A complete guide to the Gorgias WhatsApp integration in 2025

With over two billion people using it, WhatsApp is more than just a place for group chats and memes; it’s where your customers are. If your ecommerce brand isn't there, you’re leaving money on the table. That’s exactly why helpdesks like Gorgias have built a native Gorgias WhatsApp integration.

But just flipping the switch on a new channel isn't the whole story. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about the Gorgias WhatsApp integration: what it actually does, how to get it running, its best features, and, more importantly, where it starts to creak under pressure for growing teams. We’ll also talk about how adding a layer of AI on top can give you the automation you need to scale without just hiring more people.

What is the Gorgias WhatsApp integration?

Gorgias is a customer service platform built specifically for ecommerce brands, with tight connections to Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magento. The Gorgias WhatsApp integration simply lets your support team see and reply to customer messages from WhatsApp right inside their Gorgias dashboard.

Instead of your team passing a dedicated "WhatsApp phone" around the office, messages just pop up as tickets in Gorgias, right next to your emails, Instagram DMs, and live chats.

A screenshot of the Gorgias dashboard, showing how the Gorgias WhatsApp integration centralizes customer communication.

So, what does that actually mean for your team?

• One unified inbox: All customer conversations, no matter where they start, land in the same place. This gives your agents a single queue to work from, which makes life a lot simpler.

• Customer context at a glance: The integration tries to match a customer’s WhatsApp number with their profile in your store. This means your agents can see order history and shipping details right next to the chat, saving them from having to dig around in another tab.

• Basic workflow tools: You can use standard Gorgias features like Macros (canned responses) and Rules (simple automations) on WhatsApp tickets. These can help your team answer common questions a little faster.

Setting up the native Gorgias WhatsApp integration

Getting the integration working is pretty straightforward and doesn’t require a developer. It essentially connects your Gorgias account to the official WhatsApp Business Platform, which is all managed through Meta (Facebook).

You’ll mainly need to:

1. Connect your Meta Business Account.

2. Create a new WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) or pick an existing one.

3. Choose and verify a phone number you’ll use just for this integration.

Here’s a key thing to remember: the phone number you use for the Gorgias integration can't be used with the regular WhatsApp app or the standalone WhatsApp Business app at the same time. You have to dedicate a number to it. This process gets your business officially registered on the WhatsApp platform, which helps customers trust that they’re talking to the real you.

For a detailed walkthrough, your best bet is to follow the official Gorgias documentation.

Key features and limitations of the native integration

The Gorgias WhatsApp integration is a solid starting point, but you’ll probably hit a ceiling as your business grows. Let's look at what it does well and where it starts to fall behind.

What it does well: Centralized communication

The biggest win here is bringing everything into one place. By pulling WhatsApp into the same feed as your other support channels, you get a complete picture of your customer interactions. Agents can see if a customer last reached out via email, Instagram, or now WhatsApp, all in one thread.

Combine that with the customer data pulled from Shopify, and you can offer much better, more personal support. When an agent can see a customer's last five orders while chatting on WhatsApp, they can solve problems in seconds. The integration also supports pre-approved WhatsApp Message Templates, which let you send proactive notifications even after the 24-hour conversation window has closed.

The Gorgias Shopify integration allows agents to view customer order details directly within the dashboard for context-rich support on Gorgias WhatsApp.::A screenshot of the Gorgias Shopify integration, which provides customer context for Gorgias WhatsApp conversations.

Where it falls short: The challenges of scale

Putting all your conversations in one place is great. But actually reducing the number of conversations your team has to handle? That's a different problem, and it's where the native integration struggles.

• A high manual workload: The integration gives you another real-time channel to keep an eye on, but it doesn't do anything to lower the number of incoming tickets. As more customers find you on WhatsApp, the pressure on your team mounts. You're left with a tough choice: hire more agents, or let your response times slip.

• The 24-hour response window: WhatsApp requires businesses to reply to messages within 24 hours. If you miss that cutoff, you can only get back to them using a generic, pre-approved template. This is a huge headache, especially if you don't have 24/7 support. It creates a constant race against the clock for your team.

• Limited automation: Gorgias Rules and Macros are handy for simple things, like tagging a ticket or firing off a quick canned response. But they're based on simple "if-then" logic. They can't understand what a customer actually means, have a real conversation, or solve a problem that takes more than one step. They help agents work a little faster, but they don't replace the manual work.

