Introduction: Why automate your support?

Imagine a world where 30% of customer questions get answered instantly. Where your support agents never had to answer, “Where is my order?” or copy/paste your return policy again.

In this world, your support team also has 30% more time. And they can spend that time on complex questions, VIP interactions, and other high-impact projects.

Loop Earplugs, Nomad, RipSkirt Hawaii, Saigu, Tiger Mist, Shinesty, Glamnetic, Comfort One Shoes, and other leading CX brands live in that world — and you can, too!

Armed with Gorgias’s Automation Add-on, these brands implement strategic automation that delivers lightning-fast experiences to customers at a fraction of the time and cost.

We analyzed what made these brands successful and found three strategies that helped get the most out of the Automation Add-on. Then, we helped 30 other brands implement these strategies and found they reliably automated at least 30% of support interactions.

This playbook is full of data and examples from these brands, plus words of wisdom and inspiration from CX leaders.

"Monday used to be the hectic day. We were flooded with the influx of inquiries and we needed to keep up with everything. Now, shoppers have self-service options. They get their answers solved, even outside of business hours."

— Addison Debter, Head of Customer Service at Kirby Allison

Whether you're trying to maximize the impact of the Automation Add-on for your store or deciding whether it’s right for your team, this playbook will help. Even if you’re not on Gorgias, we’ll share some best practices you can implement to deflect your most repetitive tickets. 

Is 30% even that much?

Some other support tools indicate their AI-powered chatbots can automate 50%+ automation rate. So why should you be excited about 30%+?

First, those competitors only automate chat interactions. And the Automation Add-on actually does automates around 50% of chat interactions. 30% is the overall automation rate across all channels in Gorgias, including email, Help Center, Contact Form, phone, and so on — which those tools cannot automate at all. 

Second, those tools use AI to generate answers (like ChatGPT) for any and all incoming questions. We have tested this approach extensively and found it to be unreliable – around 30% of query handling was incorrect or wrong.

Generative AI improvises too much, which your businesses cannot afford. Many of our customers tried other tools, but tell us that other tools couldn’t achieve a similar automation rate to ours. 

Every AI and automation feature in Gorgias is set to work under clearly defined conditions so it’s reliable and consistent. With Gorgias, your team is in control of the answers your customer receives.

Why automate your support?

You’ve got a lot on your plate. Why is maximizing your support automation worth your time? Here are a few reasons. 

Improve CX with fast response and resolution times

Automated responses have 0-second response and resolution times. This is a major win for your customer experience: According to HubSpot research, 90% of customers say immediate responses to customer support issues are “important” or “very important.” 

If you can automate 30% of interactions, your overall response and resolution time drops by 30% — just like that. Plus, your agents can jump on the remaining tickets 30% sooner, improving the speed of your service even further. 

"I was very apprehensive about using automation. But we're really liking it! I've tested it out myself, as if I'm a customer, and it's really a smooth process."

— Caela Castillo, Director of Customer Experience at Jaxxon

The Automation Add-on helps us to provide better CX. It’s easier to get their answers without contacting us now, even if we try to answer really fast. What’s great too is that we have some shoppers that don’t want to contact us — and now they can find the answers to their questions whenever they want.

— Capucine Schahl, Customer Care Manager at Franklin Pet Food

Save on support costs

Humans are expensive. Our data shows that most agents spend about 5 hours per week on repetitive tickets. When you crunch the numbers, each ticket answered manually costs about $2.50. 

Don’t get us wrong: Human agents are an integral part of any customer service program. But they should spend their premium time on high-impact conversations that automation can’t answer — not copy/pasting order statuses over and over (and over). 

"If you're more efficient, you don't need to increase headcount. And your team is happier because they're not hitting the same roadblocks in their day-to-day work."

— Alex Turner, Customer Experience Manager at Ohh Deer

"We used to have 2 teams: one in Buenos Aires (7 people) and one in the Philippines (5 ppl) to cover all the time zones. We decided recently to shift our focus to North America, and thus part ways with the Philippines team. With all the automations with have set through Gorgias, and because our team in Buenos Aires has ramped up, we didn't have to hire back any extra agents."

— Shauna Cleary, Head of Ecommerce at Ekster

Prioritize high-impact and revenue-driving conversations

Brands with higher automation rates tend to drive more sales from support. Brands with at least 30% automation rates tend to generate around 8.7% of their companies' revenue, whereas brands that automate less than 5% of interactions only generate 4% of their company’s revenue. 

Why? When you automate repetitive customer requests, you have more time for high-impact conversations: complex issues, requests from VIP customers, and pre-sales questions.

“Now I have time to do other things. We’re proactively reaching out to our customers to ask how their experience was, how they learned about our brand (through Ads, Google Search, recommendations, etc.), and to propose other products and cross-sell. We even target unsubscribed shoppers with promo codes to get them back to Franklin Pet Food.”

— Capucine Schahl, Customer Care Manager at Franklin Pet Food

“Automating low-stakes, high-volume tickets lets my team focus on meaningful, personalized conversations and boosted our CSAT to 4.77.”

— Clara Zaoui, Head of CRM and Customer Care at Joone

Offer 24/7 support, even with a small team

Automation doesn’t sleep or take a lunch break. It can also handle 10 questions in an instant, instead of responding one at a time. If you have a global customer base or a small support team, automation is even more crucial. 

“Knowing they can reach us 24/7 is a huge thing for our customers, especially international customers. Because they want to get answers no matter what time it is.”

— Caela Castillo, Director of Customer Experience, Jaxxon

“Our peak seasons are Father's Day, then in November to December, with Black Friday and up to Christmas. With the Automation Add-on, my team is on top for the 3 most important months of the year. Also, the Automation Add-on absorbs big volumes of tickets, and my team answers our clients with more sincerity.”

— Shauna Clearly, Head of Ecommerce at Ekster