How to connect Zendesk to Shopify: A 2025 guide

If you run an ecommerce store, you’ve probably seen this movie before. A customer emails asking, "Where is my order?" and your support agent has to pause, open a new tab, log into Shopify, search for the customer's details, find the order, copy the tracking number, switch back to Zendesk, and finally paste it into a reply. All that for one simple question.

Connecting Zendesk and Shopify is a good way to start fixing this. But just linking them up doesn't solve the whole problem. Let's walk through the standard way to connect the two platforms, look at the limitations you'll probably run into, and then explore a smarter, AI-driven way to really get your support workflow humming.

What is the Zendesk Shopify integration?

The main way to link these two platforms is through the official "Shopify for Zendesk" app, which you can find on the Zendesk Marketplace. Think of it as a simple sidebar app that lives inside your Zendesk agent view. When an agent opens a ticket, the app pulls that customer's data from Shopify and displays it right there.

This includes helpful info like their order history, shipping status, and billing details. The whole idea is to cut down on the "swivel chair" effect, where agents are constantly bouncing between systems. By bringing customer context directly into the ticket, it saves them from having to manually look up every piece of information in Shopify. It’s a decent first step for bringing your most important tools a little closer together.

How do I connect Zendesk to Shopify: The standard method

Getting the basic connection up and running is pretty simple. This directly answers the question of how do I connect Zendesk to Shopify and gets the ball rolling for your support workflow. Here’s a quick look at the process.

1. Install the app from the marketplace. First, pop over to the Zendesk Marketplace and search for the "Shopify for Zendesk" app. Click install and pick the Zendesk account you want to connect it to.

The Zendesk Marketplace is the first step when you connect Zendesk to Shopify, allowing you to find the official app.

2. Connect your Shopify storefront. You'll be sent to your Zendesk Admin Center to handle the login. You just need to enter your Shopify store domain (like "your-store.myshopify.com") and give the connection a name.

3. Configure the sidebar app. Once you're connected, you can decide where the app appears. You can enable it for Zendesk Support (for tickets) and Zendesk Chat (for live conversations). This is also where you can turn on extra features, like the ability to process refunds and cancellations directly from the sidebar.

4. Add the web widget (optional). If you want a more joined-up experience, you can enable the Zendesk web widget on your Shopify store. This adds a little chat bubble to your site so customers can get in touch with you directly.

And that’s it. In just a few minutes, your agents will be able to see Shopify data right next to their tickets.

Key features and limitations

Connecting your tools is a nice improvement, but it’s important to be realistic about what you’re getting. The standard integration is helpful, but it has some real limitations that can hold you back as you grow.

What the standard integration does well

Let's start with the good stuff. The native app is definitely better than having no integration at all.

• Customer info in one place: Seeing a customer’s recent orders and shipping status without leaving Zendesk is a huge time-saver. It gives agents instant context for the conversation.

• Simple order actions: For straightforward requests, being able to process a refund or cancel an order directly from the sidebar is handy. It cuts down on a few clicks for very specific tasks.

• Multi-store support: If you run a few different ecommerce brands, you can connect all of your Shopify stores to Zendesk and see a separate sidebar for each one.

Where the standard integration falls short

While the app is a good starting point, you’ll probably find that it's more of a window than a tool. It shows you information, but it doesn't do any of the work for you.

• It just shows you data: The app is great at displaying information, but it's mostly static. It can't use this information to answer questions on its own or do more complex, real-time lookups, like checking a carrier's API for a precise delivery ETA. It just shows you what's already in Shopify.

• There's no real automation: This is the biggest issue. The integration doesn't actually lower the number of tickets you get. Your team still has to manually open every single "Where is my order?" ticket, look at the sidebar, and type out a reply. It helps the agent work a bit faster, but it doesn't automate the job itself.

• It only knows about Shopify: The app only has access to Shopify orders. It can't pull from your help center articles, internal FAQs in Google Docs, or knowledge from past ticket resolutions. So, if a customer asks about your return policy for an item they ordered, the agent still has to go hunt for that information somewhere else.

• An agent always has to be involved: At the end of the day, every single customer query needs an agent to get involved. This creates huge bottlenecks during busy times like Black Friday and drives up your costs. The app makes your manual process a little more efficient, but it's still a manual process.