• The support vs. marketing disconnect: Many brands realize they need one number for customer support and another for marketing campaigns. Trying to use the same number for both gets messy fast, but using two different numbers can confuse customers.

Supercharging your WhatsApp support with an AI agent

The limits of the native integration all point to the same thing: you need a real AI agent that can work inside your Gorgias setup. Instead of just funneling tickets to your team, an AI agent can handle and resolve a huge number of them on its own, freeing up your team for the conversations that actually need a human touch.

How an AI agent transforms your WhatsApp channel

Adding an AI agent isn't about replacing your team; it's about making them way more effective.

• From manual to autonomous: An AI agent doesn't just collect tickets, it resolves them. It can instantly answer questions like "Where is my order?" by checking shipping info, process a return by generating a shipping label, or answer product questions by pulling info from your knowledge base.

• Solving the 24-hour window problem: An AI agent works 24/7. It gives an instant, helpful reply the second a customer messages you. This means you never miss the 24-hour window, and your customers aren't left wondering if you got their message.

• Going beyond simple rules: A modern AI agent, like the one from eesel AI, uses natural language processing to understand what a customer is really asking, no matter how they phrase it. It learns from your past Gorgias tickets and help articles to give accurate, on-brand answers that feel human.

• Unifying knowledge, not just channels: This is the real difference. While Gorgias puts all your support channels in one place, eesel AI connects all your company's knowledge. It plugs into your helpdesk, sure, but it also connects to your other resources, like Confluence, Google Docs, and your Shopify product catalog. This gives it a full picture of your business, so it can answer a much wider range of questions right away on WhatsApp.

Gorgias WhatsApp vs. Gorgias WhatsApp with eesel AI

The difference is pretty clear when you put them side-by-side.

Feature	Native Gorgias Integration	With eesel AI
Resolution Type	Manual (Agent-led)	Autonomous (AI-led for common issues)
Availability	Depends on your team's hours	24/7, instant responses
Scalability	Low (More tickets = more agents)	High (Handles thousands of chats)
Knowledge Sources	Gorgias data & Shopify	All helpdesk data + external sources
Setup Time	Minutes to connect the channel	Minutes to connect AI to Gorgias

Understanding WhatsApp pricing in Gorgias

It’s important to know how a high-volume channel like WhatsApp might affect your bill. Gorgias’s pricing model isn't based on how many agents you have, but on the number of "billable tickets" your team deals with each month.

A "billable ticket" is any conversation that gets a reply from a human agent, a Rule, or their own native AI. That means every single WhatsApp chat your team responds to counts toward your monthly limit. As your brand grows and WhatsApp gets more popular, these costs can sneak up on you.

Gorgias also sells its own "AI Agent" as an add-on, but it charges you for each automated interaction (around $0.90 per resolution on their Pro plan). This pay-per-resolution model can lead to some surprisingly high bills, especially during busy times like Black Friday. Your support costs end up scaling right alongside your sales, which is never a great feeling.

Why eesel AI is the smarter choice for scaling your WhatsApp support

When you're ready to do more than just manage another channel and want to truly automate your WhatsApp support, a dedicated AI platform gives you a more powerful and predictable way forward.

• Get started in minutes, not months: Connecting eesel AI to your Gorgias account is a simple, one-click setup. You can do it all yourself without having to schedule a demo or talk to a salesperson.

• Test before you go live: Before you let the AI talk to a single customer, you can use eesel AI's simulation mode. It runs the AI on thousands of your old Gorgias tickets and shows you exactly how it would have replied. This gives you a clear forecast of your resolution rate and what your return on investment will look like. You can deploy it feeling confident, with no risk.

• Clear and predictable pricing: eesel AI helps you get away from the unpredictable pay-per-resolution model. Our plans are based on a set number of AI interactions per month, giving you a fixed cost you can actually budget for. You aren't penalized for having a busy month; you're rewarded for it.

Final thoughts

The native Gorgias WhatsApp integration is a great first step. It does a good job of bringing a super important customer channel into the helpdesk you're already using, making your team's workflow a bit more sane.

But to really scale your support, handle the pressure of that 24-hour response window, and keep your costs in check, just centralizing the channel isn't enough. Adding a dedicated AI agent on top of your integration is the best way to turn WhatsApp from another manual task into an efficient, automated machine that actually helps you grow.

Ready to see what a true AI agent can do for your Gorgias setup? Start a free trial with eesel AI and check out our simulation features today.