they’re getting smarter. AI Agent’s CSAT is just 0.6 points shy of human agents’ average CSAT score. 

Here are the specific responses and use cases we recommend automating: 

• WISMO (where is my order) inquiries 
• Product related questions 
• Returns 
• Order issues
• Cancellations 
• Discounts, including BFCM related 
• Customer feedback
• Account management
• Collaboration requests 
• Rerouting complex queries

Get your checklist here: How to prep for peak season: BFCM automation checklist

4) Get specific about product availability

With high price reductions often comes faster-than-usual sell out times. By offering transparency around item quantities, you can avoid frustrated or upset customers. 

For example, you could show how many items are left under a certain threshold (e.g. “Only 10 items left”), or, like Rebel Cheese does, mention whether items have sold out in the past.  

You could also set up presales, give people the option to add themselves to a waitlist, and provide early access to VIP shoppers. 

5) Provide order cancellation and refund policies upfront 

Give shoppers a heads up whether they’ll be able to cancel an order once placed, and what your refund policies are. 

For example, cookware brand Misen follows its order confirmation email with a “change or cancel within one hour” email that provides a handy link to do so. 

Your refund policies and order cancellations should live within an FAQ and in the footer of your website. 

6) Add how-to information 

Include how-to information on your website within your FAQs, on your blog, or as a standalone webpage. That might be sharing how to use a product, how to cook with it, or how to prepare it. This can prevent customers from asking questions like, “how do you use this?” or “how do I cook this?” or “what can I use this with?” etc. 

For example, Purity Coffee created a full brewing guide with illustrations:

Similarly, for its unique preseasoned carbon steel pan, Misen lists out care instructions: 

And for those who want to understand the level of prep and cooking time involved, The Dinner Ladies feature cooking instructions on each product page. 

7) Build resources to help with buying decisions 

Interactive quizzes, buying guides, and gift guides can help ensure shoppers choose the right items for them––without contacting you first. 

For example, Trade Coffee Co created a quiz to help first timers find their perfect coffee match: 

Set your team up for BFCM success with Gorgias 

The more information you can share with customers upfront, the better. That will leave your team time to tackle the heady stuff. 

If you’re looking for an AI-assist this season, check out Gorgias’s suite of products like AI Agent and Shopping Assistant. 

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TL;DR:

• Conversational AI combines natural language processing, machine learning, and generative AI to create human-like interactions
• For ecommerce, it automates customer service, drives sales through personalized recommendations, and scales support 24/7
• Key types include chatbots, voice assistants, and AI agents that handle both support and sales tasks
• Implementation requires defining clear goals, choosing an ecommerce-ready platform, and connecting your tech stack

Conversational AI changes how ecommerce brands interact with customers by enabling natural, human-like conversations at scale, helping reduce customer churn. 

Instead of forcing shoppers through rigid menus or making them wait for support, conversational AI understands questions, detects intent, and delivers instant, personalized responses. 

This technology powers everything from customer service chatbots to voice assistants, helping brands automate repetitive tasks while maintaining the personal touch customers expect. 

For ecommerce specifically, it means handling order inquiries, providing product recommendations, and recovering abandoned carts — all without adding headcount.

What is conversational AI?

Conversational AI is a type of artificial intelligence that allows computers to understand, process, and respond to human language through natural, two-way conversations. This means your customers can ask questions in their own words and get helpful answers that feel like they're talking to a real person.

Unlike basic chatbots that only recognize specific keywords, conversational AI actually understands what your customers mean. It can handle typos, slang, and complex questions that have multiple parts. The AI learns from every conversation, getting better at helping your customers over time.

Think of it as having a super-smart team member who never sleeps, never gets frustrated, and remembers every detail about your products and policies. This AI team member can chat with customers on your website, answer questions through social media, or even handle phone calls.

What are the key components of conversational AI?

Conversational AI works because several smart technologies team up to understand and respond to your customers. Each piece has a specific job in making conversations feel natural and helpful.

Natural Language Processing (NLP) is the foundation that breaks down human language into pieces a computer can understand. This means when a customer types "Where's my order?" the AI can identify the important words and grammar structure.

Natural Language Understanding (NLU) figures out what the customer actually wants. This is the smart part that realizes "Where's my order?" means the customer wants to track a shipment, even if they phrase it differently like "I need to check my package status."

Natural Language Generation (NLG) creates responses that sound human and helpful. Instead of robotic answers, it crafts replies that match your brand's voice and provide exactly what the customer needs to know.

The dialog manager keeps track of the entire conversation. This means if a customer asks a follow-up question, the AI remembers what you were just talking about and can give a relevant answer.

Your knowledge base stores all the information the AI needs to help customers. This includes your return policy, product details, shipping information, and any other facts your team would use to answer questions.

How does conversational AI work?

Conversational AI follows a simple three-step process that happens in seconds. Understanding this process helps you see why it's so much more powerful than old-school chatbots.

1) It processes input across voice and text with NLP

When a customer sends a message or asks a question, the AI first needs to understand what they're saying. For text messages from chat, email, or social media, the system breaks down the sentence into individual words and analyzes the grammar.

For voice interactions like phone calls, the AI uses speech recognition to turn spoken words into text first. Modern systems handle different accents, background noise, and natural speech patterns without missing a beat.

2) It detects intent and context with NLU

Once the AI has the customer's words, it needs to figure out what they actually want. The system looks for the customer's intent — their goal or what they're trying to accomplish.

For example, when someone asks "Can I return this sweater I bought last week?" the AI identifies the intent as wanting to make a return. It also pulls out important details like the product type and timeframe.

The AI also uses context from earlier in the conversation. If the customer mentioned their order number earlier, the AI remembers it and can use that information to help with the return request.

3) It generates responses with NLG

After understanding what the customer wants, the AI creates a helpful response. It might pull information from your knowledge base, personalize the answer with the customer's specific details, or generate a completely new response using generative AI.

The system also checks how confident it is in its answer. If the AI isn't sure about something or if the topic is too complex, it knows to hand the conversation over to one of your human agents.

What are the types of conversational AI?

Different types of conversational AI work better for different situations in your ecommerce business. Understanding these types helps you choose the right solution for your customers and team.

Chatbots handle scripted and AI-driven chat

Chatbots are the most common type you'll see on websites and messaging apps. Early chatbots followed strict scripts — if a customer's question didn't match the script exactly, the bot would get confused and give unhelpful answers.

Modern AI-powered chatbots understand natural language and can handle much more complex conversations. The best systems combine both approaches: using simple rules for straightforward questions and AI for everything else.

These chatbots work great for answering common questions about shipping, returns, and product details. They can also help customers find the right products or guide them through your checkout process.

Voice assistants manage speech-based requests

Voice assistants bring conversational AI to phone support and other voice channels. These aren't the old phone trees that made customers press numbers to navigate menus.

Instead, customers can speak naturally and get helpful answers right away. Voice assistants can look up order information, explain your return policy, or even process simple requests like address changes.

This works especially well for customers who prefer calling over typing, or when they need help while their hands are busy.

Read more: How Cornbread Hemp reached a 13.6% phone conversion rate with Gorgias Voice

AI agents and copilots assist teams and customers

AI agents are the most advanced type of conversational AI. Unlike chatbots that mainly provide information, AI agents can actually take action on behalf of customers.

These systems connect to your other business tools like Shopify, your shipping software, or your returns platform. This means they can do things like:

• Process returns: Start a return and send the customer a shipping label
• Update orders: Change a shipping address or add items to an existing order
• Handle refunds: Issue refunds for eligible orders automatically
• Manage subscriptions: Skip shipments or update subscription preferences

Copilots work alongside your human agents, suggesting responses and pulling up customer information to help resolve issues faster.

Read more: How AI Agent works & gathers data

What are the benefits of conversational AI for ecommerce?

Conversational AI delivers real business results for ecommerce brands. The benefits go beyond just making your support team more efficient — though that's certainly part of it.

24/7 availability means you never miss a sale or support opportunity. Customers can get help at 2 a.m. or during holidays when your team is offline. This is especially valuable for international customers in different time zones.

Instant responses prevent cart abandonment and customer frustration, improving first contact resolution. When someone has a question about sizing or shipping, they get an answer immediately instead of waiting hours or days for an email response.