Beyond the standard connection: Using AI to get more

So if the standard app is just a window, how do you open the door to real automation? This is what an AI layer is for. The goal shouldn't be just to connect your apps; it should be to create an intelligent system that handles the repetitive work for you. Instead of just showing data, an AI can understand, act, and resolve issues on its own.

eesel AI is an intelligence platform that sits on top of your existing tools, including Zendesk and Shopify. It adds some serious automation muscle to your helpdesk without forcing you to change your current setup.

Go from viewing data to automating actions

Instead of just giving your agents a view into Shopify, you can let an AI handle the entire workflow. The eesel AI Agent can be set up to automate frontline support for all your common ecommerce questions.

Here’s the difference: with the standard app, an agent manually checks the sidebar for a tracking number. With eesel AI, the AI agent automatically understands the customer is asking for their order status, uses a custom action to look up the real-time shipping information in Shopify, and provides an instant, accurate reply. The ticket is resolved without an agent ever having to touch it.

This is how an AI agent from eesel AI appears in Zendesk after you connect Zendesk to Shopify, ready to automate responses.

Best of all, eesel AI gives you total control with selective automation. You can start by having it only handle "Where is my order?" tickets and automatically pass everything else to a human agent. As you get more comfortable, you can expand what it handles.

Unify all your knowledge

Your business knowledge doesn't just live in Shopify. It's spread across your help center, past support conversations, and internal docs.

Our AI doesn't just connect to Shopify. It learns from your historical Zendesk tickets, your help center, and even internal knowledge bases in places like Google Docs or Confluence. When a customer asks about your return policy for a specific product they just ordered, the AI has all the context, both the order details and the policy information, to give a complete answer.

You can also embed the AI Chatbot directly on your Shopify store. It can answer questions 24/7 by pulling information from your product catalog, help center, and FAQs, freeing up your agents for the trickier issues.

Start in minutes and test with confidence

Getting started with advanced AI shouldn't be a months-long project. We built eesel AI to be a bit different.

• Radically self-serve: Forget lengthy sales calls and mandatory demos just to see the product. With eesel AI, you can connect your Zendesk and knowledge sources with one click and get a working AI agent up and running in minutes.

• Powerful simulation mode: How do you know if it will actually work for your business? Before going live, eesel AI lets you run a simulation on thousands of your past tickets. You can see exactly how the AI would have responded, giving you a precise forecast of your automation rate and the confidence to turn it on.

A quick comparison: Standard vs. AI-powered

Here’s how the two approaches stack up.

Feature	Standard Zendesk Shopify App	eesel AI-Powered Integration
What it does	Shows Shopify data in Zendesk	Automates responses and actions
Reduces tickets?	No, an agent handles every ticket	Yes, resolves common queries instantly
What it knows	Only Shopify order data	Shopify, Zendesk tickets, help center, docs, etc.
Setup time	Minutes	Minutes (and truly self-serve)
How to test it	Manual testing only	Powerful simulation on your old tickets
Custom actions	Limited (refunds/cancellations)	Fully customizable (API lookups, ticket triage)

Zendesk pricing for the Shopify integration

To use the Shopify integration, you'll first need a Zendesk plan. Zendesk’s pricing is tiered, so the features you get depend on which plan you pick. Here’s a quick breakdown of their current offerings.

Plan	Price (Billed Annually)	Key Features for Support
Support Team	$19 per agent/month	Ticketing system, email & social support, basic reporting.
Suite Team	$55 per agent/month	All Support Team features + messaging, help center, voice support, essential AI.
Suite Professional	$115 per agent/month	All Suite Team features + customizable reporting, SLAs, HIPAA compliance.
Suite Enterprise	$169 per agent/month	All Suite Professional features + sandbox environment, custom roles, advanced workflows.

The good news is that a third-party AI platform like eesel AI works across these plans. You don't need to be on the most expensive Enterprise plan to unlock powerful automation. You can add it to your existing setup, whether you're on a Team plan or a Professional one, letting you add more capabilities without a massive upgrade.

For the most current info, it's always smart to check the official Zendesk pricing page.

Connect your tools, but automate your work

Connecting Zendesk and Shopify is a good starting point for any modern ecommerce business. The native integration gives your agents much-needed visibility, but that's where it stops. It doesn't solve the core problem of manual, repetitive support tasks that keep your team busy and cost you money.

To really change your customer support from a cost center into an efficient, automated engine, you need to go beyond simple connections. Using an AI platform like eesel AI is the key. It builds on your existing tools to automate work, bring all your knowledge together, and create a better experience for both your agents and your customers.

Ready to stop manually answering Shopify questions? eesel AI integrates with your existing Zendesk and Shopify setup in minutes to automate frontline support. Start your free trial today.