Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the biggest retail days in a year, for most businesses.

A good number of online businesses 11 months analyzing data, planning discounts, and building inventories just to prepare for the Thanksgiving week. One mistake many ecommerce businesses make is not paying enough attention to logistics.

During the Thanksgiving rush, a single mistake can throw off your entire supply chain. The holiday rush can get so hectic that last year, UPS hired more than 100,000 additional employees, in order to handle the anticipated increase parcel volume.

Seeing how order numbers are about to skyrocket during Black Friday, it’s important to prepare your business to handle it. 

If your business isn’t ready just yet, this blog post is for you. We’re going to cover:

• What can you do to make sure your store is prepared for BFCM
• The biggest logistic challenges your store will face during the holidays
• How to create a complete logistics plan in five easy-to-follow steps 

So let’s dive into it. 

How to Prepare Your Online Store for BFCM

During the holidays, the competition for consumers’ attention can be fierce. By the time Thanksgiving comes around, most store owners have already spent months developing BFCM marketing strategies and planning deals.

But if your website isn’t fully prepared for the occasion, you say goodbye to BFCM profit. Check out our complete guide to BFCM for ecommerce for more tips.

Check Website Performance

Around 45% of consumers buy only from brands they trust. Nothing can destroy your credibility and customer relationship quicker than a low-functioning website. Having a website capable of handling a huge surge of visitors is especially important during the holidays. 

For starters, make sure that the store functions properly on both mobile and desktop devices. Last year, almost 40% of Black Friday online sales came from phones and tablets. 

There are a lot of things that can slow your website down. In order to see if everything is working as it should, you need to check it. You can do this by going to Google PageSpeed Insights and running a checkup for free. 

Have a Look at Your Inventory 

While keeping track of inventory may be low on your totem pole of customer support Black Friday tasks, it’s important to be aware of. Your inventory can affect everything from advertising to logistics. 

One possible solution is to start using inventory management software in the months leading up to the Black Friday weekend. One solution is to use the Emerge App, which allows you to keep track of every single piece of inventory.

Inventory management solutions will help you know which products need to be restocked and which ones you can start pushing early. If a certain item has failed to sell out after more than 12 months, you can put a high discount on it. Examine your inventory in time and plan everything accordingly. 

Prepare Your Workers

Once Black Friday comes around, your workers better be ready to handle the increase in orders, BFCM returns, and complaints. If you want to keep satisfaction levels high, customer service agents need to do their jobs correctly. And in order for them to do their job, you need to make sure that they’re trained.

Talk to your staff. See if they’re aware that things are about to become more frantic than usual. Some workers thrive under pressure. Others aren’t accustomed to working in stressful situations. The best way to eliminate their fear – and subsequent mistakes – is to put in work and train them.

If they want to nail customer service, your workers need to:

• Respond to inquiries immediately
• Use positive/professional language
• Take a proactive approach to problem-solving‍

Logistics Challenges During BFCM

Last year, many retailers were caught by surprise by BFCM. Due to high discounts, many consumers hurried to make their purchases early. Those discounts pulled a bulk of sales into a narrow timeframe. Unsurprisingly, some merchants weren’t expecting such a high demand. 

Since most people will do a majority of their shopping online this BFCM weekend, you can expect a busy year again. Here are some logistic challenges that you’ll face in 2022. 

The Demand Can Vary Significantly

The biggest logistics challenge is the lack of control retailers have during the Black Friday weekend. Year-to-year, demand isn’t consistent. This can happen for many reasons. For instance, this year, in the United States, the demand may not be so high.

That’s because the last November payday falls after Black Friday. This will eliminate the spur-of-the-moment purchases. On the other hand, more people have probably saved up money during quarantine. All of these factors make the entire ordeal hard to predict. 

Lack of Communication

As we said earlier, even the biggest players in the delivery game like FedEx are forced to add capacity to meet the ever-increasing demands during BFCM. No matter what company you’re working with, chances are, they might not be able to deliver all of your product on time.

But you have to talk to them and find out for yourself. 

If you’re not communicating with your logistics partner, you won’t be able to create a delivery commitment schedule that’s manageable. By making unrealistic claims, you can jeopardize your entire operation and lose a lot of customers. 

Unrealistic Delivery Expectations

Large online stores like Amazon, Walmart, and Target all offer next-day delivery. To compete with them, many small and mid-sized companies are offering this option as well. However, during Black Friday, this may be impossible to maintain. 

While you want to offer fast delivery you need to be realistic with yourself as well as your customers. You can discuss this with your delivery company. If the delivery company you're working with can’t handle the load, notify your customers. 

And don’t worry, most consumers prefer honesty over speed. 

How to Plan BFCM Logistics in 5 Steps

Black Friday is unpredictable and so are the consumers. If you really want to have a successful Thanksgiving week, you need to be able to adapt to any situation. And you can do this by making sure that your business is prepared for the unexpected. 

Here are five steps you need to take in order to bulletproof your logistics and get your store ready just in time for BFCM. 

1. Conducting Demand Forecasting

If you take the time to prepare for Black Friday, you can expect good results. And by results, we do mean sales. But make sure you’re communicating delivery times, and following through with orders. Otherwise, you risk a ton of complaints, emails, and negative comments. 

To be prepared, you need to do some demand forecasting.

What’s demand forecasting, you might ask? Simply put, it’s a way of calculating how many sales you can expect to generate during a certain period. 

Your supply chain management solution probably has the ability to give you a demand forecast. In addition, talk to your supplier, they’re probably watching Black Friday trends closely and doing their own market research. They can possibly help you find the right level of product you should be carrying on BFCM. 

2. Preparing Great Shipping Deals

When talking about customer satisfaction levels, you can’t overlook delivery. Your customers want to be in the know. They want to know exactly when their order will arrive. As a matter of fact, 9 out 10 shoppers feel that on-time delivery is extremely important.  

Timely delivery is one thing, but you know what will really make you look good in the eyes of your customers? Making the shipping free. Not sure about it? Well, just consider this: more than 85% of Black Friday sales Salesforce tackled in 2019 had free shipping. 

If you’re afraid that you’ll lose a lot of money this way, just consider this an investment. Your customers will be happy with their purchase and will surely come back after BFCM. Keep this in mind: 85% of customers prefer free shipping to fast delivery. 

If you need shipping support, check out our list of the top shipping software for ecommerce.

3. Making an Effort With Customer Service

Everyone feels overwhelmed at times during a Black Friday sale. But no matter how hectic things become, you need to make sure that every customer question and request gets answered in short amount of time. 

Customer service is important all year round, but during the holiday season, it’s extremely important. Many customers will come across your website for the first time during the BFCM weekend. You want to leave a great first impression, don’t you?

Some customers will contact you directly, while others will message you on social media. Your help desk should allow you to see and answer all of these messages as quickly as possible. With Gorgias, you can decrease your first -response time by 78%. 

4. Automate As Much As You Can

Many aspects of your business operations can be automated. Countless companies lose countless hours every month on needless tasks. Now is the perfect time to get ahead and start looking into customer experience automation. Customer support is a great place to start to solve tickets quicker and drive revenue. 

By notifying your customers about the status of their purchase quickly, you’ll undoubtedly let them know that they can trust you. Also, if you’re working with a small delivery company, you should check to see if your supplier is up-to-date.

According to a recent study, one-third of warehouses in the United States are working with outdated storage and management equipment. New equipment is much faster and will prevent any delays in delivery. Make sure that your 3rd-party supplier is legitimate. 

5. Setting Up Reverse Logistics

The reality of any holiday seasons is: people can change their minds in a second. That’s why we see so many abandoned shopping carts and returned products. Even though you’ll hope for no returns, you need to be prepared for them. 

You can do this by doing some reverse logistics. This should be a part of every supply chain. In reverse logistics, the goods move from the end user back to the seller. The returned products may be disposed of in some cases, but more often than not, they’re resold. 

Reverse logistics may relate to any of these activities after the purchase:

• Product returns
• Product refurbishing
• Damaged packaging
• Delivery failure 

To prevent delivery failure, you can easily set up an order tracking page that will allow your customers to know about the status of their purchase at any time. 

Don’t Forget to Keep Your Shoppers in the Loop!

Preparing for the Black Friday weekend can be stressful. There are dozens of business aspects you need to prepare for the increase in orders. Logistics is one of the most important elements of your operation, so you need to put in extra work. 

Let’s go over the basics again. In the months leading up to BFCM, your business should:

• What’s the demand for your products and restock accordingly
• Prepare good shopping deals for your customers worldwide
• Beef up your customer service and implement live chat 
• Automate tickets and work with automated warehouses
• Set up reverse logistics to prepare for product returns 

Keeping the customers satisfied should be your #1 concern. If you manage to do that during the BFCM weekend, they’ll surely come back to your stare after the holiday. 

You can’t leave the customers waiting for their shipment or a response. To ensure that, you need a handy helpdesk. That’s why you should try out Gorgias. 

Gorgias is an ecommerce help desk that allows users to provide multichannel customer service from a single dashboard. 

Go ahead, sign up for Gorgias, get your 15-day free trial, and see your customer satisfaction rates skyrocket.

In August 2020, Amy started her job at Gorgias as a Customer Success Manager. Fast forward to today: Amy has held four positions in the company, pioneered two brand-new Gorgias programs, and holds a new position as the Manager of Customer Education.

How is that possible in only two years? What special sauce has she found at Gorgias that keeps her going? And what kind of higher education was the precursor to her professional success?

Read the interview with Amy to learn more about her dynamic career evolution and the support Gorgias provided to make it possible.

What did you do before Gorgias?

My career path is a little unconventional. After finishing school I decided against going to university and launched into full-time work instead, picking up study later in life.

I was fortunate to find a field where adaptability, problem-solving, and experience in customer relationships held high value in junior roles. When I transitioned to tech in my mid-twenties I had six years of hands-on experience which was a huge advantage in the startup space. From there, all of my training has been “on the job.”

I’ve been lucky to work underneath brilliant managers, most of whom were female. They provided me with excellent opportunities to benefit from industry-leading mentorship.

How did you find out about Gorgias and what made you apply to work here?

It is a classic story — I stumbled across a position on LinkedIn. 

After doing the case study the product had me hooked. I saw its potential to help merchants deliver an exceptional customer experience and drive revenue from happy shoppers. From that point, all my eggs were in the Gorgias basket. 

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At that point, Gorgias had just raised a 25M series B funding and had around 75 employees and 5,000+ customers. 

What are the roles you had at Gorgias and how did they change over time?

Back in August 2020 when I initially started in Gorgias, I was a Customer Success Manager. I started when the Success team had half a dozen people wearing many hats.

The CSM role was originally a hybrid position — encompassing both CSM and Onboarding Manager responsibilities. The focus was on managing full-cycle customer relationships: retention, churn, and expansion.

As Gorgias grew, Success roles were split into specialties, and a new department was created to service our non-managed merchants. I transitioned into Scaled Programs, a two-woman team led by Elena Balagush (who we recently welcomed back to the Gorgias family.)

Being a new function there was plenty of trial and error but always support from leadership which was essential to our success.

In this role, I managed merchant relationships using a one-to-many approach and maintained a local book of business. After a few months, I was promoted to senior CSM — a natural progression for anyone at Gorgias who performs well. While continuing the above duties, I took on additional education duties running webinars and creating educational content.

After realizing the value of education, I upskilled in eLearning, content creation, and instructional design. The culminating project was setting up the Gorgias Academy. 

While I built the academy, I needed to prove its impact (one of Gorgias’ values is to maximize your impact, so everyone is accountable for delivering measurable results). I focused on before/after data comparisons to show the substantial impact the academy was having.

After proving the function was valuable, I moved into the Customer Education Specialist role as a one-woman show. 

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From there, the upskilling continued. With incredible guidance and investment from my brilliant manager Elise Kubicki, I was equipped with the tools necessary to make the Customer Education function (CEd) a success.