Personalized interactions at scale drive higher average order values. The AI can recommend products based on what customers are browsing, their purchase history, and their preferences, just like your best salesperson would.

Cost efficiency comes from handling repetitive questions automatically. Your human agents can focus on complex issues, VIP customers, and revenue-generating activities instead of answering the same shipping questions over and over.

Multilingual support helps you serve global customers without hiring native speakers for every language. The AI can communicate in dozens of languages, opening up new markets for your business.

What are the most valuable conversational AI use cases for ecommerce?

Certain moments in the shopping experience create the biggest opportunities for conversational AI to drive results. Focus on these high-impact use cases first.

Pre-purchase questions are your biggest conversion opportunity. When someone is looking at a product but hasn't bought yet, quick answers about sizing, materials, or compatibility can close the sale. The AI can also suggest complementary products or highlight features the customer might have missed.

Order tracking makes up the largest volume of support tickets for most ecommerce brands. Customers want to know where their package is, when it will arrive, and what to do if there's a delay. AI handles these WISMO requests instantly by pulling real-time tracking information.

Returns and exchanges can be complex, but AI excels at the initial screening. It can check if an item is eligible for return, explain your policy, and start the return process. For straightforward returns, customers never need to wait for human help.

Cart recovery works best when it's immediate and personal. AI can detect when someone abandons their cart and reach out through chat or email with personalized messages, discount offers, or answers to common concerns that prevent purchases.

Post-purchase support keeps customers happy after they buy. The AI can send order confirmations, provide care instructions, suggest related products, and handle simple issues like address changes.

How do you implement conversational AI in an ecommerce tech stack?

Getting started with conversational AI doesn't require a complete overhaul of your systems. The key is starting with clear goals and building your capabilities over time.

Step 1: Define goals and KPIs for automation

The best automation opportunities are found in your tickets. Look for questions that come up repeatedly and have straightforward answers. Common examples include order status, return policies, and basic product information.

Set realistic goals for your first phase. You might aim to automate 30% of your tickets or reduce average response time by half. Track metrics like:

• Automation rate: Percentage of tickets resolved without human intervention
• Customer satisfaction: How happy customers are with AI interactions
• Revenue impact: Sales influenced by AI recommendations or cart recovery

Step 2: Choose an ecommerce-ready AI platform

Not all conversational AI platforms understand ecommerce needs. Look for a platform that integrates directly with Shopify and your other business tools. This connection is essential for pulling real-time order data, customer history, and product information.

Your platform should come with pre-built actions for common ecommerce tasks like order lookups, return processing, and subscription management. This saves months of custom development work.

Make sure you can control the AI's behavior through clear guidance and rules. You need to be able to set your brand voice, define when to escalate to humans, and update the AI's knowledge as your business changes.

Step 3: Connect Shopify and key tools, then iterate

Start your implementation by connecting your Shopify store to give the AI access to order and customer data. Don’t forget to integrate the rest of your tech stack like shipping software, returns platforms, and loyalty programs.

Launch with a few core use cases like order tracking and basic product questions. Monitor the AI's performance closely and gather feedback from both customers and your support team. Use this data to refine the AI's responses and gradually expand its capabilities. 

The best approach is iterative — start small, learn what works, and build from there.

What are the challenges and risks of conversational AI?

While conversational AI offers significant benefits, you need to be aware of potential challenges and plan for them from the start.

Accuracy concerns arise when AI systems provide incorrect information or "hallucinate" facts that aren't true. Prevent this by using platforms that ground responses in your verified knowledge base and product data rather than generating answers from scratch.

Brand voice consistency becomes critical when AI represents your brand to customers. Set clear guidelines for tone, style, and messaging. Test the AI's responses regularly to ensure they align with how your human team would handle similar situations.

Data privacy requires careful attention since conversational AI handles sensitive customer information. Choose platforms with strong security measures, data encryption, and compliance with regulations like GDPR. Look for features like automatic removal of personal information from conversation logs.

Over-automation can frustrate customers when complex issues require human empathy and problem-solving. Design clear escalation paths so customers can easily reach human agents when needed. Train your AI to recognize when a situation is beyond its capabilities.

Integration complexity can slow down implementation if your chosen platform doesn't work well with your existing tools. This is why choosing an ecommerce-focused platform with pre-built integrations is so important.

Turn conversations into revenue with conversational AI

The brands winning with conversational AI start with clear goals, choose the right platform, and iterate based on real performance data. They don't try to automate everything at once. They focus on high-impact use cases that deliver real results.

Ready to see how conversational AI can transform your ecommerce support and sales? Book a demo with Gorgias — built specifically for ecommerce brands.

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TL;DR:

• How AI for customer support works: machine learning and natural language processing to automate repetitive tickets and assist human agents
• AI for customer support benefits: Reduced response times, lower support costs, and increased conversion rates 
• Common AI uses: Automating WISMO inquiries, returns processing, and product recommendations
• How to implement: Pay attention to data privacy, brand voice consistency, and measuring ROI

The days of waiting for support to respond for hours or days are gone now that AI is here to stay. In the ecommerce world, AI has become an essential part of CX team’s toolkits, addressing common questions about orders, returns, and products without losing personalized service.

This technology combines natural language processing with your brand's specific knowledge to deliver accurate, on-brand responses across email, chat, and other channels. The result is faster support that drives sales while slashing operational costs.

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What is AI for customer support

AI for customer support is software that uses machine learning to understand and respond to customer questions automatically. This means your customers get instant answers to common questions without waiting for a human agent to respond.

Unlike basic automation that follows pre-defined rules, AI actively learns from every conversation. It gets smarter over time and can handle more complex questions as it processes more data from your support tickets.

The technology works through several key parts:

• Natural language processing: AI understands what customers mean, not just the exact words they type
• Intent classification: The system figures out what the customer actually wants to accomplish
• Knowledge base integration: AI pulls answers from your product information, policies, and past conversations
• Omnichannel deployment: The same AI works across email, chat, social media, and phone support

AI doesn't replace your human agents. Instead, it handles repetitive questions so your team can focus on problems that require a unique human touch.

Related: What is conversational AI? The ecommerce guide

What are the benefits of using AI for customer support

AI delivers immediate improvements to both your customer experience and your bottom line. Your customers get faster responses, and your business saves money while increasing sales.

The most important benefits include:

• Instant responses: Customers get answers in seconds instead of hours or days
• Lower costs: Each ticket costs less to resolve while maintaining high quality
• 24/7 availability: Support never stops, even when your team is offline
• Consistent quality: Every response follows your brand guidelines and policies
• Revenue growth: AI turns support conversations into sales opportunities

You'll see improvements in key metrics like customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores and first contact resolution rates. Your average handle time (AHT) drops because AI resolves simple questions instantly. During busy seasons like Black Friday, AI helps you meet service level agreements (SLAs) without hiring temporary staff.

Most importantly, AI creates revenue. By providing instant product recommendations and helping customers complete purchases, your support team becomes a sales channel.

How ecommerce brands use AI for customer support

Smart ecommerce brands use AI to handle their most common and time-consuming support requests. This frees up human agents to focus on building relationships and solving complex problems.

Resolve where-is-my-order requests

"Where is my order" questions make up the biggest chunk of ecommerce support tickets. AI completely automates these by connecting to your order management system and pulling real-time tracking information.

When a customer asks about their order, AI instantly checks the status and provides tracking details. If there's a delay, it explains what happened and gives an updated delivery estimate.

Automate returns and exchanges

AI guides customers through your entire returns process without human help. It checks if items qualify for returns based on your policy, generates return shipping labels, and processes exchanges.

For brands using returns platforms like Loop Returns, AI can automatically send customers to their returns portal with all their order information pre-filled.

Handle cancellations and order edits

Speed matters when customers want to cancel or change orders. AI checks if an order has shipped yet and processes cancellations automatically for orders still in your warehouse.

For shipped orders or complex changes like address updates, AI gathers all the necessary information and routes the ticket to the right human agent with full context.

Related: Why faster isn’t always better: The pitfalls of fast-only customer support

Answer product and sizing questions

Shoppers need answers before they buy. AI acts as a personal shopping assistant, using your product catalog and sizing guides to answer questions about fit, materials, and features.

When items are out of stock, AI suggests similar alternatives to save the sale instead of losing the customer.

