I’m Kayla, and I run a small Shopify store that sells home scents and bath stuff. Think candles, bath bombs, the whole cozy kit. I thought I needed a full-time phone person. I was wrong. Well, kind of. I needed help, but not a whole desk.
So I hired an ecommerce answering service. I used Smith.ai for phones and chat. I also tried AnswerConnect for a month before that. Here’s the real stuff they handled, what worked, and what made me sigh.
Why I Even Needed Help
Holiday rush hit. Black Friday, then a “buy one, gift one” promo. The phone kept ringing. Chat popped all day. I packed boxes, printed labels, and missed calls. Each missed call felt like a lost cart. It stung.
Also, folks call for tiny things. “Where’s my order?” “Can you add a gift note?” “Will this candle scent bother my allergies?” It adds up. Ten calls a day sounds small—until you’re melting wax at 7 p.m.
What I Picked (And How Setup Went)
I went with Smith.ai for 24/7 phone and web chat. Pro tip: if you’re on Shopify, you can see exactly how Smith.ai integrates with Shopify. We built a script together. They connected to:
- Shopify (to see orders)
- Gorgias (my help desk)
- Google Calendar (for call-backs)
I tested AnswerConnect first. Good people. Fast answer times. But Smith.ai’s Shopify tie-in felt smoother for my store. One click, boom—order details right there. That saved time. For readers using a non-Shopify setup, CandyPress is a nimble cart that still hooks into most virtual receptionist tools out of the box.
(If you’re dabbling in fulfillment experiments beyond answering services, you might like my write-up on what really happened when I tried blind drop shipping. Spoiler: paperwork and patience matter more than hashtags.)
Onboarding took a week. We wrote greetings. We set “if-this-then-that” rules. Simple stuff like: if an order is late by 5 days, offer upgraded shipping. If refund questions come in, use the 30-day policy. They got it. We even automated a few chat events through the Zapier Smith.ai Chat–Shopify integration so data flowed right into my CRM without extra clicks.
Real Calls They Took For Me
Here’s where it gets real. These aren’t fake examples. These happened.
- A mom called at 9:40 p.m. She needed a gift note added. The agent saw the order in Shopify, added the note, and flagged the warehouse. Gift saved. Mom cried happy. I did too, later.
- A shopper asked if our “Cotton & Cedar” candle had phthalates. The agent used our product sheet and said no. They explained the soy blend, like we wrote it. Sale closed. Two candles. Not huge, but still a win.
- USPS delay. A caller was on day 8. Agent checked tracking, saw it stuck at a hub, and offered a one-time ship upgrade for the next order. That was in our script. The caller calmed down. I slept better.
- Size swap for a gift set. The agent issued an RMA (return number) from Gorgias and emailed a label. No back-and-forth with me. I learned about it from the ticket notes the next morning.
- Fraud alert. Billing and shipping didn’t match. The agent froze the order and sent it to me. We canceled it. No chargeback. That felt big.
- Wholesale lead called during school pickup. The agent gathered SKU interest, target quantities, and timeline, then booked a call on my calendar. I called next day and closed them on a small starter pack.
Chat helped too. When someone typed, “Does it smell strong?”, the agent asked, “What room size?” and offered a smaller tin. It felt like real talk, not a script. Well, most times.
The Good Stuff
Here’s what I liked:
- Speed: Calls got picked up in three rings or less. Nights too. That alone cut stress.
- Shopify view: They could see orders, addresses, and notes. No guessing.
- Notes in Gorgias: Clean summaries. “Caller asked X, we did Y.” I could skim in two minutes.
- Spanish coverage: Not perfect, but plenty good for basic order questions. Helped my local customers.
- Simple upsell: “Would you like a wick trimmer?” Tiny add-on. It worked on a few calls. Cute, right?
And yes, sales went up. I can’t promise magic. But fewer missed calls helped. People like humans. Even at 11 p.m.
The Not-So-Great
It wasn’t all smooth. Some things bugged me:
- Cost: My plan ran about $650 per month, plus overage when Black Friday got wild. Worth it most days, but I watched minutes like a hawk.
- Script stiffness: The first week felt… robotic. Some agents read lines. We fixed it by adding short, plain answers. Less fluff, more help.
- Product names: They tripped on a few scents. “Bergamot” got weird. I made a cheat sheet with how to say stuff. That helped a lot.
- Refunds: They had to click through two tools (Shopify and Gorgias). Once or twice, it was slow, and the caller waited. Not a deal breaker, just clunky.
- Chat tone: A few chats sounded too formal. We edited the macros. More “Hey there,” less “Dear Customer.”
AnswerConnect? Pretty solid, too. Their follow-through on messages was clean. For me, Shopify steps took longer, so I stuck with Smith.ai. If you only need message-taking and call-backs, AnswerConnect would be fine.
One Weird Thing I Didn’t Expect
Cart saves. We set a rule: if a caller asked a size or scent question and left before ordering, agents could send a quick “Here’s a tip” email with a 5% code. It felt pushy at first. You know what? It helped. We saw a handful of same-day orders tied to those emails.
Who Should Use This
- Stores with 10 to 50 calls or chats a day.
- Average order around $30 or more. Lower than that, fees can sting.
- If your questions repeat: “Where’s my order?” “Does this fit?” “Do you ship to Canada?”
Sensitive-product example: If your catalog dips into risqué or adult-themed items, callers may feel awkward and need extra reassurance about discreet packaging and payment privacy. Reading the candid French walkthrough «Je montre mon minou» on PlanSexe—Je montre mon minou—shows how transparent language and empathetic tone can build trust, offering inspiration for the scripts you hand to your answering service. Another angle comes from the sugar-dating world—sites that connect benefactors with companions have to vet inquiries delicately and screen for safety. For instance, aspiring companions in Peru often read the guide at Sugar Baby Lima to understand how to present themselves professionally and protect their privacy; skimming it can give you ideas on the kind of reassuring, safety-first language your own receptionists should adopt when calls get personal.
If you sell very custom gear or have lots of medical rules, you’ll need tighter scripts and more training. It can still work, but give it time.
(And if your store’s hero product is a scented jar like mine, you might enjoy reading how I tried drop-ship candles and what I’d never do again.)
My Setup Tips (Learned The Hard Way)
- Write a glossary: names, scents, and how to say them.
- Make short macros: 2–3 sentences max. Plain language wins.
- Set guardrails: what they can refund, when to pause an order, who to ping.
- Do call spot checks: listen to three calls a week. Give notes. They’ll improve.
- Update weekly during busy season: shipping times change. Keep everyone on the same page—wait, scratch that—keep everyone synced.
The Verdict
Was it perfect? Nope. But it was good. Good enough that I kept it. I got my nights back. My kids got mom at dinner. Customers got answers when they needed them.
If you’re missing calls, try an ecommerce answering service. Start small. Track what they save you. Then tweak, tweak, tweak. That part never ends, but it gets easier.
And hey, if you ever need help naming scents so agents don’t panic at “bergamot,” I’ve got a list.