One of the most valuable strategies I had was connecting with industry leaders. I became an active member in a few CEd communities and leveraged group tips/feedback to guide decisions in lieu of a team. One particular community is called Customer Education Org run by Sumeru Chatterjee. The support from other CEd leaders has been instrumental to my career growth.

After managing a substantial workload and delivering high-quality results consistently, Elise generously promoted me into a management position which I’m thrilled to be in today.

What training and resources did you receive to help you in your new roles? 

Elise, my manager, has been incredible. She led by example and gave me an excellent benchmark for what a manager should look like. She encouraged me to be brave with ideas and trust my intuition and experience. She listened to me pitch new strategies, provided feedback to strengthen my proposals, and gave me the confidence to execute my ideas. 

Without a manager who fostered open communication and responded with encouragement and empathy, I would never have advanced this quickly. 

Gorgias is also committed to getting the right tool for the job. We invest in technology. I could not have performed at the volume or velocity I did without a company that understands the benefit of a solid tech stack.

Elena Balagush was my manager when I was on the Scales Programs team, and she is also amazing. She celebrated my wins and gave me the freedom to go after new, out-of-the-box ideas.

How did you manage growing new functions while keeping up with your old role? 

Honestly, balancing all my responsibilities took a whole lot of time. But Gorgias investing in the right technology is a big factor — if I had to work without the right equipment, I could not have delivered quality content on time. I’m extremely grateful for this. Not enough businesses respect the impact the right tools can make.

The $2,000 learning stipend is also amazing. I managed to do most of my training for free but having funds available gives me the confidence to take on projects that require new skills. I used a portion of it to complete certifications in different areas like SQL.

Gorgias is also full of amazing, collaborative people. Openness with colleagues and genuine interest in sharing skills is not common. It’s one of the things that makes Gorgias an incredible place to work.

How do you think your experience would have been different at another company?

I don’t think many companies would match the level of trust Gorgias had when I was piloting new projects. Beyond that, there are a few factors that other companies struggle with that I feel are important to mention:

When goals aren’t unified across an organization, teams don’t want to help one another

If departments operate in closed silos, they can find themselves striving toward opposing goals. At Gorgias, we are all aware of the major targets and work toward them together. We celebrate wins as a team and take responsibility for setbacks as a team. 

This unity gives us a huge advantage because everyone wants everyone to do well.

Competition between colleagues discourages skill sharing

Healthy competition is good. But too often, leadership uses competition as the primary way to drive results. The notion that only one can win can be archaic and doesn’t motivate all personality types. 

At Gorgias, we have the understanding that if everyone exceeds the target, everyone is eligible to advance their career, be it in a different role or a different team. That’s motivating.

We have a culture of empowerment, enablement, and rapid growth 

At Gorgias, the idea is to hire the best of the best. The result is that everyone is hungry to become a better version of their professional selves, and Gorgias repays that hunger with great career progression, room (and budget) to learn new things, and a healthy collaborative atmosphere.

No one is happy “coasting”

The combination of the enormous amount of work to do and the brightest minds around means you are constantly encouraged to push yourself to deliver great work, fast. We all help each other to upskill and remove bottlenecks that occur when there isn’t enough work to go around.

A lack of honesty breeds anxiety

Not knowing why decisions have been made can plant the seed of doubt in the workforce, causing staff to be in a constant low-level state of panic. Gorgias operates with radical candor, meaning no matter what happens — good or bad, at the individual contributor level or in leadership — we understand why. This alleviates the stress associated with ‘the unknown’ and leaves employees' minds free to be creative and push harder in the right direction.

How can you connect your experience with Gorgias's core values?

To recap, Gorgias’ values are:

• Maximize your impact
• Customer-first
• 100% honest
• Strive for excellence
• Take extreme ownership

The honesty value is a huge benefit to me, personally. I am relaxed knowing leadership is open to hearing feedback from all levels of staff and that blindspots I have will be flagged. I have the confidence to speak my mind and know I will be heard.

Also, I respect how truly customer-first Gorgias is. Every company says they are customer first but I’ve never seen it lived the way it is at Gorgias. At all levels, we have an unprecedented number of conversations with merchants to learn about their challenges and develop new solutions. 

Lastly, my experience hinged on taking extreme ownership. Taking extreme ownership means passing the buck is not an option. This encourages people to think things through and rationalize the why. Knowing I own a project from end to end makes me push harder to deliver work I’m truly proud of.

What other anecdotes have you heard from people at Gorgias with similar career evolutions? 

Elise is amazing (I know I say it a lot but she really is). She started as an Onboarding Manager and is now leading the whole success department — and that’s a mammoth workload. 

She moved from onboarding manager to interim head of success in less than a year. She is now our VP of Success and, gosh, she earned it. She lives and breathes Gorgias' values - it shows in the team she’s chosen, of which I’m honored to be a part.

We also recently welcomed back Elena Balagush, who was my manager before Elise. When staff return to an organization it speaks volumes about the environment.

What is your favorite thing about working at Gorgias?

Does it have to be just one? Here are a few of the standouts:

The support from upper management to try new things and experiment

A great deal of my success at Gorgias is due to supportive management. First, in Success from Chloe Kesler, then in Scaled Programs from Elena Balagush, and in the last 12 months from our outstanding VP of Success Elise Kubicki.

I have a particular soft spot for Elise, as she gave me the skills to develop strategies and concepts of my own but, more importantly, instilled in me the confidence to put them into practice.

The resources to become a better version of my work-self

The Gorgias team, internally, is jam-packed with team members who are experts in their field. This has given many of us a rare opportunity to learn on the job from the industry's best performers.

A culture that encourages the sharing of knowledge

Following on from my earlier point, the collaborative culture at Gorgias is second to none. I have experienced first-hand the way sometimes competitive nature can become engrained at companies with aggressive goals. 

At Gorgias, you won’t find a skerrick of this. Instead, the value of 100% honesty and having a unified goal breeds an undercurrent of genuine camaraderie and a sense of drive to achieve as a collective. 

Knowledge is freely shared across all departments and seniority levels. This flat structure encourages curiosity and discussions between everyone — regardless of role.

If there is one thing you would like to change about the company, what would it be?

That we can’t hire everyone. There isn’t a single tech person I know who wouldn’t benefit from the experience of working here.

Now that you are holding a management position, what are your plans for customer education at Gorgias?

In the future, I’m going to do everything I can to develop a winning Customer Education program and (fingers crossed) position us as industry leaders in this field.

I’d like to see us continue to roll out new initiatives to help our merchants thrive, especially given the difficult landscape at this time.

I’ll continue to learn and grow in the Customer Education space. I still have plenty of areas to work on — I’m just grateful I’m part of an organization that gives me every possible opportunity to do this.

What's next for you at Gorgias (and how is Gorgias helping you get there)?

I’d love to carry on in Customer Education and one day move up into a director position. I’ve got a long way to go but I’m confident Gorgias is the most suitable place for me. 

I couldn’t wish for a better manager, better team, or better organization. Results are rewarded and I’m incredibly proud of not just the growth that we’ve seen but the way we got here — we move fast, we make mistakes, we learn and we adapt. Rinse and repeat. That’s the kind of company I want to be with for life.

Interested in joining Amy and the rest of Gorgias team? Check out our jobs page to learn more about our benefits, interview process, and open roles.

Imagine leaving your angriest customers to spar with an automated script in your website’s chat window. Now picture your support team reading “Where is my order?” for the hundredth time and glancing at the clock, only to find six hours left in the workday. 

Who do you think is more frustrated?

Luckily, you won’t have to answer that, because these are completely avoidable problems. Once you learn the important distinctions between chatbot software and live chat software, you’ll understand how to use them both more effectively and lower blood pressures across the board.

Chatbots rely completely on automation and artificial intelligence (AI) while live chat software connects customers with human agents via a real-time chatbox. A third option, self-service chat, is an appealing alternative.

To determine which solution(s) is best for your business, let’s compare chatbots and live chat software and go through the top use cases for each.

What is live chat software?

Live chat support connects customers with human support agents who can answer their questions and assist them with any issues. When a customer opens the chat box on a live chat support solution, they are connected with a real person from the company's customer support department. 

Support agents then use live chat messaging to address customer inquiries and walk customers through the solution to their problem. 

Interested in getting live chat software? Check out one of these lists for tailored recommendations:

• Best live chat software for ecommerce
• Best live chat software for Shopify stores
• Best live chat software for general use

Pros and cons of live chat

Pros:

• Live agents have the knowledge base to answer complex queries and customer issues 
• 73% of customers state that live chat is the most satisfactory form of customer communication with a company
• Enables multitasking for support agents so they can assist multiple customers at the same time
• The personalized touch of a real human can go a long way toward improving your customer satisfaction
• Support agents can find opportunities to convert visitors or turn support interactions into additional sales 

Cons:

• Not available after-hours when your customer team is off the clock
• More expensive to employ agents to respond to chats
• Responses will be slowed down by high volume which impacts resolution times
• Much of your agents’ time will be spent answering the same simple questions over and over

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What is the difference between chatbots vs. live chat?

Unlike live chat software, chatbot software doesn’t connect customers with human agents. Instead, chatbot software connects customers with a chatbot that utilizes AI and machine learning to provide natural language answers to common questions. 

Automation assists customers with less complex issues and provides quick answers. Chatbot technology enables companies to reduce their average response time, and frees up support agents to focus on more complex queries.  

Pros and cons of chat bots

Pros:

• The ability to answer questions 24/7 without paying for agents to work around the clock. According to a survey by Drift, 64% of customers say that 24/7 service is the best feature of chatbots. 
• Chatbots offer instant responses to common questions like pricing inquiries, improving customer experience with quick resolutions to common issues
• Chatbot solutions are a highly cost-effective option, as they allow companies to resolve more customer issues without having to hire new customer support reps
• By answering commonly asked questions and resolving simple issues, chatbot solutions can free up support agents to focus on more complex questions

Cons:

• Chatbots can’t handle complex inquiries requiring human intervention
• Automated responses are a colder, less human form of communication, which can impact customer satisfaction
• No opportunity for agents to elevate an inquiry into an exemplary customer experience, such as offering personalized live chat offers
• Customers will become frustrated if the chatbot can’t properly answer their questions or solve an issue

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Live chat vs. chatbots: Evaluating their strengths to help you choose the right one (or both)

When comparing chatbots with live chat solutions, it's important to recognize that each category offers its own unique advantages. Many companies choose to employ both live chat and chatbot apps on their ecommerce websites. 

With that in mind, let's explore the strengths of each solution.

Response times and customer expectations 

One of the biggest advantages of chatbot solutions is the fact that they allow for immediate responses to customer inquiries. Live chat solutions can also help companies reduce their wait times, though not to the same degree. 

Chatbot advantage: Answers are immediate

According to data from HubSpot, 90% of customers rate an "immediate" response as important or very important when contacting customer service, with 60% of customers defining "immediate" as 10 minutes or less. 

With a chatbot app, offering immediate response times to customer queries is a much more attainable goal. Best of all, these immediate response times are a 24/7 offering for customers, whereas live chat agents may not always be on the clock. 

Live chat advantage: Solve complex issues

The problem with relying solely on chatbots to reduce customer wait times is the fact that even the best and most intelligent chatbots are often unable to resolve complex issues. Chatbots are excellent at pulling information from internal databases to answer common questions, such as providing the status of a customer's order or editing it.

But for uncommon questions or complex issues, a chatbot alone may not be sufficient. Because they can only handle one thing at a time, it can take forever before you get all of your questions resolved.

Solution: Use both chatbots and live chat

Many companies use chatbots alongside live chat support. This allows businesses to offer both immediate responses, as well as more in-depth support for complex issues. 

For example, a customer may first be connected with a chatbot that provides instant responses to their query and assists with gathering initial information. If the chatbot determines the customer's question or issue is too complex to resolve, the customer is then connected to a support agent via live chat. 

