How Do I Run Customer Service Across My Online Store and Marketplaces?
Use one set of product details and policies for every place you sell, and one inbox for every conversation. AeroChat answers buyers in Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop buyer chat, and customers on your own store’s channels: WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, web chat and email. On your own store it also looks up orders and takes payment in chat. Every conversation lands in the same AeroChat inbox.
Why it gets hard
A seller with a Shopify store and two marketplaces has at least three chat windows, often more. The marketplace chats are in each Seller Center. The store’s messages come in on WhatsApp, Instagram and email. Sellers describe switching tabs all day, answering the same product question three ways, and missing the one message that needed them. During sale days the marketplace chats spike all at once.
The two sides also work differently. On a marketplace, the order, payment and shipping belong to the marketplace. On your own store, you can do much more in the chat, such as checking an order or taking a payment.
The usual fixes and their limits
- Answer in each Seller Center. It works with no extra tools. It means one more screen per marketplace and saved replies kept up in each one.
- A marketplace chat tool. Some tools bring marketplace chats together. Check whether they also cover your own store’s channels, or you are back to two inboxes.
- Split the work by channel. One person for marketplaces, one for the store. It works until one of them is off, and the answers drift apart.
How to handle it with AeroChat
Train AeroChat once on your products and policies. Connect your store and each marketplace. Then write one workflow with a line for each side: on marketplaces, answer and hand problems to the team. On your own channels, also check orders and sell in chat.
Buyer (Shopee chat): Is this serum safe for sensitive skin? (example)
AeroChat: Hi! The Calm serum is fragrance-free and made for sensitive skin, according to our product details. If you have a known allergy, check the full ingredient list on the listing before you order.
Customer (WhatsApp): Same question, and can I buy two here? (example)
AeroChat: Yes, it is fragrance-free and made for sensitive skin. Two bottles come to US$58 (example). Here is your payment link, and I’ll confirm your order here once it’s paid.
Behind the replies: one product sheet answered both. The Shopee buyer orders in Shopee. The WhatsApp customer paid by link and the order was created in the store.
Copy this into AeroChat
Answer every customer from our product details and policies, with the same wording on every channel.
- Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop buyer chat: answer product, size, delivery and return questions. Orders and payment stay in the marketplace, so never send outside links or payment links there. Hand damaged parcels and disputes to our team.
- WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, web chat and email: also check order status in our store after the customer confirms the order number and email or phone, and send a payment link when they want to buy.
- If a question is not covered by our details, say our team will confirm and hand the conversation over with a summary.
Reply in the customer’s language.
What to connect
- Your store. Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix are built in.
- Your marketplaces. Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop buyer chat.
- Your own channels. WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, email and web chat.
- Stock, if it lives elsewhere. A Google Sheet or an inventory system with a public API, so marketplace answers about stock are current.
Related: manage Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop chats in one place and inboxes for online sellers compared.
Questions
Can AeroChat look up a Shopee order?
Marketplace orders stay in the marketplace. In Shopee chat, AeroChat answers from your product details and policies, and points the buyer to their order page in the Shopee app for tracking.
Will my marketplace and store answers be the same?
Yes, because they come from the same product details and policies. You change a policy once and every channel uses it.
Can my team still reply themselves?
Yes. Every conversation is in the AeroChat inbox, and your team can take over any of them.
Does it help on sale days?
It answers each chat as it arrives, however many come in at once. See preparing customer service for 11.11.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
Put your store and your marketplaces in one inbox
Connect your store and one marketplace first, then send the same question to both.
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On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.