AI Shop Assistant

The AI Shop Assistant is a customer-facing chatbot that acts as a virtual sales representative for your WooCommerce store. By analyzing your product catalog, it can provide accurate information, suggest relevant items, and help customers through the buying process 24/7.

Accessing Chatbot Settings

To configure your chatbot, navigate to: AI Product Tools > AI Shop Assistant

The settings are organized into six specialized tabs to give you full control over the bot's identity, behavior, and appearance.

1. General Tab

This tab controls the basic identity and functionality of your bot.

• Enable Chatbot: Toggle the widget on or off. A status indicator shows if the bot is currently active.
• Bot Identity: Set the bot's name (e.g., "ShopBuddy") and a welcoming greeting message.
• Store Context: Provide high-level information about your store (e.g., "We are a boutique coffee roaster specializing in organic beans") to help the AI understand its role and tone.
• Pre-chat Form: Enable this to collect the customer's name and email address before the conversation begins. This is great for lead generation.
• Escalation: Add a WhatsApp number where customers can reach a human if the AI cannot answer their question.
• Index Profile: Select which Store Index profile the bot should use for product data.

2. Behavior Tab

Control how the AI interacts with your customers and makes recommendations.

• AI Provider: Select the model that will power the chat conversations. We recommend GPT-4o or Claude 3.5 Sonnet for the best conversational experience.
• Recommendation Limits: Set the maximum number of products the bot can recommend in a single response.
• Action Buttons: Choose whether to show "View Product" and "Add to Cart" buttons on product cards.
• Response Style:
  • Concise: Short, direct answers. Best for quick information.
  • Balanced: A mix of helpful information and conversational tone.
  • Detailed: More descriptive and engaging responses.
• Recommendation Mode:
  • Auto: The AI decides when to recommend products based on the conversation.
  • Always: The AI tries to include a recommendation in every response.
  • Never: The AI only answers questions without suggesting products.

3. Appearance Tab

Customize the look and feel of the chat widget to match your brand perfectly.

• Theme Presets: Choose from Light, Dark, or Brand Match.
• Color Scheme: A comprehensive editor for:
  • Primary and Secondary colors
  • Background and Text colors
  • Chat bubbles (User vs. Bot)
  • Header and Footer colors
  • Button colors and hover states
• Typography: Select the font family and border radius for the widget.
• Custom CSS (Pro): Add your own CSS rules for advanced styling.
• Visuals: Upload a profile picture for the bot and a hero image (Pro) for the chat header.
• Launcher: Customize the floating button icon and add an attention bubble with a custom message (e.g., "Need help?") to encourage clicks.

4. Placement Tab

Decide where and how the chatbot appears on your site.

• Position: Choose bottom-right or bottom-left, or set a custom pixel offset from the edges of the screen.
• Visibility:
  • All Pages: Show the widget everywhere.
  • Specific Pages: Only show on selected pages (e.g., Shop, Product pages, Home).
  • Exclude Pages: Hide the widget on specific pages (e.g., Checkout, My Account, Cart).
• Device Targeting: Choose to show the widget on Desktop, Mobile, or both. You can also set different offsets for mobile devices.

5. Language Tab

Manage how the bot handles different languages and UI text.

• Auto-detect: The bot will attempt to respond in the same language the customer uses.
• Fallback Language: The default language used if detection fails.
• Custom Labels: Translate or customize every piece of text in the UI:
  • "Chat with us" header
  • "Type a message..." placeholder
  • "Powered by" link
  • "Add to cart" button text
  • "View product" button text

6. Message Queue Tab

When the AI is unable to respond or if you have manual intervention enabled, messages appear here.

• Queue Interface: View and respond to customer messages manually. This allows you to step in when a customer has a complex request.
• Stats: A badge on the tab shows the number of pending messages in the queue.

Customer Experience

When a customer visits your store, they will see a floating launcher button. Clicking it opens the chat interface:

1. Greeting: The bot introduces itself with your custom message.
2. Interaction: The customer asks a question (e.g., "Do you have any waterproof hiking boots?").
3. AI Response: The bot analyzes the Store Index and responds with helpful text and Product Cards.
4. Product Cards: These include the product image, name, price, and buttons to view the product or add it directly to the cart.
5. Persistence: The conversation history is saved for the duration of the customer's session, so they don't lose their place if they navigate to another page.

Best Practices for Bot Personality

Giving your AI Shop Assistant a clear personality can make the shopping experience much more enjoyable for your customers. Here are some tips:

• Be Helpful, Not Pushy: The bot should act as a guide, not a high-pressure salesperson. Use phrases like "I'd be happy to help you find..." instead of "You must buy this."
• Match Your Brand Voice: If you sell luxury watches, the bot should be formal and sophisticated. If you sell skateboards, it can be more casual and use slang.
• Acknowledge Limitations: If the bot doesn't know an answer, it's better to say "I'm not sure about that, but I can put you in touch with our support team" rather than making something up.
• Use Emojis Sparingly: While emojis can add personality, too many can look unprofessional. Use them to highlight key points or add a friendly touch to greetings.