This combination is an ideal solution for many companies, allowing them to quickly resolve common issues without the need for a live chat agent. At the same time, customers have the option to speak with a real person in cases where assistance from a chatbot alone isn’t sufficient. 

Human touch and personalization needs 

While chatbot apps can help reduce customer service wait times and the number of customer service reps needed, many customers prefer speaking with a person. 

Live chat advantage: The human touch

A CGS study found that 86% of customers would rather interact with a human agent than a chatbot. Further, 71% of customers say that they would be less likely to purchase from a brand that did not have real customer service representatives available. 

Chatbot advantage: AI learning

Chatbots have come a long way toward replicating natural language and determining customer intent for better customer engagement. Today, the best chatbot applications can come quite close to sounding like actual human beings. 

Chatbots leverage AI and machine learning to deliver personalized responses, as opposed to only “canned” responses, and can better serve your customers. 

Solution: Use both chatbots and live chat

Even the most advanced chatbots still fall short of a live representative when it comes to delivering a personalized, human touch. They’re also lacking when it comes to handling more complex questions or customer issues. 

Once again, a combination of automation and live chat support is typically the best approach. 

Consistency and accuracy

Chatbots and live chat applications have unique advantages when it comes to delivering consistent and accurate responses to customer queries. 

Chatbot advantage: Consistency

Chatbots are excellent at delivering consistent, on-brand messaging. They can be programmed to systematically follow templates or scripts to provide a consistent customer service experience. 

When working with human customer support agents, this high degree of consistency can be a little more difficult to achieve. 

Live chat advantage: Accuracy

While live chat support may not offer the same consistency as chatbots, human support agents do tend to be more accurate when determining the intent of the customer they are assisting. 

For example, a simple spelling error can sometimes confuse chatbots, whereas a human customer support agent would be much more likely to look past the error and correctly figure out what the customer needs. 

A human agent is also much more likely than a chatbot to accurately interpret questions that are worded strangely. 

Solution: Use both chatbots and live chat

For companies that are choosing between chatbots and live chat support, it’s a question of whether they’d like to prioritize consistency or accuracy. This is yet another reason why a combination of chatbots and live chat support is often the best solution.

More chat features to provide self-service support without the bots

Many of the issues your website visitors have with bad chatbots involve their mimicry of support from real people. It’s easy to tell when you’re chatting with a robot, but it’s not always made clear to you by the chat widget.

But there’s a third chat option that you should consider in addition to live chat and chatbot software.

Self-service chat options make it clear to your customers that they are receiving automated help. By presenting menus instead of imitating a human conversation, self-service customer support empowers customers to find the answers they need on their own.

It’s a win-win, because the customers get the answers they need in real time, at any hour. And your team can focus on support tickets that are more important to the business.

Here are a few ways self-service chat options can work.

Self-service order management

Up to 30% of incoming customer service tickets are shipping status requests. With self-service order management in the chat widget, customers are empowered to make these queries on their own — providing fast answers and reducing your support tickets.

These automated options are easy to add with Gorgias. This self-service adds buttons to the chat widget to automatically:

• Track an order
• Return an order
• Cancel an order

Quick service with chat automation provides quick, responsive customer service, which means better customer experience and a positive impact on revenue.

Barcelona-based shoe brand ALOHAS added self-service order management flows with Gorgias after experiencing a high chat volume. This allowed customers to find information on their own without a human needing to respond.

Here’s how a “track order” request looks in action:

Quick answer flows

When using a chat widget, you’ll notice the same questions come up again and again. You can satisfy those FAQs by adding quick answer flows into the chat widget.

These automations can be set up in the widget for questions like:

• What is your shipping policy?
• Are there any discounts available?
• Do you have any new products?
• What materials do you use?

These automations can be customized for whatever FAQs are most relevant to your ecommerce store.

Here’s how it looks, for example, when an ALOHAS customer wants to find out more about the brand’s shipping policy.

Luxury jewelry brand Jaxxon has used these self-service quick responses with great success. The customer service team found themselves overwhelmed with customer questions and unable to respond as quickly as desired.

Jaxxon upgraded their live chat widget with Gorgias Automate with Quick Responses for customers. The result, combined with using Gorgias’ helpdesk, reduced live chat volume by 17% and lifted the on-site conversion rate by 6%.

Autoresponders

Even when a customer chooses to type out a question, automation can be used to provide quick, customized service through the chat widget.

Gorgias can detect questions that come in through chat and provide automatic answers using Rules and Macros.

Here’s how the flow works:

1. Intact detection scans the incoming message.
2. Rules is triggered when a relevant message is found (such as some asking about where their order us) is responds to the customer.
3. Macros is where you create the templated response sent to the customer. The Macro can be set up to pull in a customer’s unique information like order number, their name, and their tracking code.

The best part is this can not only be used for chat, but for responses to tickets coming in through other communication channels like email, social media, and SMS.

Keep customer service running 24/7

With Gorgias, you can make sure your chat widget isn’t missing a single ticket, even if your customer support team is offline.

First, you can set up your business hours to correspond with when you have live chat available. This will show up on your site’s chat widget by either showing the current status as online or offline.

From there, you can create automated responses for whether you’re offline or online. During business hours, this message can tell customers you’ve received their request and give a time by which they can expect a response.

After business hours, the responder can tell customers that although you’re offline, they can expect a response during the next day’s business hours via email.

You can also use a contact form which turns a chat into an emailed ticket. This is great to use after-hours and to make sure chat requests don’t get lost overnight. 

Combine automation and human interaction for the strongest customer experience

The use of automation within customer service is multifaceted. As we discussed earlier, a human touch is critical for many customers, and speaking with an automated chatbot can be a turn-off. However, automation certainly has its place in the customer service process.

On the customer’s side, starting with self-service chat helps them receive quicker customer support at scale — a more satisfying experience. On your team’s side, automation allows for sorting, segmenting, and prioritizing tickets.

When self-service chat can’t solve an issue, someone from your support team can easily step into the conversation. You can use Macros — scripts that automatically bring in the customer’s information — to scale the human touch on your support team.

So in reality, it’s not automation vs human support. These are two complementary tools that work better together. And the result is a stronger and faster customer experience for your website visitors, which can increase your conversion rate by as much as 12%.

Still not convinced? In 2021, brands using the Gorgias chat widget generated an average of $38,702 from conversations involving chat. We have a whole post on live chat statistics that can help illustrate the impact our chat widget can have on your business.

Gorgias brings intuitive live chat to your ecommerce business, alongside your other channels

If you’re an ecommerce business looking for an all-in-one customer support solution that includes live chat support and AI-powered chatbots, Gorgias is your one-stop shop. 

Our algorithms are trained on hundreds of millions of ecommerce tickets, so you can be sure your customers are getting the right responses every time. 

Plus, you can manage both live chat and chatbot conversations in the same dashboard that you use for all your other channels, including phone, email and major social media platforms. Bring in chat from other channels, including Facebook Messenger. We’ll even be supporting Whatsapp in early 2023.

Our customer support platform is available for Magento, Shopify, and BigCommerce users.

Read more about our chat offerings by clicking here.

Chatbots have become a go-to customer service tool for many brands. Their promise? Efficiency and scalability, powered by artificial intelligence (AI). But when it comes to ecommerce, these bots often miss the mark in providing a solid service experience.

The customer service chatbot has its place in answering straightforward questions. But it often falters when faced with intricate questions, or inquiries that require managing orders. When customers need to see their order status or request a return, a ChatGPT-style answer is annoying, not helpful.

Instead, a better customer experience comes from customer self-service automation that’s built with these ecommerce use cases in mind. Below, we’ll explore the downsides of chatbots and share some powerful alternatives to help your support team automate repetitive tickets to save time for interactions that really need a human touch. 

What is a customer service chatbot?

A customer service chatbot is a digital tool on your website or app designed to mimic human interactions and answer user questions. At a basic level, chatbots aim to interpret customer inquiries, generate responses with AI, and resolve the issue without any agent effort. 

For an ecommerce business, implementing a chatbot promises to deliver 24/7 automated customer support at scale without requiring as many human customer service agents. 

Should you use customer service chatbots?

Chatbots aren’t terrible, but they struggle to respond accurately to more complex or nuanced customer questions. And most chatbots can’t actually change a customer’s order, or show up-to-date information specific to that shopper. Even if the chatbot doesn’t have an answer, it will still try, resulting in confusing or inaccurate information for the customer. 

While chatbots can help handle basic FAQs, they’re less effective for ecommerce-related customer interactions. Chatbots regularly fail to deliver satisfactory results when customers want to change an order, inquire about order status, or ask more complex questions. 

Before implementing chatbots, consider their limitations in meeting your customer’s needs and the customer relationship you want to build with buyers.

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How AI-powered chatbots are used in customer service

While chatbots promise many customer service solutions, their capabilities are narrow. Though they’re helpful for high volumes of repetitive questions, chatbots have limited aptitude as a comprehensive customer service solution. Their strength remains relatively basic automated assistance.

Here’s how chatbots are used in customer service:

• Providing 24/7 assistance. A 2021 study from Drift found that 44.2% of respondents cited engaging buyers 24/7 across the globe as a top benefit of implementing an AI chatbot. Chatbots eliminate the need for brands to have customer service agents available to respond at all hours of the day. 
• Answering simple questions. Chatbots provide immediate responses to basic customer inquiries on live chat channels. Their scripted dialogues resolve common FAQs, reducing response times. 
• Responding immediately to customer queries. Chatbots provide instant automated responses to questions submitted on live chat, day or night, providing timezone coverage across countries.
• Accommodating international support. Chatbots are often multilingual, answering questions in various languages. This facilitates a better user experience for international shoppers.  

Downsides of customer service chatbots

At first glance, chatbots seem appealing. Who wouldn’t want round-the-clock availability and limitless scalability? However, their limitations emerge when testing the limits of conversational AI for satisfactory ecommerce customer service.

Often unsatisfying for customers

A 2022 Userlike survey of 415 respondents found that 60% of respondents who chatted with a chatbot could not solve their issues because they needed to speak with someone. Approximately 50% indicated the chatbot did not know how to solve their issue, and nearly 40% indicated that the chatbot didn’t understand them. 

While chatbots aim to use machine learning to respond accurately to customer issues, their capabilities crumble in complex scenarios. Yet, they still try to spit out a response, annoying customers.

Adds another layer between the problem and solution

Given their limited problem-solving capabilities, chatbots often fail to resolve more complicated customer issues fully. This forces customers to painfully repeat explanations of their issues across different channels, seeking out an actual solution. 

Adding these unnecessary repetitions and delays only further frustrates customers who want their ecommerce order issues quickly fixed on the first try.

Bots struggle with more complicated queries

For straightforward FAQ-style queries, chatbots manage fine. However, they struggle whenever contextual complexities enter the equation. Their canned scripts struggle to dig deeper into dynamic customer issues. 

Chatbots disappoint customers who expect tailored, back-and-forth dialogue when describing complex order scenarios or product problems.

Only works in a chat window 

For the most part, chatbots operate solely on your website’s chat window, so they can’t support customers across channels like email, social media, voice, etc. This limits their ability to handle multifaceted issues. Customers understandably seek and expect omnichannel customer service, especially options that provide a swift resolution.

A better automation solution to manage customer requests

The right automation focuses more on resolving customer issues than imitating humans. That’s why self-service options — like self-service order trackers, FAQs, and product quizzes — are a great alternative to chatbots. A 2022 Salesforce Research report found that 66% of respondents have used self-service account portals, with 66% of millennials and 61% of Gen-Z consumers preferring self-service for simple use cases.

Gorgias Automate serves as an advanced chatbot replacement. This suite of automation tools is built for ecommerce, and customizable for your brand’s unique needs. Below, we’ll show you how each feature takes a more straightforward approach to solving customer issues than chatbots. 

But activating automation doesn’t mean forgoing live chat altogether — or needing it 24/7. With the right solution, you can offer automated options only during select hours or have customers use them before contacting an agent. 

