2025 Ecommerce Trends: AI Adoption and Smarter Tech Stacks
TL;DR
- Ecommerce teams are overwhelmed by app overload, with 42% using six tools daily—leading to inefficiencies, rising costs, and poor customer experiences.
- Top brands are consolidating their tech stacks, choosing deeply integrated, ecommerce-specific platforms to simplify operations and lower costs.
- AI adoption and excitement are accelerating, with 77.2% of ecommerce professionals using AI daily and 55.3% rating their excitement as an 8-10 out of 10.
- Gorgias powers AI-driven support and sales in one platform, through a single workspace that helps ecommerce teams resolve faster, sell smarter, and operate more efficiently.
At Gorgias, we work with over 16,000 ecommerce brands and one common challenge emerges over and over:
Ecommerce tools are essential, but too many tools becomes a burden.
With different teams responsible for different functions, brands risk creating a disconnected tech stack that causes inefficiencies, reduces productivity, and ultimately impacts profitability.
Ecommerce teams are shuffling between tabs, copying and pasting order numbers, searching for customer data, and trying to piece it all together. It’s not only inefficient—it’s expensive, frustrating, and unsustainable as you scale.
So we dug into that data.
Our 2025 Ecommerce Trends Report surveyed ecommerce professionals across industries and job roles to understand what they really think about tech stacks and AI’s role in it.
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Ecommerce professionals are approaching app overload
There is now an ecommerce app for every possible use case a brand could need. But as businesses adopt new technologies for each part of their customer journey, their teams end up working out of dozens of platforms.
The study found that 42.28% of ecommerce pros use at least six apps daily to perform their role. Regardless of the number of apps used, integration and compatibility are a must. When technologies don’t talk to each other, you spend time context-switching instead of focusing on customer experience.
For Audien Hearing, Gorgias’s open API allowed them to create an integration with its warehouse software to manage returns directly in Gorgias rather than a shared Google spreadsheet. This integration helped them reduce returns by 5%, protecting their margins and leading to higher customer satisfaction.
Read more: How Audien Hearing Increased Efficiency for 75 Agents and Reduced Product Returns by 5%
Consolidation is the smartest move a brand can make
The most successful ecommerce brands aren’t necessarily using more tools—they’re using smarter tools. Leading businesses are opting for platforms that are deeply integrated, AI-compatible, and built specifically for ecommerce needs.
A growing tech stack also comes with a growing tech budget. Each new app has new costs, including subscriptions, set-up, management, and development fees. They quickly add up.
Nearly 40% of ecommerce professionals spend $5,000 to $50,000 annually on their tech stack.
Different roles have different priorities
We asked ecommerce professionals what they actually value in their tools. Unsurprisingly, the answer changed based on who we were talking to.
Top tool benefits included:
- Revenue growth for support leaders, revenue-focused roles, and founders
- Simplified workflows and time savings for support agents
There’s a clear difference between what ecommerce leaders and agents value in a tool and considering both is key to success.
Why brands hesitate to consolidate
Despite the benefits of using fewer, well-integrated tools, there are a few things that hold brands back from consolidating their tech stacks.
We asked respondents:
What, if any, are the biggest deterrents to consolidating your tech stack?
Top concerns are:
- Compatibility issues with existing software (52.4%)
- Direct costs (fees for software licenses, subscriptions, or customizations) (47.6%)
- Time required (40.3%)
AI adoption is accelerating—and it’s driving results
AI is dominating the world of ecommerce. It impacts every aspect of the customer journey, from brand discovery to the post-purchase experience. AI is actively reshaping the way ecommerce professionals work, so we wanted to know how they feel about it.
- 77.2% of ecommerce professionals use AI and automation to perform their role in 2025, compared to 69.3% in 2024.
- 55.3% of respondents rate their excitement for AI as an 8-10, compared to 45.6% in 2024.
Despite growing usage and excitement, teams still have their concerns with AI:
Read more: 8 AI Trends in Ecommerce: What’s Changing and How to Prepare
The AI shift—From just a support tool to a sales engine
The most impactful use cases we’ve seen aren’t just about reducing support ticket volume. AI is now driving revenue, increasing conversion rates, and enabling 24/7 coverage without expanding headcount.
Gorgias’s AI Agent is now capable of virtual sales assistance through personalized product recommendations, dynamic discounts to reduce cart abandonment, and cross-sells and upsells.
Top brands are already leveraging these new capabilities and seeing results. For example:
- TUSHY uses a Gorgias AI Agent to accurately answer pre-sale questions, leading to a 15% conversion rate, with AI Agent driving 2x more sales than human agents.
- Trove Brands enabled an AI Agent named Wally that cut misshipments by 70%, meaning reducing unwanted charges, avoidable fulfillment costs, high return rates, and customer frustration.
- Caitlyn Minimalist uses AI to reduce response times by 99% and saw a 150% increase in ticket conversions.
Gorgias: A one-tab tool for Conversational AI
We asked one final question to make ecommerce folks really reflect on how they work:
How many tabs do you currently have open?
The average ecommerce professional works with 22 open tabs. We’re not here to judge, but if you’re looking to close a few of those tabs, Gorgias might be what you’re missing.
Gorgias replaces all that complexity with a single workspace. From support to sales, order management to automation, it all happens inside one platform.
Ecommerce businesses can now leverage Gorgias’s Advanced AI for both support and sales. Within the same AI Agent, ecommerce brands can
- Fully resolve customer inquiries, not just respond
- Provide order tracking details
- Cancel, edit, and manage orders in Shopify and integrated apps
- Process returns and exchanges
- Provide tailored product recommendations
- Drive conversions
- And much more!
Get your copy of the 2025 Ecommerce Trends Report
This blog just skims the surface of what we uncover in our 2025 Ecommerce Trends report.
Want the full story?
Download the complete 2025 Ecommerce Trends: AI Adoption & Smarter Tech Stacks report to access:
- Data-backed insights and trends from ecommerce professionals
- The biggest barriers to consolidation—and how to overcome them
- Real-world case studies from leading brands like TUSHY, Caitlyn Minimalist, and July that are winning with AI
- Tactical recommendations to future-proof your ecommerce stack through AI-powered consolidation
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TL;DR:
- Gorgias eliminated helpdesk outages by implementing multiple database connection pools with PgBouncer, achieving over 99.99% uptime.
- We accelerated data retrieval by organizing 40TB of data into 128 partitions, reducing query times to less than 4ms.
- Our streamlined incident response process with dedicated Slack channels and clear roles now resolves almost all incidents in under an hour.
- Looking ahead, we're strengthening security, doubling our SRE team, implementing production readiness reviews, and enhancing monitoring tools.
When customer service teams are at their busiest, they need a helpdesk that keeps up. That’s exactly why our Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) team has been working behind the scenes to make the Gorgias platform faster than ever.
Over the past year, we've made remarkable improvements to our platform to eliminate bottlenecks, speed up data retrieval, and reduce incidents. For you, this means fewer disruptions, faster load times, and a more reliable helpdesk experience.
Here's how we did it.
Eliminating helpdesk outages by increasing our connection pools
The challenge
Our platform relied on a single, shared database connection pool to manage all queries. Think of it as having just one pipe handling all the water flowing through your house — when too much water rushes in at once, the whole system backs up.
In practice, this meant a single surge in database requests could clog the entire system. When lower-priority background tasks got stuck, they could prevent high-priority operations (like loading tickets or running automations) from working properly. This would cause the entire helpdesk to slow down or, worse, become completely unresponsive.
The solution
Using PgBouncer, a tool that manages database connections and reduces the load on a server, we implemented multiple connection pools. Instead of relying on a single pipeline to stream all requests, we created separate "pipes" for different requests.
Like how road traffic picks up again after an exit, routing our database traffic into separate connection pools makes sure high-priority customer interactions don’t lag behind automated background tasks.
This solution is future-proof. In the event that a lower-priority task is delayed in one connection pool, other functionalities of the helpdesk will continue working because of the remaining connection pools.
The benefits
The results speak for themselves:
- Complete elimination of helpdesk-wide outages caused by connection pooling issues
- Faster response times — 99% of automated rules tasks take less than 800 milliseconds to complete from inception
- Partial degradation instead of full outages if issues do occur — at worst, only a single feature might be affected instead of your entire helpdesk
We've eliminated incidents caused by connection pool issues in the helpdesk completely. This reduced major helpdesk outage incidents by around four per year and maintained an average uptime of over 99.99%.
Speeding up the helpdesk by organizing 40TB of data into 128 partitions
The challenge
As Gorgias grew to over 15,000 customers, so did the volume of data. We’re talking data from tickets, integrations, automations, and many more. The combination of more users and data meant slower searches within the helpdesk.
However, the amount of data was not the problem — it was how our data was organized.
Imagine this: An enormous storage room full of file cabinets containing every piece of data. Sure, those file cabinets kept data organized, but you would still need to spend time searching through the entire room, running up and down aisles of cabinets, to find your desired file. This method was cumbersome.
We needed a more efficient way to keep our data easy to find, especially as more customers used our platform.
The solution
The answer was database partitioning — breaking our large datasets into smaller, more manageable segments. Using Debezium, Kafka, and Kafka-connect JDBC, all managed by Terraform, we migrated over 40TB of data, including 3.5 billion tickets, without a moment of downtime for our merchants.
Instead of a giant room with thousands of file cabinets, we divided that giant room into 128 smaller rooms. So now, instead of looking for a file in one room, you know you just need to go into room number 102, which has a much smaller area to search.
This approach allows our system to quickly pinpoint the location of data, significantly reducing the time it takes to find and deliver information to users.
Additionally, database maintenance has become more efficient. Some of the partitions can probably sit without needing to be changed at all. We just have to maintain the partitions that are getting new files, which cuts down on maintenance time.
The benefits
Better database partitioning provides several benefits:
- Faster queries — We have an average of 600 lookups or updates per second across these databases, each taking less than 4ms
- More efficient database maintenance — We halved the number of automated maintenance runs and cut each run’s duration in half
- Better scalability as our infrastructure is now equipped to handle continued customer growth
Faster resolutions with a streamlined incident response process
The challenge
When incidents occurred in the past, our response process was inconsistent, leading to delays in resolution. It was sometimes unclear who should take the lead, what immediate actions were required, and how to effectively communicate with affected customers.
Additionally, post-incident reviews varied in quality, making it difficult to prevent similar issues from happening again. We needed a standardized framework to address incidents in a timely fashion.
The solution
To streamline incident management, we introduced a replicable, automated process:
- Dedicated Slack channels — Every incident gets its own Slack channel, ensuring our team is immediately notified.
- Clear roles & responsibilities — We defined specific roles so every engineer knows what next steps to take.
- Retrospectives — After each incident, we conduct thorough post-mortems to analyze root causes, identify improvements, and share learnings across teams.
- Proactive prevention — By improving our monitoring tools, we catch potential issues earlier, reducing the likelihood of major disruptions.
The benefits
With our improved incident management process:
- Response times have decreased significantly — almost all incidents are mitigated in under an hour
- Customers receive clearer communication during incidents, including our regularly updated Gorgias Status page
- 100+ smarter preventative measures to reduce the overall incident frequency or permanently fix recurring problems
What's next: Four ways we're improving the platform experience
With more brands catching on to how essential a solid CX platform is, our team's got our work cut out for us. Here's what's on the way:
- Enhanced security measures — We've hired a dedicated security engineer to strengthen our security infrastructure.
- A bigger SRE team — Our Site Reliability Engineering team has doubled, allowing us to address performance issues rapidly.
- Production readiness reviews — We're formalizing a process to audit new and existing services, ensuring they meet our reliability standards before deployment.
- Improved monitoring — We're investing in better monitoring tools to detect and resolve potential issues before they impact customers.
Count on a reliable future with Gorgias
Gorgias will inevitably face new challenges in performance — no system is completely immune to downtime.
But we've built our architecture with the future in mind, and it’s more resilient than ever as more and more brands realize the power of conversational AI CX platforms.
The result? A platform you can count on to help you deliver exceptional customer service, without technical issues getting in the way.
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TL;DR:
- AI is reshaping ecommerce, giving early adopters a competitive edge. From visual search to dynamic pricing, these tools meet rising customer expectations and drive growth.
- Conversational AI boosts support efficiency and customer satisfaction. Solutions like Gorgias's AI Agent automatically resolve up to 60% of tickets while personalizing responses across channels.
- Personalization now extends beyond product recommendations. AI is customizing everything from discounts to website layouts in real-time, creating unique experiences that convert.
- AI automation streamlines back-end operations for inventory and pricing. By predicting demand and adjusting prices dynamically, brands improve margins while reducing stock issues.
AI is no longer a futuristic concept associated with sci-fi movies and robots. It’s driving real change in ecommerce right now. Currently, 84% of ecommerce businesses list AI as their top priority. And it’s only getting bigger. By 2034, the ecommerce AI market is expected to hit $62.64 billion.
Brands that use AI to improve personalization, automate customer support, and refine pricing strategies will have a major competitive edge.
The good news? Most brands are still figuring it out, which means there’s huge potential for early adopters to stand out.
Let’s dive into the key AI trends shaping ecommerce in 2025, and how you can use them to future-proof your business.
1. Visual search
Instead of searching for keywords, shoppers can upload a photo and instantly find similar or matching products. Visual search eliminates the guesswork of finding the right words to describe an item and reduces friction in the search process.
In 2025, improvements in computer vision and machine learning will make visual search faster. AI will better recognize patterns, colors, and textures, delivering more precise results in real-time.
For customers, visual search simplifies product discovery while brands benefit from increased average order values. Visual search creates more opportunities to surface related products that customers might miss during manual searches, ultimately boosting conversion and revenue.
Pinterest is already doing it. With Pinterest Lens, users can take a picture on the spot to find similar products or ideas to help them with easier purchases or creative projects.
Pro Tip: Optimize product images and metadata (like color, size, and material) so your products appear accurately in visual search results. Clean, high-quality images and detailed tagging will make your catalog easier for AI to process and match.
2. Conversational AI
Conversational AI, like Gorgias’s AI Agent, already handles 60% of customer conversations. Brands that adopt it often see more than a 25% improvement in customer satisfaction, revenue, or cost reduction.
Soon, advanced natural language processing (NLP) will make it easier for customers to use text, voice, and images to find exactly what they’re looking for. These multimodal capabilities will elevate support conversations, resulting in fewer abandoned carts and support teams that can focus on more complex issues.
For example, Glamnetic uses AI Agent to manage customer inquiries across multiple channels, resolving 40% of requests automatically while maintaining a personalized touch. Their AI can automate responses to common questions, recommend products based on browsing history, and even track orders in real-time.
Pro Tip: Invest in AI chat tools that integrate with your customer support system and sync with real-time product and order data. Your responses will be accurate and timely, without losing the personal touch.
Read more: The Gorgias & Shopify integration: 8 features your support team will love
3. Product recommendations
According to McKinsey, omnichannel personalization strategies, including tailored product recommendations, have a 10-15% uplift potential in revenue and retention. But with only 1 in 10 retailers fully implementing personalization across channels, there’s a massive opportunity for brands to innovate.
In 2025, AI-driven product recommendations will become even more precise by analyzing customer behavior, preferences, and purchase history in real-time. Predictive AI will adjust recommendations on the fly, showing customers the right products at the right moment.
Take Kreyol Essence as an example. They use Gorgias Convert to track customer behavior and recommend products based on past purchases and browsing patterns. When a customer buys a hair mask, AI suggests complementary products like scalp oil or leave-in conditioner — increasing average order value without feeling pushy.
Personalization boosts sales by helping customers discover products they actually want. Plus, it creates a more tailored shopping experience, which encourages customers to return.
Pro Tip: Test different recommendation strategies, like “frequently bought together” or “you may also like,” to see which ones drive the most conversions.
Learn more: Reduce Customer Effort with AI: A Smarter Approach Than Surprise and Delight
4. Voice commerce
In 2025, more customers may use smart speakers and voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant to shop hands-free. AI will improve voice recognition and contextual understanding, so it’s easier for customers to find products they want.
Instead of fumbling with a keyboard, customers will be able to say, “Order more coffee pods,” and AI will not only recognize the request but also pull up the preferred brand and size based on past orders. Less friction will make the buying process more intuitive, especially for repeat purchases.
Voice commerce expands shopping accessibility and creates a more convenient experience for busy customers. It also opens the door for brands to surface product recommendations and upsell during the conversation.
Pro Tip: Optimize product descriptions and catalog structure for voice search. Clear, simple language and detailed product tags will help AI understand and surface the right products.
5. Dynamic pricing
A recent McKinsey report suggests that investing in real-time customer analytics will continue to be key to adjusting pricing and more effectively targeting customers.
In 2025, machine learning will allow ecommerce brands to adjust product prices instantly based on demand, competitor pricing, and customer behavior. If a competitor drops their price on a popular item, AI can respond immediately, so you stay competitive without sacrificing margins.
Machine learning will also refine pricing models over time, finding the sweet spot between profitability and customer conversion.
For example, AI might detect that customers are more likely to buy a product when it’s priced at $29.99 rather than $30, and adjust accordingly. More competitive pricing means higher revenue and better margins, but it also increases customer trust when prices are consistent with market trends.
Pro Tip: Test different pricing strategies and monitor how they affect sales and customer behavior.
6. Better customer insights
According to McKinsey, AI-driven personalization and customer insights can improve marketing efficiency by 10-30% and cut costs significantly.
In 2025, AI will analyze customer data like purchase history, browsing patterns, and feedback to generate smarter, more actionable next steps. Instead of guessing what customers want, brands will have the data to predict it.
For example, Gorgias’s AI Agent for Sales can identify a shopper’s interest level and purchase intent and then use it to adjust its conversational strategy. It analyzes shopper data like browsing behavior, cart activity, and purchase history.
Here’s how it would behave for different customers:
- A browsing customer: AI Agent will ask clarifying questions
- An interested customer: AI Agent provides tailored recommendations and handles objections
- A customer with an intent to buy: AI Agent assists with checkout, payment, and nudges purchase
7. Personalized shopping
AI-driven personalization leads to a 5-10% higher customer satisfaction and engagement. Yet, only 15% have fully implemented it across all channels — leaving a huge gap to fill.
In 2025, AI-driven personalization will go beyond product recommendations. Brands will be able to adjust website layouts based on customer preferences, highlight products that align with their style, and even customize customer service interactions.
A higher level of personalization will boost conversion rates and customer satisfaction. When customers feel like a brand “gets” them, they’re more likely to make a purchase and come back for more.
For example, AI Agent for Sales can adjust discounts and provide smart incentives to drive sales. When adjusting for discounts, AI Agent analyzes shopper behavior, including browsing activity, cart status, and conversation context, to offer a discount based on how engaged and ready the shopper is to buy.
Pro Tip: Use AI to test different personalization strategies and refine them based on performance data. Small adjustments, like changing product order or highlighting specific categories, can have a big impact on sales.
8. Automated inventory management
Keeping the right products in stock at the right time is about to get a whole lot easier. In 2025, AI will predict demand patterns and automate restocking decisions based on sales trends, seasonality, and customer behavior. Instead of manually tracking inventory, AI will handle it in real time to avoid stock issues.