Troubleshoot shipping and delivery issues

Delivery problems create frustrated customers who need immediate help. AI tracks packages in real-time, identifies issues like delays or failed deliveries, and provides resolution options.

For serious problems like lost or damaged packages, AI escalates to human agents with all the tracking details and customer information ready.

Manage discounts and promotions

AI handles all types of discount questions, from explaining promotion terms to troubleshooting codes that won't work. It can even apply forgotten discount codes retroactively if your policies allow it.

During busy sale periods, AI prevents your team from getting overwhelmed with promo code questions.

Recommend products and drive upsells

AI doesn't just solve problems — it creates sales opportunities. By analyzing what customers are browsing and their purchase history, AI suggests relevant products they might want.

This personalized approach increases your average order value (AOV) and turns routine support conversations into revenue-generating interactions.

Give callers fast answers

AI phone solutions keep your phone channel helpful, fast, and cost-efficient without sacrificing the personal feel callers prefer. It takes care of simple, high-volume requests, such as order status, subscription updates, address changes, so your team can focus on calls that move revenue or require empathy.

It picks up on tone and frustration, then routes customers to a person before the situation escalates. This matters most when:

• The purchase is high-value and shoppers want to hear a voice
• Your team is buried during peak season
• You need a reliable fallback when chat and email queues are full

How to use AI for customer support to improve speed and sales

Getting the most from AI requires a strategic approach that is both efficient and beneficial to your bottom line. Start by analyzing your support data to find the highest-volume, most repetitive questions, then build automated workflows to resolve them.

What to consider before implementing AI for customer support

Success with AI requires planning around several key areas that affect both performance and customer trust.

Protect customer data and privacy

AI systems process sensitive customer information, so security is critical. Choose platforms that comply with privacy regulations like GDPR and have strong security certifications.

Be transparent with customers about how you use their data. This builds trust and ensures you meet legal requirements in all the markets where you sell.

Read more: Should brands disclose AI in customer interactions? A guide for CX leaders

Maintain brand voice and accuracy

Your AI must sound like your brand in every interaction. Train the AI on your specific brand voice, style, and terminology so responses feel authentic to your customers.

Set up guardrails to prevent off-brand or incorrect responses. Create a process for monitoring conversations and making corrections when needed.

Measure time to value and ROI

Define success metrics before you start. Identify which numbers you want to improve, like response time or cost per ticket, and establish baseline measurements.

Track both cost savings and revenue generation to calculate your full return on investment (ROI). This helps justify the investment and guide future improvements.

Align people, process, and workflow

AI works best when it complements your human team, not replaces them. Plan for change management and train agents on working alongside AI.

Redesign your workflows to create smooth handoffs between AI and human agents. This ensures customers get consistent service regardless of who helps them.

How to get started with AI for customer support

If you’re ready to go all in with AI, you don’t need to complete overhaul your support operations. 

Follow this practical roadmap to see value quickly while building toward more advanced capabilities:

1. Analyze your ticket data to identify automation opportunities
2. Define success metrics and ROI targets
3. Choose an AI platform built for ecommerce
4. Run a pilot with one high-volume use case like order tracking
5. Expand based on pilot results and learnings

How to choose an AI platform for customer support

Not all AI platforms work well for ecommerce brands. Focus on solutions built specifically for online retail with deep integrations into your existing tech stack.

Look for platforms that connect natively to Shopify, your shipping providers, and other essential tools. Strong API capabilities let you build custom workflows for unique business needs.

Consider these essential features:

• Ecommerce integrations: Native connections to your order management, shipping, and customer data systems
• Brand customization: Ability to train AI on your specific voice, policies, and product information
• Performance tracking: Clear reporting on AI effectiveness, resolution rates, and revenue impact
• Scalability: Handles peak season traffic without performance degradation
• Vendor expertise: Deep understanding of ecommerce support challenges and best practices

Pay attention to total cost of ownership beyond subscription fees. Factor in implementation time, training requirements, and ongoing maintenance needs.

Support your support team with AI

The brands winning with AI start with clear goals, choose the right platform, and focus on delivering value to customers while improving operational efficiency.

Book a demo with Gorgias to see how AI can transform your support operations and drive more revenue from every conversation.

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TL;DR:

• Suggestion turns browsing into buying by gently guiding action instead of forcing it.
• Fewer, clearer choices reduce decision fatigue and help shoppers move forward with confidence.
• A well-timed prompt with a friendly tone can make automation feel like a real conversation.
• Good design earns trust by being subtle, approachable, and easy to engage with.
• Small, thoughtful cues create moments of connection that make shoppers feel understood.

Shopping today isn’t a linear funnel. It’s a fluid conversation. Browse → question → help → buy → return → repeat.

Every step is a dialogue between the shopper’s intent and the brand’s response. 

But what bridges the gap between “just looking” and “I’m buying” isn’t persuasion or urgency — it’s suggestion: the subtle design, timing, and language cues that guide action without forcing it.

When done well, suggestion becomes the architecture of trust. It’s also the best way to make AI-powered experiences feel human-first, not tech-first.

This article explores how the power of suggestion — rooted in behavioral psychology and UX design — shapes modern conversational commerce. 

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Why suggestion matters in the age of conversational commerce

The average ecommerce shopper faces thousands of micro-decisions from the moment they land on a site. Which product? Which variant? Which review to trust? Which shipping method? Each one adds cognitive weight.

Psychologist Barry Schwartz coined the term The Paradox of Choice to describe how abundance often leads to paralysis. In his research, participants faced with too many options were less likely to make a choice and less satisfied when they did.

In ecommerce, that means overload costs conversions. When shoppers must evaluate too many variables, they hesitate, second-guess, or abandon.

Shoppers today expect empathy and ease, not persuasion. When you suggest rather than push, you signal empathy and support.

This is especially important for conversational commerce. Suggestion humanizes automation by making AI interactions feel like conversations rather than transactions.

When you push and persuade, you create a memorable experience for customers — but it’s not the kind you want them to remember.

One Reddit thread perfectly captures the problem: a user tried to cancel their Thrive Market membership and had to ask nine times before the chatbot complied.

Each time, the AI assistant tried to talk them out of it (offering deals, guilt-tripping responses, or irrelevant messages) until the customer’s frustration boiled over.

The thread exploded not just because it was mildly infuriating, but because it illustrated what customers fear most about automation: a lack of empathy.

Suggestion is how you design for trust, ease, and interaction. And for ecommerce and CX professionals, suggestion bridges browsing and buying by prompting dialogue in a gentle, psychologically sound way.

5 ways to use suggestion with agentic AI

The magic of suggestion is that it works with human psychology, not against it. It bridges the space between what a shopper wants to do and what helps them do it.

That’s the foundation of the Fogg Behavior Model, developed by Stanford’s Dr. BJ Fogg. The model states that behavior happens when three things intersect:

1. Motivation — the user wants to do something.
2. Ability — they can do it easily.
3. Prompt — they’re nudged at the right moment.

When these three align, the likelihood of action skyrockets.

In conversational commerce, suggestion is the gentle push that turns intent into interaction.

Below are five ways to apply suggestion with agentic AI (think chat, assistants, and marketing tools) to drive trust, dialogue, and conversion.

1. Build trust with a friendly invitation

A first impression shapes the entire interaction.

A greeting like “Need help?” or “Looking for something special?” signals availability without applying pressure. It’s the digital equivalent of a store associate smiling and saying, “Let me know if you need anything.”

This works because of linguistic framing, which is a form of persuasive language that subtly shapes how people interpret intent.

• Sentences using personal pronouns (“you,” “we”) increase perceived warmth and empathy.
• Questions (vs. imperatives) activate a conversational schema in the brain, inviting a cooperative response.
• Short, low-stakes phrasing signals that engagement is voluntary.

In practice, this means:

• Replace “Start chat now” with “Need a hand finding the right fit?”
• Use punctuation and tone cues that convey friendliness.
• Let the chat invite linger rather than pop up suddenly — this gives users agency.

Take a look at Glamnetic. Its shopping assistant sits at the bottom-right corner of every page. While shoppers scroll on the homepage, a prompt appears: “Shop with AI.” It’s transparent about being an AI chat, but subtle enough to be there for shoppers when they’re ready to use it at their own leisure. 