Answer common questions in seconds 

The ideal customer service solution instantly resolves frequent, repetitive questions through robust automation. When customers have questions like, “What’s your return policy?” or “What product is right for me?,” they deserve an answer at the click of a button. And that’s exactly how Flows work.  

Gorgias Flows

Gorgias Flows are buttons in your chat widget and Help Center (and soon, email) that provide instant answers — personalized to customers, where needed. 

Whether buyers seek product recommendations, pricing, or your sizing chart, they only have to click a button to get a pre-written response (that you know is more accurate or on-brand than an AI-generated answer). If you want to personalize the answer, you can program the Flow to ask follow-up questions to understand the customer’s location, preferences, etc., for the most accurate answer.

TUSHY, an ecommerce company that sells modern bidets that attach to toilets, uses Flows to respond to common questions swiftly. 

Queries like “Which TUSHY is right for me?” and “Will TUSHY fit my toilet?” are automatically answered through these self-service flows without customers needing agent assistance.

And if customers have follow-up questions or still want to speak to an agent, they can get connected to the TUSHY team with the click of a button:

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Automate access to order tracking, refund requests, and cancellations

The right customer service solution doesn’t just answer FAQs, it helps customers track and manage their orders. 

Rather than relying on agents (or chatbots with limited capabilities), automation enables customers to get answers and close the loop on routine issues independently, boosting customer satisfaction. 

Gorgias Order Management Flows

Gorgias Order Management Flows provide customers with self-service options to track orders, report issues, and request refunds or cancellations without needing agent assistance. Customers simply access Order Management Flows through the chat widget or Help Center.

Customers log in with their email or phone number (no need to remember an order number!) to independently check the order status, initiate returns or exchanges, and make other changes. This feature closes the loop on common post-purchase requests and empowers customers with instant DIY resolutions, letting your support reps focus on more complex interactions that actually need human support.

Loop Earplugs, which sells high-quality audio earplugs for concerts and loud environments, uses Gorgias Order Management Flows to let customers handle post-purchase requests independently. This automated self-service enables tracking shipments, reporting order issues, and initiating returns or cancellations without chatting with a support rep. 

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Here’s what it looks like to log in, see recent purchases, and request a return:

Provide article suggestions

One advantage of chatbots is they can answer a variety of questions. While you can only have up to 6 Flows, another great solution is leveraging content from your knowledge base or Help Center to answer a wider range of customer questions. 

Gorgias AI-powered Article Recommendation in Chat

Gorgias’ Article Recommendation in Chat harnesses advanced AI to analyze incoming chat tickets, pinpointing and sharing the most pertinent help center articles as immediate responses. This ensures customers receive precise, relevant information in real-time, streamlining their query resolution process. 

And again — your customer experience is free of potentially incorrect or off-brand AI-generated responses. AI only steps in to provide the correct human-created content at the right time. 

Here’s an example from Sol de Janeiro, a skin and body cream brand using Article Recommendations to answer customer questions about their products:

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Automatically respond to customers' email common questions

Chatbots only work on your live chat window. But ideally, when customers submit inquiries via email or contact forms, they also get an immediate answer. 

Gorgias AI-powered Autoresponders

Gorgias Autoresponders use AI to scan every single incoming email and contact form submission for frequently asked questions, like “Can I get a return?” or “Where is my order?”

When one of those questions is found, the Autoresponder instantly replies with a pre-written and designed email that gives personalizes support answer to the customer, pulling data from Shopify, BigCommerce, or Magento. 

Other alternatives to customer support chatbots (and how to use them)

While chatbots have become a popular AI customer service tool, they’re not the only solution worth exploring. Brands have many options at their fingertips, each catering to buyer needs along the customer journey. 

Live chat, for instance, offers real-time interactions, bridging the gap between immediacy and personalization. On the other hand, for customers who still want to leverage chatbots, Gorgias integrates with leading providers like Siena AI, combining the benefits of automation with specialized support. Diversify your customer service strategies and embrace alternatives to ensure that every customer touchpoint is addressed.

Live chat

Your team doesn’t need to choose between a chatbot vs live chat. When shoppers face pressing issues or need assistance on the fly, live chat steps in as the hero, providing real-time, personalized support from human agents. Plus, amplify live chat support efficiency using templates and automation, reserving agent’s energy for complex concerns.

Gorgias Live Chat

Gorgias Live Chat provides an instantaneous bridge between customers and brands. Real-time interactions allow customers to get swift, personalized responses to their queries or concerns. Enhanced with automation and templates, this feature guarantees swift support and consistent quality in communication, making every customer feel valued.

Parade sells comfortable, size-inclusive, sustainable underwear made from recycled materials. They use Gorgias Automate alongside Gorgias Live Chat, available to their website visitors during business hours. This allows for the best of both worlds — easy and automated responses for simple questions and a human touch for more complex queries. 

Contact forms

Every customer’s concern deserves the attention it needs. With contact forms, shoppers can detail their queries, complaints, or feedback when it works for them, even if you’re not online staffing the chat. This format, which prompts customers to categorize their message and provides details, also gives your team everything they need to (hopefully) resolve the issue in one response.

Gorgias Contact Form

The Contact Form, which is available standalone or in the Help Center, streamlines the customer messaging process. It offers customers a direct and structured way to submit their concerns and questions. Incoming communication arrives organized, making it easier for your customer service team to prioritize, tag, and resolve tickets.

Comfort One Shoes, which sells high-quality, stylish footwear that fits just right, uses the Gorgias suite of products, including the Help Center Contact Form. This form on their website lets customers get specific about their asks, including attachments to add every detail.  

Help Centers

Help Centers are like the libraries of customer service — organized, exhaustive, and empowering. Customers can independently navigate these centers to find order-related answers, leading to instant resolutions. And if they can’t find what they’re looking for? That’s when support agents step in to handle more intricate or unique questions. 

Gorgias Help Center

The Gorgias Help Center is a comprehensive hub for customer support, allowing brands to create, import, house, and categorize resources to assist users. Whether it’s FAQs, guides, or tutorials, customers can find the answers they need without the wait times.

Parade hosts their resources on a Gorgias Help Center, which has an abundance of articles for customers to find the answers they need on a host of topics:

• Returns and exchanges
• Product and sizing
• Sustainability
• US orders
• International orders
• Refer-a friend

Email support

In the age of instant messaging, email remains a steadfast channel for customer service. Customers can lay out their concerns in detail, asynchronously. On the other hand, brands can prioritize email requests based on current customer demands, getting away from the immediacy and urgency of live chat.

Gorgias Email

Gorgias Email is tailored to redefine email-based customer support through its shared workspace format. Its advanced tools facilitate a more organized, efficient, and rapid response to incoming queries by keeping track of email threads and allowing agents to respond quickly with Macros. 

By integrating with other platforms and using its automation capabilities, Gorgias Email ensures that each customer email is handled with precision and timeliness, elevating the standard of customer service.

Read more: Customer service email strategy: A guide for ecommerce brands

Community forums

Community forums are essentially marketplaces of ideas and solutions. Here, ecommerce customers can tap into the collective wisdom of their peers, crowdsource advice, and find solutions to questions that others have faced before. They reduce the number of repetitive inquiries to customer service agents and foster a community spirit among first-time shoppers and brand loyalists alike.

Streamline support with Gorgias Automate

Enhance your customer support capabilities with Automate. Tailored to address high-volume routine inquiries, the top 10% of Automate users deflect at least 30% of overall questions, while the top 5% automate up to 45%.

But it’s not about replacing the human element; quite the opposite. When Automate complements your current strategy and pairs with a genuine human connection, it crafts a harmonious and effective customer support environment. 

‍Book your demo today to learn more about Gorgias and Automate.

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Ecommerce has become awash with digital bells and whistles. Technology has no doubt enhanced the shopper experience but the rapid rate of digital innovation has had a profound effect on customer expectations. By 2020, customers expect brands to automatically personalize experiences to address (not just predict) their current – and future – needs.

But, although customers expect more in terms of tech, they still crave the person-to-person connection. In fact, 75% of consumers want to see more human interaction, not less.

At LoyaltyLion we know that bringing back this human-touch depends on providing a good customer experience. Clearly, a worthwhile cause, as studies show that 86% of shoppers who received great customer care are more likely to repeat purchase. By going the extra mile to treat your shoppers as people – rather than numbers – you can secure a faithful, constant customer base.

Here are three insights that will help you bring the human touch back to your online store.

Use Data To Personalize Communications

Each customer is unique. They interact with your brand in different ways, all while having their own personal needs and desires. When a customer feels that you have taken the time to understand their unique requirements, they will trust and value your brand more.

Data and personalization go hand in hand. By using member information to learn how customers engage with your loyalty program, you can understand their feelings towards your brand and react accordingly. Being data-driven is the key to true e-commerce success.

One golden opportunity to personalize your communications this is through targeted emails. Use your Gorgias dashboard to identify past interactions and purchases, as well as a customer’s loyalty points balance. You can then use that member data to create bespoke rewards that you can send right to your customer’s inbox.

Maybe you’ve noticed that they keep eyeing a specific product range? If so, give them discounts on new products in that collection to tempt them to back to buy again. Or perhaps you’re aware that they’re just a couple of points away from their next reward. Give them a little nudge to return and receive their reward sooner. For example, LoyaltyLion user Dr. Axe alerts customers when they have rewards waiting to be claimed, and suggests a particular product to redeem that reward on.

Find Ways To Delight Customers

Shoppers love to feel that they’re your only priority and that you care about them on a personal level. They want to feel valued as individuals, not just another number in an extensive database.

Loyalty strategies should incorporate ways to surprise and delight customers. For example, making it easy to offer customers points on their birthday or taking a moment to personally congratulate them when they’ve made a certain number of purchases with you. Beauty Bakerie, for example, offers their customers 500 points on their birthday.

With Connectors for Shopify Flow, it’s easy to use LoyaltyLion and Gorgias to set up triggers that automatically create tickets on a customer’s birthday, reminding a representative to get in touch. It’s the thought that counts and going the extra mile will ensure your customers trust and remember you. Plus, you’ll feel good about it too!

Convert Negative Experiences Into Positive Ones

Customers get frustrated when they feel their complaints aren’t taken seriously. Dissatisfied customers will tell between nine and 15 people if they have a bad brand experience. Using Gorgias’ helpdesk and macros, you can help resolve complaints whilst maintaining a personal touch. For example, ethical online yarn store, Darn Good Yarn uses the helpdesk to analyse and automate how they solve common customer issues, using a whole database of the shopper’s history to address specific queries in a more informed way.

If you are reacting to customers have had a negative experience, your loyalty program can help you demonstrate you care. You might consider offering bonus points or benefits such as free delivery, or moving them up a loyalty tier so that they can unlock more exclusive rewards in the future. These tokens of appreciation can turn a bitter experience into a sweet deal.

Research shows that 94% of customers who have their issues solved painlessly said they would purchase from that company again. This shows that helping customers to solve their problems is key to securing their long-term loyalty. Treat your most valuable customers well by making their shopping experiences as easy as possible. In return, they’ll give you their loyalty.

It’s all about people-to-people

In a world where technology and data can give ecommerce stores a competitive edge, there’s a risk that we could lose touch with the human side of retailing. Human exchanges are still, and always will be, the primary driver of loyalty. So, use digital personalization to your advantage and treat your customers as individuals.  

Your customers are the backbone of your business. Ask any successful entrepreneur and they’ll agree that your number one priority should be to nurture satisfaction with your shoppers. Show them some love and run a customer appreciation campaign. 

What is customer appreciation? 

A win-win for your shoppers and your brand, a customer appreciation campaign or a shopper appreciation campaign is a promotion that a company runs to celebrate its customers. It can include discounts, small gifts or freebies, contests, and more. The point is to delight your customers. 