For example, AI could notice a spike in orders for a specific product right before the holidays. It could then automatically increase stock levels to meet demand or scale back on items that aren’t moving as fast. Real-time tracking means fewer missed sales and less wasted inventory.
Efficient inventory management not only cuts costs but also improves the customer experience. When products are consistently available, customers are more likely to trust and stick with your brand.
Pro Tip: Implement AI-powered inventory management to sync data across all sales channels. This ensures accurate stock levels and seamless fulfillment, whether customers are shopping online or in-store.
Embrace AI trends in your ecommerce store in 2025
AI makes it easier for brands to deliver a personalized and efficient shopping experience. From helping customers find products faster with visual search to automating support with conversational AI, there are plenty of opportunities for personalization.
The brands that adopt and refine these strategies now will be better positioned to meet customer expectations and stay ahead of the competition. Start by implementing conversational AI and later test some other AI trends like personalized suggestions.
Ready to see how AI can upgrade your brand? Book a demo to see AI Agent in action.
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Featured articles
Stop Chargebacks Before They Start: The Power of Fast Customer Support
TL;DR:
- Most chargebacks occur due to poor merchant communication rather than fraud. Customers choose this path when they feel ignored or frustrated.
- 80% of customers report never being contacted by merchants after filing a chargeback. 23% file immediately after an issue and 38% file within 1-3 days if unresolved.
- The most common chargeback reason is "product not received" (35%). 79% of all chargebacks are actually "friendly fraud" filed for invalid claims.
- Prevention requires fast customer support and automated chargeback management. Combining Gorgias for AI-powered support with Chargeflow for automated dispute management provides a comprehensive solution with faster resolutions and higher win rates.
Chargebacks are more than a thorn in a merchant’s side — they’re a growing financial and operational threat. According to Ethoca, chargebacks are projected to more than double, from $7.2 billion in 2019 to $15.3 billion by 2026 in the U.S. alone. And while fraud plays a role, the primary reason customers file chargebacks is simpler: they feel ignored.
At Chargeflow, we recently published a comprehensive report analyzing why customers dispute chargebacks. The findings were eye-opening. While it’s true that fraud is a real concern, most chargebacks happen for a different reason: a lack of communication between merchants and customers.
Top stats from Chargeflow’s report:
- 23% of customers file a chargeback immediately after an issue.
- 38% file a chargeback within 1-3 days if unresolved.
- 80% report never being contacted by the merchant.
- 52% are likely to dispute if the response is too slow.
When customers feel ignored or frustrated, they often turn to their bank for a solution instead of reaching out to the merchant first. Understanding these behaviors is key to preventing disputes before they escalate and cause chaos.
So, what actually drives customers to dispute charges? Here’s what the data says.
Why customers file chargebacks
While chargebacks are often the cost of doing business, the truth is that many disputes are preventable — but only if merchants understand the root causes. We identified five key drivers behind chargebacks.
1. Customers take immediate action
According to our research, most customers file a dispute right away after encountering an issue, leaving no opportunity to resolve the problem. Another 38% file within one to three days if they don’t receive a timely response.
Why? Customers assume the fastest way to get their money back is by filing a chargeback, especially if they receive no response from the merchant.
2. Lack of communication leads to disputes
We found that 80% of customers never receive a follow-up after filing a chargeback. Additionally, 64% of customers state immediate communication is crucial, yet many businesses fail to reach out.
- 90% of customers tried to reach out to the merchant first.
- If they don’t receive a response, they quickly file a dispute.
Why? Customers expect businesses to be proactive. When they don’t hear back quickly, they assume the merchant won’t help, making a chargeback seem like the best option.
3. Chargebacks are too easy for customers
98% of customers report a neutral to highly satisfactory experience when filing chargebacks, and only 12% are denied.
Why? Many customers believe chargebacks are faster and easier than dealing with merchants directly, especially if return policies are unclear.
4. Transaction issues drive chargebacks
The most common reason for filing a chargeback is “product not received” (35% of the cases). Other common reasons included:
- Fraudulent transaction claims - 16%
- Product significantly not as described - 15%
- Unauthorized transaction - 15%
Why? When customers don’t receive clear shipping updates or experience delivery delays, they assume their order won’t arrive and file a chargeback rather than waiting.
5. Friendly fraud is a major problem
Friendly fraud occurs when a cardholder makes a legitimate purchase but later disputes the charge as fraudulent or unauthorized, leading their card issuer to reverse the payment.
Our research found that:
- 21% of customers admitted to not fully understanding the chargeback process.
- Another 20% aren’t even aware of what a chargeback is.
- 97% of consumers believe they’ve never filed a chargeback incorrectly, while only 3% admit they have.
According to our State of Chargebacks report, 79% of chargebacks are actually friendly fraud, meaning they were filed for invalid reasons.
Why? Many customers mistakenly believe that a chargeback is just another way to request a refund, rather than a process intended for fraud or merchant failure.
📌 The takeaway: Most chargebacks aren’t actual fraud, but rather a result of customer confusion, impatience, or poor communication from merchants.
The solution: how to stop chargebacks before they happen
Merchants who want to stop chargebacks before they happen need a two-part strategy:
- Fast, customer-focused support to resolve issues before customers dispute charges.
- Automated chargeback management to detect and fight disputes efficiently, so merchants don’t lose revenue to invalid claims.
Chargebacks result from slow response times, poor communication, and unresolved issues, not fraud. Adopting AI-driven customer support and chargeback automation allows businesses to significantly reduce disputes and retain more revenue.
How AI-powered support & chargeback automation work together
Instant responses prevent frustration-driven chargebacks
Many chargebacks happen because customers don’t receive a fast enough response. In fact, 52% say they will dispute a charge if the response time is too slow. AI-powered chatbots provide real-time support, resolving issues before they escalate.
Proactive communication reduces uncertainty
Customers expect updates regarding orders and refunds, but often don’t receive them. 80% of customers report never hearing from a merchant after filing a chargeback.
Automated order updates, refund confirmations, and proactive notifications keep customers informed, reducing unnecessary disputes.
24/7 availability ensures no issues go unanswered
Customers expect round-the-clock support, but most businesses can’t provide live assistance. AI-powered ticketing and automation ensure every customer receives help, regardless of the time zone or urgency.
The result? Fewer chargebacks, faster resolutions, and increased customer satisfaction.
Actionable strategies for improving response times
Prioritize long-term clients
It’s impossible to please every customer. On average, chargebacks take 50 days to resolve successfully. Focus your energy on retaining high-value, long-term customers.
Prioritize high-risk inquiries
Lost inquiries take on average 15 days to resolve, and lost chargebacks take 38 days. Prioritize cases based on impact.
Build efficient escalation systems
Advanced automated ticketing systems can route inquiries and prioritize urgent cases.
Use pre-approved resolution templates
Ensure customer service teams have quick-response templates to speed their resolutions.
Work closely with shipping carriers
“Product not received” was the most cited reason for delivery-related chargebacks. Work closely with carriers and third-party suppliers to improve fulfillment and reduce disputes.
Leverage chargeback management tools
Use automated tools for real-time analytics, enhanced communication, and proactive alerts, which will reduce response times.
Gorgias & Chargeflow: A fully automated chargeback prevention system
Successfully tackling chargebacks requires both proactive customer support and automated dispute management. That’s why Gorgias and Chargeflow work so well together to give merchants a comprehensive defense against disputes.
Post-purchase automation isn’t just about reducing customer support workload or quick replies. It's about finding the most effective ways to increase customer loyalty and prevent disputes.
Learn more about how AI-driven automation enhances post-purchase experiences here.
How Gorgias prevents chargebacks with conversational AI
- Automated real-time responses engage customers before they decide to dispute charges.
- Proactive customer communication ensures customers receive updates on their orders, refunds, and transactions.
- 24/7 availability ensures customers receive the support they need without increasing overhead.
How Chargeflow automates chargeback prevention & recovery
- Pre-dispute alerts notify merchants before a chargeback is finalized and provide proactive intervention.
- AI-powered chargeback responses to automate evidence collection and improve win rates.
- Smart analytics to help merchants understand why disputes happen and how they can prevent them.
Final thoughts: Stop chargebacks before they start
As you know, chargebacks are costly, frustrating, but most importantly, preventable. Our research shows that most chargebacks don’t stem from fraud, but from poor communication, slow response times, and customer uncertainty.
By prioritizing fast, AI-driven customer support and automated chargeback management, merchants can resolve issues before they escalate, improve customer experience, and protect their revenue.
With Gorgias handling proactive customer support and Chargeflow managing chargeback disputes, merchants get a powerful, end-to-end prevention system that ensures fewer chargebacks, higher dispute win rates, and, at the end of the day, happier customers.
Don’t let chargebacks drain your revenue. Take control today with faster, smarter automation.
Download Chargeflow’s full Psychology of Chargebacks Report to dive deeper into the data and start preventing disputes before they happen.
9 Ways to Use AI to Personalize the Customer Journey
TL;DR:
- Use AI across both support and sales. Ecommerce brands are using AI to drive revenue and efficiency by combining automation in chat, email, and customer data with personalized product guidance and upsells.
- Analyze post-purchase surveys with AI to uncover customer insights. AI quickly identifies themes, sentiment, and trends from open-ended feedback to inform product, shipping, and support decisions.
- Predict customer intent with AI before they take action. By analyzing behavior like cart activity or page views, AI can engage high-intent shoppers with personalized nudges in real time.
- Automate QA and proactive support with AI. AI reviews 100% of conversations, flags quality issues, and triggers outreach for known problems — all before customers even ask.
Shoppers aren’t just open to AI — they’re starting to expect it.
According to IBM, 3 in 5 consumers want to use AI as they shop. And a McKinsey study found that 71% expect personalized experiences from the brands they buy from. When they don’t get that? Two-thirds say they’re frustrated.
But while most brands associate AI with support automation, its real power lies in something bigger: scaling personalization across the entire customer journey.
We’ll show you how to do that in this article.
AI for customer data
Before AI can personalize emails, recommend products, or answer support tickets, it needs one thing: good data.
That’s why one of the best places to start using AI isn’t in sales or support — but in enriching your customer data. With a deeper understanding of who your customers are, what they want, and how they behave, AI becomes a personalization engine across your entire business.
Enriching surveys with AI
Post-purchase surveys are gold mines for understanding customers — but digging through the data manually? Not so fun.
AI can help by analyzing survey responses at scale, identifying trends, and categorizing open-ended customer feedback into clear, actionable insights. Instead of skimming thousands of answers to spot what customers are saying about your shipping times, AI can surface those insights instantly — along with sentiment and behavior signals you might’ve missed.
Try this prompt when doing this: "Analyze 500 open-ended post-purchase survey responses. Identify the top 5 recurring themes, categorize customer sentiment (positive, neutral, negative), and surface any trends related to product quality, delivery experience, or customer support."
Predicting customer intent before they even say a word
One of AI’s biggest strengths? Spotting intent.
By analyzing things like page views, cart activity, scroll behavior, and previous purchases, AI can identify which shoppers are ready to buy, which ones are likely to churn, and which just need a little nudge to move forward.
This doesn’t just apply to email and retargeting. It also works on live chat, in real time.
Take TUSHY, for example.
To eliminate friction in the buying journey, TUSHY introduced AI Agent for Sales — a virtual assistant designed to guide shoppers toward the right product before they drop off.
Instead of letting potential customers bounce with unanswered questions, the AI Agent steps in to offer:
- Personalized product recommendations based on shopper questions
- Compatibility guidance (especially for customers unsure which bidet works with their toilet)
- Real-time installation tips and links to helpful how-to articles
With a growing product catalog, TUSHY realized first-time buyers were overwhelmed with options — and needed help choosing what would work best for their home and hygiene preferences.
“What amazed us most is that the AI Agent doesn’t just help customers choose the perfect bidet for their booty — it also provides measurement and fit guidance, high-level installation support, and even recommends all the necessary spare parts for skirted toilet installations. It’s ushering in a new era of customer service — one that’s immediate, informative, and confidence-boosting as people rethink their bathroom habits.”
—Ren Fuller-Wasserman, Sr. Director of Customer Experience at TUSHY
Forecasting revenue by segment
AI also helps you see the road ahead.
Instead of looking at retention and loyalty metrics in isolation, AI can help you forecast what’s likely to happen next and where to focus your attention.
By segmenting customers based on behaviors like average order value, order frequency, and churn risk, AI can identify revenue opportunities and weak spots before they impact your bottom line.
All you need is the right prompt. Here’s an example you can run using your own data in any AI tool:
Prompt: “Analyze my customer data to forecast revenue by segment. Break customers into at least three groups based on behavior patterns like average order value, purchase frequency, and churn risk.
For each segment, provide:
- A projected revenue trend for the next quarter
- A key insight about their behavior
- One actionable recommendation to either grow or retain revenue from that segment.”
Here’s what a result might look like:
- VIPs (Top 5% by LTV): Predicted 15% growth next quarter based on repeat behavior
- One-time Buyers: 70% churn risk flagged—time to trigger a win-back campaign
- Discount-Only Shoppers: Revenue likely to dip unless incentive strategy changes
Instead of flying blind, you’re making decisions with clarity — and backing them with data that scales.
AI for sales
When used strategically, AI becomes a proactive sales agent that can identify opportunities in real-time: recommending the right product to the right shopper at the right moment.
Here’s how ecommerce brands are using AI to drive revenue across every part of the funnel.
Dynamic pricing that responds to the market (and the shopper)
Your prices shouldn’t be static — especially when your competitors, inventory, and customer behavior are anything but.
AI-powered pricing tools like AI Agent for Sales help brands automatically adjust pricing based on shopper behavior. The goal is to make the right offer to the right customer.
For example:
- Show a discount to a price-sensitive shopper who’s hesitating at checkout
- Recommend premium add-ons to high-LTV customers who are more likely to spend
With dynamic pricing, you can protect your margins and boost conversions — without relying on blanket sales.
Turning chat into a personal shopper (that never sleeps)
AI-powered chat is no longer just a glorified FAQ. Today, it can act as a real-time shopping assistant — guiding customers, boosting conversions, and helping your team reclaim time.
That’s exactly what Pepper did with “Penelope,” their AI Agent built on Gorgias.
With a rapidly growing product catalog (22 new SKUs in 2024 alone), Pepper knew shoppers needed help discovering the right products. Customers often had questions about styles, materials, or sizing, and if they didn’t get answers right away, they’d abandon carts and move on.
Instead of hiring more agents to keep up, Pepper deployed Penelope to live chat and email.
Her job?
- Instantly answer questions about fit, fabric, or product differences
- Guide shoppers toward the best option for their needs
- Recommend complementary products (like matching panties or bottoms)
- Free up agents to focus on higher-value 1:1 moments, like virtual fit sessions
“With AI Agent, we’re not just putting information in our customer’s hands; we’re putting bras in their hands... We’re turning customer support from a cost center to a revenue generator.”
—Gabrielle McWhirter, CX Operations Lead at Pepper
Let’s look at how Penelope performs on the floor:
Real-time recommendations
A shopper asked about the difference between two wire-free bras. Penelope broke down the styles, support level, and fabric in plain language — then followed up with personalized suggestions based on the shopper’s preferences.
Proactive engagement
Using Gorgias Convert chat campaigns, Pepper triggers targeted messages to shoppers based on behavior. If someone is browsing white bras? Penelope jumps in and offers assistance, often leading to faster decisions and fewer abandoned carts.
Intelligent upsells
If a customer adds a swimsuit top to their cart, Penelope suggests matching bottoms. No full-screen popups, no awkward sales scripts — just thoughtful, helpful guidance.
Support and sales in one
Penelope also handles WISMO tickets and return inquiries. If a shopper is dealing with a sizing issue, Penelope walks them through the return process and links to Pepper’s Fit Guide to make sure the next purchase is spot on.
By implementing AI into chat, Pepper saw a 19% conversion rate from AI-assisted chats, an 18% uplift in AOV, and a 92.1% decrease in resolution time.
With Penelope handling repetitive and revenue-driving tasks, Pepper’s team now has more time to offer truly personalized touches — like virtual fit sessions that have turned refunds into exchanges and even upsells.
Curating bundles with AI-powered sales data
Bundling is a proven tactic for increasing AOV — but most brands still rely on subjective judgment calls or static reports to decide which products to group.
AI can take this a step further.
Instead of just looking at what’s bought together in the same cart, AI can analyze purchase sequences. For example, what people tend to buy as a follow-up 30 days after their first order. This gives you powerful clues into natural buying behavior and bundling opportunities you might’ve missed.
If you’re looking to explore this at scale, you can use anonymized sales data and feed it into AI tools to surface patterns in:
- Frequently bundled items
- Follow-up purchases within a set time frame
- High-value product pairings with repeat potential
Try this prompt:
"Analyze this spreadsheet of order data and identify product bundle opportunities. Look for: (1) products frequently purchased together in the same order, (2) items commonly bought as a second purchase within 30 days of the first, and (3) patterns in high-value or high-frequency product pairings. Provide insights on the most promising bundles and why they might work well together."
Just make sure you’re keeping customer data anonymous — and always double-check the insights with your team.
Related: Ecommerce product categorization: How to organize your products
AI for support
AI isn’t just here to deflect tickets. From quality assurance to proactive outreach, AI can elevate the entire support experience — on both sides of the conversation.
Quality checks powered by AI
Manual QA is slow, selective, and often feels like it’s chasing the wrong tickets.
That’s where Auto QA comes in. Instead of reviewing just a handful of conversations each week, Auto QA evaluates 100% of private messages, whether they’re handled by a human or an AI agent.
Every message is scored on key metrics like:
- Resolution completeness
- Brand voice
- Empathy and tone
- Accuracy
It gives support leaders a full picture of how their team is performing, so they can coach with clarity, not just gut feeling.
Here’s what brands can do with automated QA:
- Save time by focusing only on the conversations that need attention
- Ensure consistency across agents and AI with a single scoring standard
- Improve agent performance with targeted coaching and feedback
- Deliver higher-quality support that customers actually notice
Let’s walk through a real example.
Customer: “Hi, my device broke, and I bought it less than a month ago.”
Agent: “Hi Kelly, please send us a photo or a video so we can determine the issue with your device.”
Auto QA flags this interaction with:
- Communication Score: 3/5 — The agent was clear, but could have shown more empathy in tone.
- Resolution Score: Complete — The issue was addressed effectively.
Proactive support that reaches out first
Reactive support is table stakes. AI takes it a step further by anticipating issues before they happen — and proactively helping customers.
Let’s say login errors spike after a product update. AI detects the surge and automatically triggers an email to affected customers with a simple fix. No need for them to dig through help docs or wait on chat — support meets them right where they are.
Proactive AI can also be used for:
- Order delay notifications with live tracking updates
- Subscription renewal reminders
- Back-in-stock alerts with support follow-up for next steps
This saves the time of your agents because the AI will spot problems before they turn into tickets.
Understanding sentiment at scale
Your customers are telling you what they think. AI just helps you hear it more clearly.
By analyzing reviews, support tickets, post-purchase surveys, and social comments, AI can spot sentiment trends that might otherwise fly under the radar.
