I’m a fellow store owner and I’m honestly losing my mind with customer support emails. I’m getting 50-60 emails a day and probably 80% of them are the same questions over and over – “where’s my package?”, password resets, return policy, etc.
I looked into Gorgias and Zendesk but they’re like $200+/month and honestly feel like overkill for my size. I also tried one of those free chatbots but my customers HATED it. They’d rather wait for me than deal with a robot.
So I’m thinking about building something different: an AI assistant that reads incoming support emails, categorizes them, and drafts responses for me to review and approve before they go out. Not a chatbot that auto-replies, but something that does the grunt work and lets me stay in control.
Would connect to Gmail/Shopify, pull order info automatically, and let me quickly review/edit/send the drafts. Trying to keep it under $50-100/month.
Curious – would something like this actually be useful? Or am I just creating a different problem (now I have to review 50 AI drafts instead of writing 50 emails)?
I feel like every automation that helps humans save time and money is great, but keep in mind sustainability and simplicity works better! Your idea is great.
Thanks, David! Totally agree - I am really trying to strike that balance between automation and simplicity. I don’t want to end up with something bloated or confusing to maintain.
The goal would be to save time without losing the personal touch that customers actually appreciate.
If you’re getting emails asking where their orders are, I think it says a lot about your business strategy. Perhaps you should look into ways to improve, and get the orders out quicker, rather than ai nonsense that literally does nothing to provide relief to the customer.
That is fair - and totally get where you are coming from.
I am definitely working on improving fulfillment and communication speed. The idea here is not to avid that, but to make support less repetitive while I fix those underlying issues.
Even when shipping is smooth, there are still tons of routine questions that could be handled faster with some assistance.
Honestly, this sounds like a really smart middle-ground idea, especially for small to mid-sized Shopify stores.
The key is how accurate and context-aware your AI assistant is. If it can reliably identify the type of query (“Where’s my order?” > fetch tracking from Shopify) and generate a solid draft that only needs a quick glance before sending, you’d save hours without losing the human touch. You’re also smart to avoid full automation, most customers still prefer a real person confirming responses.
If you can make it simple to connect with Gmail and Shopify, reliable enough to avoid sending wrong info, and keep the price under $100/month, this could absolutely fill a gap between basic chatbots and pricey CRMs, and I think a lot of merchants would jump on it.
You’re not alone. Once support hits that 50-email mark, it feels like you spend all day typing the same three responses. An AI “draft then approve” tool could help, but yeah… you’ll still be reviewing everything. It saves some time but it won’t magically clear the inbox.
The part that actually moves the needle is reducing the WISMO emails in the first place. Most stores see a massive drop just by giving customers a clean place to check their order status without emailing you.
That’s where something we could help, with ParcelPanel Order Tracking, a branded tracking page, automatic updates, and fewer people writing “hey, just checking on my order?” because they can see it themselves. It won’t replace you but it does cut out a big chunk of repetitive emails so whatever AI tool you build actually becomes manageable.
Hope this helps a bit! If it does, feel free to mark it as a solution so others can find it too
An AI draft tool could help if you’re already getting a lot of “Where is my order?” emails. It can save time on replies, especially if the questions are repetitive.
But I’d also look at why customers are emailing in the first place.
In many cases, they are not asking because they love contacting support. They ask because the tracking page is hard to find, the carrier update is unclear, or there is no easy self-serve place to check the order.
So I’d treat this in two layers:
Use AI to reply faster if needed.
Improve tracking visibility so fewer customers need to email.
BestTrack focuses on the second part. It gives customers a branded tracking page, automatic tracking emails, and tracking updates across 3,100+ carriers. The goal is not to replace support, but to reduce the number of WISMO emails before they hit the inbox.