Gorgias Shopping Assistant is an easy way to do this. At the right moment, Shopping Assistant appears with a greeting such as “Need help?” or “Chat with our AI!” It’s friendly, low-pressure, optional, more “Hey I’m here if you need” than “Buy now!”

2. Make decisions easier by offering fewer choices

If you’ve ever scrolled through 80 product filters and given up, you’ve experienced choice overload. This is the Paradox of Choice in action: 

More options = higher cognitive effort = lower satisfaction.

Suggestion works because it reduces mental effort. When an AI assistant limits quick-reply options to just a few (say, “Long sleeve,” “Short sleeve,” “Sleeveless”), it transforms chaos into clarity.

Each small tap provides forward momentum, a concept known as the goal-gradient effect: the closer we feel to completing a goal, the faster and more positively we act.

How can you apply this to agentic AI? 

• Keep quick replies between 3–5 choices — enough to feel personalized, not overwhelming.
• Present them as progressive steps, not isolated decisions (e.g., “Show me styles” → “Show me colors” → “Add to cart”).
• Always include a “Something else” or “Other” option to preserve user autonomy.
• Refresh options dynamically based on prior selections — a technique known as choice scaffolding.

Gorgias’s Shopping Assistant does this well, surfacing only the most relevant next steps. Instead of forcing open-ended typing, it guides shoppers through mini-decisions that build confidence. Here’s an example from Okanui, showing four clear options to reply to Shopping Assistant.

3. Encourage interaction with a user-friendly design 

Before a shopper reads a single word of text, their brain has already judged whether your interface feels safe to engage with.

That’s the Aesthetic–Usability Effect — when people perceive something as visually appealing, they assume it will be easier and more trustworthy to use.

Design psychologist Don Norman put it best: “Attractive things work better because they make people feel better.”

Here’s why visual subtlety matters:

• Rounded edges and soft shapes signal continuity and friendliness (the human brain associates curves with safety; sharp angles with danger).
• Muted palettes and neutral contrast lower visual stress, allowing the interface to fade into the background until needed.
• Micro-animations — like a gentle glow or slide-in — trigger attention without hijacking focus.
• Minimizable elements give users a sense of control, reducing resistance to engagement.

OSEA’s product description page is a beautiful example of unintrusive design in action. The buttons have rounded edges, the 10% offer isn’t covering other page elements, and the chat sits in the bottom-right corner, making it easily accessible if a shopper has questions about the product.

4. Match your timing to the customer’s pace

Timing is everything in suggestion-based design. Even the most thoughtful interaction will fail if it appears at the wrong moment.

That’s where the Fogg Behavior Model becomes tactical: Behavior = Motivation × Ability × Prompt

When shoppers are motivated (interested in a product) and able (engaging is easy), a well-timed prompt (chat bubble, message, or offer) turns potential into action.

But mistime it, and you risk the opposite. A chat that appears too early feels like spam. Too late, and the user’s interest window closes.

Here’s how to align the timing sweet spot:

• Use behavioral triggers: Fire prompts after meaningful engagement (e.g., 25–30 seconds on a product page, reaching 70% scroll depth, or idling for 15 seconds).
• Match prompt to context: Offer size guidance on apparel pages, warranty info near checkout, or live help on return pages.
• Respect frequency: One well-placed nudge beats five redundant ones.
• Localize timing: Adjust based on device and location. Mobile users often need faster cues due to shorter browsing sessions.

Gorgias Shopping Assistant does all of the above. Using context — such as the current page, conversational context, and cart behavior — helps the AI trigger prompts like “Need help choosing a size?” or “Have questions about shipping?”

5. Aim to educate, reassure, or inspire — not just sell

Every small suggestion — a phrase, a button shape, a pause, a tone — creates what behavioral economists call a moment of micro-trust.

Individually, these moments may feel insignificant. But together, they turn a static interface into a relationship.

When greeting, choices, design, and timing align, conversation becomes the natural outcome — not the goal. That’s what conversational commerce gets right: it reframes success from “did they convert?” to “did they connect?”

For CX teams, this shift requires designing for the emotional continuity of the experience:

• Did each prompt respect the shopper’s autonomy?
• Did the interaction feel like a two-way exchange?
• Did the system adapt to intent rather than dictate it?

We love this example from Perry Ellis to drive this tip home:

Designing for trust in an age of AI

As AI continues to shape how people shop, brands face a choice: Design for control, or design for trust.

Suggestion is the path to the latter.

The right cue, delivered at the right time, reminds people that even in automated spaces, there’s still room for empathy and understanding.

Gorgias was built on the belief that great commerce starts with conversation, not conversion.

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TL;DR:

• AI Agent is getting more accurate every month: It’s improved 14.9% this year thanks to better LLMs, constant updates, and user feedback.
• It writes more correctly than most humans: With a 4.77/5 language score, it’s nailing grammar, tone, and clarity better than human agents.
• It’s empathetic, too: AI Agent now shows more empathy and listens better than human agents.
• Brands are gaining confidence fast: Quality scores jumped from 57% to 85% in just a few months, and CX teams are noticing.
• Customers are almost as happy with AI as with humans: AI Agent’s CSAT is just 0.6 points shy of human agents’ average CSAT.

Handing trust over to AI can be intimidating. One off-brand reply and you undo the reputation and customer loyalty you’ve worked so hard to build. 

That’s why we’ve made accuracy our top priority with Gorgias AI Agent.

For the past year, the Gorgias team has been hard at work fulfilling the pressing  demand for accuracy and speed. AI Agent is getting smarter, faster, and more reliable, and merchants and their customers are happier with the output. 

Here’s the data.

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AI Agent delivers more accurate answers than ever

This year, AI Agent’s accuracy rose from 3.55 to 4.08 out of 5, a 14.9% improvement from January. This average score is based on CX agents' ratings of AI Agent responses in the product, on a scale of 1 to 5.

In the past year, we’ve improved knowledge retrieval, added new integrations, expanded reporting features, and asked for more feedback in-product.

We saw the steadiest leap in July, right after the release of GPT-5. AI Agent began reaching levels of consistency and accuracy that agents could trust.

AI Agent writes with more linguistic precision than humans

Clear, easy-to-understand language helps people trust what they’re reading. Website Planet found that 85% more visitors bounced from a page when typos were present. That’s why we’ve made it a priority for AI Agent to respond to customers with correct grammar, syntax, and tone of voice. 

The efforts have paid off: AI Agent scores a high 4.77 out of 5 in language proficiency compared to 4.4 for human agents. The result is error-free messages that are easy to read and consistent with your brand vocabulary.

AI Agent shows that empathy can be scaled

Accuracy isn’t just about saying the right thing; it’s also about how a message lands. For that reason, we track AI Agent’s communication quality. Did it reply with empathy? Did it exhibit active listening and respond with clear phrasing?

Recently, AI Agent is even scoring slightly above humans with 4.48 out of 5 in communication, compared to 4.27. This means AI Agent captures the nuance of every message by considering the background context and acknowledging customer frustration before it gives customers a solution. 

AI Agent resolves every part of a customer’s question

What happens when a ticket ends without a clear answer? Customers feel neglected and leave the chat still unsure. This can make your brand look out of touch, leaving customers with the lingering feeling that you don’t care.

But don’t worry, we built AI Agent to close that loop every time: AI Agent’s resolution completeness score sits at a perfect 1 out of 1, compared to 0.99 out of 1 for human agents. 

In practice, this means customers feel cared for and understood, while your team receives fewer follow-ups, giving them more time to focus on strategic, high-priority tasks.

Read more: A guide to resolution time: How to measure and lower it

Brand confidence is on the rise

Building a great product is a two-way conversation between our engineers and the people who use it. We listen, review feedback, ship changes, and measure what improves.

From January to November 2025, AI Agent quality rose from about 57% to 85%. August was the first big step up, and September kept climbing. Brands are seeing fewer low-quality or incorrect answers and more steady decisions.

This is proof that merchants and their shoppers are witnessing the improvements we’ve been making, for the better.

Related: The engineering work that keeps Gorgias running smoothly

Shoppers are rating AI support almost as high as human support

At the end of the day, what matters is how customers feel when they talk to support. Do they trust the answer? Do they find it helpful? Are they running into more friction with AI than without it?

