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Guide

Shopify customer service that answers orders, returns and product questions from live store data.
Shopify customer service automation works when the agent can see what the shopper is asking about: the product, the cart, the order. This guide covers the questions a store gets, how an AI agent answers them from live data, what to keep for a person, and how to set it up with Centillion.

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What shoppers ask a store

Store support is narrow and repetitive, which is why it suits an agent. Most messages fall into a handful of groups:
  • Before buying. Does this come in another size, is it in stock, what is the difference between two products, how long does shipping take.
  • The cart. Add this, remove that, change the quantity, where do I pay.
  • After buying. Where is my order, what is the tracking number, has it shipped.
  • Returns and exchanges. Can I send it back, can I get a different size, when do I get my money.
  • The account. Change my email or phone, update my address, I cannot log in.
The first group is about your catalogue and policies. The other groups are about one shopper’s data, and that is where most support bots stop: they can link the returns policy page but cannot tell the shopper whether their own order qualifies.

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How an agent answers from live data

An agent becomes useful in a store when it has two kinds of input. The first is knowledge: your shipping policy, your returns policy, your size guides. The second is tools that read and change store data through the store’s API. An order question then runs like this. The shopper asks where their order is. The agent asks for what it needs to find the order, looks it up, and replies with the status and tracking it found. A return follows the same pattern with more checks: was the item delivered, is it inside the return window, how many units can still go back. When everything checks out, the agent asks the shopper to confirm and processes the return. The same applies before buying. Product search with live prices and stock avoids the classic failure where a bot recommends something that sold out last week.

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What to watch for

Identity before order data. An order number on its own is not proof that the person asking placed the order. Require a second detail that only the buyer has, such as the checkout email or phone, or a signed-in customer account, before showing anything about an order. Confirmation before changes. Any change to an order, a return, an address or a profile should wait for an explicit yes from the shopper. This is where a misread message turns into a real cost. Your return policy, written down. An agent applies the rules you give it. If your return window, your exchange rules and your exceptions live only in someone’s head, write them down first. Decide which cases the agent may settle and which go to a person. Uncertain results. Store APIs sometimes accept a change without confirming it in time. A retry in that state can create a duplicate. Check the order before trying again. Exceptions stay with people. A damaged parcel, a gift that went to the wrong address, a customer who wants an exception to your policy. Hand these to your team with the conversation attached, so a person takes over from the helpdesk inbox without asking the shopper to start again. Questions you can prevent. Many “where is my order” messages come from shoppers who never got a clear shipping update. Shipping notifications from your store cut those at the source; the agent then handles the shoppers who still have a question.

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Set it up with Centillion

Centillion connects one Shopify store to one agent. The agent answers in a chat bubble on your storefront, searches products, updates the shopper’s cart, shows order status and tracking, and processes eligible returns. The full reference is the Shopify page. You need a workspace administrator, a plan with integrations (Hobby and up), the store’s original myshopify.com domain and permission to edit the theme. Exchanges for a new order also need Helpdesk, which comes with Standard and up.
1

Open Shopify setup

Open the agent’s Channels → Install → Shopify. The same Install menu is available in Playground → Chat bubble, and the Shopify card on Channels also opens setup.
Install menu on Channels with the Shopify entry reading Add the chat bubble to your Shopify storefront

Channels, Install: the Shopify entry adds the chat bubble to your storefront.

2

Connect the store

Enter the store’s original myshopify.com domain, choose Connect Shopify, authorise the Centillion Labs app, and return to the dashboard. Turn on Shopify enabled.
3

Enable the app embed

Choose Open theme editor, enable Centillion chat in App embeds and save the theme. There is no theme code to edit.
4

Enable the tools you want

Open Tools → Add tool → New tool → Integration, select Shopify, and enable the tools one by one: product search, cart, orders, returns and exchanges, profile and address. For each, say when the agent should use it and on which channels. Each enabled tool counts toward your plan’s limit per agent: five on Hobby, eight on Standard and twelve on Pro.
5

Give it your policies

Add your shipping and returns pages under Knowledge base → Data sources. Use the store’s sitemap to avoid importing duplicate navigation and collection pages.
6

Test on the live storefront

Ask about a product, add it to the cart from the chat, and check the store’s cart page. Sign in to a customer account to test profile, address and order-tag changes; the Playground does not have that store session.
What the agent does once it is live:
  • Order status. A guest gives the exact order number and the checkout email or phone. A signed-in customer sees their own recent orders, inside Shopify’s standard recent-order window of 60 days.
  • Returns. The same-order return checks delivered items and the return window you configure, then processes an eligible return against the original payment.
  • Exchanges for a new order. These open a Helpdesk request, and an administrator approves or rejects each one under Channels, Shopify.
  • Confirmation. The agent asks the shopper to confirm before any order, return, exchange, profile or address change.
  • Uncertain results. An uncertain result means Shopify may have accepted the change. Check the record and the actual order or cart before retrying, to avoid a duplicate.

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Questions

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Can the agent tell a guest where their order is?

Yes, when the guest gives the exact order number and the checkout email or phone. Signed-in customers can see their own recent orders without that step.

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Can the agent issue refunds?

The same-order return tool checks delivery, the return window and the returnable quantities, then processes an eligible return against the original payment. Exchanges for a new order wait for an administrator’s approval.

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Does the agent know my products?

Product search reads your published products with live prices and availability, and shows product cards with variant choices. Search is text only; image search is not available.

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Do I need to edit my theme code?

No. You enable Centillion chat in the theme editor’s App embeds and save the theme.

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Can I answer Shopify questions on WhatsApp or email too?

The same agent answers on your other channels with the same knowledge. On WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, SMS, email and Slack, procedures that use Shopify tools are skipped, so test what you need on each channel.

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Try it

Connect your store, enable the app embed and two or three tools, and ask the chat about a recent test order. Then try a return on an order that is outside your window and check that the agent declines it.

Start free

Connecting Shopify needs Hobby or above. Take a seven-day trial of a paid plan to try it on your store.

Book a demo

Fifteen minutes with the team, on your own use case.
Or ask the assistant on this page.

Shopify

Connect the store, enable the app embed, and every Shopify tool.

Chatbot vs AI agent

Why an agent that acts needs written rules and a way out.

Custom tools

Connect your own systems, such as a returns portal or a carrier API.
Last modified on October 22, 2026