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AI chat answers for online shops with Shopify Inbox

Shopify Inbox's AI assistant answers shoppers' questions from your catalog and policies on your site. Free app; needs a Shopify plan, priced separately.

At a glance

  • What it costsFree

  • Worth, in extra profit or time saved in the worked example$60£45€54A$86C$85 a month

  • Pays for itselfFree to run

  • Sign up and configure; no technical skills neededEasy to set up

Figures come from the worked example below, using its stated assumptions. Tool prices checked . How we check prices

The problem

Shoppers ask the same things before they buy: sizes, delivery times, returns, whether something is in stock. If an online shop answers 60 questions a month at 5 minutes each, that's 300 minutes, 5 hours, and a shopper who waits for an answer often doesn't come back.

What the AI does

Shopify Inbox is a free Shopify app for chatting with shoppers. Its app listing describes an AI sales assistant that answers buyer questions and helps shoppers find products, learning from your catalog, policies and store content, with tone, style and rules you set; it can also run without the AI. Automated responses include greetings, FAQs, product recommendations, quick replies and order updates. Write clear delivery, returns and sizing pages first, because the assistant answers from what's in your store, then read its conversations every week.

A worked example

A home-fragrance shop in Leeds with two staff, already on Shopify Basic, gets about 60 chat and email questions a month and turns on Shopify Inbox with the AI assistant.

Before

60 questions answered by hand at 5 minutes: 300 minutes, 5 hours a month

After

About 30 answered by hand at 5 minutes (150 minutes) plus 10 minutes a week reviewing AI chats (43 minutes): 193 minutes, 3.2 hours a month

What it's worth

About 1.8 hours a month saved (107 minutes), worth around $60£45€54A$86C$85 if your time is worth $33£25€30A$48C$47 an hour. Shopify Inbox is free; the shop already pays for Shopify Basic ($33£25€30A$48C$47 a month, or $25£19€23A$36C$36 billed yearly). Sales from faster answers aren't counted.

How to set it up

  1. Rewrite your delivery, returns and sizing pages so they're clear and current.
  2. Install Shopify Inbox and set your business hours and welcome message.
  3. Turn on the AI assistant, set its tone and rules, such as never promising delivery dates or discounts.
  4. Ask it 20 real customer questions yourself and correct the pages behind any wrong answer.
  5. Read its conversations every week and take over any chat it struggles with.

What goes wrong

  • Reviews on the app listing say it can make mistakes; an AI answer about ingredients, safety or sizes must match your product pages exactly.
  • Don't let it promise refunds, delivery dates or discounts outside your written policies.
  • It answers from your store content, so out-of-date pages give out-of-date answers.
  • Chats contain customers' personal data; cover chat in your privacy notice.

More ideas for Online Shops

Return reasons sorted with Gemini in Sheets for online shops

Gemini's AI function in Google Sheets sorts free-text return reasons so you can see which product pages to fix. From about $16£12€14A$23C$23 a month.

  • Costs $16£12€14A$23C$23/mo
  • Worth $213£160€190A$307C$301/mo
  • Pays for itself in a few days
  • Easy to set up

Grok for online shops: catch complaints on X early

Ask Grok what people on X are posting about your shop right now, with links, and reply before a complaint spreads. Free.

  • Costs Free–$9Free–£7Free–€8Free–A$13Free–C$13/mo
  • Worth $184£138€164A$265C$259/mo
  • Pays for itself in a few days
  • Easy to set up

Abandoned checkout emails for online shops on Shopify

Shopify emails shoppers who leave at checkout with a link back to their cart. Included in Shopify Basic from about $25£19€23A$36C$36 a month.

  • Costs $25–33£19–25€23–30A$36–48C$36–47/mo
  • Worth $137£103€123A$198C$194/mo
  • Pays for itself in about a week
  • Easy to set up

Self-serve returns for online shops on Shopify

Shopify lets customers request a return from their order page against rules you set, ready for you to approve. From about $25£19€23A$36C$36 a month on Shopify Basic.

  • Costs $25–33£19–25€23–30A$36–48C$36–47/mo
  • Worth $110£83€99A$159C$156/mo
  • Pays for itself in about a week
  • Easy to set up

Product descriptions for online shops with Shopify Sidekick

Shopify's built-in Sidekick drafts product descriptions inside your admin for you to check. From about $25£19€23A$36C$36 a month on Shopify Basic.

  • Costs $25–33£19–25€23–30A$36–48C$36–47/mo
  • Worth $100£75€89A$144C$141/mo
  • Pays for itself in about two weeks
  • Easy to set up

Neutral review requests for online shops with Judge.me

Judge.me's free plan sends every customer a scheduled review request at a time you set. Free; Awesome at about $15£11€13A$21C$21 a month adds reminders.

  • Costs Free–$15Free–£11Free–€13Free–A$21Free–C$21/mo
  • Worth $64£48€57A$92C$90/mo
  • Pays for itself in about a week
  • Easy to set up

Customer email routing with Jev for online shops

Jev tags each customer email as a return, a delivery query, a damaged item or a pre-sale question, so each goes to the right reply. From about $20£15€18A$29C$28 a month.

  • Costs $20–29£15–22€18–26A$29–42C$28–41/mo
  • Worth $80£60€71A$115C$113/mo
  • Pays for itself in about two weeks
  • Technical setup

Low-stock alert emails for online shops with Shopify Flow

Shopify Flow emails you when a product's stock changes so you reorder in time. Flow is free; Shopify Basic is from about $25£19€23A$36C$36 a month.

  • Costs $25–33£19–25€23–30A$36–48C$36–47/mo
  • Worth $61£46€55A$88C$86/mo
  • Pays for itself in about two weeks
  • Some setup needed

Last updated October 17, 2026.