Our data shows that customers are appreciating AI assistance more and more. Since the start of 2025, AI Agent on live chat has gotten a CSAT score 40% closer to the average CSAT of human agents. For email, the gap has narrowed by about 8%.

The goal is to eventually achieve a gap of zero. At this point, AI’s support quality is indistinguishable from that of humans. To get there, we’re focusing on practical improvements like accuracy, clear language, complete answers, and better handoff rules.

How we measure CSAT gap: The CSAT gap is calculated by subtracting AI CSAT from human CSAT. When the number is closer to zero, AI is catching up. When it’s negative, AI is still below human results.

Reliable AI interactions start with accuracy

Behind every accurate AI reply is a team that cares about the details. AI Agent doesn’t make up answers—it follows what you teach it. The more effort your team puts into maintaining an up-to-date Help Center and Guidance, the better the customer experience becomes.

As we look ahead to 2026, we’re focused on fine-tuning knowledge retrieval logic, refining Guidance rules, and continuously learning from feedback from you and your customers.

We’re proud of the strides AI Agent continues to make, and can’t wait for more brands to experience the accuracy for themselves.

Want to see how AI Agent delivers exceptional accuracy without sacrificing speed? Book a demo or start a trial today.

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TL;DR:

• Fast ≠ good. Chasing faster replies without accuracy or empathy leads to frustrated customers, burned-out agents, and declining CSAT.
• Speed-only AI backfires. Quick but wrong responses damage trust and increase ticket volume.
• Train your AI like a new hire. The best results come when AI learns your tone, workflows, and policies—not when it’s treated as plug-and-play.
• Balance speed with quality. Brands like Boody, Cocorico, and TUSHY show that when AI is trained thoughtfully, teams can scale automation and keep the human touch.
• Adopt an accuracy-first mindset. The future of CX belongs to brands that prioritize reliability, empathy, and consistency over being the fastest.

Speed gets all the glory in customer support. The faster the reply, the happier the customer. That’s not always true. When CX teams chase response times at the expense of accuracy or empathy, they often end up with the opposite effect. Frustrated customers, burned-out agents, and slipping CSAT are common when speed is the only priority.

As more teams adopt AI tools that promise instant results, the risk grows. Quick responses mean nothing if they’re wrong or robotic. 

In this post, we’ll unpack why “fast” doesn’t always mean “good” and how an accuracy-first approach to AI leads to better support, and stronger customer relationships in the long run.

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The speed trap: why CX teams fall for it

Response time has become the go-to measure of “good” support. Dashboards light up green when messages are answered in seconds, and teams celebrate shaved-down handle times. 

But focusing on speed alone can create a dangerous blind spot.

When “fast” becomes the only KPI that matters, CX leaders make speed-at-all-costs decisions. They may roll out untrained AI tools, overuse canned replies, or push agents to close tickets before solving real problems.

On paper, the metrics look great. In reality, customer sentiment quietly drops.

It’s no surprise that 86% of consumers say empathy and human connection matter more than a quick response when it comes to excellent customer experience. 

Fast support might satisfy your dashboard, but thoughtful, accurate service is what satisfies your customers.

Pitfall #1: Maximizing speed and sacrificing quality

A chatbot replies instantly, but gives the wrong answer. The customer follows up again, frustrated. Now your ticket volume has doubled, your agents are backlogged, and the customer’s confidence in your brand has dropped.

That’s the hidden cost of speed-first support. When teams prioritize quick replies over correct ones, CSAT falls, costs rise, and trust erodes. Customers remember the experience, not the timestamp.

They want to feel understood and confident that their issue is solved. A fast reply that misses the mark doesn’t deliver reassurance, empathy, or clear next steps. It’s not speed they value. It’s resolution, accuracy, and a sense that someone genuinely cared enough to get it right. 

Bad AI answers sting more than slow ones because they feel careless. Especially when they repeat the same mistakes. Accuracy builds credibility; speed without it breaks it.

How Boody delivers high-quality replies while maintaining speed

Boody, for example, found the balance. With AI trained on their tone of voice and workflows, they reduced response times from hours to seconds while maintaining a high CSAT score and freeing agents for meaningful work. 

The bamboo apparel brand uses Gorgias AI Agent to reassure the customer that someone is on the way to help, especially for urgent situations. It’s been instrumental in collecting preliminary information for more nuanced situations, like photos and product numbers for warranty claims.

As Boody’s CX Manager, Myriam Ferraty, explained the key is using AI to provide instant low-effort answers when customers need a prompt response. 

“If a customer reaches out about product feedback or issues, AI Agent prompts the customer to give us all the information we need. When an agent gets to the ticket, they can jump into solution mode right away.” —Myriam Ferraty, CX Manager at Boody

Boody found a way to avoid the “fast but frustrating” trap by pairing speed with quality, and the numbers prove it:

• 99.88% faster first-response times: Boody’s AI Agent reduced average response times from 7 hours to just 31 seconds.
• 9+ hours shorter resolution times: Within one month of implementation, resolution times dropped significantly while accuracy stayed high.
• 26% of all interactions handled by AI: Their AI agent took on repetitive queries, freeing human agents for higher-value conversations.
• 10% revenue lift from support: With agents focused on community engagement and brand experience, customer interactions began driving measurable revenue.

These results show what happen when CX teams train AI thoughtfully, it can becomes a trusted extension of the support team, instead of only increasing speed booster.

Takeaway: Fast and good is possible, but only when your AI is trained, guided, and measured for precision, not just speed.

Read more: How CX leaders are actually using AI: 6 must-know lessons

Pitfall #2: Treating AI as plug-and-play

Many CX teams expect AI to “just work” out of the box. They install a shiny new tool, flip the switch, and hope it starts solving tickets overnight. But AI isn’t a magic button. It’s a new team member. And like any new hire, it needs training, context, and feedback to perform well.

Untrained AI can quickly go off-script. It might give inconsistent answers, slip into the wrong tone, or worse, hallucinate information altogether. The consequences are confused customers, damaged trust, and more cleanup work for your human agents.

AI performs best when it’s trained on your brand voice, policies, and knowledge base. The best CX teams don’t settle for default settings or cookie-cutter templates. They invest time to train their AI. That’s what turns it from a generic chatbot into a genuine brand representative.

How Cocorico’s well-trained AI led to customer trust (and laughter)

Cocorico, a French fashion brand, shows what this looks like in practice. Instead of setting AI loose, their team invested time in teaching it how to communicate naturally and on-brand. Within just a few months, they achieved:

• 48% automation rate, handling nearly half of all customer requests.
• 22-second average first-response time, without losing personalization.

At first, Cocorico’s Ecommerce Manager, Margaux Pourrain, admitted she was hesitant to trust AI, “We were apprehensive about launching AI. On the technical side, I thought, ‘Would the AI respond professionally? Would it respond appropriately? Could it create more work by requiring constant verification?’ On the customer experience side, I was nervous it would feel impersonal.”

Her doubts didn’t last long. Once trained on Cocorico’s workflows and brand tone, AI transformed how the team engaged with customers, “AI Agent responds so personally that customers often don’t realize they’re talking to AI. We’ve even seen customers interacting playfully and joking around with Maurice.”

Takeaway: With proper training and oversight, AI can become a trusted teammate that enhances customer experience rather than diluting it.

Read more: How AI Agent works & gathers data

Pitfall #3: Losing the human touch

When CX teams chase faster replies above all else, it’s easy to forget that great support involves connection. Agents and AI start focusing on closing tickets instead of solving problems.

Speed-only goals create fast but flat experiences that technically help customers but don’t feel human.

Over-automation can strip away the warmth and personality that make a brand memorable. Customers might get an answer in seconds, but if it lacks empathy or context, trust takes a hit. Research supports that brands that prioritize emotional intelligence in support interactions see stronger loyalty and retention rates.

How TUSHY keeps their AI playful, not robotic 

TUSHY, the bidet brand known for its witty tone, took a more thoughtful approach to automation. With Gorgias Shopping Assistant, pre-sale questions about compatibility, installation, and recommendations are handled automatically. This frees up human agents to focus on relationship-building conversations.

As Ren Fuller-Wasserman, TUSHY’s Senior Director of Customer Experience, explained, keeping conversations authentic was central to their approach:

“Too often, a great interaction is diminished when a customer feels reduced to just another transaction. With AI, we let the tech handle the selling, unabashedly, if needed, so our future customers can ask anything, even the questions they might be too shy to bring up with a human. In the end, everybody wins!”