You can run a shopper appreciation campaign annually, quarterly, monthly -- there are no set rules. But, one constant with all successful shopper appreciation promotions is that they show customers recognition and gratitude for shopping with the brand beyond a simple ‘thank you.’ 

A promotion like this will help you retain shoppers and increase eCommerce conversions. 

Customer appreciation ideas to show gratitude and retain loyal customers

Let’s explore some ideas to kick off your next customer appreciation campaign.

1. Run a flash sale
2. Feature customers in social media posts
3. Make it an annual event
4. Share brand promotions with your personal network
5. Send handwritten notes
6. Send free swag
7. Follow up with your brand advocates
8. Donate to a cause 
9. Send a gift card
10. Reward customers with a loyalty program
11. Offer a price cut

1) Run a flash sale

This idea goes against what I mentioned earlier about letting shoppers know what you’re planning in advance (to generate hype). But, if you have limited resources and you think it’s time to show customers you truly care, a flash sale is a viable option. 

Above is an example from Hand-Picked, an online jewelry and gift retailer. For just four hours, everything in their store was on sale at a 40% discount. They announced the sale on social media for their followers, which created an atmosphere of exclusivity and urgency -- very appealing.

2) Feature your shoppers on social media posts

People love it when you love them. Show your customers appreciation by sharing their images on social media to your followers. Attention like this makes shoppers feel like they do when their new friend shares a photo of them -- like they’re someone to be proud of. 

Rianna Phillips is an accessories seller with a flair for glam. In the above example, they share a photo of their customer, @imb_amande, “looking effortlessly chic.” In this case, they’ve placed their product (a pretty, pink phone case) in a real-life glamorous-looking scenario while showing their gratitude for the purchase; this tactic appeals to the customer(s) you promote and onlookers who might want to try the product.     

3) Make it an annual event

One way to encourage customer loyalty is to make sure your shoppers have something to look forward to. Plan your promotions in advance and make sure your shoppers know that they can consistently expect exciting deals from your brand. 

[Image source: Plum Deluxe]

Above, you see a landing page that Plum Deluxe keeps up on their website all year long. A recent tweet with a product photo let their followers know that time was almost up to get in on the discounts for what has been their full month of gratitude. Follow their lead and keep your shoppers interested in you long-term. 

4) Share brand promotions with your personal network

Sometimes it’s beneficial to share your professional promotions with your personal connections. When you say thank you to your shoppers is one of the better times to do so. You don’t want to pitch your products and services to your friends and family because that’s annoying. But, there are ways to make brand shares tasteful. 

Amethyst Babe is an online boutique body product retailer. Behind the scenes, @theillestpisces runs the show. With her personal followers, she retweets her branded promotional tweet. Now, everyone knows, if they order, they will receive a surprise gift with their purchase. Which of your store’s posts should you be sharing with your personal network? 

5) Send handwritten notes

Thank you notes are a classic way of letting someone know you appreciate them. You send them to your friends and family. Why not send them to your customers? Consumers absolutely love handwritten cards because they give the shopping experience a tremendously personal touch. 

Casper is a mattress company that sends handwritten thank you notes with their deliveries. They keep them simple and welcome customers to their “family.” You can take this idea and run with it for nearly any product offering. If you couldn’t possibly write enough notes yourself, look into a printing alternative. 

6) Send free swag

Branded merch is a win for both parties because your shoppers will appreciate the gesture. And, if they choose to sport your gift, they’ll be marketing your company to their friends and family in the real world. It’s like a thank you note that serves as a commercial for your brand. 

Above, you see some free Beatles pins that are going into some packages as surprise gifts for Pizzawednesday’s weekend Etsy orders. What better way to get people excited about your products than send them a little extra? What unique swag could you use to delight your shoppers? 

7) Follow up with your brand advocates

When your customers check in with you on social media or they tag you in their posts, make sure to follow up. Engaging with advocates, both big and small, gives you an opportunity to make someone happy. Plus, it’s just good PR. Don’t just aim for influencers, either.

Every brand mention is a chance for you to deliver an exceptional experience to your customers. Love Always Claire understands the value in simply acknowledging shoppers when they have something nice to say. You never know what good can happen for your business if you ignore your patrons. 

8) Donate to a cause 

On behalf of your most loyal customers and brand advocates, consider making a donation to a cause. This is one of the best forms of PR you can get. You’ll have a fanatic on your team who wants to share what you’ve done with the rest of the world, and you’ll make people feel great. 

On behalf of the Burst Southeast Team, Burst Oral Care donated $2,500 to the Wounded Warrior Project, for example. During your promotion, you can choose a charity to donate to or run a contest wherein the winner chooses which organization gets your donation. Just make it fun and relevant. Because of its nature, this tactic is always a success. 

9) Send a gift card

Another classic way to express your gratitude, a gift card can be an excellent promotional tactic. Depending on your budget, you can send a gift card for your online store or send your shoppers out to lunch or for a coffee. For the most impact, you’re best to execute this tactic as a surprise. 

For example, when a customer couldn’t find what they were looking for in their local store, Argos sent them a gift voucher to use online. In this case, they were making up for a mistake, but you don’t have to mess things up before you deliver a delightful experience. Try taking a look at your ten top-purchasing customers from the past year and send them a gift card. 

10) Reward customers with a loyalty program

A loyalty and rewards program is one of the best ways for an online store to create customer retention. And, it’s an excellent way to show your appreciation for the purchases made. in the eyes of your customers, make sure your rewards are worth talking about. If you do, they will share their story with the world. 

Above, Luisaviaroma created a hit with a “private sale” for special shoppers. They sent a huge discount to a select few on their luxury fashion, making at least one customer feel like the star of the show.  And, that is how a brand effectively shows their appreciation. 

11) Offer a price cut 

Sometimes a simple discount can get people excited and chatting. And, it doesn’t necessarily have to be 75% off to cause a stir. Find out how much you can afford to shave off your prices and start handing out savings to your loyal shoppers. It’s a simple offer and it works. 

Marshall Artist, modern tailoring online, offered a 15% discount for new shoppers and it got people talking. When customers were able to connect over their purchases, it created a sense of community in the Tweetosphere. And, people were connecting over the business in a positive light. You can mimic this tactic by offering percentage and dollar amounts off your prices for specific actions. 

Customer appreciation campaign best practices

Your customer base is inspired to shop when they feel like they’re getting something of value. To most consumers, there’s nothing more valuable than feeling appreciated. Follow these best practices when creating a campaign to acknowledge your gratitude. 

1) Start promoting in advance

Before your campaign commences, it is crucial to give potential shoppers a sneak peek of what’s to come. You need people to know that something big is about to happen so they can get ready to engage. Anticipation is at the heart of a successful campaign. 

So, run a pre-launch email series and let social media followers know what’s happening. You can also add a countdown bar to the top of your website or online store; try using it as a lead-generation tool by collecting email addresses of shoppers who want a notification when your promotion officially starts.

By letting people know what’s up in advance, you ensure more traffic to your store on the day of launch. 

2) Make it all about your customers, not your brand

If you want shoppers to promote you, you need to promote your shoppers. Don’t focus too much on your product or service. Instead, feature customers as the VIP of your party. You’re not exactly saying, ‘happy birthday,’ but you want customers to feel like you are -- you’re celebrating and it should be fun. I’ll bet you can come up with something just as clever while staying relevant to your products and services. Then, bring it to social media. 

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are great platforms to get shoppers engaged with your brand. So, call your customers to action on these social channels and thank them for joining in. 

3) Make every shopper feel important

To your customers, the engagement they have with your brand is one-on-one. So, keep this in mind when you connect with people. Don’t talk to shoppers as if you’re speaking to a crowd. Especially since your interactions primarily take place online, remember to keep the experience hyper-personalized. 

Encourage your customer support team to enthusiastically address each customer who engages with you on social media, email, live chat, and by phone. Then, try to enhance the experience by letting everyone know about the promotion you’re currently running.

4) Carry the vibes into the future

The fun shouldn’t stop here. In fact, you should use your promotion as a springboard for creating an exceptional brand experience all year long. Shoppers appreciate consistency. So, show them that you can consistently make them feel like a vital part of your business every single day. 

[Image Source: Sunski]

Use your customer appreciation campaign as an opportunity to launch a new, ongoing campaign. Here are some of the best types of long-term campaigns to start during a shopper appreciation week or day promotion: 

• User-Generated Content (UGC) Campaign -  Start a hashtag promotion on Instagram, ask for product reviews, or ask your shoppers to submit certain photos of your products for a contest. Incentivize customer action with a discount or gift. Then, keep it going to continue generating interest in your brand each day of the year. 
• Referral Program - It might be time to start asking for referrals. If so, you can use customer appreciation week as a starting point. Maybe you could offer additional bonuses during launch, but make sure your satisfied shoppers want to continue telling other people about your products. 
• Loyalty or Rewards Program - A loyalty program can go hand-in-hand with your new referral program. And, it doesn’t have to end with your shopper appreciation day or week. 
• Discount - Now might be the time to start giving shoppers a new shipping discount on sales over a certain price. Or, maybe you want to start offering markdowns on bulk orders in certain categories. The possibilities are endless.

Ultimately, you want to use your campaign to kickstart a new company lifestyle, not just a few sales. If you’re interested in making the processes easier on yourself, check out some of our favorite Shopify apps, which include platforms for ongoing loyalty, rewards, and other campaigns. 

5 Customer appreciation scripts to inspire your support team

Right now, customer appreciation scripts might be what your team needs to help set the mood when connecting with customers. During your campaign, share these scripts with your team to get them ready for the big push. They can use them as general guidelines to follow when communicating with shoppers. 

Script #1. Simple greeting

Hello there, I’m happy to help with whatever it is you need. Before we get started, did you know that we’re celebrating shopper appreciation week? To say thank you for your patronage, I’d like to offer you some exclusive perks. Some of them are super cool. Are you interested in hearing more? 

Script #2. Pitch a newsletter signup

Hi! I see that you haven’t signed up for our newsletter yet [Make sure this is true.]. As a way to say thank you, we post regular articles that can help you understand how to better understand your [Insert Product or Product Category] and other relevant [Insert Main Blog Theme] tips and advice. 

Right now, we’re offering [Insert Gift or Discount Offering] to anyone who signs up with their email address. Would you like me to subscribe you to our newsletter and show you how to redeem your reward? 

Script #3. Propose a contest entry

Hey there, thank you for reaching out/ stopping in! As a way to give back to you and our other shoppers, we’re running a contest right now. All you have to do is [Insert Customer Action(s)], and you’ll have a chance to win [Insert Prize]. And, just for playing, you’ll get [Insert Gift or Discount Offering]. Would you like to play? 

Script #4. Solve a general problem

[After the problem is solved...] I’m so happy I could help you, today! I sincerely appreciate your patronage. Before I let you go, I want to say ‘thank you,’ and let you know about a promotion we’re running to show that we appreciate you for being a part of our family. 

Today/ This week only, we’re offering [Insert Gift or Discount Offering] to anyone who [Insert Customer Action(s)]. Would you like me to send you more information?   

Script #5. Solve a problem for an unhappy customer

[After the problem is solved...] Whew, I know that was frustrating for you. I want to say that I’m grateful for your patience while we sorted through that mess. Your business is important to us.

 As a thank you, I’d like to offer you [Insert Gift or Discount Offering]. If you’re interested, all you would need to do is [Insert Customer Action(s)]. Would you like to proceed? 

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The above scripts can be modified to suit your customer needs, brand voice, the skill level of your customer support team, and the nature of your promotion. The examples should be used as a starting point to get everyone’s wheels turning and the creative juices flowing. You might also like these customer service quotes to help keep your support agents motivated throughout the year. 

Final thoughts

When it comes to shopper appreciation, the bottom line is to make sure you find a way to show your gratitude to the people who matter most. You want to satisfy your customers and you wan to increase your sales. In the end, what matters most is the relationships you build. So, if you focus on that, you will certainly be successful. 