For example:
- Multiple reviews mention “runs small”? AI flags it, so your team can update the product description or add a sizing chart.
- A sudden rise in “frustrated” language in support tickets? Time to check if something’s off with your shipping or product quality.
Related: 12 ways to upgrade your data and trend analysis with Ticket Fields
Personalization at scale starts with the right AI stack
Whether you’re enriching customer data, making smarter product recommendations, triggering dynamic pricing, or proactively resolving support issues, AI gives your team the power to scale personalization without sacrificing quality.
With Gorgias, you can bring many of these use cases to life — from AI-powered chat that drives conversions to automated support that still feels human.
And with our app store, you can tap into additional AI tools for data enrichment, direct mail, bundling insights, and more.
Personalized ecommerce doesn’t have to mean more work. With the right AI tools in your corner, it means smarter work — and better results.
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Should Brands Disclose AI in Customer Interactions? A Guide for CX Leaders
TL;DR:
AI is everywhere in customer service—powering live chats, drafting responses, and handling inquiries faster than ever.
But as AI takes on more of the customer experience, one question keeps coming up: Should brands tell customers when they’re talking to AI?
Legally, the answer depends on where you operate. Ethically? That’s where things get interesting. Some argue that transparency builds trust. Others worry it might undermine confidence in support interactions.
So, what’s the right move?
This guide breaks down the debate and gives CX leaders a framework to decide when (and how) to disclose AI—so you can strike the right balance between innovation and trust.
The legal landscape: What are the disclosure requirements?
Depending on where your business operates, disclosure laws may be strict, vague, or nonexistent. Some laws, such as the California Bolstering Online Transparency Act, prohibit misleading consumers about the use of automated artificial identities.
For maximum legal protection, it’s best to proactively disclose AI use—even when not explicitly required.
A simple disclaimer can go a long way in avoiding legal headaches down the line. Here’s how to disclose AI use in customer interactions:
- In email: Use your email signature to indicate that AI has assisted in generating the response.
- In chat: Update your Privacy Policy to clarify when AI is involved in customer interactions.
Truthfully, AI laws are evolving fast. That’s why we recommend consulting legal counsel to ensure your disclosure practices align with the latest requirements in your region.
But beyond avoiding legal trouble, transparency around AI usage can reinforce customer trust. If customers feel deceived, they may question the reliability of your brand, even if the AI delivers great service.
Related reading: How AI Agent works & gathers data
How does disclosure impact trust and satisfaction?
Research shows that 85% of consumers want companies to share AI assurance practices before bringing AI-driven products and experiences to market.
But what does “transparency” actually mean in this context? An article in Forbes broke it down, explaining that customers expect three key things:
- Clear disclosure: They want to know when AI is (and isn’t) used in customer interactions.
- Simple, non-technical language: AI disclosures shouldn’t feel like reading a terms-of-service agreement. Keep it digestible.
- Easy-to-find information: AI disclosures should be visible—not buried in fine print. A chatbot notification, a banner on your site, or a brief message before an AI-powered chat begins can make a big difference.
How you disclose AI matters just as much as whether you disclose it. At the end of the day, AI isn’t inherently good or bad—it’s all about how it’s implemented and trained.
The business perspective: Risks and benefits of AI transparency
The way a brand approaches AI disclosure can impact trust, satisfaction, and even conversion rates—making it a decision that goes beyond simple legal requirements.
While some customers appreciate honesty, others may hesitate if they prefer human support. Brands must weigh the pros and cons to determine the best approach for their audience.
Risks of disclosure
Let’s be honest: AI in customer service still carries baggage. While some consumers embrace AI-driven support, others hear "AI" and immediately picture frustrating, robotic chatbots that can’t understand their questions.
This is one of the biggest risks of transparency: customers who’ve had bad AI experiences in the past may assume the worst and disengage the moment they realize they’re not speaking to a human.
For brands that thrive on personal connection and high-touch service, openly stating that AI is involved could create skepticism or drop-off rates before customers even give it a chance.
Another challenge? The perception gap.
Even if AI is handling inquiries smoothly, some customers may assume it lacks the empathy, nuance, or problem-solving skills of a live agent. Certain industries may find that transparency about AI use leads to more escalations, not fewer, simply because customers expect a human touch.
Benefits of disclosure
Despite the risks, transparency about AI can actually be a trust-building strategy when handled correctly.
Customers who value openness and ethical business practices tend to appreciate brands that don’t try to disguise AI as a human.
Being upfront also manages expectations. If a customer knows they’re speaking to AI, they’re less likely to feel misled or frustrated if they encounter a limitation. Instead of feeling like they were "tricked" into thinking they were talking to a human, they enter the conversation with the right mindset—often leading to higher satisfaction rates.
And then there’s the long-term brand impact.
If customers eventually realize (through phrasing, tone, or inconsistencies) that they weren’t speaking with a human when they thought they were, it can erode trust.
Deception—whether intentional or not—can backfire. Proactively disclosing AI use prevents backlash and reinforces credibility, especially as AI becomes a bigger part of the customer experience.
Example: How Arcade Belts used AI transparency without losing the human touch
Arcade Belts, known for its high-quality belts, wanted to improve efficiency without compromising customer experience. By implementing Gorgias Automate, they reduced their reliance on manual support, creating self-service flows to handle common inquiries.
Initially, automation helped manage routine questions, such as product recommendations and shipping policies. But when they integrated AI Agent, they cut their ticket volume in half.
The transition was so seamless that customers often couldn’t tell they were interacting with AI. “Getting tickets down to just a handful a day has been awesome,” shares Grant, Ecommerce Coordinator at Arcade Belts. ”A lot of times, I'll receive the response, ‘Wow, I didn't know that was AI.”
You can read more about how they’re using AI Agent here.
Decision-making framework: Should you disclose AI?
We mentioned it earlier, but deciding whether or not to disclose your use of AI in customer support depends on compliance, customer expectations, and business goals. That said, this four-part framework helps CX leaders evaluate the right approach for their brand:
Step 1: Assess legal requirements
Before making any decisions, ensure your brand is compliant with AI transparency regulations.
- Research regional laws governing AI disclosure, as requirements vary by jurisdiction.
- Consult legal counsel to confirm whether your AI usage falls under any mandated disclosure policies.
- Stay informed on evolving AI governance frameworks that could introduce new compliance obligations.
Step 2: Review customer expectations and brand positioning
AI transparency should align with your brand’s values and customer experience strategy.
- Consider whether transparency supports your brand’s messaging—does your audience expect openness, or do they prioritize seamless interactions?
- Analyze customer sentiment through surveys and engagement data to determine if they prefer knowing when they’re speaking with AI.
- Review past AI interactions to identify patterns in customer reactions and adjust your approach accordingly.
Step 3: Test both approaches and measure the impact on CSAT
Rather than making assumptions, run controlled tests to see how AI disclosure affects customer satisfaction.
- Conduct A/B tests comparing interactions with and without AI disclosure.
- Track key support metrics like response time, CSAT scores, and AI resolution rates to measure effectiveness.
- Experiment with different positioning strategies—does framing AI as a helpful assistant improve customer perception?
Step 4: Adjust based on customer feedback and industry trends
AI strategies shouldn’t be static. As customer preferences and AI capabilities evolve, brands should refine their approach accordingly.
- Regularly collect customer feedback to understand how AI disclosure impacts their experience.
- Monitor industry trends to see how competitors and market leaders are handling AI transparency.
- Stay flexible—if sentiment shifts, be ready to adjust your disclosure strategy to maintain trust and efficiency.
Best practices for AI disclosure (if you choose to disclose)
If you decide to be transparent about AI in customer interactions, how you communicate it is just as important as the disclosure itself. Let’s talk about how to get it right and make AI work with your customer experience, not against it.
First, make AI part of your brand voice
AI doesn’t have to sound like a corporate FAQ page. Giving it a personality that aligns with your brand makes interactions feel natural and engaging. Whether it’s playful, professional, or ultra-efficient, the way AI speaks should feel like a natural extension of your team, not an out-of-place add-on.
Instead of:
"I am an automated assistant. How may I assist you?"
Try something on-brand:
"Hey there! I’m your AI assistant, here to help—ask me anything!"
A small tweak in tone can make AI feel more human while still keeping transparency front and center.
Read more: AI tone of voice: Tips for on-brand customer communication
Clarify the AI’s role
One of the biggest mistakes brands make? Leaving customers guessing whether they’re speaking to AI or a human. That uncertainty leads to frustration and distrust.
Instead, be clear about what AI can and can’t do. If it’s handling routine questions, product recommendations, or order tracking, say so. If complex issues will be escalated to a human agent, let customers know upfront.
Framing matters. Instead of making AI sound like a replacement, position it as a helpful extension of your support team—one that speeds up resolutions, but hands off conversations when needed.
Blend human and AI seamlessly
Even the best AI has limits—and customers know it. Nothing is more frustrating than a bot endlessly looping through scripted responses when a customer just needs a real person to step in.
AI should be the first line of defense, but human agents should always be an option, especially for high-stakes or emotionally charged interactions.
A smooth handoff can sound like:
"Looks like this one needs a human touch! Connecting you with a support expert now."
Frame AI messaging positively
AI disclosure doesn’t have to feel like an apology. Instead of focusing on limitations, highlight the benefits AI brings to the experience:
- Faster responses
- 24/7 availability
- Instant answers to common questions
It’s the difference between:
"This is an AI agent. A human will follow up later."
vs.
"I’m your AI assistant! I can answer most questions instantly—but if you need extra help, I’ll connect you with a team member ASAP."
The right framing makes AI feel like an advantage, not a compromise.
Monitor customer feedback and adjust messaging
AI perception isn’t static. Regularly analyzing sentiment data and customer feedback can help refine AI messaging over time—whether that means adjusting tone, improving explanations, or updating how AI is introduced.
When you follow these best practices, AI can be a real gamechanger for your customer support. Just take it from Jonas Paul…
When AI is done right: Jonas Paul’s success story
Jonas Paul Eyewear, a direct-to-consumer brand specializing in kids' eyewear, needed a way to manage high volumes of tickets during the back-to-school season without overwhelming their customer care team.
To streamline these conversations, Jonas Paul implemented AI Agent to provide instant responses to FAQs. This allowed human agents to focus on more complex cases that required personalized attention.
“Being able to automate responses for things like prescription details and return policies has allowed us to focus more on the nuanced questions that require more time and care. It’s been a game changer for our team,” said Lynsay Schrader, Lab and Customer Service Senior Manager and Jonas Paul.
Jonas Paul saw a 96% decrease in First Response Time and a 2x ROI on Gorgias’s AI Agent with influenced revenue. You can dive in more here.
Make AI transparency work for you with AI Agent
Whether or not your brand chooses to disclose AI in customer interactions, the key is to ensure AI enhances the customer experience without compromising transparency, accuracy, or brand identity.
So how can you get started? Gorgias AI Agent was built with both effectiveness and transparency in mind.
For every interaction, AI Agent provides an internal note detailing:
- The Guidance, Articles, or Macros it referenced
- The source of any account information it used
- A prompt for your feedback to continually refine and improve responses
Excited to see how AI Agent can transform your brand? Book a demo.
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Further reading
How to Offer Free Shipping and Lift Revenue
Free shipping has become so ubiquitous in ecommerce that shoppers now expect it.
According to a survey conducted by Forbes, 77% of respondents abandoned their cart because they were unhappy with the shipping options. 84% made a purchase because it qualified for free shipping.
Free shipping isn’t always an option for ecommerce stores though, especially for those with small margins or where shipping is expensive for every order.
These are the best strategies for how to offer free shipping, even if you’re unsure it’s something your business can afford.
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Is offering free shipping in ecommerce worth the cost?
Free shipping has become a key differentiator in a very crowded ecommerce ecosystem, with 75% of customers now expecting it on all orders.
Offering free shipping can drive more revenue for your business, encourage repeat business, decrease cart abandonment, and even pull customers away from your competition.
Let’s be clear: Offering free shipping for all products is not sustainable for most businesses. But free shipping is not all-or-nothing. Below, explore why providing free shipping in some capacity is worth the expense for your business.
Encourage customers to become repeat buyers
One survey found that 90% of consumers consider free shipping to be the primary factor driving them to shop with online retailers more frequently. And, according to Gorgias, repeat shoppers generate 300% more revenue than first-time shoppers, on average.
When customers are online shopping, they remember easy experiences, which includes not having to pay for shipping when they find something they love. A stress-free experience (without unpleasant surprises at checkout) creates loyal customers who want to shop with your business long term.
📚 Recommended reading: Learn why customer experience is a largely untapped revenue stream for most ecommerce brands.
Incentivize higher average order volume (AOV)
On top of that, some free shipping models encourage customers to place larger orders, generating more revenue per customer.
Take the minimum order value model (what you might call the Amazon not-Prime model), where shipping only becomes free once the cart reaches a certain subtotal. Depending on which study you prefer, at least 84% — and perhaps as many as 93% of customers — have added items to their cart to qualify for free shipping, increasing average transaction value and potentially total revenue per customer.
Sway customers away from competitors
When you offer free shipping and a competitor doesn’t, that single difference can pull new customers your way — and away from the competition. When 90% of consumers consider free shipping their top incentive and a full 60% of them expect free shipping no matter what, offering it is a huge differentiator for your customer base.
📚Recommended reading: 7 Strategies for Creating a Customer-Centric Post-Purchase Experience
Decrease cart abandonment
One firm determined the overall rate of cart abandonment in ecommerce stores is north of 75%, and unexpected charges (including shipping charges) at checkout are the top culprit.
In other words, providing free shipping — and keeping other unexpected fees out of the checkout process — will reduce cart abandonment and increase conversion rate for typical ecommerce businesses.
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Is your online store ready to offer free shipping?
Making the decision to implement free shipping isn’t always as simple as flipping a switch. It takes careful planning and even more careful execution. Consider the following factors to help you understand the cost of free shipping for your business and decide if it’s the right move for you.
Understand how much shipping costs your ecommerce business
The demand for free shipping has changed the way that small businesses choose to operate. For example, writer Amanda Mull at The Atlantic reveals how free shipping priorities (and algorithms favoring the vendors who offer it) have hurt numerous small business owners on Etsy.
If you’re operating on razor-thin margins and you’re already struggling to be price-competitive, pivoting to an always-free shipping model might not be feasible. Even if your margins are healthy, for many smaller ecommerce retailers, blanket free shipping isn’t sustainable or feasible—nor are the extra costs that come with it.
Next steps: How to calculate shipping costs for your business
On a spreadsheet, compile the shipping costs for every product you sell — from the smallest and lightest to the largest and bulkiest — to all four corners of the US (if you’re a US-based store) and anywhere you ship internationally.
This cost will differ based on your preferred shipping carrier, too. Compare rates between FedEx, UPS, and USPS to see who has the most affordable option — we’ve linked shipping calculators for each above. Once you have these numbers, calculate your average shipping cost. Then, multiply it by the average number of orders you get in one month.
You’ll also want to look at your best-selling items and calculate how much it costs to ship them, as you’ll likely be sending these out more often than other items in your catalog.
Don’t worry about exact numbers here. The goal is to get a ballpark number to compare with your monthly revenue. If your estimated shipping costs will put you in the red, free shipping may not be the best option (even with the bump in orders). If this is the case, consider qualified or flat-rate shipping instead — more on both below.
📚 Recommended reading: Our list of shipping best practices for ecommerce businesses.
Consider flat-rate shipping instead
Offering a flat-rate shipping charge is one way to give customers a low-cost shipping option without absorbing the entire cost yourself.
Even if you can’t afford free shipping, charging one flat shipping cost for all orders on your site incentivizes larger orders. And, if you can keep the flat rate low, it can convince customers who just want to make a small order to convert.
Set up flat rate shipping in Shopify
Setting up flat rate shipping is quick and easy if you use Shopify: Here’s how to do it.
Determine your free shipping limit
Most brands can’t support universally-free shipping. That’s why a qualified free shipping option based on factors like order size or location is such a good option.
The most straightforward way to offer qualified free shipping is to set a minimum order amount. But in terms of your bottom line, this minimum threshold needs to be high enough that you aren’t losing money on most transactions.
Here’s a formula for calculating your free shipping threshold:
Free shipping threshold = (Average shipping cost per order / gross profit margin percentage as a decimal) + average value of an order
Free shipping threshold = ($10 / .30) + $50
Free shipping threshold = $83.33
The result you get from this formula is the average amount at which free shipping won’t create a loss for you.
Now in some cases that figure will be too high to be all that relevant. “Free shipping on orders $350+” can make sense for some retailers, but not those with an average ticket of $50.
Fit Small Business gives additional formulas for calculating a minimum threshold that still operates at a loss.
Consider free shipping for returns
Customers hate paying for return shipping. If you can afford it, letting shoppers return an item for free is a great way to avoid driving them away. It also can create repeat business, low-effort experiences, and encourage loyalty.
Of course, free returns leave you vulnerable to expensive spammers and order spikes. So, tighten up your return policy and try to incentivize exchanges over returns to protect lost revenue.
Find other ecommerce differentiators besides free shipping
Ecommerce is a wide field, and your business is competing for only a small slice of the market. Look for differentiators with lower cost pressures and high levels of impact that may be unique to your industry or market.
Free shipping isn’t the only thing that matters. Fast delivery also makes a difference in many industries and markets. Can you outmaneuver your competition by offering next-day shipping, even at a premium price? Perhaps your customers will be willing to pay for faster service if it isn’t available elsewhere.
Here are a few other areas you might explore in search of other ecommerce differentiators:
- Unique services
- Ecosystem effects (think Apple: “Our products all work better together, so stick with us across our catalog”)
- Value-adds (freebies, discounts on future orders, etc.)
- Multiple shipping and delivery options, including fast or flat rate
- Eco-friendly shipping or packaging approaches
Similarly, you may not be able to prioritize free shipping until you figure out other logistics like inventory management, order management, order fulfillment, order tracking, and returns management.
How to offer free shipping on a budget
If you’re ready to put together your free shipping strategy, use these tips to craft a program that’s enticing to online shoppers without destroying your bottom line.
1) Increase product prices to absorb the cost of shipping
According to research from the Baymard Institute, 48% of shoppers abandoned their cart because the extra costs were too high. People like the transparency of seeing one price without getting surprised by additional fees at checkout.
Speaking generally, most customers would prefer to pay $50 for an item that ships free than spend $45 on the same item, only to discover an additional $5 charge for shipping in their shopping carts. Even though you’re passing shipping costs onto the customer in other ways, you still give buyers the perception of lower costs overall.
Consider raising your prices to include shipping costs to limit surprises at checkout and increase transparency.
2) Offer a “free shipping for orders over” model to incentivize higher AOVs
Offering free shipping when a customer reaches a minimum price threshold can be a powerful strategy for raising ticket value.
Customers will frequently add more items to reach that threshold, increasing average order value (AOV), overall revenue, and your business’s order volume as a whole.
To make it easy for customers to see how close they are to free shipping, add an app to your ecommerce store (like the Essential Free Shipping Bar for Shopify stores) that shows progress visually. For example, Gorgias customer OLIPOP makes it easy for folks to see how many more packs of soda they need to purchase to get free shipping.