That human touch has paid off. TUSHY’s Shopping Assistant mirrors their playful brand voice and delivers real results:

• +20% increase in chat conversion rate overall
• 81% higher conversion rate compared with human agents
• 13× ROI from the Shopping Assistant investment

“Shopping Assistant has been a game-changer for our team, especially with the launch of our latest bidet models,” Fuller-Wasserman said. “Expanding our product catalog has given customers more choices than ever, which can overwhelm first-time buyers. Now, they’re increasingly looking to us for guidance on finding the right fit for their home and personal hygiene needs.”

Takeaway: Automation shouldn’t erase your brand’s humanity, it should amplify it. When AI is trained to reflect your tone and values, it can boost both efficiency and emotional connection.

The smarter path forward: accuracy-first AI

The future of customer support doesn’t involve being the fastest. Instead it means being the most reliable. Accuracy-first AI reframes automation from a race to respond into a strategy to build trust.

When customers get the right answer, in the right tone, every time, they’re more likely to stay loyal, even if it takes a few seconds longer.

So what does accuracy-first AI actually look like?

• Starts with training and clear guardrails: Like any new team member, your AI needs onboarding. These guardrails include context, escalation rules, and examples of what “great” looks like.
• Learns from past tickets and feedback: Continuous improvement keeps your AI sharp and aligned with evolving customer expectations.
• Reflects your tone and knowledge base: Every response should sound like you, not a generic script.
• Complements instead of replaces human agents: AI should take the repetitive load so humans can focus on empathy, problem-solving, and connection.

Accuracy-first AI is a mindset shift. Teams that treat AI as a coachable teammate, not a plug-and-play tool, will unlock faster resolutions and higher CSAT in the long run.

Read more: Coach AI Agent in one hour a week: SuitShop’s guide 

Build for accuracy, instead of speed

Speed might win you a customer’s attention, but accuracy is what earns their trust. Fast replies mean little if they’re wrong, off-brand, or robotic. The real differentiator in modern CX isn’t how quickly you respond, it’s how effectively you resolve issues and make customers feel understood.

AI should enhance your team’s expertise, not replace it. Train it on your tone, coach it like a new hire, and measure it on quality as much as efficiency.

The brands that will thrive in the AI era won’t always be the fastest. They’ll be the most reliable, human, and consistent. 

Looking for AI-led support that’s fast and human? Book a demo with Gorgias to see how accuracy-first automation can elevate your support.

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TL;DR:

• Happy agents lead to better CX outcomes. When agents genuinely enjoy using their platform, it boosts productivity, morale, and customer satisfaction.‍
• Gorgias makes agents’ lives easier. CX teams at Glossier, Tommy John, and Brunt Workwear unanimously preferred Gorgias over legacy systems.‍
• AI helps teams scale without losing the human touch. By handling basic inquiries, AI gives agents more time for high-impact conversations and personalized support
• Agent satisfaction drives business impact. Brands saw improved team efficiency, reduced operational friction, and revenue gains from more focused, empowered agents.

Everyone talks about how important it is for your ecommerce tools to drive business growth, boost productivity, and deliver a high return on investment. But the equally important (yet often overlooked) third layer is how a tool affects the people using it day-to-day. 

The hidden costs of sticking to the CX status quo

The moment CX and ecommerce leaders start noticing slipping KPIs, frustrated agents, or rising support costs, they ask themselves a question, “Is it time to look for something new?” Sticking with the same tool might seem easier — no demos, evaluations, migrations, onboarding, or retraining involved. 

But ignoring the shortcomings of your current CX platform can snowball into larger issues over time. 

When CX agents don’t like the platform they’re working in daily, bigger problems arise:

• Agent productivity declines 
• Morale and employee retention suffer
• Operational costs rise
• Customer experience takes a hit
• Poor data and reporting if agents aren’t using tags or ticket fields correctly

Beyond the thousands of dollars saved in operational costs or hours saved per ticket, Gorgias helps CX agents focus on what they do best — creating the best customer experience possible. 

When a platform makes agents’ lives easier, they have more time to focus on the moments that matter, like proactively reaching out to VIPs, sending surprise birthday gifts, or empathetically handling nuanced tickets. Not to mention, they enjoy doing it. 

At our annual customer conference, Gorgias Connect, we asked three CX leaders to share their experiences using Gorgias. Aside from the impressive FRTs and CX-generated revenue metrics, one theme stood out — they all mentioned how much their agents enjoyed using Gorgias. 

Glossier’s agents have more time to be expert product consultants 

Emily Weiss first launched a beauty blog and community, Into the Gloss, in 2010 as a space dedicated to sharing real information, advice, and tips with real people. 

This laid the groundwork for Glossier, launching in 2014 with a fresh “skin first, makeup second” philosophy. Amidst the “full glam” era of makeup defined by smoky eyes and bold lips, Glossier’s skincare-oriented approach disrupted the norm. 

From the beginning, Glossier has attracted a strong community thanks to its products designed based on community feedback and its social media presence. Today, more than a decade later, the brand has evolved, but its core principles have stayed the same.

As a customer-obsessed beauty brand, it’s no surprise that Glossier takes a thoughtful approach to customer experience. 

We sat down with Cati Brunell-Brutman, Head of CX at Glossier, to dive into how the team uses Gorgias to make their lives easier while creating better relationships with customers. 

Glossier’s proactive approach to customer experience

How do you approach customer experience at Glossier?

I always like saying customer experience vs. customer service because I think customer service feels like we’re just solving problems in a transactional way. Customer experience is proactive and involves looking at the entire customer journey. 

Our team interacts with customers from the moment they first land on the website to when they become repeat users of a product, and eventually, when they become subscribers. There are many opportunities along the way for our team to connect with people, engage in conversations, and make complementary product recommendations. 

This was what our founder really wanted this team to be—beauty editors. Everyone on the CX team is an editor (or a product expert), making curated recommendations. My vision for our CX team is to give them more time to lean into that. 

Simplifying workflows with AI to empower agents

What are you doing differently now to make sure that your team and your business are more resilient? 

My motto for the year is simplify and automate. I don't want anyone on my team to spend their whole day in a Google spreadsheet. So I’m asking questions like, ‘What can I automate? How can I connect tools?’

I really look to my team, especially the newer members, for this, and encourage them to ask, 'Why do we do this?' Because if the answer is because we've always done it that way, that's not a good enough answer for me. 

I’m focusing on finding those moments to simplify things so that the team can concentrate on impactful work, such as creating connections and engaging with people. That’s what I really want my team to focus on because it’s what brings value to their work, our customers, and the brand. 

How did your team react when you switched to Gorgias from your previous platform? 

We actually had our agents weigh in on this. We showed them demos of all the platforms we were considering and had them attend the meetings to speak with the teams. 

Then, we ran a poll in Slack and asked the team, ‘If you were making this decision, what platform would you choose?’ All of the agents unanimously voted for Gorgias. So, we’re definitely fans. 

How has implementing AI into your CX strategy affected the team?

Throughout the industry, I think people are concerned that there’s going to be a transition to a state where CX is 100% AI, everybody is going to lose their jobs, and customers won’t be able to talk to a person. 

But as we've implemented AI at Glossier, we’ve maintained the same team size as when we first started. We just have so much more automation of things like with WISMO tickets, returns, exchanges, and basic tickets that we don’t need a human to answer with macros for six hours straight. 

Deeper human-to-human connections powered by better tools

With the additional capacity, what can your team now focus on?

The team is actually able to do more work because they're not dealing with an antiquated technical system, which makes their jobs easier and also saves us money in the long run.

Now, our agents can perform tasks that actually require a human. AI can send out tracking links, and people can do the people work. 

We receive a lot of questions about our products, like how to use them or specific recommendations. And that's when we want a person to sit down, look at the customer’s selfie, and do a shade match. Then our editors can ask follow-up questions about what the shopper is looking for and why. 

What makes your agents unique, and how does Gorgias help support them?

One of the things that I really love about Glossier is that our editors — our agents — are people, and we have customers who know them by name. 