Remember to be authentic, transparent, and open in all of your ecommerce marketing campaigns. If you’re not, your brand will stick out like a sore thumb. There’s nothing people hate more in this day and age than a phony, especially when it comes to where they spend their money. What tactics have you used to show your appreciation for the people who visit your online store?

A recent McKinsey survey asked customer service leaders about their top priorities in 2023. The most common answers were retaining top talent, driving efficiency to cut costs, and investing in artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. In other words, two of the top three priorities involve customer service automation. 

In support, automation can be a scary word: Isn’t automated customer service a bad customer experience? Frustrating chatbots are indeed something to be wary of, customer support automation can actually greatly improve your customer experience while saving your team hours per week on tedious, repetitive tasks.

This is your one-stop-shop guide to customer service automation. We’ll start by sharing some examples of customer support automations that automatically answer customer queries. Then, we’ll move on to some customer support automations to help your support reps skip repetitive tasks and become more productive. 

What is customer service automation?

Customer service automation refers to using technology and software to handle customer interactions and other tasks without human effort. It's like having a virtual assistant that can quickly respond to common questions, process orders, solve simple customer issues, and anything else to make things easier and faster for both customers and businesses.

Customer service automation could include automated answers, ticket triage, ticket tagging, and so much more. 

7 types of customer service automations to answer customer questions

This first set of support automations gives customers an answer without any agent interaction.

1) Automatic responses

Automatic responses (also called canned responses or Macros) are pre-written responses that get sent to the customer when certain conditions are met. You can send automatic responses for a variety of scenarios, including:

• Letting customers know you received their message and will respond soon
• Sharing your business hours and telling customers when you’ll be back
• Answering basic inquiries (like “Where is my order?”)

With the right customer service software, you can send these automated responses on every channel (email, live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, and social media). 

How to set up automatic responses

In your customer service software, you can set up Rules (or automated workflows that fire when certain conditions are met). Tools like Gorgias use AI to scan each incoming ticket and — when the ticket meets the pre-determined conditions — execute the Rule.

Here’s an example from Berkey Filters of an automatic response to let customers know an agent is on their way:

And here’s an example of an automatic response for customers inquiring about the status of their order.

2) AI chatbot

An AI chatbot responds to questions that customers ask in your live chat. Unlike automatic responses, which are pre-written by humans and fire when certain conditions are met, chatbots respond to every message. 

The benefit is that AI chatbots can try to respond to any type of question. The drawback is that AI chatbots don’t always have helpful or relevant answers. This can lead to a confusing and frustrating experience for customers. 

How to use an AI chatbot

AI chatbots don’t require any setup; you just have to buy and install them. Some automated helpdesks come with a chatbot, while other helpdesks integrate with standalone chatbots. For example, Gorgias integrates with Siena AI. 

Check out our list of the best customer service software to find the right solution for you.

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3) Knowledge base (or FAQ page)

Knowledge bases and FAQ pages are libraries of pre-written questions and answers that customers can use for self-service.

Technically, knowledge bases and FAQ pages aren’t automated. They offer static content and don’t use any sort of advanced technology to help you skip tasks. However, they help you skip answering tickets by proactively giving customers information that would have otherwise become a customer support ticket. 

How to set up a knowledge base

To get started, you can simply create a page on your website with frequently-asked questions. Most likely, your website platform includes an FAQ page template — but here’s an FAQ page template, if you need one. 

When you want to upgrade to a full-blown knowledge base, you can find plenty of standalone customer knowledge bases or use a customer support software with a built-in knowledge base.

For instance, Gorgias’s Help Center lets you host a searchable, categorized library of help content — plus, other self-service resources like Flows and self-service order management (both of which we’ll cover below). 

📚 Want some examples of FAQ pages? Check out our list of examples of FAQ pages.

4) Article recommendations

With a robust knowledge base, you want to make sure the most helpful gets discovered when shoppers need it most. One way to do this is to use AI to automatically send articles to customers who ask a questions that's covered by one in your knowledge base.

This is a great way to instantly answer customer questions with detailed answers — including images, videos, and other rich elements that you can add to your Help Center.

How to set up AI-powered Article Recommendations

Gorgias's AI scans every incoming message. When it detects that an incoming live chat or email message could be answered by an article in your Help Center, it send the message to the customer. It also gives the customer a prompt — "Was this helpful?" — that lets customers get in touch with a human agent if they still have questions.

Here's an example of Gorgias's Article Recommendations on Parade's website:

Note: You can activate Gorgias Article Recommendations without making your Help Center public. You just need to create articles in the Gorgias Help Center (but not share them externally) and activate Article Recommendations. Gorgias will treat your un-published Help Cetner like a hidden library to send to customers when appropriate.

5) Self-service FAQs

Self-service FAQs are buttons customers click to get instant, pre-written answers. Whereas, automatic responses require input from customers, self-service FAQs don’t require customers to type anything out — they just click a button for an answer.

Here’s an example of self-service FAQs from ALOHAS:

How to set up self-service FAQs

The easiest way to set up self-service FAQs is to use a helpdesk or live chat software. 

In Gorgias, self-service FAQs are handled by a feature called Flows. Flows can even be interactive, prompting customers to share information (like their preferences or location) to give a more helpful, personalized answer. Here’s an example of Flows from VESSEL:

Flows give customers an easy, automatic answer to a lot of questions they would normally have. If we just had one response, we would link our FAQ page, but they don't always read that. Flows allow them to interact and get specific answers.
—Alisa Ogden, Sales Manager at VESSEL

6) Self-service order tracking

For the average brand, “Where is my order?” (WISMO) is the most common question, accounting for 18% of incoming requests. And based on math from 12k Gorgias merchants, the cost of answering those tickets manually is $12/ticket. 

You can offer self-service order tracking to empower customers to track their own orders. This is more convenient for customers, who don’t have to type out a message or wait for an answer. It’s also more streamlined for your support team, who now has to deal with 18% fewer tickets, and can focus on higher-value interactions. 

How to offer self-service order tracking

Some chatbots can track the status of your order, but most have a hard time handling those kinds of requests accurately and with real-time data.

If you use Gorgias, you can use Order Management Flows (part of Automate) to let customers see the status of their order in real-time, in your site’s chat widget and Help Center:

📚 Want to learn more? Check out our complete guide to providing order tracking. 

7) Self-service returns and cancellations

After questions about order status, the most common support questions are “Can I cancel my order?” and “Can I get a return?” Automating these return and cancellation requests can be a major time-saver for customer service teams. 

Even if you don’t completely automate the returns process — some brands like to have a human approval process — you can automate the return request process. It’s much easier than getting an email that says “I need to return something,” and having to go back and forth to get all the details. 

How to offer self-service returns and cancellations

The best way to automate the returns process is to set up a self-service return portal with a tool like Loop Returns. Loop makes it easy for customers to log in, select a recent order, and return or exchange it — completely on their own.

Loop even gently urges customers toward a return, to protect your company’s revenue from expensive returns. 

To automate the request process for returns and exchanges, you can use a tool like Gorgias. Gorgias Order Management Flows let customers request a return, request a cancellation, or report an issue with their order in an easy, structured way. They don’t have to type out a message — just log in and make a few clicks. 

Here’s an example of Order Management Flows in Loop Earplug’s chat widget (they’re also available in the Help Center):

You can even integrate Loop and Gorgias to send customers to your return portal from your chat widget:

📚 Interested in improving your returns? Read our guide to reducing returns in ecommerce. 

7 types of customer service automations to make agents more efficient

This second set of support automations doesn’t give automated answers; instead, it helps agents work faster, improving the efficiency and productivity of your team (giving them time to focus on human tasks). 

1) Personalizing messages

Even if you send responses manually, you can use automation to help personalize the messages. Specifically, you can use variables that automatically pull customer information (like order numbers, addresses, and more) into the message. 

This helps your customer service agents offer the most relevant, accurate information possible without forcing them to switch tabs and copy/paste the customer’s information. 

📚 Read more: Get more tips to offer more helpful, personalized customer service. 

How to automatically personalize messages

Every customer support platform offers some version of variables to help you personalize support messages — even Gmail, if that’s what you’re using. However, the best solutions can pull from your other apps to broaden the scope of possible variables. 

For example, Gorgias has 100+ ecommerce integrations so you can pull customer information from Shopify, marketing software, subscription software, shipping software, and more. This makes Gorgias a CRM of sorts: It gathers and stores customer data that you can use to personalize the interactions. 

With Gorgias, these variables can even be used in automated responses (on top of responses your human agents send):

2) Assigning tickets

If each of your tickets need to be manually reviewed, you’re adding to your set of customer service challenges, and eating up tons of time. If a generalist agent receives every ticket and manually passes technical or escalated tickets to the right person, you’re delaying the resolution times for those key tickets. 

Instead, you can set up automation that scans incoming tickets and automatically assigns tickets to specialized teams, like Level 2 team for complex issues or a team of Support Engineers for technical questions. 

How to automatically assign tickets

Most helpdesks include features to automatically assign tickets. To get started, you’ll need to set up assignment conditions. Helpdesks like Gorgias scan every incoming ticket to understand the tone and contents. Then, it can automatically assign tickets based on what it finds based on your set conditions.

You can get creative with these assignments. For example, you can assign: 

• Repeat customers to a VIP support team
• Subscription questions to a subscription team
• Wholesale questions to a specialized team

Here’s an example of a Gorgias Rule that automatically assigns incoming live chat tickets to a dedicated team:

3) Prioritizing tickets

Just like assignments, ticket prioritization is another valuable automation. It can remove a manual step if you currently have someone triaging all incoming tickets. Plus, it can make your team more strategic and effective by ensuring you answer time-sensitive or high-value tickets before it’s too late. 

For example, you can automatically prioritize pre-sales questions that come in on live chat — these kinds of questions often block sales for someone who’s actively shopping on your site. 

How to automatically prioritize tickets

You can prioritize incoming tickets in your helpdesk with Rules, or configurable automations. Just like ticket assignments, Rules fire off automations when a ticket meets certain criteria — including support channel, ticket intent, sentiment and tone, and hundreds of other factors. 

Here’s an example of a Rule that prioritizes tickets about orders that were placed in the last two days:

The logic here is that you want to see tickets about recent orders in case someone needs to cancel or change their address — you can catch it before the order ships, saving on unnecessary shipping costs.

Want to get strategic with ticket prioritization? Read our Director of Support’s guide to prioritizing customer support requests. 

4) IVR (Interactive Voice Response)

If you offer voice support, interactive voice response (IVR) is an easy way to automatically route customers to the right agent and even answer some basic questions without talking to an agent at all. 

Have you ever called a business and been told to press 1 for hours, 2 for electronics, and 3 for all other questions? That’s IVR. It saves agents and customers alike tons of time transferring calls and answering repetitive questions. 

How to use IVR to automate voice support

Most phone support systems include IVR — you just have to decide how you’ll map out your IVR automated system and set it up. Remember, IVR can automate two things:

1. Answers: Customers can press a number to get a pre-recorded message, answering common questions without speaking to an agent.
2. Ticket routing: Customers can press a number to get directed to the right team, department, or location’s phone line.

If you use Gorgias support, you can set up IVR with voice recordings or text-to-speech:

5) Ticket tagging

When agents process tickets, giving a helpful answer is only part of the job. Another key element of support is tagging tickets. Tags help you:

• Organize your helpdesk
• Improve ticket analysis and understand common contact reasons
• Forecast future customer service volumes
• Identify areas for improvement
• So much more

If agents have to manually tag each ticket, you’re adding a time-consuming step to the process. More importantly, you’re opening yourself up to human error. If an agent rushes through their work and misses a few tags, this could skew your data and reporting and cause bigger issues down the line. 

Luckily, automation never has an off day.

How to automatically tag tickets

The right helpdesk tool scans incoming tickets and can tag them based on the ticket’s channel, contents, tone, and more. In Gorgias, this automated ticket tagging happens through Rules. 