This is also a great way to build upselling into your strategy. When customers are looking for additional items to meet the free shipping threshold, consider showing items that pair well at checkout. This automation is easy to add via the app store if you’re on Shopify, and you can see how OLIPOP sneaks in suggestions in the screenshot above.
If you’re going to offer completely free shipping, make sure you use it as a marketing tool and make it very clear to shoppers. For example, Woxer uses a banner at the top of its site to announce that it offers free shipping across the US no matter the order total.
A cohesive and realistic shipping strategy is highly valuable to any company that ships products to people because it is part of your brand image.
📚 Recommended reading: Our guide to creating an ecommerce shipping and fulfillment strategy.
3) Offer subscription-based products to increase LTV
In a survey conducted by Salesforce for CFO, more than half of survey respondents said that 40% of their revenue was made up of subscriptions.
A subscription format is powerful because it ensures repeat purchases and raises the overall lifetime value (LTV) of customers who opt in. If you choose to become part of the subscription economy, you could choose to offer free shipping on subscriber orders only. That way you limit the amount of free shipping you give, and further incentivize shoppers to sign up for a subscription.
4) Limit free shipping to certain items, customers, or locations
Stores with wide product catalogs that include many low-dollar items may not be able to offer blanket free shipping. But, you can limit free shipping to certain high-dollar product categories, select items within those categories, people who live within a certain distance, or VIP customers.
Here are a few approaches you can use to limit free shipping:
- Shoppers must reach a designated spend threshold
- Free shipping is limited to members (like Amazon Prime or Madewell Insider)
- Free shipping is limited to shoppers with a certain number of points in a loyalty program (a service like LoyaltyLion can help you manage this)
- Shipping costs are location based (For example, US only if your store is located there)
- Products that cost over a certain dollar amount automatically qualify
5) Partner with a third-party logistics company to offer free (sometimes two-day) shipping at scale
Partnering with a third-party logistics company allows you to split inventory across multiple fulfillment centers throughout the nation. That means they’ll end up closer to customers’ homes, which reduces shipping costs because of location proximity, and means that you can offer faster shipping for less cost.
ShipBob is a great option for this, as they’re a trusted global fulfillment company.
Take care of your shoppers with the Gorgias + ShipBob integration. Sync shipping data with your helpdesk, reduce tab-shuffling, and help you improve customer experience during fulfillment.
6) Optimize your packaging for cost
Shipping fees are calculated based on item weight, size, speed, and distance to destination. And the size and weight of your packaging contribute to that cost. Cutting down on the dimensions of your packaging where possible and using lighter-weight mailers can lower the cost of each package.
📚Recommended reading: 8 Tips to Minimize Shipping Costs and Maintain Quick Delivery
7) Create a limited-time free shipping offer
There’s nothing quite as powerful as a ticking timer, whether it’s a 15% off coupon that’s only good for the next hour or a sale that only lasts for the weekend. Discounts are powerful, but free shipping can be just as enticing.
Consider adding free shipping promotions to existing promotional events such as holiday sales, store anniversary sales, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and other seasonal events pertinent to your industry and market.
Time-limited holiday sales can be effective, but they also tend to be some of your busiest sales windows in any given year. If you could use some additional help with your logistics this upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday, check out our complete guide to BFCM logistics.
📚Recommended reading: The 12 Best Shipping Software Tools for Ecommerce Stores
Provide world-class customer service with Gorgias
Free shipping is often one key to a world-class customer experience in ecommerce. But whatever you choose to do with your shipping policies, you absolutely must pair it with world-class customer service and support. Customers will appreciate your free shipping, but they’ll love you (and show it through repeat business) when you outpace the competition in terms of customer service.
Gorgias is an all-in-one customer service and helpdesk platform built for ecommerce businesses like yours. It integrates with a variety of different apps, like LoyaltyLion, Attentive, and Klaviyo. We operate at the speed of ecommerce, empowering you to serve and scale like never before. We also offer support for logistics like free shipping and order management, largely thanks to our many ecommerce integrations.
Ready to see what Gorgias can do? Get started for free right now!
Hiring for Customer Service: A 6-Step Framework to Recruit Top Agents
When you say the word “growth,” most brand leaders think of customer acquisition, paid ads, or the newest marketing trend — probably something about TikTok influencers. And while acquiring customers is important, we know that truly sustainable growth comes from loyal customers, organic referrals, reviews, and repeat buyers — all of which stem from your customer experience. And at the core of that customer experience is your customer service team.
Your customer service agents spend more time interacting with customers than any other department, including marketing and sales. They manage VIP customers, repair at-risk relationships, and have the opportunity to chat with customers at make-or-break moments (like right before a sale). In other words, your brand’s growth hinges on the quality of your customer service team.
We can’t offer any algorithms or magical software to find and hire talented agents. Hiring takes time, experience, and a strategic approach. That last part — a strategic approach to hiring — is what I’m here to provide.
At HelpFlow.com, we run 24/7 live chat and customer service teams for over 100 brands. We’ve hired hundreds of customer service agents successfully and built scalable, robust customer service operations that provide great customer experiences and drive growth for brands we work with.
In this post, I’ll walk through the framework we use step-by-step. My goal is to help you or your hiring managers simplify your customer service hiring process, find high-impact customer service professionals, and transform your brand’s customer service from a frustrating cost center to a seamless and scalable revenue driver.
But first, what’s really at stake here?
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Bad customer service will kill your brand
If you are like most ecommerce brands, you hire customer service reps when your team needs additional support to keep up with tickets. This purely reactive approach means your support team will always be buried in tickets or onboarding new team members. The constant scramble means they’ll never have the bandwidth to think strategically, improve processes, or work on higher-impact initiatives to help the business.
Here’s the snowball effect we often see. First, your agents become overworked with an ever-growing number of tickets to process each day. This endless sprint to keep up contributes to extremely high turnover in the customer service industry. According to Harvard Business Review, CS reps typically last a job for about a year.
As agents start to burn out and fall behind, customer service experience quality suffers. Customers feel frustrated with slow response times and often disappointed with incomplete or ineffective solutions from junior agents hired just a few months before. A downtrend in customer satisfaction is common with brands as they start to scale.
Eventually, a poorly run customer service operation starts to have a direct effect on sales. First-time shoppers give low NPS scores and never develop brand loyalty. Customer complaints start to appear, scaring off potential customers, and referrals dry up.
As the quality of service goes down, the cost of customer service goes up because you have to spend more time hiring and training customer service representatives that won’t be productive for weeks, if not months. Replacing an employee typically costs 1.5-2x their annual salary when you factor in all the costs, according to Gallup.
The business sees these poor results and high costs, and refuses to invest in the department, which leaves them even more under-resourced. The cycle continues.
Great hiring processes can accelerate growth
A great customer service team (that’s not over-worked and under-resourced) will stop this vicious cycle. But beyond answering customer inquiries and managing ticket load, they’ll systematically improve your brand’s customer experience and, by extension, growth engine.
An excellent customer service team will create replace the vicious cycle with a positive one by:
- Improving your shopping experience by collecting customer feedback, building self-service resources, and studying data for high-impact opportunities
- Intercepting new visitors with proactive support to raise the conversion rate
- Helping customers who have unsatisfactory experiences, winning some of them back
- Encouraging happy customers to purchase more, leave reviews, refer new customers, and remain loyal to your brand
Ready to learn how to fill your customer service positions with agents who will make an impact? Let’s get into it. Here’s our 6-step framework to hire the best customer service teams around.
1) Assess your customer service hiring needs
The first step to hiring great customer service reps is to shift from a reactive hiring process to a proactive one. When you hire reactively, you tend to rush hiring and training to get a body in a seat processing tickets as quickly as possible. Of course, this leads to low-quality interactions and dings to brand perception. By proactively forecasting customer service needs, you’ll have time to run a more thorough hiring process to find and hire the ideal candidate.
Here is a quick overview of how to forecast customer service volume:
- Identify the percentage of orders that typically turn into support tickets. For example, if you historically get about 20 tickets for every 100 orders then you can forecast that 20% of your future orders will turn into tickets.
- Use the traction to ticket ratio to forecast how many tickets you expect to receive in the future, based on your sales forecast for the upcoming quarter or another time period.
- Use the agent ticket capacity per day, accounting for PTO and sick leave, to determine how many agents you need to process that upcoming ticket volume. Account for ramp-up time for new team members.
Forecasting will help you predict your future needs and shift to a more proactive approach. Remember to give yourself enough time to conduct a thorough hiring process and onboarding program. If you anticipate needing two new agents in Q4, start collecting applications by early Q3.
Forecasting is just one strategy to understand when you should hire. Here are a few additional signals that could mean your team is understaffed:
- Declining metrics: Each week, you should check on important metrics that measure your customer service management such as first response time, handle time, and customer satisfaction. If you start to see these metrics decline, it could mean your team can’t keep up with ticket volume and needs additional support.
- Team morale: As part of your customer service team meeting cadence, you should have regular team huddles, manager-led 1:1s, and anonymous climate surveys. Managers should work to foster trust and open dialogue so agents can share their stress. Don’t be afraid to ask them directly about their workload. If agents start to report challenges, especially if the concern comes up across multiple agents, you may need to staff up.
You may find that you need additional support, but you may not need to hire people full-time to solve the problem. You may be able to support your core team with other solutions such as:
- Efficiency improvements: If you’re like most brands, you’ve frankensteined together a customer service process, piece by piece. Consider doing a workflow audit to identify opportunities to improve the team’s workflow with process improvements, email templates, and customer self-service options.
- Changes to coverage schedules: You may have the right amount of agents, but simply have a schedule that leads to ticket buildup. For example, if everyone is staffed M-F, response and resolution times will suffer over the weekend. Look into your hour-to-hour ticket volume, especially on conversational channels like live chat and phone, and schedule agents whenever you have peaks in incoming tickets.
- High-quality outsourced help: Hiring full-time employees is cumbersome and expensive, and sometimes more than you need. By working with a high-quality outsourced team, you can bridge the gap to have additional agents on a custom schedule or just for a season of high volume.
- Overtime opportunities: If your agents are currently salaried, you could change them to an hourly model so they can earn overtime during busy weeks. Don’t make this decision without consulting the agents. They might be enthusiastic, but they might also dislike that your solution for being understaffed involves working more hours.
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That said, you may conclude that you need to hire new agents. Here’s how to do it well.
2) Create a target hire persona for the role
Before you start your search, I recommend taking some time to understand your hiring needs and describe your ideal candidate.
First, take stock of:
- Everything the customer support team does today
- Everything the team wants to do but doesn’t have the bandwidth for
- Everything the team currently does that could be phased out with process improvement or recalibration of ownership
Once that’s done, you’ll be better prepared to understand:
- What existing roles need to be filled or staffed up
- What new roles need to be developed
- What type of skills would match each of those needs — this is where your target persona comes into play
A target persona is a tool we developed to build clarity around your jobs to be done, the skills needed to accomplish those jobs, the type of person who would succeed in this role, and how you’ll measure that person’s success.
The value is similar to an ideal customer profile (ICP) for sales and marketing. By defining the core qualities you need ahead of time, you can create a sharper job description, distribute the job posting in more targeted channels, and decrease the time it takes to find the right person.
What to include in a target hire persona
Below are the key sections to include in a target hire persona:
Mission:
- What is the purpose of this position in your organization?
- Why does it exist?
- What will the role focus on?
- Why are you hiring this person now?
Outcomes:
- How will you measure this person’s success?
- How will you keep this person accountable to the mission described above?
- Use specific, clear, and quantifiable outcomes to answer both questions above.
Competencies:
- What experiences and qualifications should this person have?
- What attributes and customer service skills will help this person succeed? (For example, is it more important to be organized or empathetic for your specific needs?
Culture fit:
- Separate from the role, what are the specific attributes that make someone a culture fit for your team?
- These will vary depending on the company, but it’s very important to define these so that you can screen otherwise qualified applicants if they aren’t a culture fit.
Customer service agent target hire persona example
We put together a full customer service agent target hire persona example that you can access and modify for your own needs. Consider revising the mission and outcomes slightly to match your needs, and adjust the target experience for your specific company.
Have questions? Feel free to reach out!
3) Create a job posting that sells (and market it)
Once you have a target hire persona completed, it’s time to start marketing- yes, I said marketing, just like how you grow your business.
Typically, when someone is hiring they simply put together a job description, post it on a few job boards, and work with the applicants that come in. This is especially true for customer service hires, which are unfortunately seen as low-value.
This approach leads to a small number of low-quality applicants. The kinds of A-players you’re looking for aren’t scouring job boards and responding to basic job postings — they’re likely crushing it at their current role.
Here’s how to create and distribute a job posting that reaches the right people and convinces them to apply:
Sell the role in the job posting
Remember, hiring is a two-way street. You have to impress the candidate just as much as they have to impress you. Don’t just publish a list of duties and requirements on a job posting website with an application link. Instead, sell the role (and the company) by using parts of the target hire persona above:
Clearly explain the company’s current position, mission, and goals. Share a bit of the journey you’ve been on so far and the successes you’ve had. The right candidate will be excited about your particular growth stage and the opportunity to help you with the next leg of the journey.
Also, dedicate some space to selling your team and unique company culture. This doesn’t need to be all rainbows and unicorns: great candidates know building a great company takes hard work. But they should be able to get an understanding of your company’s unique values, priorities, and ways of working. Describe and share examples about how your teams collaborate, the level of autonomy, accountability, coaching, and support they can expect, and the general vibe of a day-in-the-life of your team.
Finally, paint a very clear picture of what success looks like by sharing the outcomes and target metrics. This will ensure the applicants understand what you want to accomplish before your first conversation. Clear success metrics will also attract goal-driven people with an “I can do that” attitude.
This may seem like a lot of work, but you’ll save time by getting higher-quality candidates quickly, and in the long run, having to rehire due to rushing into a bad hire.
How to drive a lot of quality applicants
An enticing job description gets you halfway to an inbox full of strong applications. Now, you have to get that job description seen by a lot of high-quality candidates.
Remember, great team members don’t typically spend their days scouring job boards to find a new job. You need to catch their attention in other ways to spark their interest in jumping ship and joining your brand.
Here are multiple ways to drive a lot of great applicants for your role:
Publish on multiple job boards. For example, if you are working with a remote team, consider publishing on WeWorkRemotely or Remote.co. If you are hiring locally, leverage a few different job boards such as Indeed.com or ZipRecruiter.com to get the best coverage. LinkedIn is also a good option for both local and remote hires. If possible, make the extra investment to make a premium or boosted posting. And, especially if you are in a challenging niche, consider specialized job boards and communities. The Support Driven Slack community, for example, has a job board for ecommerce community service positions.
Another best practice is to share the role with your network. Send a few messages to peers who may know someone fit for the role and publish the posting on your social media. Also, encourage your team to do the same — they’ll be working with this new hire, after all. Again, don’t just copy/paste the link. Sell the role to attract the best candidates.
Finally, involve your customers in the recruitment process. One of your customers may want the job or know someone else who could be a good fit. Customers who love and use your products have a great head start: they’re familiar with your brand, your shopping experience, and the benefits of your products. And since customer service skills can be transferred from many other types of roles, your customer base may have more qualified candidates than you expect.
4) Screen applicants async to avoid wasting time
A great job description effectively shared means you’ll have a steady stream of applicants. You might feel overwhelmed with the workload of screening applicants to find the right hire. And rightfully so: Applicant screening can turn into a lot of work if you do it with typical in-depth reviews of each applicant and blocking out time for interviews.
Interviews are important, and we’ll explain how to hold a customer service interview below (including interview questions to use). But first, here’s how to effectively screen the large number of applicants you’ll receive to find the best possible hires.
Quiz them on the job posting
Screening starts by gauging how well applicants read through the details of the job posting. If they’re not willing to spend the time reading and following the instructions on the job posting, odds are they won’t be detail-oriented in the role.
By asking a simple question or making a request deep within the content of the job posting, you can quickly screen whether applicants read it. For example, you can ask applicants to start their cover letter with, “ready to rock!’“ This way, you can skip over anyone that didn’t catch and follow the instruction.
Optional: Assign a micro take-home assignment
At HelpFlow.com, we skip take-home assignments because our hiring process is so thorough. However, since customer support agents spend most of their days writing, you may choose to request a short writing sample at this stage.
If you opt to include this step, consider keeping the writing sample very short — something applicants can complete in 10-15 minutes. However, be aware that more up-front work from your candidates means:
- You’ll spend more time reviewing applications
- You may lose some qualified job seekers due to a too-strenuous application process — but they likely wouldn’t be the most committed hire
Send them a common customer question or one of your most common customer problems. Give them resources like a knowledge base article and your policies so they have all the necessary information. At this stage, you’re looking for their ability to communicate clearly and empathetically.
Request a brief video questionnaire
Rather than jumping straight to an interview, send a brief questionnaire to the applicant so they can tell you more about their experience in a short video message. There are tools such as Spark Hire that make this easy. But a simple list of questions and instructions to send a response using a screencast tool like Loom is just as easy.
For the questionnaire, you should ask open-ended questions to get a sense of how their experience and capabilities fit your needs. You might also choose to include a fun, get-to-know-you question to get a better sense of their personality.
Asking why they think they are the best fit for the role is a good starting point, as it gives them the ability to provide more context than they typically would in a text response. Also, this gives you the ability to compare their experience to the target hire persona. The way someone answers this question typically makes clear if they’re a fit at a high level.
Consider asking questions like:
- Why do you think you’re the best fit for this role?
- What are you looking for in your next role?
- How are you looking to grow and learn?
- What’s a mistake you made and learned from?
- How would your friends and family describe you?
- If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
In their video response, you’ll see their communication skills, confidence, and personality — without having to schedule dozens or hundreds of 30-minute meetings.
5) Conduct two interviews to assess fit and experience
Interviews can be time-consuming. They take time to schedule and conduct, especially if you put too many people through the entire interview process. Multiple rounds of screening ensure you only invest time in the most promising candidates.
Ideally, your job posting results in hundreds of applicants. Your first screening (described above) gets you down to about a dozen, max. The first interview we’re about to describe gets you down to the single digits — about four or five. Then, you’ll only have to deeply interview those four or five candidates to find your new hire(s).
1) A quick interview to assess skills and mindset
This first interview is a brief (20- or 30-minute) phone call to learn more about each applicant's skill set, goals, and mindset. Skills aren’t the only prerequisite for success: True rock stars have a growth mindset and will look at this opportunity as the next step in a passionate career.
At the beginning of this interview, we like to build up the candidate’s confidence by saying something like, “We had ### applicants and you’ve made it this far, so you’re definitely a strong person for this role. We’re confident you’ll be successful regardless of whether you work for us or get scooped up by someone else.”
Then, you’re ready to start asking questions.
Questions to understand their goals and mindset
- What does success look like for you a year from now?
- What do you want to accomplish in this role?
- What specific achievements will make you feel the most successful?
