A strategic guide to using Gorgias rules to send CSAT survey only for first time buyers

You know this already, but not all customer feedback is the same. The thoughts you get from a first-time buyer are pure gold for figuring out your initial customer experience. But that feedback is worlds apart from what a ten-time repeat customer can tell you about what keeps them coming back.

The real trick is figuring out how to talk to these two groups separately so that your data remains clean and actionable.

Trying to send targeted surveys by hand is difficult once you have more than a few dozen customers. But if you just blast the same generic survey to everyone, you might end up with noisy data. How are you supposed to find clear, actionable insights in that?

Help desks like Gorgias provide excellent tools to segment your audience with rules. This guide will walk you through how to set up CSAT surveys for new buyers in Gorgias and show you how to enhance your strategy with an AI-driven way to handle customer feedback.

What are Gorgias CSAT surveys?

A Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) survey is a straightforward way to see how happy a customer is with a specific interaction. It usually comes down to one simple question, something like, “How would you rate the support you received?” It’s a quick and easy way to get a pulse check on your customer service quality.

In Gorgias, this feature is built right into the platform. You can set it up to automatically send a survey to a customer after their support ticket is closed. This gives you instant feedback on that particular conversation, which is a key advantage of using a mature help desk. The value comes from how you strategically target these surveys.

It's also useful to know that Gorgias offers tiered plans to match different team sizes and needs. Their plans are based on the number of "billable tickets" your team handles each month. A ticket becomes billable if it gets a response from a human agent, a rule, or an AI. This means your automated CSAT surveys are a structured part of your monthly support volume.

Gorgias Plan	Monthly Price (Billed Yearly)	Billable Tickets Included	AI Agent Interactions Included
Starter	N/A (Monthly Only)	50	0
Basic	$50/mo	300	60
Pro	$300/mo	2,000	600
Advanced	$750/mo	5,000	2,500
Enterprise	Custom	Custom	Custom

Data sourced from the official Gorgias pricing page.

Why you should survey first-time and repeat customers differently

Separating your feedback is a core part of a smart business strategy. First-time buyers and loyal customers are on different paths, and their feedback highlights different parts of your business.

The first-time buyer perspective

Feedback from a new customer is your best chance to see your business through fresh eyes. You get unfiltered opinions on things like:

• The first impression: Was your website easy to navigate? Did they find what they were looking for easily?

• The checkout process: Was the payment process smooth and professional?

• Meeting expectations: Did the actual product live up to what your marketing promised?

Nailing this is important. A report from Salesforce found that 89% of people are more likely to buy again after a good first experience. Feedback from this group shows you exactly where you can optimize to win customers over for the long term.

The loyal customer perspective

Your repeat customers have a totally different story. Their feedback is where you learn about the long game:

• What creates loyalty: What is the specific value that keeps them choosing you over others?

• Product performance over time: How does your product hold up after months or years of use?

• Your brand's direction: What do they think about new features or changes you're making?

These are the people who can tell you how to create true fans of your brand.

How to use Gorgias rules to send CSAT survey only for first time buyers

If you want to send a CSAT survey specifically to your first-time buyers, you can use the Gorgias Rules feature.

The main idea is to build an automation that fires when a support ticket is closed for a customer who has exactly one order. This setup works perfectly with your e-commerce integration (like Shopify) or BigCommerce, which syncs customer order data into Gorgias.

Here’s the logic your rule would use:

• The Trigger: The rule initiates when a "ticket is closed."

• The Condition: The rule checks if the customer's profile matches specific criteria. In this case, the condition is "Customer order count is 1."

• The Action: If that condition is met, the rule performs its action: "send satisfaction survey." If the customer has a different order count, the rule does not fire for that specific segment.

graph TD A[Start: Ticket is Closed] --> B{Check Condition: Customer Order Count = 1?}; B -- Yes --> C[Action: Send CSAT Survey]; B -- No --> D[Action: Do Nothing]; C --> E[End]; D --> E[End];

This logic is reliable for basic segmentation. You could use the same idea to target other groups, like sending a special thank-you message to VIPs with over 10 orders.

Key considerations when using Gorgias rules for first-time buyer surveys

While the logic is clear, there are a few things to keep in mind as you scale your feedback strategy.

Managing complexity as you grow A rule for first-time buyers is a great start. As you grow, you might want to add more conditions, such as surveying customers who bought specific items or waiting a few days after delivery. Gorgias allows for this, though it's helpful to organize your rules carefully to keep your system running smoothly.

Adding deeper contextual layers Gorgias rules are excellent for handling explicit data points like order counts. To add even more nuance, such as understanding the sentiment of a conversation, you can complement your setup with AI tools. While a rule checks if an order count is "1," an AI can help identify if a customer was particularly happy or had specific setup questions, adding more depth to your feedback.

Scaling your support operations As your business grows, your team might manage more complex scenarios. It's a good practice to periodically review your rules to ensure they are still meeting your needs as your team and customer base expand.

Integrating wider knowledge sources Gorgias rules primarily use data within the help desk. To include information from external sources - like a Google Doc (https://www.eesel.ai/integration/google-docs) with shipping policies or a Confluence (https://www.eesel.ai/integration/confluence) page - you can look at complementary integrations like eesel AI, which can connect to over 100 knowledge sources.

Refining your automation strategy When you build a new rule, it's a good idea to monitor its initial performance. This ensures you are reaching the right customers and collecting the high-quality feedback you need to drive your business forward.

Enhancing your setup with AI: A complementary approach

Instead of relying solely on rules, a modern approach is to use a dedicated AI platform that works alongside your Gorgias help desk. This allows you to move from static instructions to dynamic intelligence within the Gorgias ecosystem.

Modern AI can read and understand the context of each ticket to help you make even smarter decisions. For example, an AI can see a first-time buyer asking about product setup and proactively suggest feedback on your onboarding guides.

This is where a tool like eesel AI works as a great option to complement Gorgias:

• Quick setup. You can connect your Gorgias help desk easily. eesel AI learns from your existing data to support your team almost immediately.

• Maintain complete control. You have selective automation, meaning you decide exactly which types of tickets the AI helps with. You can have it focus on collecting feedback for specific segments while your human team handles other conversations with full confidence.

• Safe testing. eesel AI features a simulation mode that lets you test your setup on past tickets. You can see how the AI would have responded and refine its behavior before it ever interacts with a customer.

• Predictable pricing. eesel AI offers transparent pricing based on the capacity you need, helping you manage your support budget effectively as you grow.

Moving from rules to intelligent insights

Targeted feedback from your first-time buyers is one of the best ways to improve your customer journey. It shows you exactly where you can refine your process to build loyalty right from the start.

Gorgias provides a strong, reliable foundation for segmenting your feedback with its rules engine. As you scale, you can enhance this further by integrating complementary AI tools that provide even more contextual awareness.

AI is a powerful tool for your support team. It handles complex logic and repetitive tasks, freeing up your agents to focus on the high-value, human conversations that build real, lasting customer relationships.

If you are looking to get deeper insights from your customers, consider how a flexible solution like eesel AI can plug into your Gorgias help desk to provide the benefits of intelligent automation.