Here’s a Rule that automatically tags tickets as Urgent when they contain key words that indicate the customer accidentally made an error while ordering and needs to update the order before it ships. 

You could use a similar approach to automatically tag tickets with customer feedback, shipping issues, product malfunctions, and so on. 

6) Closing spam tickets

Another helpful automation helps agents identify which messages don’t need attention. 

If your email is publicly available, it’s only a matter of time before you’re added to spam marketing lists. For instance, if your email address is connected to Shopify, you’ll get automated emails for every payment notification. Agents don’t need to deal with these, and you can save time by using automation to clear them from the queue. 

How to automatically close spam tickets

You can set up Rules in your helpdesk to automatically detect and close tickets that don’t need an agent’s attention.

Here’s an example of a Rule that targets payment notifications by identifying messages that contain words like “Payment received” or “You received a payment,” as well as messages from emails starting with “noreply@” or “donotreply@.”

Gorgias’s Automate also automatically closes all no-reply tickets. Thanks to Gorgias’s always-improving machine learning, you don’t have to set up a Rule.

7) Proactive chat campaigns

Most customer service is reactive; answering incoming questions and resolving incoming issues. However, top brands know to offer robust proactive customer service. One way to do that is by reaching out to shoppers actively browsing your website. 

With the right automation tools, you can automatically reach out to shoppers, targeting certain browsing behaviors and customer attributes (to ensure you reach the right person at the right time). These are called chat campaigns. 

How to automate chat campaigns

With Gorgias, you can easily set up chat campaigns to target visitors based on a wide variety of factors:

• Total value of the shopping cart
• Goods added to the cart (based on product tags)
• Visiting particular page
• Time spent on a particular page
• Time spent on the website
• # of visits (new vs returning user or x# of times)
• Intent to exit the page
• Type of device
• Time of purchase
• Time of visit (during or outside business hours)

Once you set up the automation, you can write a message that lets the customer know you’re available to answer questions, reminds them of a promotion, offers a special incentive, and so much more. 

If the customer replies, they’re connected with a live chat support agent and can get any additional information. 

Biggest benefits and risks of automating customer service

Benefits of automating customer service

Why invest in automation? The main reason is to achieve more efficient customer service processes. But let’s drill down into some of the specific benefits.

Faster responses

Automated customer support has a 0-second response time — even the fastest agents could never respond to customer requests that quickly. While automation answers simple inquiries, your team is free to jump on complex issues.

While some brands think that automation ruins the customer journey, response and resolution times are one of the most important customer service metrics to boost customer satisfaction (CSAT).

No human errors

For some issues — like complex or sensitive ones — a human touch goes a long way. But for repetitive, rote interactions, the “human touch” might mean forgetting a step or explaining something poorly. When automation is set up correctly, it never makes an error.

Low costs

Research from McKinsey found that companies save 20-40% on customer service costs with an effective rollout of automation technology. While automation shouldn’t take jobs away from human agents, it can help businesses grow without burning out their agents or falling behind on tickets.

Your tool’s pricing may vary, but Gorgias’s Automate handles an average of 30% of all tickets, for 1/5 the cost of a customer service agent. 

Frees human agents for more complex tasks

Your agents have better things to do than copy/paste order statuses. As automation handles more menial customer service tasks, your team can ensure they’re providing the best experience to higher-value customers and more complex issues. 

24/7 support

Your business might not have the resources to staff a 24/7 support team, but by automating customer service — even the most basic functions — you can offer a layer of 24/7 support. 

Accurate answers and consistent brand voice

People have different communication styles and personalities. They can also make mistakes and cut corners. Onboarding reps may even give the wrong answer while trying to keep up.

Automation is an avenue for ensuring answers are on-brand and accurate. This helps give customers a consistent experience and also helps prevent newer staff members from making unnecessary mistakes.

Works across channels

Customers expect to reach you through a variety of channels, including email, social media, phone, SMS, and more. As your team explores an omnichannel support strategy, customer service tools with automation features can streamline your progress. 

Potential risks of automating customer service

Frustrating customers

When automation is used in the wrong ways, it creates a terribly frustrating experience for customers. 

AI chatbots are a great example: While they can answer some basic questions, they might also attempt to answer complex questions but return with inaccurate answers. If customers can’t easily get in touch with a human, they’ll leave your site.

The best course of action is to use automation that consistently improves specific parts of the customer experience. Avoid supposedly catch-all solutions. And always give people an easy way to contact a real person. 

Robotic answers

Automation — especially generative AI, which writes messages from scratch — can be stiff. Rather than rely on automation to draft messages to customers, consider using automation that triggers a pre-written message from humans (adding customer data where appropriate). 

This grants you the benefits of automation while still ensuring the customer gets an on-brand, accurate, and human-sounding message. 

Missed opportunities for upsells

If AI automation is responsible for managing too many customer interactions, it might not notice or take advantage of clear opportunities to upsell or cross-sell customers. 

For example, if a customer claims their device dies too quickly, your chatbot might generate tips for them to make their battery last longer. A human agent might do that plus send a link to an upgraded device that lasts longer.

The best course of action, again, is to avoid over-relying on automation. Choose automation that’s really great at automating specific tasks, so human agents are still integrated into the process and can capitalize on these particular situations. 

Technical glitches

Automation, like any technology, is subject to the occasional glitch or downtime. While this shouldn’t scare you away from using automation, it’s a good reason to avoid over-relying on automation to complete all your customer service duties.  

Best practices of customer support automation

Automation is only helpful if it’s strategic and set up correctly. Here are some automation best practices to keep in mind:

Always offer a clear path to humans

Never trap your customers in automation (or chatbot) hell. Always offer a clear path to human support. 

The most common example is in the chat widget. Even if a human isn’t immediately available, at least give customers a way to submit a message that your agents answer via email once they’re available. 

If you use Gorgias, every automated interaction offers customers a clear path to talk to an agent. Here’s an example of this in action from Steve Madden:

Don’t try and trick customers

Customers generally appreciate the speed and convenience of automation. But they get grumpy when they think they’re chatting with a human, and get an inaccurate, robotic response. 

When you’re sending automated messages, consider labeling the message as Automated to be transparent with customers. In Gorgias, automated messages are labeled as automated, and you can choose an avatar that sends automated messages. 

Here’s an example of this in action from Loop Earplugs:

Use automation to personalize more, not less

One fear of automation is the robotic, inhuman tone of messages. But automation can actually help you personalize conversations more. The trick? Use on-brand, pre-written messages and introduce variables that automation fills in with customer data. 

In Gorgias, you can use a wide variety of variables to populate the automated message with the customer’s name, shipping address, order status, estimated delivery date, and much more.  

Choose software built for specific purposes

There’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all automation software. If you’re selling software or a subscription-based SaaS platform, you’ll likely need a different toolset than a vendor selling clothing or tea via an ecommerce website.

Daily interaction types are going to vary considerably. For instance, customer support at a clothing company will deal with sizing and out-of-stock issues or returns and exchanges. None of those needs apply to a B2B software company.

Rather than choosing automation that claims to work for each of these different use cases, choose automation custom-built for your unique needs. 

Always maintain the software

Automation isn’t set-it-and-forget-it software. You should consistently review automated interactions and be prepared to tweak your automation software to ensure:

• It works as expected and without (frequent) errors
• Customers are successfully reaching resolutions with automated answers
• You’re adding new applications to maximize the value of automations

Empower humans, don’t replace them

The best automation replaces tasks that don’t need human input, like repetitive tasks that humans find tedious.

Instead of turning to automation as a replacement for a human team, look for ways automation can speed up the work of humans or let humans focus on complex problem-solving and conversations that require empathy and human interaction. 

Choose low-code tools

Be sure you’re choosing a tool that aligns with the technical abilities of your team — especially if you don’t have any highly technical staff. Most customer service software companies now design their products with non-technical users in mind, as a result.

Mind data security and privacy

Automation introduces a small amount of risk when it comes to data security and privacy. When shopping for customer service automation software, be sure to check the vendor’s security. At a minimum, look for software that has single-sign-on (SS), SOC 2 Type II certification, and HIPAA compliance. 

Discover Gorgias, the automated support software built for ecommerce

Gorgias is the customer service platform built exclusively for ecommerce companies, and powered by a suite of AI and automation features. Your agents will save hours per week by cutting out tab-switching, copy-pasting, and manually assigning and tagging tickets.

Gorgias also features the Automation Add-on, which includes a variety of self-service features to help your customers get instant answers to basic questions. Automate users can automate 30% of all customer interactions — up to 45%, for top users!

To learn more about Gorgias and Automate, book your demo today.

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90% of customers agree that customer service plays an important role in deciding whether they do business with a company, according to a Microsoft survey. Research from Salesforce, meanwhile, shows that 78% of customers will forgive companies for mistakes — if they receive excellent customer service. 

Insights like these highlight the immense role that customer service plays within a business — they resolve issues quickly, drive purchases with pre-sales conversations, and create a wonderful customer experience. 

But how do customer service professionals go about acquiring these skills? While there are a number of approaches to training, customer service courses and certification programs are great options to consider.

Whether you're a junior support agent trying to land a promotion or a team lead looking for the best certifications for your crew, this guide is for your. On top of suggesting many courses and certifications, we’ll also cover best practices when vetting and choosing certifications.

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The 19 best customer service certifications by category

Customer service certification courses can be broken down into seven main types:

• Basic customer service agent certification: The most broad-ranging type of certification courses, these courses focus on the fundamentals and provide training on the hard and soft skills that reps need to navigate various customer interactions.
• Customer service leadership certification: Meant for customer service managers, directors, and other team leaders, these courses are designed to improve strategic and managerial skills.
• Helpdesk certification: These courses are intended to provide reps with training on how to utilize helpdesk software effectively.
• Call center certification: These courses teach reps the fundamentals of phone-based customer support and the skills required for real-time conversations with customers.
• Customer service business management certification: These courses provide support leaders with the business knowledge to align customer service initiatives with the business's overall goals, such as budgeting and data management. 
• Customer experience certification: These courses are designed to help reps form a better understanding of customer needs across the entire customer experience and provide top-notch support across all their customer touchpoints.
• Client service certification: These courses are geared towards any customer-facing employee (not just customer service reps) and are designed to teach the skills necessary for positive customer interactions.

While there are in-person customer service programs available locally, we’ll spend th. Most of the courses are self-paced, meaning you can make progress between shifts rather than waiting for an instructor. Of course, if you prefer on-site instructions, you can look into local options. 

Now that we've got the definitions down, we’ll explore each one in more detail and recommend some of the top customer service certifications available in each category.

1) Getting certified as a customer service agent

Basic customer service agent certification courses are the most common type of courses for support reps to attend and are designed to provide a basic yet thorough understanding of the various skills required for excellent customer service. This includes hard skills — such as learning how to use various support tools or software, data entry and analysis, and customer management — as well as soft skills like communication skills, customer service phrases, problem-solving, and collaboration.

This is a great place to start if you don’t have any frontline customer service experience, you want to demonstrate your skill set for an employer, or you’re a newer rep looking for a structured learning experience. 

Explore the available courses for this certification below.

HDI Customer Service Representative (HDI-CSR)

Agents who attend the HDI Customer Service Representative training focuses on best practices for customer support, like conflict resolution, communication, and call-handling.

Service Strategies Customer Service Representative Training

The Customer Service Representative Training by Service Strategies provides agents with an introduction to the customer support principles that will help them provide great service and experiences to customers. This course is best for people who have been recently hired as new support agents or students looking to earn a support certification.

Motlow State Customer Service Certificate

The Customer Service Certificate from Motlow State is great for students looking to learn about support roles in different industries like retail or healthcare.

Alison Customer Service Skills

Agents who take the Customer Service Skills course from Alison will learn foundational customer service skills, like how to handle complaints, manage their stress level, and create better customer experiences.