These questions should feel familiar, and that’s because they should roughly align with the mission and outcomes you chose in the target hire persona. Of course, candidates didn’t read that document so it’s unfair to expect perfect alignment. But they will help you understand which applicants are the best fit for your needs.
For example, if your target hire persona was a systems thinker who can help with problem-solving and organization across your team, you might look for answers about strong processes and great teamwork. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a brilliant customer-facing agent, you might seek answers related to empathy and customer advocacy.
Also, a lack of clear, focused goals at this stage is a red flag. If someone answers vaguely or responds with a variation of “I just want a good customer service job and your company seems great,” then they’re not going to be a rock star on your team.
Questions to understand skillset
Skills are a difficult thing to discuss. If the candidate prepared well, they’ll likely know what skills you need for the role based on the job posting and find ways to weave those skills into their answers. They may also have completed courses or customer service certifications that indicate what they can do, but it's important to go beyond that and get a sense of real-world applications of these skills.We like to ask a series of questions that force candidates to reflect on their skills in a slightly different way. Here’s how we get there:
- We’re going to talk to a few people you’ve worked with at the end of the application process, should you make it that far. What’s a role you succeeded in, and who was your boss in that role? If we talk to them later in the interview process, how do you think they’ll describe you? What parts of the job would they say you excelled at?
Again, you’re looking for clear answers and alignment with your target hire persona.
Second, gauge which parts of the job they’re least skilled and excited about. Here’s how we might get at this answer:
- Now I want to understand the opposite. What are some things that boss would say you’re not great at? Or maybe, what are some things you’re capable of doing but don’t love?
To make this question a bit less intimidating, we usually share an example. We’ve often used the example, “I’m able to whip up some graphic designs for our website and they look pretty good. But graphic design is something I just hate doing. It’s a tedious process and I would rather have a marketing person handle that if at all possible, so I can focus on my strengths.”
This question allows the candidate to essentially complain about select aspects of the role. You’re not looking to trick someone into disqualifying themselves from the running. However, you are trying to avoid a situation in which you hire someone to spend all week doing something they’d rather avoid.
Once they answer, consider asking follow-up questions to get more examples and context.
Questions to understand teamwork and self-awareness
- How would past supervisors rate you on a scale of 1-10?
- How would your peers rate you on a scale of 1-10?
These questions are quick and help you understand whether their previous answers were honest and self-aware.
Ask them for the name of two previous bosses and two previous colleagues. Explain that you won’t reach out to those people yet, but might if you extend an offer.
Once they give you names, ask how each person would rate them on a scale of 1-10 — insist on a single number for each. You’re looking for lots of 8s and 9s. If you see a trend of 7 or lower, that could indicate this person has — and may have oversold themselves when discussing their skillset earlier in the interview. Also, 10s across the board show a lack of self-awareness and growth mindset.
By the end of this interview, you’ll have a solid understanding of whether each candidate’s skills and mindset fit your needs. Move the best candidates onto the final interview, thank the rest for their time, and invite them to re-apply for future roles — after all, each role should have a specific target hire persona, and they might just fit your next opening a bit better. To thank them for their time, you can also refer them to anyone else in your network that’s hiring.
2) A deep-dive interview to know you have a great hire
Each candidate that makes it to this final interview should be a pretty great fit for the role. Some companies might go straight to a job offer at this stage, but the risk of bringing on the wrong new hire still exists.
The deep-dive interview will last two hours. Two hours might seem like a big investment. But two hours is nothing compared to investing two or three months into a candidate before realizing you need to start the hiring process over because they’re not a great fit.
A deep-dive interview gives you a crystal-clear understanding of each candidate’s entire career history, their ability to communicate clearly and effectively in a long-format meeting, and their personality. After this conversation, you’ll have zero doubts about which candidate is your rock star.
Here’s how the deep-dive interview works.
Set up a two-hour conversational interview with a small panel
When you invite the candidate to this meeting, be clear about:
- The goal of the meeting
- The format of the meeting
- The list of attendees
If you give the candidate some context behind such a long meeting, they can approach the interview with more preparation and less anxious energy.
As far as the list of attendees, you can make a decision based on your team’s makeup and availability. If possible, we recommend inviting the hiring manager, a senior manager, and a peer to introduce the interviewee to the team they’ll work with (and vice versa). However, you can also run the interview solo if that works better for your team.
Once you assemble the panel and schedule the interview, the long-form interview itself is quite straightforward and formulaic. Here’s what it looks like:
Discuss every full-time position the candidate has had, in chronological order
Start from the beginning of the candidate’s resume and discuss each and every full-time role in their job history. For early parts of their career (or jobs that are not related to your open role) you can move quickly through these questions. But it is important to discuss each role.
By digging into every single part of the candidate’s career with a standard set of questions, you will get a clear overview of how they’ve performed and what makes them tick.
Ask the same set of questions for each position
What makes this interview process effective and simple is that you ask the same questions for each role. This gives the interview a conversational flow that produces powerful insights. Here are the questions:
- What were you hired to do? This gives you an idea of the mission and outcomes they were hired to accomplish
- What accomplishments are you most proud of? This helps you understand whether they accomplished those goals and what they value in terms of achievement
- What were the low points of the role? This helps show the candidate’s self-awareness and growth mindset, and gives you a chance to spot red-flag trends — that said, recognize every job naturally has high and low points
- Who was your boss? What was it like working with them? This gives you context for your reference call later on and tells you how the candidate likes to be managed
Together, these answers give you a good idea of their specific experience in customer service roles, their experience with handling a helpdesk and the challenges of customer service, and some insight into their soft skills that a shorter interview could never provide.
Don’t bother with a take-home assignment for these qualified candidates
Many companies will assign a test assignment this late in the process to do a final check on the skillset and quality of candidates. We don’t recommend a test assignment — especially at this point — because assignments are too simple to game and sometimes give candidates a bad impression of your company because you asked them to do “free work.”
If you want to use an assignment, keep it short and earlier in the process. But at this point in the process, the deep-dive interview will give you much richer information. Specifically, it helps you understand what the candidate will actually be like on your team before you invest in onboarding and two or three months of work.
6) Use reference checks to get more context and certainty
Most people treat reference checks as a way to make sure the candidate told the truth on their resume and during the hiring process. That can be part of the process, but the greater value of reference checks is to get even deeper context into the candidate’s skills and work style.
Here’s how to approach reference calls:
- Use the deep-dive interview to decide who to contact. If the candidate mentioned a particularly important or interesting relationship, success, or challenge, make a note to call their boss in that position to get more information.
- Chat with references for 5-10 minutes. These conversations should be informal and conversation — you want the major takeaways about what it’s like to work with this person.
- Give the reference person context. Start on a positive note, explaining that you’re hiring for a customer support role and the candidate in question seems like a great fit.
- Ask high-level, open-ended questions. Questions like “Is what they said true?” limit the conversation. Instead, ask questions like “What was it like working with this person?” or “What kind of role would this person excel in?”
- Ask about strengths. For example, ask “What’s a project this person absolutely crushed? What responsibilities did they nail every time?” Ideally, the answers align with the candidate’s self-reported skills and strengths.
- Ask about challenges. For example, say, “They mentioned [the challenge] at your company. How did they handle that challenge?”. Then, open it up: “What are some other areas of improvement for them?” By framing this positively as improvements, you’ll get more direct feedback about the candidate's rough spots.
Each call takes fewer than 10 minutes but gives you valuable insight into the highs and lows of working with this person. Again, similar to the deep-dive interview, you’re looking for patterns across reference calls more than any single answer. If the candidate’s answers line up with the answers you get during the reference checks, the candidate has high self-awareness and emotional intelligence — both important qualities in customer service.
By the time you go through the entire process with multiple candidates, you’ll be certain about the best fit(s) for your open role(s). And once you’ve run this interview process a few times, it will become much more efficient and much less daunting.
Bonus: How to choose a start date and win over unsure candidates
As we mentioned earlier in this guide, hiring is a two-way street. You have to win a candidate over just as much as they have to win you over. Once you choose a candidate, here’s how to give yourself the best chance for an accepted offer and a successful start.
Tips for sending an offer letter they’ll want to sign
If all went well, the candidate should be thrilled that you offer them the job. However, they may be considering other offers and it never hurts to demonstrate that you’re a thoughtful employer that’s genuinely excited about working with them.
First, consider giving them a call before sending the offer letter. Most candidates will appreciate hearing the enthusiasm in your voice and getting the news directly from the hiring manager, who they spent the entire process getting to know. Plus, you have the opportunity to get a verbal yes.
When you send the letter, give them a sign-by date. This gives them some parameters, adds a bit of urgency to the decision, and helps you develop a contingency plan with other top candidates in case your top choice declines the offer.
Last, consider asking everyone involved in the interview process to send a personal note to the candidate, especially if the candidate is on the fence. The candidate will end up working with these people, so an authentic and personalized note expressing excitement could make the difference between an acceptance and a declined offer.
Choose a start date that works for candidates and your business
Throughout the interview process, you should clarify when the candidates hope to start. Once you make the offer, don’t be afraid to encourage them to take a week or two off before starting the new job — they’ll appreciate the time off, plus it’s a signal that your company takes preventative measures against employee burnout. And if you’ve moved away from reactive hiring, this shouldn’t be too big of a hassle for your team.
Last, if you’re hiring multiple agents, work to start them on the same day. This way, you can onboard in cohorts, giving each new hire a buddy for support and companionship. Plus, you’ll save time by giving each training session once instead of multiple times for each hire.
Master Hiring Customer Service Agents with HelpFlow.com and Gorgias
The hiring process isn’t about filling seats, it’s about building a team that strengthens morale, tackles challenges, and ultimately drives your brand forward. While it’s definitely possible to hire agents more quickly, quicker isn’t always better. A single bad experience with a customer service agent can cost you customers and damage brand equity. A team of bad hires can kill the future of your entire company.
If you rush the hiring process, problems during onboarding, new-hire retention plummets, and the top talent you had before these bad hires start to leave. It’s better to invest time upfront to ensure you only hire A-player team members.
Want help scaling your customer support team with agents who can provide an amazing customer experience and work with larger company goals in mind? HelpFlow runs customer service teams for over 100 brands and can help you level up your customer service operation. Check out our Gorgias Premier Partner profile and contact us today to learn more.
And if you’re struggling to streamline the workflow of your team and turn customer service into a profit center, check out Gorgias — the customer service platform built for ecommerce. Sign up for a free trial today.
The 10 Best Social Media Apps for Shopify
According to data from Kepios, there are a total of 4.62 billion social media users in the world as of January 2022 — accounting for well over half of the earth's population. In other words, if you want to go where your customers are as a Shopify store owner, social media platforms are mission-critical.
Social media may be a great opportunity but it isn't exactly low-hanging fruit. Social media is complex and time-consuming. Even seasoned digital marketing professionals can get bogged down by tedious tasks, low-return initiatives, and frustrating obstacles when it comes to marketing products to potential customers on social media.
The good news is that utilizing the right Shopify social media apps can go a long way toward making your social media marketing campaigns more efficient and effective. To help you choose the ideal apps for your social media marketing and social media customer service needs, let's take a look at the 10 most powerful social media apps currently available on the Shopify app store.
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1) Outfy - Automate Social Media by Outfy
With Outfy, store owners are able to automate much of the work that goes into managing social media profiles by curating, scheduling, and publishing posts automatically. In addition to its convenient automation features, Outfy also enables you to easily create high-quality collages, videos, and GIFs to promote your products and boost brand awareness on social media.
Shopify rating ⭐4.8 (1214)
Price: From $15/month
Key features
- Provides a range of customizable promotional post templates
- Auto-generates and publishes promotional posts based on a number of predefined settings
- Makes it easy to turn your product pictures into collages, videos, and animated GIFs
- Hashtag research for helping you select the most effective hashtags for your promotional posts to reach your target audience
What users think of this app
- Exceptional for auto-generating social media posts
- Easy to set up and use
- Hashtag research tools make it easy to select the ideal hashtags for promotional posts
Related: Our guide to customer service automation — set repeatable, low-impact tasks to autopilot.
2) Chatdesk - Email & FB Support by Chatdesk
According to data from Microsoft, 90% of Americans use customer service as a factor in deciding whether or not to do business with a company. With Chatdesk, you are able to outsource your customer support responsibilities to a team of hand-chosen customer support agents who are already fans of your brand. In addition to providing 24/7 live chat and email support, Chatdesk customer support agents also respond to all social media comments, mentions, and direct messages in real-time.
Shopify rating ⭐5.0 (14)
Price: Free plan available
Key features
- Customer support agents are hired and trained on your behalf, and Chatdesk makes an effort to hire agents who are already "superfans" of your brand
- Social media integration for responding to comments, messages, and mentions across all major social media networks
- Provides 24/7 support options to your customers
What users think of this app
- Reliable U.S.-based customer support agents
- Social media integrations are ideal for turning social media platforms into additional customer support channels.
- Exceptional for driving conversions with pre-purchase chat conversations
For Gorgias customers, learn more about our Chatdesk integration here.
3) Facebook Messenger Marketing by ShopMessage
Facebook Messenger Marketing is a Shopify app by ShopMessage that allows you to create automated Facebook Messenger marketing flows. These flows are triggered based on a wide range of customer actions, such as cart abandonment and first-time purchases from new customers. This app also offers customizable opt-in popups designed to help you grow your Facebook Messenger subscriber list and shareable links that will direct to a FB Messenger marketing flow when clicked.
Shopify rating ⭐4.3 (129)
Price: $9/month
Key features
- Messenger Menu feature provides customers with a concierge-like experience by giving them on-demand access to targeted product recommendations, support links, or interactive FAQs
- A guaranteed minimum ROI in your first paid month or you receive a full refund
- Create Facebook ads that direct to FB Messenger marketing flows
What users think of this app
- Excellent customer support
- Targeted product recommendations boost conversion rates
- Series for important revenue-driving initiatives like lowering cart abandonment and upselling at checkout
For Gorgias customers, learn more about our ShopMessage integration here.
4) Octane AI: Quiz Growth Tools by Octane AI
According to data from DemandGen, interactive content elicits twice as much engagement as static content. Interactive content such as surveys and quizzes in particular can be especially useful for providing ecommerce store owners with zero-party data on their customers.
With Octane AI, you can create customizable surveys for your Shopify store, which you can use to learn what your customers like and dislike about their experience with your brand and products. Octane AI also gives you the ability to create customizable quizzes that you can use to provide customers with targeted product information and recommend new products. Best of all, quizzes and surveys created using Octane AI are easily shareable across all social platforms.
Shopify rating ⭐4.8 (200)
Price: From $50/month
Key features
- Octane AI popup gives personalized product recommendations, which users can access and add to their carts
- Integrates with Klaviyo to target your SMS and email marketing campaigns based on data collected using Octane AI
- Dynamic quiz functionality lets you display different questions and Octane AI popup styles based on the demographics of the customer viewing them
What users think of this app
- Product recommendation quizzes lead to increased sales
- Quizzes are customizable and easy to create
- Collects valuable zero-party data
For Gorgias customers, learn more about our Octane AI integration here.
5) Recart: SMS & Messenger by Recart
Recart is an SMS, email, and FB Messenger marketing tool that lets you create popup opt-ins for growing your email list. It also offers a variety of automated flows and templates that you can use to make your FB Messenger marketing strategy more efficient. Additionally, Recart provides built-in SMS stats and a real-time dashboard for you to track your campaigns.
Source: Recart
Shopify rating ⭐4.8 (5506)
Price: Free plan available
Key features
- Edit templates with a no-code, drag-and-drop editor
- Personalize your campaigns with condition splits
- Integrate the tool with others, such as Klaviyo, Gorgias, and Drip
What users think of this app
- Excellent for growing subscriber lists
- Abandoned cart recovery flows are highly effective
- Lots of useful integrations
For Gorgias customers, learn more about our Recart integration here.
6) 20+ Promotional Sales Tools by Zotabox
Zotabox is a platform that offers over 20 different useful sales tools, including customizable banners, countdown timers, social sharing buttons, customizable forms, and push notifications. Whatever you might need to make your social media marketing efforts a success, there's a high likelihood that you'll find what you're looking for on Zotabox.
Shopify rating ⭐4.8 (469)
Price: From $12.99/month
Key features
- Embed videos on your website
- Add customizable forms and live chat windows to your site
- Source and display Facebook and Google reviews on your site
What users think of this app
- Excellent triggering options for popups
- Lots of useful solutions in one package
- All of the tools are highly customizable
Related: How to transform live chat into your a top sales tool.
7) Instafeed: Instagram Feed by Mintt Studio
Instafeed is an app that displays your Instagram feed on your website. Instafeed also enables you to tag products in your Instagram posts in order to create a shoppable Instagram feed.
Shopify rating ⭐4.9 (1183)
Price: Free plan available
Key features
- Display Instagram content in an on-site widget for social proof through user-generated content (UGC)
- Expand the reach of your Instagram profile to your store visitors
- Turn your Instagram profile into a social commerce channel via the option to tag products in Instagram posts
What users think of this app
- Improves the visual appeal of a Shopify store
- Great for converting Instagram into an additional sales channel
- Easy to set up and customize
Related: Our guide to Instagram for customer service.
8) Facebook Channel by Shopify
Facebook Channel is an app by Shopify that automatically syncs products from your store to your Facebook account, making it easy to sell and promote products on Facebook. Facebook Channel also allows you to easily create a variety of Facebook Ads campaigns, including audience-building campaigns and dynamic retargeting campaigns.
Shopify rating ⭐3.5 (3785)
Price: Free to install, additional charges apply
Key features
- Tag products in Facebook or Instagram posts
- Create a custom storefront for your Facebook Shop
- Access a variety of templates for setting up Facebook advertising campaigns
What users think of this app
- Seamless integration with Shopify
- One of the easiest ways to get a Facebook store up and running
- Makes it easier to set up effective Facebook advertising campaigns
Related: Our guide to Facebook Messenger for customer service.
9) Minta Automated Social Videos by Minta Technology
With Minta Technology, Shopify store owners can construct professional social videos and design image posts using a variety of attractive pre-built templates. Minta Technology also gives you the option to schedule social media posts for automatic publishing.
Shopify rating ⭐4.8 (520)
Price: Free plan available
Key features
- Embed videos on your product pages
- Schedule posts up to two months in advance with the content scheduler
- Create fully-branded images and videos for social posts with ease
What users think of this app
- Saves a lot of time otherwise spent scheduling and publishing posts
- Makes bland social media posts much more unique and eye-catching
- An impressive variety of templates to choose from
Related: Our guide to product photography to set customer expectations and boost sales.
10) Gorgias - Live Chat & Helpdesk
Gorgias is an all-in-one customer service helpdesk platform for Shopify stores. Gorgias offers a range of features designed to help you improve your online store’s quality of customer support, while simultaneously reducing your customer support team's workload.
But what makes Gorgias such an excellent social media Shopify app is the fact that Gorgias integrates with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. This allows your customer support agents to respond to messages and mentions across all social media channels from a single, user-friendly dashboard.
Shopify rating ⭐4.4 (533)
Price: From $10/month
Using Shopify Inbox? Compare Gorgias vs. Shopify Inbox.