It’s really unique, and they’re almost like internet celebrities within our community. I'll go to our Reddit page and see customers posting screenshots of their conversations with our agents, and other customers will reply saying ‘Oh my gosh, yes!’ or ‘They helped me too!’ 

Customers will DM us things like ‘This editor recommended a lipstick for me. It was great, I love it. Can that person recommend a blush for me as well?’ 

Being able to aggregate all those conversations across social media DMs, emails, and chats in one place is invaluable.

Where would your team be without Gorgias? 

Having a really bad time in Gmail.

Tommy John found that Gorgias was the perfect fit for its CX team

In 2008, Tom Patterson was a medical salesperson frustrated with ill-fitting undershirts. This problem he faced every day was the catalyst for him to found Tommy John, a dual-gender underwear, loungewear, and apparel company. 

Tommy John launched with its flagship product, the Stay-Tucked Undershirt, to solve Tom’s initial struggle that he knew other customers were also facing. Fast-forward a few years, and Tommy John expanded into more categories with innovative underwear product lines 

Customer comfort has always been the main priority for Tommy John, embedded in everything from product design to its Best Pair Guarantee. The CX team is responsible for maintaining a customer experience that is just as smooth and seamless as the products they're buying. 

Max Wallace, CX Director at Tommy John, shared his experience migrating from a legacy platform to Gorgias and how it impacted his team. 

The search for a platform that supported both customers and agents

What motivated you to find a new platform? 

We knew we had to seriously explore other options when we were assigned yet another Customer Success Manager on our former platform after having gone through several in a short span. It felt like we were starting from scratch every time, which made it challenging to elevate our CX alongside such a critical partner.

We wanted to do right by our customers and our agents, ensuring they had the reporting and tools they needed, plus more. Gorgias really offered all of those things.

What was most important to you and your team when evaluating helpdesks? 

We didn’t want anything that was reinventing the wheel. One platform we looked at wasn’t doing the agents justice by only allowing them to view their own tickets. 

We really wanted our agents to have a holistic understanding of the volume we’re receiving, which Gorgias provides. Now they have this fleshed-out understanding of every customer interaction, and that’s been a game-changer. They’ve been loving it.

Gorgias gave agents the tools they needed to thrive 

How has Gorgias impacted agent productivity and impact? 

We have definitely seen greater speed and productivity.  Even something as simple as macro suggestions has helped steer new agents in the right direction. That’s going to be huge during peak seasons, like BFCM. 

And the fact that agents can move seamlessly between conversations without losing context means they’re handling more interactions, faster, with less frustration. They feel confident in their workflows, rather than being bogged down in repetitive tasks.

Within two months, using Gorgias’s AI Agent has enabled agents to minimize time-consuming manual tasks and spend more time with high-intent customers, generating over $100,000 in sales. 

I’m confident Gorgias will help us achieve our goal of making selling and CX much more integrated. We do want to reward our team for their efforts in driving sales, and we can track conversion rates per agent in Gorgias.

Why was voice integration such a priority for your team?

Before, our agents didn’t have visibility into previous phone calls that other agents had taken. I can't tell you how many times there has been confusion regarding what's going on with the customer because our agents did not have visibility into the customer’s history. We’d have to pull the call recording, pass it along, and by then, the customer would have already been waiting.

So it was essential for us to find a helpdesk that we could use voice with. Now with Gorgias Voice, agents can look back in the timeline, listen to the call, or even read a transcript or AI-generated summary. That’s just been amazing, and they’re loving that. 

Tying revenue back to call tickets, where most of our upselling and cross-selling happens, has been another huge win.

Tommy John’s agents unanimously prefer Gorgias

How did agents react after the switch?

The number one thing that validates that we made the right decision is that our agents truly love Gorgias.

Two weeks after going live, we asked, ‘Do you feel you will be more efficient working in Gorgias than our previous platform?’ And it was unanimous — Gorgias, completely. And this was just two weeks in, with everyone still getting their feet wet. 

We sent out a survey, and seeing every single person answer in favor of Gorgias told me everything I needed to know about how quickly the team was adapting and how much they preferred the platform.

What has been the CX team’s feedback after using Gorgias for a while? 

Gorgias has really paid off for our agents in terms of their efficiency. Being able to transition seamlessly from a phone call to a follow-up email with just one click is amazing. And having all of that in the timeline — phone calls, emails, chats — that can’t be beat. 

Brunt Workwear’s team stays engaged by helping more customers each day

Eric Girouard founded Brunt Workwear in 2019 to fill a gap in the market for comfortable, high-quality workwear for skilled tradespeople. He came from blue-collar roots himself, and many of his friends and family also work in the trades.

Eric started the company in his garage, focusing on direct-to-consumer sales. Brunt Workwear aims to create products that aren’t just for tradespeople, but are actually built by them.

The workwear brand incorporates a significant amount of customer feedback into the design process to create products that actually make their lives easier. Brunt Workwear’s commitment to its customers is even more evident in its product naming convention — each product is named after a specific tradesworker. 

When we spoke with Ruth Trieger, Director of Customer Experience, she shared how the CX team achieves its goal of making solutions as easy as possible for their busy customers — and why agent satisfaction can’t be overlooked.

How Brunt Workwear makes every customer feel at home

How do you think about the state of CX today?

The best retail or CX advice I’ve ever received is to think of everyone who walks into your store or visits your website as someone entering your home. For every visitor, you will do some basic things, such as taking their coat or offering them something to eat or drink. But if you truly want to make someone feel welcome, you’re going to meet them in a way that aligns with their preferences and makes them feel like they’re a part of something. 

When you make someone feel welcome, they build an emotional connection with a brand that far transcends any product. That’s a powerful thing. 

As I consider customer experience and the growth of AI, I realize there is a constant need to deliver fantastic experiences while using the right amount of resources. If you can do that while still creating a memorable experience, you have a customer for life.

Making life easier for customers and agents with an intuitive platform 

What is your goal when designing experiences for Brunt Workwear’s customers?

Our customer is very busy and very hardworking. They have very little spare time. So if or when something goes wrong, I encourage my team to think, ‘How can we make the solution as easy as possible?’ That’s our goal — to put ourselves in their shoes and reduce friction wherever we can. 

AI can handle repetitive questions, allowing our agents to jump in quickly when nuance or empathy is needed most. What matters is making sure we are there for customers in the moments that really count.

How does Gorgias help your team achieve these goals compared to previous platforms you’ve worked with?

I come from a customer service training background, and I am used to teams needing weeks to train someone on a platform. With Gorgias, I was able to navigate the system myself in very little time. 

As a young but fast-growing brand, we have to be very nimble and change things quickly. Gorgias enables us to do that with a level of ease I've never experienced in my career, so we’re really grateful for the platform. 

I love that our agents can interface with the platform in a way that is very easy, which is good for them. From a productivity and metrics standpoint, if they’re moving easily through a platform, I also know that means they’re able to accomplish more touchpoints with our customers — more phone conversations, more emails, more chats. And that means we are helping more people. 

How does improved agent satisfaction tie back to business results?

At the end of the day, if you don’t have a happy, high-functioning team, you have literally nothing in all the world. We have a talented team, and the more customers they interact with, the more likely those people are to stay with the brand. So we see an increase in customer lifetime value when our agents can spend more time with our customers. 

Gorgias helps agents move from mountains of tickets to meaningful connections 

What additional opportunities does AI open up for your team?

AI is not replacing the human touch; it’s giving us more room to lean into it. It reduces friction so that CX agents can take on higher-value work like running close-the-loop programs, proactively reaching out on the phone, and answering faster. 

If a customer is asking, ‘Where is my order?’, I don’t need to take up an agent’s time with that because AI can get them a simple, fast answer. Then, when another customer needs somebody’s time, they’re there because that person isn’t answering a mountain of tickets. 

That’s the exciting part, AI handles the repetitive stuff, and our agents get to focus on making real connections. 

How has Gorgias enabled you to communicate the value of CX to the broader business internally? 

The reporting in Gorgias has allowed us to become a true strategic partner in the business. CX sees everything: what’s working, what’s not, and what customers are asking about. For every new product launch, every campaign, and every change, my team is on the front lines. With Gorgias’s reporting, we can bring that insight back to the rest of the organization and help shape smarter decisions.