2) Getting certified as a customer service leader or manager

Most of the time, customer service managers benefit from support certification courses by using those courses to train their team and boost performance. However, there are also courses designed specifically for managers and leaders themselves.

Topics commonly covered in these courses include things such as communication skills from a leader’s perspective, how to motivate and inspire others, how to delegate and direct, and other key skills that a manager needs to hone.

By improving your own skills and knowledge as a support manager, you can improve your team's performance from the top down. You can also use these courses to acquire the skills and certifications you need to advance your own career.

Explore the available courses for this certification below.

Gorgias Academy Lead Agent Training

Agents who complete the Lead Agent Training through Gorgias Academy will learn how to expand their skills within the Gorgias platform.

Service Strategies Advanced Service Leadership Training Course

Service Leadership Training Course by Service Strategies teaches agents how to become a customer service leader in a four day intensive. Attendees will learn things like how to set a strategy for a customer service team and how to lead a successful CS team.

Get a head start on leveling up your team: Read the 20 customer service best practices every customer service leader should know.

3) Getting certified for a specific helpdesk

According to HubSpot, over 85% of customer service teams that utilize helpdesk software say that it makes them more productive. Before we tell you why helpdesk software is so beneficial that it's worth taking an entire course on it, we should first define what a helpdesk actually is.

A helpdesk is a platform that allows customer service teams to manage and respond to customers, whether through incoming messages or support tickets, all in a single, user-friendly dashboard. 

At a time when more and more companies are offering omnichannel support — enabling customers to contact them via phone, live chat support, social media, email, and so on — it’s more beneficial than ever to organize and prioritize the flow of requests with helpdesk software. 

For example, Gorgias’ helpdesk helped BrüMate earn over $9 million in revenue exclusively from the support team.

There may be a bit of a learning curve depending on the helpdesk and how it integrates with your team’s other business tools. By attending a helpdesk certification course, support reps are able to learn the ins and outs of this valuable software so that they can leverage it to its maximum potential.

Explore the available courses for this certification below.

Gorgias Academy Admin Training

The Admin training course via Gorgias Academy helps agents boost their knowledge of the Gorgias platform and become a power user in 30 minutes.

Gorgias Academy Basic Agent Training

Agents who take the Gorgias Academy Basic Agent Training course will learn how to answer support tickets on the Gorgias platform for Shopify stores and get an introduction to automation. The course takes about 40 minutes to complete.

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4) Getting certified to enhance call center skills

A call center is an organizational structure for customer support that’s widely used. In a call center, your team takes calls from customers who have questions or concerns and works to address those issues over the phone. In fact, it’s where many customer service representatives begin their careers. Working at a call center requires great communication skills, technical abilities, and customer service skills.

These certification courses will help you learn how to improve your customer competency, get through more calls, and help your customers get a better experience with your brand while making you a better customer service specialist.

Explore the available courses for this certification below.

EdApp Call Center Customer Service 

The Call Center Customer Service training course through EdApp focuses on foundational call center skills that agents need like call prep, call etiquette, and holds & transfers.

The Call Center School Navigating a Customer Call

In the Call Center School's collection of call center trainings, agents can select between different courses like basics, how to manage remote teams, or learn about workforce management and its challenges.

Bonfire Training Customer Service Essentials

Bonfire training has many different trainings for support team members to choose from, but those looking for specific call center trainings might benefit from the Customer Service Essentials course, which helps agents learn how to deliver a top-notch customer experience consistently.

5) Get certified in customer service business management

Customer service business management courses are typically for managers and teach fundamentals like budgeting, data analysis, and strategic decision-making. courses.) By sharpening these skills and gaining that deeper context, managers can guide their team toward broader business goals more effectively, including revenue generation. 

Note: This type of course isn’t focused on goals like clearing tickets, helping customers, advancing leadership careers, or upskilling teams. That’s the aim of a customer service leadership certification.

Explore the available courses for this certification below.

Durham Tech Business Administration Management Certificate

The Business Administration Certificate from Durham Tech offers training on business organizations and processes.

CSU Global Undergraduate Certificate in Business Administration

People looking for a more in-depth certification can take an Undergraduate Course in Business Administration from CSU. The course takes about six months and is made up of six three-credit courses.

6) Get certified to provide better customer experiences

When reps have a deep understanding of the customer journey and the needs, desires, and pain points of the customers they’re serving, the quality of their service and outcomes is bound to go up. A customer experience certification teaches reps how to go beyond simple ticket handling to improving customer experience across all touchpoints — not just when they reach out with a problem or question. 

This type of course usually provides training on building and supporting a positive in-product experience, creating a full-fledged help center, designing a smooth and informative buying process, and delivering a thorough customer onboarding program. With that in mind, it can be helpful for support team members at all experience levels. 

Explore the available courses for this certification below.

Udemy Customer Experience Certification Workshop

If you're in search of a CCXP certification, this course on Customer Experience from Udemy will teach you how to get it, as well as the relationship between customer experience and loyalty, and how to map the customer journey.

LinkedIn Customer Experience Leadership

Taught by expert Brad Cleveland, LinkedIn's Customer Experience Leadership course teaches you how to create positive, impactful customer experiences and how to maintain them.

Business Training Works Customer Service Refresher Training

The Customer Service Refresher Training course from Business Training helps agents get excited and learn more about delivering a good customer experience consistently.

7) Get certified in client services

A client service certification course covers the fundamentals of customer care and how to use customer support skills in everyday roles and tasks. Client service certification courses aren’t just for customer service reps. They can be taken by anyone who wants to improve their ability to communicate with customers. 

Sales reps, customer support reps, customer success reps, product team members, and other customer-facing employees who want to learn the soft skills required to effectively interact with customers (and, when appropriate, upsell them) can benefit from it. 

Explore the available courses for this certification below.

Customer Service Institute of America (CSIA) Certified Customer Experience Professional

CSIA's Certified Customer Experience Professional course is a comprehensive training for those looking to excel in client services.

CCPC Global Certified Client Service Specialist (CCSS) Program

CCPC's Certified Client Service Specialist program is an informative training that teaches agents how to excel in providing exceptional customer service.

CCPC Global Certified Client Service Professional (CCSP) Program

Similar to the above program, CCPC's Global Certified Client Service Professional Program helps agents learn foundational skills to excel in their careers.

The benefits of earning customer service certifications

Assuming that you choose a high-quality online course (something we can definitely help with), earning professional certifications as a customer service rep can boost your career and performance. 

These training programs offer substantial benefits to customer service managers as well, enabling them to lead and support their team on a higher level and unlock customer service excellence.

Here are some of the top benefits of customer service certification courses for both reps and team managers: 

Opens up career advancement opportunities

Simply put, a certified customer service rep is often going to be more attractive to employers than someone who’s not certified. They’re likely better equipped to navigate customer expectations, pick up service industry tools, handle difficult customers, and improve customer relations with certifications.

Earning certification from an accredited program can help a rep distinguish themselves in the eyes of their employer, making it easier to secure new positions and promotions. Similarly, customer service managers can improve their career prospects by completing programs geared toward leadership and skill development.

Helps hiring managers choose the right hire

Hiring customer service reps can be a difficult process since it can be challenging to gauge and verify a rep's skills and knowledge from a job interview alone. Customer service certifications make it easier for managers to make the right hire by serving as proof of the knowledge and training that a candidate has earned. 

Adds to your company’s support training

Providing the training and instruction reps need to ensure customer satisfaction is a time-consuming part of a customer service manager's job. The good news is that online customer support training programs can deliver high-quality lessons, practice, insights, and tests — without requiring direct involvement from a manager. 

This frees up time in a support manager's schedule and allows them to focus on improving their own skills, exploring new service strategies (like proactive customer service and customer self-service), and initiatives for boosting team performance. 

Improves individual and team performance

Speaking of boosting team performance, let's wrap up with the most obvious benefit of customer service certifications: improving support skills. From communication skills to problem-solving, the top customer service courses teach reps a wide range of skills that they can use to execute their daily tasks better. 

Of course, improving the performance of your customer service team can drive serious results, from improving conversion rate with new customers to promoting greater customer loyalty and retention. When it comes to the business-boosting benefits of great customer support, the possibilities are endless. 

Where customer service certifications fall short

All of the high-quality customer service certifications that we've covered so far can offer a lot of value to customer service reps and team leaders. However, these online certifications are not the end all, be all solution. Here are some things to keep in mind when you’re weighing courses/certifications as a learning tool: 

Online certifications aren’t a replacement for training

Regardless of the certifications that a support leader or rep has earned, thorough onboarding, continuous education, and ongoing training is still a must-have. 

Training courses are wonderful for their convenience and relative affordability, but they can't quite match tailored, one-on-one training. If you’re a support manager, it’s still your job to give each rep the hands-on coaching they need to perform at their highest possible level. And if you’re a customer service rep, it's your job to ask for or take advantage of skill development opportunities.

Team members will still need tailored training for their specific role. For example, product knowledge is one piece of customer service training that no online course can provide. Even helpdesk certification courses will be limited in value unless they cover the specific helpdesk your team uses.

Online support certifications require extra investment from team members

Online certification programs in particular can require a large degree of self-motivation. Support managers counting on these programs to upskill their team may find that some team members struggle to stay engaged. Similarly, job candidates or agents looking to advance their careers need to plan for the time investment and have tactics to stay accountable and get the course done.

If you’re struggling with team member engagement, check out our guide to customer support incentives. 

Some certifications are better than others

There isn’t one single organization vetting and accrediting every customer service certification program, and some aren’t reviewed by anyone but the course creator(s). When every course isn’t held to the same standard or worth your time or money, you’ll want to do some due diligence before hitting “Sign up.” We’ll give you some tips in the section below. 

None of this is meant to discourage you from online customer service certification programs. Used well, these programs can offer valuable skill- and confidence-building, which in turns leads to better customer service. However, understanding the pitfalls is the first step to using these programs properly and within the scope of what they’re built to do.

How to make sure your certification is worth your time

To improve the odds that the certification you or your reps receive is comprehensive, accurate, and will actually hold weight with future employers, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

1) Look for accredited programs

Some online customer service certification programs have earned accreditations from recognized bodies like higher education institutions or professional associations. 

As an example, the Customer Service Institute of America (CSIA) is an arm of the International Council of Customer Service Organizations (ICCSO), which promotes excellent CS practices through standards, awards, and development programs. The institution and the program itself must meet a rigorous set of standards, which helps you rest assured it’s a quality training opportunity. 

Once certified through one of their programs, you can include their logo on your LinkedIn or resume to make your application (or request for a promotion) stand out:

2) Check out reviews from students and graduates

If a customer service certification program is well-known and respectable enough to be worth considering then you should have no problem finding online reviews from reps who have already completed the program. These reviews serve as an unbiased source of feedback that you can use to gauge a program's quality and value.

For example, the Customer Experience Certification Workshop on Udemy includes ratings and reviews, the number of students who have taken it, and even companies who have offered the course to their employees before. 

4.1 is a pretty solid score, especially considering the course has over 2,000 reviews.

3) Research the organization or individual offering the program

The reputation of a certification program is deeply tied to the reputation of whoever is offering it. A potential employer is going to value a certification much more if they recognize and respect the individual, school, company, or organization that offers it, even if they are not familiar with the program itself. With this in mind, research the “who” behind the certification course. 

Even if they’re not accredited by a major certification body, they may be an organization that’s known for excellent customer service or a thought leader in the industry. 

More ways to level up your skills or your team now

Whether you’re an agent looking to develop your skills and boost your career prospects or a manager looking for ways to train your team, online customer service certification programs can offer plenty of value. As long as these programs are used within their proper role and chosen carefully, they can be a convenient way to learn a range of customer service skills.

Gorgias users can check out the Gorgias Academy for high-quality courses and certifications that help you become a certified helpdesk expert and practice beginner and advanced skills along the way. 

For more ways to learn and upskill today, explore these 20 practical customer support tips.