Key features
- Connect your social logins with your helpdesk: Generate a customer support ticket anytime someone messages your brand, replies to a post, or creates a post mentioning your brand on WhatsApp, Facebook, or Instagram
- Live chat windows that can be easily transitioned to an email
- Automated Rules and templated Macros to improve your customer service quality and speed
What users think of this app
- One-click integrations with your social media accounts and other ecommerce tools (for marketing, shipping, customer reviews, referrals, and more)
- Automate tedious customer support tasks to save time for your customer support staff and maximize their impact
- Very helpful for prioritizing customer inquiries to ensure that the most important inquiries receive the fastest possible response
- Excellent customer support to help you set up the tool and optimize your Rules, Views, and Macros
- Convenient to have messages from all social channels (Facebook Messenger and comments, Instagram DMs and comments, and WhatsApp conversations) in one place
Related: The best customer service software on the market.
Gorgias lets you manage all of your Shopify social media apps, minus the headache
Choosing the right social media apps for your ecommerce tech stack can provide you with a number of powerful capabilities, from the ability to automatically publish posts across numerous social networks to the ability to turn your social media profiles into convenient customer support channels.
At Gorgias, we are committed to helping our clients make the most of their chosen social media apps by ensuring that Gorgias is capable of integrating with a variety of popular Shopify apps, including Recart, Octane AI, ShopMessage, ChatDesk, and beyond. To learn more about Gorgias's powerful integrations, be sure to check out our social media app integration page.
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Ecommerce Community Management: What Is It and Why Does It Matter?
Some customers will arrive on your website, place an order, and move on with their lives. But ideally, given the outsize returns of returning customers, your shoppers also have the option of joining a strong community where they can:
- Provide feedback that guides product development
- See how other customers use your products
- Engage with relevant (non-sales) content
- Stay up to date with your brand’s promotions and releases
- Become a fully-fledged brand advocates
Thanks to these customer engagement tactics, a community can lead to better word-of-mouth marketing, referrals, and repeat purchases. According to Gorgias research of over 10,000 ecommerce brands, community building can boost a brand’s revenue by an estimated 6%.
In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into all things customer community management: what it entails, the benefits of community marketing at your company, steps you can follow to create a community management strategy, and tips and tricks to use once you’re in the thick of community management.
What is customer community management?
Customer community management is the ongoing process of building and maintaining an authentic social network among your customers, staff members, and partners. You can host communities in various places: your brand's social media channels, dedicated online forums, or in person at networking events or brand get-togethers.
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Two examples of great community management from ecommerce brands include 310 Nutrition and Kitsch.
310 Nutrition sells meal replacement shakes and has a significant member base through their private 310 Nutrition Community Facebook group. There are over 400,000 members that engage in discussions related to the brand but also discuss nutrition and weight loss. It’s a place for like-minded individuals who share a similar goal of becoming healthier:
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Beauty accessory and hair care brand Kitsch utilizes a slightly different community management strategy through TikTok. Kitsch has over 45,000 followers on TikTok and focuses on educating about their products, debuting new products, and running giveaways for their loyal fans. The brand does a great job at keeping its TikTok videos authentic and educational, rather than feeling like a salesroom floor:
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The many benefits of a sound customer community management strategy
In addition to boosting revenue, a community management strategy can increase customer engagement and happiness, serve as an additional channel for customer service, and provide a platform for your most loyal customers to share their thoughts. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
So, what other benefits can solid community management offer?
Increases customer engagement and customer satisfaction
If your brand can run an effective customer community management strategy, you’ll start to see an increase in customer engagement as well as customer satisfaction. The more your brand's presence overlaps with where your customers are — especially online — the more you can boost engagement. For example, if you provide valuable content on Instagram and engage with people in the comment section, your audience will see your brand as authentic and committed to customers.
In turn, if customers engage with your brand, they will be more satisfied and will likely return as customers again and again. Even more, for 43% of customers, good customer service breeds more loyal repeat customers — and more brand champions ultimately means more revenue for your brand, thanks to the value of referrals, product reviews, and repeat purchases.
These benefits come at a much lower cost than paid customer acquisition strategies, which require huge investments for customers who might only place one order with your brand — if that.
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Related: Our guide to improving customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores, one of the most important metrics for long-term brand growth.
Becomes another convenient and efficient customer service channel
Online community management can also open additional customer service channels for your customers that are more convenient than contacting a call center, using your site’s live chat support, or sending an email. In the community management realm, this could be chatting with a service rep via direct message (DM) on Instagram or troubleshooting an issue on a public Facebook group forum.
Related: Our guide on customer support in ecommerce.
Provides quality feedback about products or services from your most loyal customers
Feedback is vital to your brand’s success, so additional spaces for customers to share feedback can be extremely valuable. You can even encourage customer feedback about products if your community management strategy includes online forums or social media pages like LinkedIn and Facebook.
However, there is some risk in asking for feedback in such a public setting. If you'd rather ease into it, you could create a survey that only shows the results to you and your team. Offer something to customers for their time — such as a gift card or entry to a raffle — to incentivize them to participate.
Collecting customer feedback doesn't need to have a complicated format. For example, furniture brand Sabai uses Instagram polls to gauge customer interest in new product designs:
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This kind of customer research is a great way to stoke community engagement and mitigate future customer complaints.
Creates more opportunities for upselling and cross-selling
Community management strategies can be effective sales or upselling channels because they give you the chance to educate customers (and let customers educate one another) about how different or additional products can help their needs.
On top of straightforward product recommendations, you can practice upselling by sharing influencer or user-generated content marketing about new or premium products. Again, the goal isn’t to plug your products directly but incorporate them into content your community might like to see.
A great example of this is Glamnetic’s TikTok about the do’s and don’ts of eyebrow makeup, which features numerous Glamnetic products:
Related: Our guide to ecommerce upselling and cross-selling for higher average order values (AOVs).
Encourages customers to become your best brand ambassadors
Lastly, a benefit of community management is the ability to create brand ambassadors. You can do this organically by engaging with customers with large followings on social media, but you can also do it more strategically through brand ambassador programs.
Brand ambassadors provide a type of advocacy that no paid ads could ever achieve. They convince their friends and followers to try your brand, then those friends and followers convince their friends and followers to try your brand, and the cycle continues. This is also a great way to create social proof, or reviews and testimonials you can attach to product pages and your website.
One ecommerce brand that uses this tactic effectively is athleisure company Fabletics. The brand prides itself on being an inclusive, quality, affordable alternative to other high-end athleisure brands like Lululemon. Thus, Fabletics reflects this in their brand ambassador program, where they encourage real people to apply as influencers regardless of their status. In addition, they also work with celebrity influencers who have a passion for health and fitness, such as Kevin Hart and Maddie Ziegler.
Jaxxon, another brand that creates a community around a niche — chain jewelry for main — capitalizes on brand ambassadors who share content on their own social networks.
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A step-by-step guide for creating a customer community management strategy
So, now you have a better understanding of why customer community management has the potential to increase your brand's revenue. But how can you create a community that gets results? Here are six steps to building a customer community management strategy that works for your unique brand.
1) Research social media community management platforms
The first step in developing a community management strategy is to do your research.. Think about where your current customers frequent most when online and where your target audience is. For most brands, the easiest place to gather a group of people will be whichever social media platform you already use the most, whether that’s Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or another platform. However, if you’re trying to launch a more :
- Discord: A robust platform that lets you host channels, forums, private messages, multimedia sharing, and more
- Reddit: A platform known for authenticity and impressive crowd moderation — be wary of Reddit’s anti-marketing guidelines, though
- Slack: Mostly known for business teams, Slack can also host customer communities
- Thinkific: A community platform that also offers great functionality for educational courses
- Mighty Networks: The top-rated community marketing platform on G2
- Tribe Platform: A community platform best known for its high degree of customization
- A forum native to your website: If you want, you can also try and build community functionality directly on your website
2) Create goals regarding what kind of outcome you’re looking for with your brand community
Next, you’ll want to create goals that align with the outcomes you hope to see from the strategy. Your goals could be tied to revenue, customer service effectiveness, brand awareness, and public relations. Some example goals may include:
- Higher customer retention
- Lower contact rate for your customer service center due to customers finding answers themselves in your online communities
- Increased interest in a new product or renewed interest in an old product
- Better public perception of your brand
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3) Get to know your audience
Though you likely have a solid idea of who your audience is at this point, you’ll want to continue getting to know your audience on the platforms you identified in step 1. You may realize you need a slightly different approach when applying your community management plan to TikTok versus a Facebook forum, for example. Though your audience may be similar in both places, folks expect quick, educational, and entertaining videos on TikTok. In contrast, they may want longer-winded discussions with other customers about your brand’s products on a Facebook forum.
One way to stoke community engagement is to try and spark interactions. For National Baking Day, for example, chocolate brand Montezuma’s requested community members’ best recipes instead of just sharing recipes themselves:
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Related: Learn how Montezuma’s saves five hours a week and answers customer questions faster with Gorgias.
4) Craft valuable and thought-provoking content
Building off step 3, you’ll want to set up a plan to create valuable and thought-provoking content to ensure your customers come back to the online communities you are building. The type of content you create for your community management strategy should align with your overall brand image, tone, and voice.
For example, let's say you're an ecommerce brand that sells sustainable mid-century furniture. Your community-based digital marketing strategy should include educational content that gives insight into your brand's sustainability: Where your products are made, how you source your materials, what your labor practices are, etc. In addition, you also want to create beautiful imagery (photos and videos) that showcase your brand’s furniture in real peoples’ homes.
For example, fashion brand Princess Polly (and their community members) create outfit inspiration videos that would be independently interesting, regardless of whether you bought the clothes through the brand. Of course, someone watching might also love a particular garment and head to the website:
Related: Learn how Princess Polly helps customers 95% faster with Gorgias.
5) Use tools to measure success and track customer insights
In addition to the actual content that makes up your customer community management strategy, you’ll want to identify ways to measure the success of your program and track insights from your customers. One way to streamline this step is to find a tool that does what you need automatically. We'll highlight a few awesome insight tools below. Keep in mind that a great tool may require more financial investment upfront, but it will save you tons of time in the long run and should eventually pay for itself.
Powerful community management tools to explore
- Gorgias: As an all-in-one customer support solution, Gorgias can be an excellent choice for your customer service team to keep up with both current customers and future customers alike through email, social media, and chat.
- Keyhole: Keeping an eye on what is being said about your brand at any given moment can be a whole job by itself. Using a social listening tool like Keyhole can simplify this process by aggregating all mentions of your brand on social media. You can even keep an eye on your competition this way, which can help keep your brand’s strategy fresh and engaging.
- Tweetdeck: If your brand has a Twitter-heavy strategy, Tweetdeck could assist your team with keeping an eye on specific feeds, hashtags, lists, and even managing your own tweets and messages. The tool also allows for data-driven insights.
- Grytics: If part of your community management strategy relies on running a specific group or online community, such as a private Facebook group, Grytics could help organize your insights, engagement, and overall performance.
6) Assign a community manager to help your community flourish
The last step in creating your customer community management strategy is assigning a community manager. A dedicated community manager on your team will help execute your strategy and ensure the communities you’re building are supported and continue to grow.
A community manager is similar to a social media manager, but there is one major difference. A social media manager typically posts and supports a brand from the inside. This usually means posting from a brand’s social media accounts. On the other hand, a community manager posts as a brand ambassador under their own accounts, not the brand's. The community manager will develop the community as a part of the community. A community manager can also be seen as a brand advocate.
A great community manager would manage your brand’s community with a seriousness that doesn’t jeopardize the brand but also a friendly and personable attitude to keep customers engaged. Specific tasks of a good community manager could include:
- Ensuring customers' questions are answered
- Moderating conflict within the community
- Enforcing terms of service (TOS) policies
- Keeping the community a positive place for customers to interact
Tips and tricks for community management
As you finalize your customer community management strategy and start executing it, here are some best practices to keep in mind to make it as successful as possible.
Always provide a link back to your website
A link to your brand’s website is never a bad idea because each link out there increases the chance of someone in the community going to your website, clicking around, and making a purchase. Even if your community manager can provide an answer with one sentence of text, try to find somewhere to link to on your website, such as an FAQ page.
Check out how Branch’s Help Center links back to the US (and Canada) store at the top of the portal:
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Stay consistent with the company branding tone while responding to customers
Customers and even to-be customers come to know certain brands based on their tone. And even if you are new to community management, you can quickly become known if you create a unique brand voice and tone in online spaces and stick to it.
One great way to achieve this is with the help of template responses, which we at Gorgias call Macros. With Macros, you can create and maintain a library of templates for frequently asked questions. But unlike most templates, Macros include variables that automatically populate with information like [Customer name] or [Tracking number of last order]. These Macros accelerate your customer service representatives’s workflows without sacrificing personalization or quality:
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Create community guidelines and enforce them
Nobody wants to be the Rule Police, but community guidelines in online spaces are vital for mature, inclusive, and productive discourse. Successful community guidelines will also protect your brand if someone on a forum, for example, starts to get out of hand. Additionally, share your brand’s privacy and data protection standards with community members. 52% of social media users rate their privacy and data protection as highly important, so be sure to let them know how you protect their data.
Ask questions, encourage users to share wins/questions, and find other ways to stoke engagement
Remember that the community isn’t just a place for you to make announcements and sell your own products. Find meaningful ways to get people to talk to one another, share insights, and participate in the discussion.
Always respond to community members in a reasonable time frame
As part of your strategy, be sure to decide on what you and the rest of your team believe to be a reasonable time frame to respond to community members. If a community manager doesn’t respond to a community member’s question for several days, the likelihood of that member using the forum again is unlikely.
Keep content engaging
Even if you are on a forum that uses mostly blocks of text, think of ways to keep the content engaging, such as incorporating photos, videos, infographics, and even podcasts (if applicable).
One company you can look to as a model for great content creation is Casper, an ecommerce brand specializing in mattresses and pillows. Beyond its diverse content on various social media platforms, the brand has the Sleep Channel on YouTube, which includes a 12-part series that features sleep meditations and bedtime stories.
Give back to your community
Lastly, it’s vital to dedicate part of your brand’s community management strategy to give back to your community. This can ensure your brand keeps growing and supports brand loyalty among customers. Ways to give back could include things like hosting contests, giveaways, highlighting user-generated content, and providing other incentives to expand the community.
3 great examples of customer communities
We’ve covered a few examples of great customer communities above, but here are three more that we see as the gold standard.
310 Nutrition’s Facebook Community focuses on education
Though we mentioned 310 Nutrition earlier, the brand is a perfect example of how to run a strong online community focused on education. The fitness and weight-loss brand provides tons of content in its private Facebook group from brand ambassadors who work for 310 nutrition and are experts in the industry, such as trainers and nutritionists.
The brand shares high-quality videos and articles with tips and tricks to encourage community members to stay motivated on their health journey. 310 Nutrition’s Facebook community also provides members exclusive promotions. All of these strategies help 310 Nutrition’s Facebook group attract new members regularly.
Annmarie Skin Care encourages emotional connections
Skincare brand, Annmarie Skin Care, combines its loyalty program (called the Wild & Beautiful Collective) with an exclusive Facebook group only open to loyalty-program members. Connecting a loyalty program to a closed online community can be a great way to give an exclusive benefit to loyal customers without investing too much overhead. In the community, loyal customers get exclusive content, access to the Annmarie team, and promotions.
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Oracle offers multiple communities for its powerful software
Even outside of the ecommerce world, online customer communities can be extremely beneficial. Oracle, for example, has different communities to bring together peers who use Oracle products and experts to help navigate the brand’s complex offerings.
Without this kind of interactive community, new and prospective Oracle customers might be confused about the company’s benefits and use cases. The community helps them learn those things without having to talk to a sales agent:
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Build a smooth, profitable customer experience with Gorgias
Creating online communities for your customers can take your brand one step closer to improving the overall customer experience. Online community management gives customers a better shopping experience, more avenues to answer their questions, and boosts your company's revenue in the process.
Efficient, helpful customer service and self-service resources like those offered at Gorgias can help you further your community management goals. Sign up and see how our platform can help streamline customer service interactions, automate repetitive tasks so your team members can focus on connecting with customers, and provide customer data to keep you and your team on track. Book my demo.
Ecommerce Shipping: Creating a Shipping and Fulfillment Strategy
Whether you’re a small business owner or part of a large ecommerce business, you know that shipping and fulfillment are a significant component of your brand. And you’re here reading this because you want to craft a stronger shipping and fulfillment strategy.
We’ll get to that soon enough, but first, take a minute to think like a consumer. Take off your business-leader hat and put on your internet-shopper hat.
Got the right hat on? OK, good. Now think about your last experience as an ecommerce customer.
How did you approach your last purchase? Did you purchase from the absolute cheapest source, some obscure company you’ve never heard of? Or did you stick to brands and platforms you already know — ones you know you can trust to deliver?
If you’re like most ecommerce customers, you picked something reliable. Because we all know that price is important — but getting what we need when we need it is even more important.
And that’s exactly why it’s crucial for your business to create an ecommerce shipping and fulfillment strategy that works well for you and your customers.
What is ecommerce shipping?
Ecommerce shipping is the process of getting products purchased through an ecommerce storefront or platform from wherever they are to the customer’s specified delivery address. It is a multifaceted, complex process with many touchpoints, dependencies, and moving parts, and its core goal is a crucial one: getting the items people bought delivered to them accurately and on time.
Because of the myriad complexities involved in ecommerce shipping, many companies rely on external partners for some or all of their shipping and fulfillment needs. And all companies, once they reach a certain point of growth, rely on some combination of software and apps to keep shipping, fulfillment, and inventory running smoothly.
How your shipping strategy impacts your bottom line
To the uninitiated, shipping seems like a commodity good, something to spend as little focus and resources on as possible so that teams can stay focused on the real work of the business.
But experience and real-world statistics say otherwise.
A cohesive and realistic shipping strategy is highly valuable to any company that ships products to people because it is part and parcel with your brand image. ShipStation’s second annual national consumer study found that 84% of ecommerce shoppers identified package delivery as the touchpoint that “stands out most in the ecommerce customer experience.”
In other words, get people the stuff they bought quickly, accurately, and with good communication, and you’re telling them something about your brand and company health. Fail to do so, and you’re still sending them strong messages — just not the messages you want them to receive.
While your brand image matters, shipping strategy affects your bottom line more directly too. An even higher percentage of consumers in that same study — 92% — declared that they decide between vendors based on whether they can know their order will arrive when expected.
Your communication about shipping during the customer journey matters, too. While online shopping, customers hate few things more than having to pay extra for shipping, especially if it’s unexpected until they pull their credit card out at checkout — and put it away when they see a high shipping cost.
Most customers would even prefer an increase in product prices over having to pay for shipping, according to a study from Wharton. In fact, unexpectedly high shipping prices are one of the main reasons for cart abandonment, according to a study from the Baymard Institute:
If you’re regularly failing to deliver when promised, customers will take their business elsewhere.
How your ecommerce shipping process connects to the rest of your business
Your shipping process isn’t a self-contained unit. It has the potential to affect numerous other aspects of your business. Not only that, the reverse is also true: Other departments and facets of your operations can also affect your ability to ship well.
