How to use a Shopify chatbot to collect email and phone before handoff (2025 guide)

If you’re running a Shopify store, you know the drill: a never-ending stream of customer questions. But what happens when most of your live chats are with anonymous visitors who click away without a trace? You're not just losing a potential sale; you're losing a future lead.

There’s a straightforward fix: using a Shopify chatbot to collect email and phone before handoff to a live agent.

This one step can turn your support channel into a way to find new customers. It gives your team the info they need to solve problems faster and lets you follow up with people who are on the fence about buying. This guide will walk you through why this is such a good idea, look at some common tools, and show you how to get it set up.

What is a Shopify chatbot to collect email and phone before handoff?

A pre-handoff chatbot is basically an automated tool that chats with customers to get some key information, like their name, email, phone number, and what they need help with, before passing them along to a human.

Think of it as a virtual receptionist for your website. Instead of a customer clicking a "Chat with us" button and getting dropped into a queue as "Visitor 123," the chatbot starts a structured conversation. By the time an agent joins the chat, they already have all the details they need to offer a quick, personal solution. It’s a nice mix of bot speed and human touch that makes the whole experience smoother for everyone.

The benefits of a Shopify chatbot to collect email and phone before handoff

Setting up a chatbot to grab lead details isn't just a small tweak. It can change how you think about customer support and how your store operates. Here’s why it works so well for e-commerce stores.

Turn support into a revenue driver

Every time you talk to a customer, it's a chance to connect. When you collect an email or phone number, that anonymous chat becomes a real lead. You can add them to your email list, send them a discount code, or let them know when a product is back in stock. Suddenly, your support team is directly contributing to sales, turning what used to be a cost center into a revenue driver.

Provide agents with context

When an agent jumps into a chat, the last thing they want to do is start with 20 questions. A pre-handoff flow delivers a neat little package with the customer's name, contact info, and a summary of their issue. This cuts down on the back-and-forth and lets your team get straight to solving the problem instead of playing detective.

Focus on high-value chats

Let's be honest, not all chats are urgent. Some visitors are just browsing, while others have a full cart and one last question before they buy. A chatbot can help figure out a visitor's intent right away. This allows your team to prioritize high-value conversations, making sure your best opportunities get the attention they deserve.

Enable 24/7 support

Your team needs to sleep, but your store is always open. By collecting contact info upfront, you can follow up by email or SMS if no agents are available. This sets the right expectation for the customer and ensures no question gets lost. A frustrating dead-end can become a positive follow-up, and some of the best tools can even solve the issue on their own without ever needing an agent.

Common tools for a Shopify chatbot to collect email and phone before handoff

Once you’ve decided to start collecting customer info, the next question is which tool to use. There are three main ways to go, each with its own pros and cons.

The free starter tool: Shopify Inbox

Shopify offers its own free live chat tool, Shopify Inbox, which is a great place to start. You can set up automated greetings and have it ask for a name and email before a chat begins.

• What it's good for: It’s free, simple to set up, and built right into your Shopify admin. If you’re a new store, it’s a solid choice.

• The limitations: The automation is pretty basic. It can collect information, but it can’t really understand or do anything with it. It can't answer questions, look up order details, or connect to other knowledge sources. As you grow, you’ll probably find you need something more.

The all-in-one helpdesks: Gorgias, Tidio, and Intercom

Platforms like Gorgias, Tidio, and Intercom are full-blown helpdesks that roll ticketing, live chat, and chatbots into one. They connect deeply with Shopify, so they can pull order data and handle more complex chats.

• What they're good for: They give you a single place to manage all customer conversations and have more advanced, rule-based automation for capturing leads.

• The limitations: Going with one of these usually means you have to switch over your entire support system. That move can be complicated and take a while, and then you’re locked into their platform. Getting started often involves a sales call, and the pricing can get steep as you add more agents or your ticket volume grows.

The flexible AI layer: eesel AI

A more modern way to do this is to use a flexible AI platform that works with the tools you already use. eesel AI is designed to plug right into your current helpdesk (like Zendesk or Freshdesk) and all of your company knowledge without forcing you to change everything.

• What it's good for: It gives you advanced AI without the headache of a big migration. After collecting a customer's email and question, eesel AI can figure out what to do next. It can:

  • Answer the question automatically by pulling information from your help center, past tickets, Google Docs, or your Shopify product catalog.

  • Take specific actions, like checking on an order status in real time.

  • Hand off to an agent with all the context if the issue is tricky.

• The key advantage: You get top-notch AI without ditching the tools your team is already comfortable with. The setup is also incredibly straightforward, you can get it running in minutes, not months.

An infographic showing how a flexible AI layer like eesel AI connects to all your existing knowledge sources to provide comprehensive answers.

How to set up a Shopify chatbot to collect email and phone before handoff

Putting this all into practice is pretty simple once you have a plan. Here’s a quick breakdown of the steps.

Step 1: Design your conversation flow

First, decide what information you need and sketch out how you want the conversation to go. You'll want the chatbot to greet the visitor, ask for their name and contact info, and get a sense of what they need help with. This first step sets the stage for either a quick automated answer or a smooth handoff, all while capturing a useful lead for your business.

Step 2: Choose the right tool

Based on the options we just talked about, choose the tool that fits where your business is at.

• New stores: Start with Shopify Inbox. It's free and easy.

• Stores ready for a bigger system: Check out the all-in-one suites like Gorgias.

• Stores that like their current helpdesk: Add a flexible AI layer like eesel AI to make your existing setup smarter without the disruption.

Step 3: Connect your knowledge sources

For a chatbot to be genuinely helpful, it needs information.

• The old way: You could spend weeks manually building out an FAQ library for your chatbot to use. But then you have to keep it all updated, which is a pain.

• The eesel AI way: Just connect the places where your information already lives. eesel AI can learn from your Shopify product data, past support tickets, help center articles, and even internal Google Docs. It gets up to speed on your business automatically, so it's ready to give accurate answers from day one.

A screenshot of the eesel AI platform showing how easy it is to connect knowledge sources for your Shopify chatbot to collect email and phone before handoff.

Step 4: Test before going live

You never want to test a new customer-facing tool on your actual customers.

• The risk with most tools: You often have to launch the chatbot and hope for the best, which can lead to some awkward conversations if things aren't working right.

• The eesel AI advantage: You can use its simulation mode to test the AI on thousands of your past support tickets. You get to see exactly how it would have replied, get a forecast of your automation rate, and adjust its behavior in a safe, offline space. That way, you can launch knowing your bot is ready to go.

The eesel AI simulation mode provides a safe environment to test how your Shopify chatbot will collect email and phone before handoff based on past conversations.

Turn chats into conversions with a pre-handoff chatbot

Using a Shopify chatbot to collect email and phone before handoff is one of the smartest moves you can make for your customer experience. It turns a simple chat widget into a system that captures leads, helps your agents, and ultimately drives sales.

While basic tools can get you started, a really good strategy needs AI that can learn your business, work with your tools, and handle issues on its own. eesel AI offers a self-serve platform that lets you set this up in minutes, giving you the control to automate what you want and the confidence to grow.

Ready to turn your support chats into your best sales channel? Start your free trial with eesel AI today.