What’s been cool is that we’re now part of the feedback loop in a much more meaningful way. Without Gorgias, we would not be able to add the same level of value as a strategic partner. That’s where I see our role continuing to shift — becoming more proactive, faster at serving customers, and a critical business function. 

At the end of the day, CX knows what’s working, what isn’t, and how customers are feeling. The more we vocalize that, the better off the entire company is.

Choose a CX platform that your CX team actually wants to use

Happy, empowered agents deliver the kind of experiences that keep customers loyal and businesses growing. 

Glossier, Tommy John, and Brunt Workwear show what’s possible when teams have a platform designed for them. More efficiency, more impact, and more human connections. Because when agents love their platform, everyone wins.

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TL;DR

• Conversational commerce builds trust. Real-time conversations replace static help pages with authentic interactions that drive confidence and loyalty.
• bareMinerals boosted conversions by 5%+ using Gorgias Shopping Assistant to guide shade matching in real time, and saw zero returns on AI-assisted purchases.
• Tommy John reduced wait times and grew revenue, automating post-purchase updates while freeing agents to focus on higher-value, relationship-driven support.
• Orthofeet and Arc’teryx proved conversations convert. Chat turned returns and product questions into loyalty- and revenue-building moments.

You’re seconds away from hitting “buy now,” but one last question nags at you: does this shade actually match my skin tone? You open a live chat, only to be met with a bot that pastes a help-center article. So you close the tab.

Today’s shoppers crave immediacy and authenticity. They expect real answers, not ticket numbers. Yet too many ecommerce brands still rely on static FAQs, delayed email replies, or chatbots that feel anything but conversational. The result is often missed sales, frustrated customers, and eroding loyalty.

Conversational commerce bridges that gap. By meeting customers where they are, in real time and on their terms, brands can turn every interaction into an opportunity to build confidence and connection.

In this post, we’ll explore how leading ecommerce brands use Gorgias to strengthen trust and loyalty through real-time conversations across the entire customer journey, from discovery to delivery and beyond.

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What is conversational commerce (and why it’s the future of ecommerce)

Conversational commerce is the blending of conversation and shopping. Instead of forcing customers to navigate pages, FAQs, or documents, brands engage shoppers in real time through natural, two-way dialogue. This usually takes place over:

• Chat
• SMS
• Social media DMs
• Voice assistants

Unlike traditional live chat, you meet customers wherever they are. Conversational commerce easily switches across channels (chat, SMS, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.) while preserving context, tone, and personalization. 

The goal is to make every interaction feel as natural as a text with a friend, but with the power to guide a purchase, resolve an issue, or suggest a product.

So, how are top brands putting conversational commerce into practice to build real trust? Let’s dive into four examples.

bareMinerals builds confidence to purchase with product guidance

Imagine browsing foundation shades late at night, unsure which one will suit your skin tone. That hesitation is often enough to make a shopper abandon their cart.

That was the challenge for bareMinerals. More than half of their incoming support tickets were product questions. Many of them were about shade matching, formulation updates, or discontinued SKUs.

They needed a way to replicate the helpfulness of a beauty advisor you can call on as you browse a store.

So bareMinerals brought in Shopping Assistant, an AI-powered virtual beauty consultant built to answer product-discovery questions in real time.

It integrates with their Shopify catalog (so it never suggests out-of-stock items), trained on the nuances of context, product benefits, and discontinued color conversions.

Here’s what happened within 30 days:

• Increased conversions: bareMinerals saw a 5%+ conversion uplift and a 5.5% increase in average order value (AOV).
• No returns: There were zero returns on AI-influenced purchases during that first month, even within a standard 30-day return window.
• Increased ROI: It generated 8.8x ROI and accounted for ~3.9% of gross merchandise volume (GMV).
• Happier customers: CSAT on AI-handled tickets outpaced human agents (AI: 5.0 vs. human: 4.6). Plus, bareMinerals’ CX team now reviews AI conversations to train human agents on phrasing, tone, upselling moves, and recognizing intent.

Takeaway: By offering real-time, contextual product guidance that mirrors an in-store consultant, bareMinerals eliminated guesswork, reduced returns, and strengthened trust before a single purchase is finalized.

Tommy John relieves post-purchase anxiety with instant order updates

One of the most anxiety-inducing moments for any shopper? Waiting for their order. Questions like “Has my order shipped yet?” or “Where’s my package?” often lead to multiple back-and-forth contacts, burdening support and testing customer patience.

Underwear brand Tommy John experienced this firsthand. Their CX team felt the strain of repetitive, predictable post-order questions, which could be better spent on complex cases. The team needed an automated fix without a huge lift, and so they adopted AI Agent.

AI Agent handled the bulk of their routine tickets, pulling from order data and pre-configured guidance to reply instantly without agent involvement.

See how AI Agent instantly jumped in to help a customer who needed to change their address:

The impact was immediate:

• Faster resolution times: Many customers receive real-time status updates without the wait time.
• Reduced ticket load: Agents no longer spend time on repetitive, low-value queries.
• More bandwidth for agents: Agents can focus on complex issues or proactive outreach.
• Revenue impact from support: Within just two months, support-driven sales from phone calls alone reached $106K+, with 20% of calls converting into purchases.
• Customer and team satisfaction: Average phone wait times dropped (~34% improvement), CSAT climbed, and agents unanimously preferred Gorgias over their legacy tools.

Takeaway: Post-purchase communication is a trust moment. Fast, accurate, and proactive responses reassure customers that their order matters.

Orthofeet maintains trust with a speedy returns process

Returns are often a brand’s biggest trust test. When a customer navigates through the hassle of a return, they’re watching closely: Is this going to be smooth and transparent, or frustrating and impersonal?

Orthofeet, a leading orthopedic footwear brand knew this too well. Before Gorgias, their CX stack was disjointed, a combination of Freshdesk, Dialpad, and outsourced chat. As they grew, this meant tickets piled up without central visibility. They needed a tool that gathered every piece of context in one place. 

That’s when they implemented AI Agent. As AI Agent handled tier-1 queries, like validating return eligibility under Orthofeet’s policy and directing customers to the returns portal, agents gained more time to focus on VIP customers, nuanced issues, and phone conversations.

The results were powerful:

• Automated workflow: They automated 56% of tickets in under two months, far exceeding their original target.
• Faster response times: Email first-response times dropped from ~24 hours to 35 seconds; chat FRT improved from minutes to 13 seconds.
• Stable headcount: The team could maintain high growth while keeping headcount stable, all while elevating service quality.
• Customers became AI champions: Customers embraced the AI-driven experience. One even sent a handwritten note praising their “friendly” and “helpful” AI.

Takeaway: Conversational commerce helps you blend technology and humanity to deliver scalable, emotionally resonant support. Even when things go wrong, a thoughtful conversational experience can repair, rather than erode, trust.

Arc’teryx increases conversions with personalized recommendations

Conversational commerce can create selling moments inside conversations you already have with shoppers. 

Arc’teryx, known for its technical outdoor gear, wanted to guide customers choosing between products like the Beta AR and Beta SL jackets. With Shopping Assistant, they turned real-time product questions into opportunities to upsell, cross-sell, and educate.

When shoppers linger on a page or ask for comparisons, the AI offers quick, tailored recommendations, suggesting the right jacket, complementary layers, or accessories. The result? More confident buyers and higher-value orders.

The results speak volumes:

• Increase in conversions: Arc’teryx achieved a 75% increase in conversion rate (from 4% to 7%) after rolling out Shopping Assistant.
• Influenced revenue: The tool influenced 3.7% of overall revenue, meaning conversations directly drove meaningful sales.
• Substantial ROI: They also saw 23x ROI on their AI Agent investment. 

Takeaway: Smart, conversational prompts transform everyday chats into meaningful sales moments,  proving support channels can drive revenue, not just resolve tickets.

Trust is the new conversion metric

Every conversation is a chance to earn (or lose) trust. Whether it’s helping a shopper find their perfect shade, tracking an order, or smoothing out a return, conversations can turn moments of uncertainty into opportunities for connection.

Brands like bareMinerals, Tommy John, Orthofeet, and Arc’teryx prove that conversational commerce builds stronger relationships, higher retention, and measurable revenue.

The future of ecommerce will revolve around conversations that create trust at every click.

If you want to see how Gorgias can bridge support and sales for you, book a demo today.

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