Here’s just a partial list of the sorts of departments and functions that tie into most businesses’ shipping processes:
- Inventory management and stock: Stockouts and misplaced items affect shipping ability
- Customer service interactions: Can customer support agents see shipping status? Can your shipping strategy reliably achieve what they promise?
- Refund and return policies (and the teams that execute those policies)
- Partnering with shipping fulfillment companies or third-party logistics (3PL): Do they reliably meet expectations? Can you get the data you need from them?
Shipping methods that online stores are offering customers
There are multiple shipping methods used today, and not every option is right for every business. It’s a good idea to evaluate the shipping methods available for your business’s products and settle in on the methods that make the most sense given your audience, products, margins, and current logistics abilities.
That said, most consumers expect fast, transparent, and often free shipping on most goods. As many as 77% have abandoned a shopping cart completely because they didn’t find the available shipping options to be satisfactory.
Here are five popular shipping methods in ecommerce that you might consider implementing for your business.
Two-day shipping
Thanks to Amazon Prime, two-day shipping is the gold standard within ecommerce. If you don’t offer it and a competitor (even Amazon itself) sells something similar with two-day shipping available, you could miss out on sales.
Pro: Can be a driver of sales and is widely available through 3PL and shipping fulfillment vendors
Con: Can be too resource-intensive for smaller ecommerce businesses
Same-day delivery
Same-day delivery ships products and puts packages on doorsteps the same day that customers click “buy.” It’s a truly premium offering and a great way to differentiate from the competition, but it usually requires significant scale and investment to pull off.
Pro: Consumers love receiving their order the same day
Con: Same-day delivery highly dependent on the customer’s location and limited to select major cities, and the infrastructure and resource costs can be significant
Overnight or expedited shipping
Overnight or expedited shipping has gone by numerous names: Next-day air and one-day shipping are two of the most prominent. It’s faster than two-day but slower than same-day, and it usually comes with a (sometimes hefty) surcharge for fast delivery.
Some companies (and carriers) use the term “expedited shipping” to refer to something faster than standard shipping but not as fast as express or overnight. If two-day (or faster) isn’t possible or isn’t the norm for your industry, you can differentiate yourself by offering a premium service, such as expedited delivery process or overnight shipping (or both).
Pro: Gives consumers more control over delivery timeframes and allows sellers to pass the additional costs on to the buyer
Con: Can add complexity and ambiguity (How fast is “expedited?”) to your ecommerce shipping strategy, and when customers pay more, their expectations shoot up dramatically.
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International shipping
International shipping is a requirement if you’re a U.S. ecommerce firm that wants to ship directly to non-US customers. The same is true if you’re located on another continent and want to start shipping to overseas (including US) customers.
Pro: International shipping is the only way to reach international customers if you don’t have globally distributed warehouses.
Con: Can add an immense level of complexity and cost, leading most to rely on a global fulfillment partner
Eco-friendly shipping
Eco-friendly shipping refers primarily to the packaging elements a company uses both to package and ship a customer’s order. Instead of plastic and foam, ecommerce businesses can choose biodegradable and compostable materials to fill boxes and to package products.
As far as the shipping itself, there isn’t a clear eco-friendly choice. All shipping has a carbon footprint, though carbon offsets are available for companies committed to leaving the smallest possible footprint.
Pro: Eco-friendly choices care for the planet and signal to eco-conscious customers that a brand is deeply committed to protecting natural resources.
Con: Eco-friendly packing materials carry a cost premium, and a major eco-friendly carrier does not exist.
For example, Hive advertises its carbon-neutral shipping (which makes paid shipping easier to bear for some customers) and gives customers the option to also request an envelope to recycle certain packaging materials:
How to calculate the true cost of shipping
One challenge ecommerce stores face is understanding the real cost of shipping their products, as well as the true cost implications of faster shipping speeds.
This is especially an issue for SMBs because the calculations for upgrading a fulfillment process are complex and, usually, expensive.
Make sure you consider these four factors as you calculate shipping costs on an item.
Dimensional weight
Dimensional weight is a calculation that determines shipping cost based on the physical dimensions of a parcel rather than its actual weight. Trucks and cargo planes have a finite amount of cubic yardage, so dimensional size (or package size) is often as or more important than actual pounds or kilograms.
Many carriers consider both dimensional weight and actual weight of items and charge your business for whichever is greater.
Dimensional weight concerns are one reason to be as efficient as possible in terms of box size. Using the smallest box possible to ship an item safely is one way to minimize shipping costs.
Shipping carrier
Consumers tend to think of last-mile shipping companies like FedEx and UPS as generally interchangeable, but businesses know that this isn’t always the case. The cost to ship products varies across the — one might be the cost-effective option for small, local deliveries but more expensive for international orders.
Additionally, certain industries with unique needs may need to consider specialized or niche carriers. While these may be able to deliver a higher level of service or a specific service the big guys don’t offer, costs will generally be higher.
It’s a good practice to evaluate from time to time the available carriers for your shipping needs to make sure you’re still getting the best possible service and rates.
Check out these shipping calculators to understand the speed and cost of top shipping companies:
Shipping distance
Shipping distance is another element that consumers don’t tend to realize (at least until they sell something on eBay or Etsy). Most major carriers divide the country (or the globe) into various shipping zones. The farther the distance between the origin and destination, the more you’ll generally pay.
Pirate Ship has a great, interactive tool to show USPS’s variable shipping zones, which change depending on where you’re shipping from, impacting the total shipping cost. Here are shipping zones for a business in San Fransico, CA, for example:
Product handling and loading
Handling is an area that’s easy for smaller businesses to overlook when calculating costs. This factor refers to the resource costs of physically finding a product in the warehouse and then picking and packing that product. Businesses face time and labor costs for this work, and this operating expense must be considered as a part of ecommerce fulfillment.
How to structure your ecommerce shipping costs: 3 options
Your business’s shipping costs are inconsistent and variable. If nothing else, your true cost varies based on how far an item has to travel. So how do you decide how to handle shipping with your customers?
These three basic solutions cover the range of options, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Charge a flat rate
First up is flat-rate shipping. In this model, you charge all domestic customers a set flat rate for shipping the same goods. The rate might scale based on the order value or some other metric, but customers in San Diego and Pittsburgh will pay the same rate — no matter what the true cost is to your business.
Businesses with relatively small items or whose catalog entries are all roughly similar in size tend to choose this method. Coffee and tea ecommerce vendors are a great use case: Consumer orders are almost always relatively small, so internal shipping rates are a bit more stable.
Pro: Calculating rates is simple, and repeat customers appreciate transparent, predictable shipping charges.
Con: Flat-rate gets too complicated if your product catalog is large or varied, and you’ll likely lose money some of the time.
Charge a variable rate based on the market
Variable rate shipping calculates the real shipping cost of a specific order (real-time carrier rates) and then passes that cost along to the customer. Some ecommerce platforms include this functionality: It’s a part of Shopify’s Advanced plan, for example.
Note that variable rate shipping doesn’t tend to account for your own handling costs.
Numerous Shopify vendors use this method to cover their shipping costs, as do most B2B sellers and wholesalers that charge for shipping.
Pro: This method is the most “fair” to your business since you’re directly passing along real costs to your customers.
Con: Especially on the consumer front, customers don’t like being surprised by shipping costs — and they aren’t accustomed to seeing the real cost. When you pass along higher shipping costs, you can fail to live up to customer expectations and risk increasing cart abandonments.
If you offer variable shipping rates, consider including a shipping calculator on your site to set customer expectations early. Native Union, a tech accessory brand, lets customers input their zip code to estimate shipping costs and delivery times before they reach the checkout page. This is a great strategy to manage customer expectations, show off fast delivery options, and reduce cart abandonment (by avoiding unexpectedly high shipping costs at checkout):
Offer free shipping
Free shipping is one more option you should consider. Of course, anyone in ecommerce already knows that “free shipping” isn’t really free, yet it’s what customers in many industries are looking for.
Free shipping doesn’t have to be across the board. You can set an order minimum for free shipping, as Amazon and countless clothing retailers have done. Here’s an example of how Woxer advertises free shipping for qualifying orders on their website’s top banner as well as their cart dropdown:
When you choose free shipping, you still have to determine how to account for those costs. You have three options here:
- Build shipping costs into retail prices (customer pays)
- Eat shipping costs using your profit margin (you pay)
- Build only part of shipping cost into retail prices (both pay)
Pro: Free shipping drives sales, increases customer satisfaction, and incentivizes customers to stick with you (even when they’re still secretly paying the cost via higher retail price).
Con: Usually requires raising selling price or cuts into a business’s margins
Choosing a shipping carrier
Choosing the right shipping carrier for your business requires evaluating what each of the available carriers offers you, along with how your product catalog lands in terms of how they calculate shipping charges.
Each carrier uses its own unique fee structure, and all will offer you a shipping cost calculator to help you understand what your costs would be.
While factors can vary considerably based on the parameters of your products, here are a few general considerations for the big four:
USPS: Often the cheapest for ground shipping but not usually the fastest, the United States Postal Service already has an immense last-mile delivery architecture in place.
DHL: With a specialization in international shipping, DHL is the preferred choice for many businesses that ship primarily overseas.
FedEx: A carrier that excels at both national and international shipping, FedEx offers a range of shipping services. Small businesses should look into the FedEx Small Business program for offers and incentives.
UPS: The iconic brown trucks get the job done as well, both nationally and internationally, with a range of competitive delivery options. Like FedEx, UPS offers a range of services for startups and small businesses, including integrations with ecommerce platforms.
Choosing packaging materials for your ecommerce product
Choosing the right packaging materials for your ecommerce product has numerous effects on your company’s bottom line. The packaging itself costs money, and your choice in packaging can affect carrier rates as well. Consider these factors as you choose packaging materials:
- Protection: Can the item be damaged in transit? Is it sufficiently cushioned or otherwise protected to prevent this? What materials will you use to protect fragile products?
- Material: Cardboard, Styrofoam, plastics, and more eco-friendly materials are all available. What’s the right balance of durability, sustainability, and cost for your business?
- Size: Most shipping costs are based either on size or weight, so choose packaging that’s as compact as possible (while still providing the necessary protection).
- Branding: Should your product stand out through custom, branded packaging? Is the boost to buzz and customer loyalty worth the added expense?
Ecommerce businesses tend to make two very similar mistakes in packaging: choosing too large or too small of a box. Go too large, and you incur higher shipping costs due to dimensional weight. But go too small, and there isn’t enough room to cushion or protect your products.
We love stationary brand Ohh Deer’s packaging, which is 100% recycled and doesn’t come with the plastic sleeves traditionally found in greeting cards. Plus, it’s extremely adorable and branded — great for customer delight:
Providing shipping security for you and your customers
Shipping security is one more area to consider in your overall shipping strategy. Strategic work here can protect your business and allay your customers’ fears.
Provide tracking visibility for customers’ shipments
In today’s ecommerce environment, customers want to be able to track where their shipment is and know exactly when it will be arriving. Basic tracking information is usually available through your carrier partner, but you can take things even further with proactive and branded shipping notifications using some of the integrations we’ll show you in the next section.
And if you use Gorgias, you can make tracking numbers and order status available via self-service order management. In your live chat support widget, your customers can track a recent order, modify order details, report issues, and more. Here’s what the feature looks like in a live chat widget:
Related: Learn how to provide order tracking to your customers.
Understand the role of shipping insurance
When you opt for shipping insurance, you’ll be reimbursed for items that get lost, stolen, or damaged during the shipping process. Shipping insurance can provide your business with a sense of security especially if you’re shipping high-value items or items that can break easily. Here are some of the main use cases for shipping insurance:
Of course, shipping insurance can add significant cost. It also doesn’t directly affect your customers’ experience (they will expect a replacement product whether you’re reimbursed or not) but it can save costs for you.
Most businesses opt for shipping insurance only when shipping expensive, fragile, or easily stolen items.
Related: Learn how to deal with lost packages in ecommerce.
Create a returns program and handle returns logistics
Not every ecommerce sale is going to work out. Customers may simply not like what they got. And defects and product failures happen to every company, no matter how tight your quality control.
For these reasons, you need a clear plan for how you’ll handle returns (and reduce the number of return requests you receive). If you don’t put a plan in place, you can expect a whole lot more customer service tickets (and angry customers).
Here are a few pitfalls to avoid as you craft your returns policies:
- Unclear or buried return policy
- Manual internal system for processing returns
- Offering free returns without accounting for cost or volume
Related: Get 10 best practices for handlind ecommerce returns.
Our recommended ecommerce shipping integrations, apps, and tools
Ecommerce shipping can be complex, but the right set of integrations, apps, and tools, can greatly simplify the process — and it can expand your capabilities and service offerings too.
Below, we’ll show you some of the best shipping integrations we’ve found for the Big Three ecommerce platforms: Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magento 2. And while you’re at it, check out Gorgias’ own collection of shipping and fulfillment apps for the Gorgias platform.
One quick note before we dive in: Some of these recommendations will repeat, and that’s intentional. If a world-class tool is available on multiple ecommerce platforms and works well on each one, we want you to know about it!
Shipping integrations for Shopify stores
Below, we’ll cover three of the best shipping-specific integrations for Shopify stores. Some of these also showed up in our broader Best Magento Extensions article. Feel free to give that a read if you’re looking for more apps, integrations, and functions beyond just shipping and fulfillment.
Shopify Fulfillment Network
Shopify Fulfillment Network is a relatively new service offered by Shopify, wherein stores on the platform send products to a third-part fulfillment center, contracted by Shopify, while manages and streamlines the rest of the shipping and delivery process. Consolidating fulfillment and shipping usually means stores can offer faster delivery times to more locations. However, Shopify Fulfillment Network is not cheap and remove a degree of control you have over such a core part of your brand’s customer experience.
Check out our complete review of Shopify Fulfillment Network here.
ShipBob
ShipBob is a global logistics platform or third-party logistics (3PL) provider catering to the order fulfillment needs of direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands. If you’re looking for an end-to-end ecommerce shipping solution, ShipBob is a contender.
ShipBob maintains its own network of warehouses in strategic locations and is known for its reliable fulfillment services. The company empowers D2C brands to offer same-day shipping and two-day delivery. It also allows brands to customize their shipping presentation with custom inserts and packaging.
If you’re a D2C brand selling through Shopify and you’re looking for a 3PL partner, ShipBob is worth serious consideration.
In addition to being one of the best Shopify apps, this app is also one of the best on BigCommerce, and it’s a Gorgias preferred partner.
Read our head-to-head comparison of Shopify Fulfillment Network vs. ShipBob.
ShipStation
ShipStation is a cloud-based order management and shipping software solution that helps ecommerce businesses power their own logistics efforts. Order processing, inventory management, shipping label creation, and customer communication are all part of ShipStation.
ShipStation connects online businesses with carriers, marketplaces, and channels in powerful ways, and it can give you access to preferred pricing with numerous carriers.
The app’s Shopify integration helps you automate aspects of the shipping and label creation process and simplify international shipping.
If your goal is to keep logistics in house (rather than use a 3PL partner), ShipStation is ideal software to help you control costs and increase efficiency.
In addition to being one of the best Shopify apps, this app is also one of the best on BigCommerce and Magento 2.
Order Printer
Order Printer is a Shopify exclusive that allows businesses to create invoices, receipts, refunds, and packing slips all from a simple one-screen interface. These reports and invoices are rendered as PDFs, which can be automatically sent out to customers via email.
With Order Printer, you can process multiple orders or print requests in bulk and automate attaching those PDFs to emails. It works with the Shopify POS so your sales agents can send off these documents while working in person with customers.
Order Printer is a Shopify exclusive not available on BigCommerce or Magento 2.
Shipping integrations for BigCommerce stores
These are our top three shipping-specific integrations in the BigCommerce app store.
ShipBob
ShipBob is a global logistics platform or third-party logistics (3PL) firm catering to the order fulfillment needs of direct-to-consumer (D2C) online retail brands.
ShipBob maintains its own network of warehouses in strategic locations and is known for its reliable fulfillment services. The company empowers D2C brands to offer same-day shipping and two-day delivery. It also allows brands to customize their shipping presentation with custom inserts and packaging.
If you’re a D2C brand selling via BigCommerce and you’re looking for a 3PL partner, ShipBob is worth serious consideration.
In addition to being one of the best Shopify apps, this app is also one of the best on BigCommerce.
ShipStation
ShipStation is a cloud-based order management and shipping software solution that helps ecommerce businesses power their own logistics efforts. Order processing, inventory management, label creation, and customer communication are all a part of ShipStation.
ShipStation connects businesses with carriers, marketplaces, and channels in powerful ways, and it can give you access to preferred pricing with numerous carriers.
The app’s BigCommerce integration helps you automate aspects of the shipping and label creation process and simplify international shipping.
If your goal is to keep logistics in house (rather than use a 3PL partner), ShipStation is the ideal software to help you control costs and increase efficiency.
In addition to being one of the best BigCommerce apps, this app is also one of the best on Shopify and Magento 2.
AfterShip
As the name suggests, AfterShip takes care of everything that happens after you ship your product. It offers automated shipment tracking, notifications, and branded updates so that you — not your carrier — control the information flow and customer communication.
BigCommerce’s AfterShip app also includes Returns Center, an interactive returns portal.
In addition to being one of the best BigCommerce apps, AfterShip also offers more limited app integrations for both Shopify and Magento 2. Aftership also integrates well with Gorgias.
Shipping integrations for Magento 2 stores
Below, we’ll cover three of the best shipping-specific integrations for Magento 2 stores. Some of these also showed up in our broader Best Shopify Apps article. Feel free to give that a read if you’re looking for more apps, integrations, and functions beyond just shipping and fulfillment.
ShipStation
ShipStation is a cloud-based order management and shipping software solution that helps ecommerce businesses power their own logistics efforts. Order processing, inventory management, label creation, and customer communication are all a part of ShipStation.
ShipStation connects businesses with carriers, marketplaces, and channels in powerful ways, and it can give you access to preferred pricing with numerous carriers.
The app’s Magento 2 integration helps you automate aspects of the shipping and label creation process and simplify international shipping.
If your goal is to keep logistics in house (rather than use a 3PL partner), ShipStation is the ideal software to help you control costs and increase efficiency.
In addition to being one of the best Magento 2 apps, this app is also one of the best on BigCommerce and Shopify.
Easyship
Easyship is a powerful cloud-based shipping platform that’s highly scalable and easy to implement. Customers use it to optimize their shipping efforts and gain access to pre-negotiated shipping rates with hundreds of global couriers.
Easyship is a great tool for giving your customers visibility and choice in shipping, and it’s a simple way for companies to go global.
In addition to being one of the best Magento 2 apps, this app is also one of the best on BigCommerce and Shopify.
Mageworx Shipping Suite
The Mageworx Shipping Suite Ultimate is a heavyweight Magento 2 extension that covers all aspects of your shipping needs. Configure complex shipping rules, define shipping rates and methods, and customize everything to your heart’s content.
Mageworx is powerful, but not simple to use. It’s best for larger ecommerce businesses with existing in-house resources dedicated to shipping and fulfillment.