Troubleshooting

Chatbot is not appearing

1. Ensure the "Enable Chatbot" toggle is ON in the General tab.
2. Check the Placement tab to ensure the current page is not excluded.
3. Clear your site and browser cache.
4. Check for JavaScript errors in your browser's console.

Bot says "I don't know"

1. Ensure your Store Index is built and up-to-date.
2. Check if the product the customer is asking about is included in the index profile.
3. Provide more "Store Context" in the General tab to help the AI understand your business.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the chatbot use my credits?

Yes. Each message sent by the AI uses a small amount of credits. You can monitor your usage in the Credits dashboard.

Can I see what customers are asking?

Yes. You can view recent conversations in the Message Queue tab or through the integrated logging system.

Is the chatbot GDPR compliant?

Yes. We do not store personally identifiable information (PII) unless you enable the pre-chat form, and even then, the data is stored securely on your own server.

Pro vs Free Comparison

Real-World Use Cases

The 24/7 Sales Rep

A customer visits your store at 3:00 AM and asks, "Do you have any vegan-friendly hiking boots under $150?" The AI Shop Assistant instantly filters your catalog, presents three relevant options with images and prices, and provides a direct "Add to Cart" button.

Reducing "Where is my order?" Tickets

By providing the AI with context about your shipping and return policies in the "Store Context" field, it can answer common policy questions, freeing up your support team for more complex issues.

Personalized Gift Finder

Customers can use the chat to find gifts: "I'm looking for a birthday gift for a 10-year-old who likes space." The AI will search your tags and descriptions to find the perfect match.

Pro Tips for a Better Chatbot

• Refine Your Store Context: The more specific you are in the General tab, the better the bot performs. Include details about your shipping times, return window, and unique selling points (e.g., "We offer free shipping on orders over $50").
• Monitor the Message Queue: Regularly check the Message Queue tab to see where the AI struggled. Use these insights to update your product descriptions or Store Context.
• Use Attention Bubbles: A small bubble saying "Ask me anything!" can increase chat engagement by up to 40%.
• Test on Mobile: Ensure your custom offsets in the Placement tab don't interfere with important mobile UI elements like the "Back to Top" button or your theme's mobile menu.

Technical Details

The AI Shop Assistant uses a "RAG" (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) architecture. This means it doesn't just "guess" answers; it actively searches your Store Index for facts before responding. This significantly reduces "hallucinations" and ensures the bot only recommends products you actually have in stock.

The frontend widget is built using Preact, a lightweight alternative to React. This ensures the chat widget is incredibly fast (under 30KB) and doesn't slow down your site's PageSpeed score. It uses a secure WebSocket or REST API connection to communicate with your server.

All conversations are encrypted and stored in the aipt_chatbot_messages table. The system is designed to be "stateless" on the server side, using session IDs to maintain conversation flow, which makes it highly scalable for high-traffic stores.

Glossary of Terms

• Chatbot: A computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, especially over the internet.
• RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation): A technique that gives the AI access to your specific product data so it can provide factual answers.
• Hallucination: When an AI provides an answer that sounds confident but is factually incorrect. Our RAG system is designed to minimize this.
• Pre-chat Form: A small form that appears before the chat starts to collect user information like name and email.
• Escalation: The process of moving a conversation from the AI to a human operator (e.g., via WhatsApp).
• Session Persistence: The ability of the chatbot to remember the conversation even if the user refreshes the page or navigates to a different part of the store.

Conclusion

The AI Shop Assistant is more than just a chatbot; it's a powerful sales and support tool that works around the clock to help your customers. By providing instant, accurate information and personalized product recommendations, it creates a shopping experience that is both engaging and efficient.

With its deep integration into your WooCommerce catalog and its highly customizable appearance, the AI Shop Assistant becomes a seamless part of your brand, helping you build trust with your customers and increase your store's conversion rate.

Need Help?

If you encounter any issues while using the AI Shop Assistant or have questions about the best settings for your store, our support team is here to help.

• Documentation: Visit our Help Center for more guides.
• Support Ticket: Open a ticket through the Support page in the plugin.
• Community: Join our community forum to share tips and tricks with other store owners.

Related Guides

• Store Indexing Guide: Learn how to prepare your catalog for the chatbot.
• Prompt Settings: Master the art of writing prompts for better chatbot results.
• Credits and Plans: Understand how credits are used for chatbot messages.
• Troubleshooting: Solve common connection and key issues.

What's Next?

• Build your Store Index
• Set up Automation Jobs
• Configure your AI Providers
• Learn about the Credit System