The Mageworx Shipping Suite is a Magento 2 exclusive, though Shopify offers a lighter-weight Free shipping & Promo bars integration.
Related: Review our roundup of the best shipping software for ecommerce.
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Manage your ecommerce business’s shipping and customer service with Gorgias
Shipping and fulfillment are complex parts of your business. So is customer service, and the intersection of the two areas is where many customer satisfaction battles are won — or lost.
For the best customer impact, ecommerce businesses need a solution that lets them control customer inquiries like tracking, returns, the status of an order, and more from a single unified interface.
Gorgias is the customer service and support platform built specifically for ecommerce. With Gorgias, you can track and follow through on every customer inquiry in one place, with rich customer history and powerful tools to surface the information you need, when you need it.
Learn more on how Gorgias integrates with the ecommerce platform you’re already using:
Customer Delight Is A Losing Strategy in Ecommerce: Here’s What’s Better
Most ecommerce businesses understand that offering great products at a reasonable price isn’t enough. We know that customer experience is key to gaining long-term loyal customers, obtaining reviews and referrals, and growing in the long term. But too many brands believe that a great customer experience means surprising and delighting customers.
Frankly, handwritten notes and freebies don’t make for a great customer experience or a winning strategy. That’s not why customers reach out to your brand, nor is it what drives customer retention. They reach out to support for quick, helpful, effortless experiences; this is what makes top-notch customer service so important. Then (and only then) should you put the cherry on top with surprising, delightful extras.
Why “surprise and delight” is not a viable customer service strategy
Top-notch customer support is like an ice cream sundae, and efforts to thrill customers are the sprinkles and cherries on top. Sprinkles and cherries are great, but they don’t make for a satisfying sundae on their own.
Customers won’t be that amused if you make them wait on hold for 45 minutes and greet them with lighthearted jokes. Likewise, you’ll make a customer feel frustrated if you spend your budget on freebies but ignore implementing customer feedback about the product.
More than anything, customers who contact a brand's customer service team want their problems solved quickly and well. Fast, helpful, low-effort experiences are the base of your sundae, and any extra efforts to delight the customer are sure to fall flat if you can't do that.
Customer service interactions tend to drive disloyalty, not loyalty
According to Emplifi, 49% of consumers have left a brand in the past year due to a poor customer experience. Also, according to The Effortless Experience, an influential customer service book by best-selling author Matthew Dixon, customer service interactions are 4x more likely to drive customer disloyalty than they are to drive customer loyalty.
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If 20% of support interactions leave customers delighted and 80% leave customers frustrated, your greatest opportunity is to reduce frustration, not chase after hard-to-achieve delight.
Ecommerce customer delight isn’t linked to loyalty (and it’s expensive)
The Effortless Experience also reveals that going “above and beyond” isn’t even what drives that 20% of loyalty-building interactions. While companies assume exceeding customer expectations generate superfans, customers are generally just as satisfied when companies simply meet their expectations.
And 80% of companies who use customer delight as a strategy say they spend heavily on providing this delight: More overhead from giveaways, VIP kickbacks, refunds, and policy exceptions. Given that these delightful experiences don’t correlate to customer loyalty, this is not money well spent.
Support’s biggest impact is to mitigate disloyalty by reducing customer effort
If we zoom into what drives customers away, the most common issue is a high degree of effort — not a lack of gifts or delightful conversations. Common reasons for high-effort experiences include:
- Multiple contacts to resolve an issue
- Repeating information
- Getting transferred between channels
The negative impact of these high-effort experiences is staggering. According to The Effortless Experience, a whopping 96% of customers who had high-effort experiences feel disloyal to those companies afterward.
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To put it simply, most companies are trying to go “above and beyond” before they effectively provide the baseline of customer service, which is a helpful and low-effort experience.
How to minimize customer effort: The better version of surprise and delight
The key to customer retention is reducing customer effort. 94% of customers intend to purchase after a low-effort experience compared to a slim 4% after high-effort experiences, making it an essential part of a best-in-class customer experience. Lowering customer effort involves designing an intuitive user experience, decreasing the number of steps required to complete tasks, improving reply and response times (along with other key customer support metrics), and using forward resolution in support.
Here are five more quick wins to reduce customer effort in ecommerce:
1) Offer self-service functionality on your website
88% of customers expect your online store to offer some kind of self-service. Self-service resources could be as simple as a frequently-asked questions (FAQ) page or more interactive functionality to manage orders without having to reach out to customer support.
For merchants using Gorgias, you can set up a Help Center that does both in just a few clicks. Customers can read articles about your brand and shipping policy, and check their delivery status (which they do an average of 4.6 times for every order) instantaneously.
Here’s a great example of self-service order management on Steve Madden’s Help Center:
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Learn more about self-service order management with Gorgias.
2) List answers to pre-sales questions in a help center
Once you have an FAQ page or customer knowledge base, one type of question to proactively answer is pre-sales questions. These are questions potential customers have while mulling over a purchase in their heads before hitting “Place order” at checkout:
- Is it the right size for me?
- Is it compatible with products I already own?
- Can I return it if I’m dissatisfied?
- Will it arrive before the holidays?
If customers have to reach out and wait for an answer, they might just abandon the purchase and look for another online retailer that better addresses their questions. At least, that’s the case for the 63% of customers who attempt to solve issues via self-service support before reaching out.
So, don’t delay in making clear sizing guides, shipping policies, returns policies, and other self-service information that your customers need to confidently make a purchase.
3) Use forward resolution in customer support to avoid unnecessary follow-ups
Forward resolution is the practice of solving anticipated issues for customers before the customer even thinks to ask.
Let’s look at a real-world example: A customer inquires about shipping times to their local region. The support agent can see they have items in their cart that are on pre-order and, while answering the customer’s question about shipping time, also tells them that pre-order items are sent separately and that they can track delivery status through self-service. The agent has answered the initial question and forward-resolved two potential issues — reducing effort for the customer.
If you can, audit multi-touch tickets from the past few months to understand which questions tend to have natural follow-ups you can proactively answer. Then, add that follow-up information to your templates, or Macros if you use Gorgias, to improve your customer experience.
Here’s a Macro that not only answer’s a customer question about the location of an order, but lets them know when that order will be shipped:
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Learn more about resolution time from Gorgias’s Director of Customer Support.
4) Know more, ask less
One of the most damaging mistakes is making customers repeat themselves. Agents need that information to do their jobs well, but asking a customer to repeat their story at every juncture is a surefire way to damage a valuable customer relationship.
Instead, give customer service representatives all the customer context they need from the jump. Gorgias’s customer sidebar gives agents valuable context like purchase and communication history (from Shopify or BigCommerce), reviews information, cart data, social media engagement, and much more so customers don’t need to constantly retell their story.
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5) Make your support more convenient with automation and omnichannel
90% of customers say an “immediate” response is important, and 78% of customers prefer a variety of support channels to get in contact with customer support.
To answer questions faster, consider using a customer support platform with automation features to help your team move faster and automatically respond to repetitive customer questions. Gorgias’ automated system can help you prioritize customer service requests, tag the appropriate agent, and close no-response tickets so you spend less time on admin work. And, with the help of pre-written Macros, automated Rules, and chatbot-like self-service flows, you can send instant, personalized responses to questions like, “Where is my order?”
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Additionally, explore expanding to an omnichannel or multichannel ecommerce customer service strategy, which gives customers more touchpoints for your brand. Customers value the convenience of texting your brand, calling your brand, and hearing from you on social media. If you’re only available via email, you will likely lose customers due to high effort.
Read our guide to omnichannel customer service or check out our unified helpdesk to learn more.
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6 ways to delight ecommerce customers (once they have a low-effort experience)
Don’t get us wrong, customers usually enjoy an extra bit of pizazz or a freebie. And those sprinkles can even boost your brand’s conversion rate in the short term and boost customer loyalty in the long term — as long as they’re not associated with a high-effort experience.
Take a look at the following customer delight strategies and consider adopting them only once you’ve developed a low-effort customer experience as a foundation.
1) Offer free shipping (the new normal for customer satisfaction)
According to a 2021 survey, 66% of customers expect free shipping with every online purchase. This means that free shipping is often more of an expectation than a bonus — thanks, Amazon. Nevertheless, offering free shipping to your customers can still be a great way to encourage customer delight in many cases.
Customers love the word "free," even if the money that they are saving is only a few dollars. In fact, many stores can raise their product pricing slightly to make up for shipping costs and still see a boost in conversion rate from offering free shipping.
If you can’t offer free shipping to every customer, setting qualifying amounts is a good way to delight customers with free shipping while also driving higher average order values.
Woxer is one ecommerce brand that offers free shipping on all domestic orders and some international orders. Plus — another best practice — Woxer makes this information easily accessible as a Quick Response in their live chat widget.
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2) Launch a customer referral program
Creating a customer referral portal or program offers dual benefits. For one, it helps your brand attract new customers by encouraging them to refer their friends, family, and colleagues through word-of-mouth advertising. Along with introducing your brand to new potential customers, referral programs can also be a great way to blow away your customers: Everyone loves the opportunity to earn discounts and rewards!
If your ecommerce company has a strong net promoter score (NPS), you’re positioned to launch a referral program, capitalize on that goodwill, and delight your customers. If you want to start a referral marketing program, check out tools like Extole which systematically reward customers who bring you business via word of mouth.
3) Post user-generated content on social media
Recognition is its own reward, and a shout-out on social media is something most customers enjoy. Highlighting customers who use your products, positive customer reviews, and other delightful interactions allow you to celebrate customers and add social proof to your social media profile. It also reduces the number of content marketing materials you need to produce on your own.
Marine Layer's Instagram is full of customer shout-outs and other user-generated content that your brand may be able to pull inspiration from:
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4) Use loyalty programs to reward VIP customers
Like a referral program, a loyalty program rewards customers for repeat purchases and continued brand loyalty. If your customer experience is already smooth enough to bring in repeat customers, delighting those superfans with rewards is a strong strategy.
If you already use Gorgias, you can integrate loyalty platforms like LoyaltyLion to make the customer experience even more seamless. For example, esmi Skin Minerals uses Gorgias and its integration with Loyalty Lion to bring loyalty data into Gorgias and provide even more personalized, automated service to shoppers. Thanks to this powerful integration, esmi achieved a 58% boost in brand loyalty program enrollment and a 2X increase in average loyalty program member spend.
5) Celebrate customer milestones for loyal customers
Even if you don’t have an official loyalty program, you can celebrate your VIP customers at key milestones like birthdays or the anniversary of their first purchase. On top of sharing some warm and fuzzies (and maybe free product), one benefit of this kind of celebration is to potentially get a shoutout from customers on social media for your surprise.
Check out our CX Growth Playbook to learn how to implement this tip with Zapier, plus read about 18 other tactics to drive growth through customer experience.
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6) Optimize proactive customer service across the customer journey
One way to delight customers is to move beyond purely reactive customer service, which requires customers to reach out to get help. With proactive customer service, a combination of directly reaching out to customers and creating self-service resources, you can help more potential customers, reduce cart abandonment, and improve your brand’s customer experience.
Proactive customer support could include self-service resources, like those described above. It also includes non-intrusive chat campaigns, which let you automatically reach out to customers who display certain behaviors to offer support. For example, you could reach out to customers who linger on a product page to ask if they have questions about the product or need a recommendation on sizing.
Here’s what Ohh Deer, an online retailer that sells delightful stationery, says about chat campaigns:
“With chat campaigns, the goal is to remove any customer equivocation and get the customer to the product they really want.”
– Alex Turner, Customer Experience Manager at Ohh Deer
Learn how Ohh Deer drives $12,500 each quarter through Gorgias chat.
Delight and retain your ecommerce customers with low-effort support
The key to great customer service isn’t some sparkly delight. It’s efficient, convenient, and helpful support that customers can access in a variety of ways.
With Gorgias, ecommerce brands can access the tools and integrations they need to automate time-consuming tasks, provide instant answers, and reduce the number of times customers have to write in and wait for your customer support team’s answer. Through our platform, your customer support team becomes more than just a team to answer customer questions — it becomes a revenue-generating machine.
Book a demo to see how Gorgias can help your ecommerce brand.
Announcement: New Features and Changes to Our Pricing and Plans
Today, we’re announcing pricing updates for our Pro, Advanced, and Enterprise customers, along with customers using our Automate product. We’re also introducing a voice & SMS add-on that will allow you to communicate with customers on even more channels, enabling brands to continue providing the best customer support for their loyal customers.
This follows our recent announcement of a $10 monthly starter plan (50 tickets), which makes our platform more accessible to all merchants.
Over the past few years, we’ve proudly shipped many new features to serve our mission: empowering all merchants to deliver an exceptional customer experience that drives revenue.
Now, with Gorgias, you can:
- Interact with customers on more channels, including DMs and comments on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook — plus voice, SMS, and native help centers
- Sell more products with chat improvements (including native Shopify product links) and revenue statistics
- Work more efficiently with ticket auto-assign, improved Shopify actions, and live statistics that keep your team on track
- Integrate with your favorite tools, including the most advanced Klaviyo integration on the market and 80+ other integrations since mid-2019
Here’s a snapshot of the new pricing, which will go into effect in the next few months and empower further innovation on our product:
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What is changing with our prices and plans
Here's an outline of everything that's changing:
Pricing increases for Pro, Advanced, and Enterprise plans:
Pricing is changing for Merchants on the Pro, Advanced, and Enterprise plans.
Updated pricing
- Pro: $360/month or $3,600/year
- Advanced: $900/month or $9,000/year
- Enterprise: Contact us
Billable ticket limit decreases
We’re also updating the billable ticket limit for Basic and Advanced plans to better reflect the number of tickets merchants of this size typically see each month:
Updated billable ticket limit:
- Basic: 300 tickets/month
- Advanced: 5,000 tickets/month
Doubling down on Automate
Automate includes several valuable features that allow you to automate up to 25% of total customer interactions. This means you’ll spend more time driving revenue through high-quality support and less time handling repetitive tickets, such as where is my order (WISMO) interactions.
Some of the features only available in Automate include:
We initially launched Automate with introductory pricing in late 2021. We had great feedback from early adopters, especially after improving features like updated Quick Response Flows and Self-Service Flows. Now that Automate is delivering on its promise, we're ending our introductory pricing for the add-on and the full price will be reflected for all add-on subscribers.
Here is the updated Automate pricing:
Updated pricing
- Basic: $30/month or $300/year
- Pro: $180/month or $1,800/year
- Advanced: $450/month or $4,500/year
- Enterprise: Contact us
Legacy Self-Service features added to Automate
Furthermore, some of our legacy customers currently have access to a smaller set of automation features, separate from Automate. We will discontinue support for those legacy automation features for monthly users by December 31st, 2022. For users on annual plans, we will honor their legacy features until their renewal date. We encourage all customers to explore Automate, which provides a superior automation experience.
Automate overages increasing
As part of this pricing update, overages for accounts with Automate will be increased to account for the cost increase for the account. This will help us avoid pricing anomalies and keep things fair for customers across the board.
New features for some of our earliest customers
Currently, some of our oldest customers are on plans that we no longer support. We will migrate customers to the plan that most closely matches their current billable ticket count. This migration will also grant access to a suite of new features that were unavailable on those legacy plans:
- Managing Instagram DMs in Gorgias
- Agent Statistics
- Customizable Help Center
- Any additional upcoming product releases
We’re introducing a $10 plan for merchants that are getting started
We’ve heard from merchants who just launched their stores that they need a way to chat with customers on their website and host help center articles that proactively answer common customer questions. So we introduced a $10 plan with up to 50 tickets, that includes most of the features available to other Gorgias users. We’re excited to serve more small businesses with this new plan.
When are these changes happening?
For our customers paying monthly, these changes will come into effect two billing cycles from today (September 21, 2022). Your plan and price will change by November or December 2022, depending on when you first signed up for Gorgias.
For our annual customers, we will update your plan and prices in 2023 on your billing renewal date. Any annual customers renewing before the end of 2022 will keep their existing prices and features for another year, until 2023.
Why are we updating pricing?
Our product has grown and evolved significantly in the past three years since we last updated pricing in mid-2019. In order to continue on this trajectory, we plan to heavily invest in our product to bring even more value to our ecommerce merchants, growing their businesses.
Here are the biggest recent areas of growth for Gorgias:
Interact with customers on more channels
As a merchant, you understand the importance of showing up where your customers are. We have made great strides in this arena to bring you to all of the places your customers are expecting you to be, all in your single Gorgias feed.
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Our social media channels have evolved to best-in-class status, allowing you to interact with customers in all of the different ways they might reach out. Whether you’re responding to comments on your ads to increase return on ad spend or handling angry customers that slide into your DMs, we have you covered on major social networks.
And when you want to help customers help themselves, we now have a robust help center to answer all of their top questions without human attention. You can even upgrade your help center with self-service features like order tracking.
Sell more products
Your customer experience should drive revenue — happy customers are the best fuel for growth.
This belief is at the center of Gorgias’ philosophy and guides our product development. As a result, the Gorgias platform has gotten much better at driving revenue for our customers, resulting in $1.1 billion in support-driven revenue in 2021 alone.
Want to learn more? Read our CX growth playbook to drive 44% more revenue through customer experience.
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Our chat improvements and native Shopify product links turn your agents into sales reps, and our revenue statistics show just how much impact your team has had.
And this is going to be one of our biggest areas of focus going forward, so expect lots of new features like refined chat campaigns, one-time discount codes, and advanced sales analytics.
We’re even building a full-featured Revenue Add-on to help you increase your revenue impact. More on that in our Series C announcement.
Work more efficiently
Gorgias is built around the unique needs of ecommerce merchants, and we’ve designed the tool to be the fastest platform for ecommerce customer service teams right out of the box.
Agent and team efficiency have been areas where our platform has seen some of the most improvement over the past few years.
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We have Macro suggestions and a Rule library, now, to get you started fast and make sure you’re never at a loss for words. And you can make all the necessary edits to a given Shopify order without leaving the Gorgias platform.
Plus, our advanced dashboards keep your whole team on track and show the impact of your process improvements in real time.
When you spend less time on repetitive tasks and tickets, you can spend more time with the tickets that matter to your business — the ones that actually require human attention.
Integrate your favorite tools
In 2019, we had just started to connect with your favorite ecommerce apps.
Now, Gorgias is your command hub for the entire customer experience, integrating data from all of your favorite apps to make it all more actionable. That’s a major way we help you make better decisions and provide a world-class experience for your customers.
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Our Klaviyo integration has been upgraded to enable even more advanced functionality, and we have also added 80 other integrations that upgrade your support process.
And we’re not done yet — with a host of new integrations coming soon, we’re going to keep bringing more insight to your first-party customer data — across all of the different platforms you use.
Questions? Reach out to our team
We understand you may have further questions about which changes will impact you. For further clarity, please check the emails associated with your account for a more detailed breakdown of the specific changes that apply to your account. You may also reach out to our support team or connect with your Customer Success Manager for additional details.
Our mission continues to be helping merchants deliver an exceptional customer experience. We believe this is how you’ll build long-lasting relationships with your customers to maximize retention and grow your business.
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