How to Choose an AI Voice Agent for a Shopify Store

Disclosure: Chargezen sells an AI voice agent. This checklist is written to work for any vendor you're considering, including us.

An AI voice agent answers your phone and talks with callers in natural conversation. For a Shopify store, the question isn't whether it sounds human. Most of them sound fine now. The question is whether it can actually help the person calling: find their order, fix the problem and bring in your team when it should.

Use this guide to compare vendors: the must-haves, how pricing usually works, the questions to ask and a script for test calls before you put it on your real number.

Start with your calls, not the demo

Before you look at any vendor, write down why people call you. Look at your last month of calls and voicemails, or ask whoever answers the phone. A typical list for an online store:

• Where is my order?
• Change my address, or my order, before it ships.
• Skip, pause or cancel my subscription.
• I was charged and I don't know why.
• My package arrived damaged.
• A product question before buying.
• A wholesale or partnership inquiry.

Mark which ones need store data and which need an action. That list is your test. A vendor that can only answer from an FAQ will handle the product questions and nothing else.

The must-haves

• Caller recognition: It matches the caller's number to a customer in your store and greets them by name. Without this, every call starts with "What is your order number?"
• Order lookup: It reads Shopify orders, fulfillment and tracking, live, during the call.
• Actions within limits: It can make the changes your callers ask for, such as address changes or subscription skips, and you decide which changes it may make alone and which need approval.
• Teammate join: A person on your team can listen in, join the live call and take over without the caller repeating anything, then hand it back.
• One customer history: The call lands in the same history as the customer's emails, chats and texts, not in a separate phone app.
• Recording policy: You control whether calls are recorded, the notice callers hear first, how long recordings are kept and who can play them. See our guide to call recording consent.
• Your number: It answers on the number customers already know, or on a new one you can also text from, with carrier registration handled.
• Honesty about being AI: It says it is an AI and makes reaching a person easy.

Nice to have

• Texts the caller a link or a confirmation after the call.
• A team line where staff can call in and ask the agent about the business.
• Call summaries and transcripts your team can read.
• A mobile app so the owner can join calls from anywhere.
• The same agent on chat, email and text, so customers get the same answers everywhere.

How pricing usually works

Prices change often, so compare current price lists side by side. What you can compare up front is the model:

• Estimate a busy month (holiday season, a launch) as well as a normal one.
• Ask about phone number and carrier registration fees.
• Ask whether AI on chat and email costs extra, or comes from the same plan.
• Ask whether you can bring your own AI provider account.

For named vendors with sourced, dated prices, see Concierge vs Quo, Concierge vs Aircall and Concierge vs Dialpad.

Questions to ask every vendor

• Does it read our Shopify orders live, or a nightly copy?
• Which actions can it take on a call? Can we turn each one on or off?
• What needs approval, and how does approval work while the caller waits?
• How does a teammate join a live call, and from which devices?
• Where do calls show up afterward? Next to the customer's emails and texts?
• Can we keep our current number? What does porting involve?
• Who files carrier registration if we text from the same number?
• Can we control recording per number? What notice plays, and when does recording start?
• How long are recordings kept, who can listen, and is access logged?
• Can we read what the agent said and did on every call?
• What happens when it doesn't know the answer?
• What does it cost in our busiest month?

A test-call script

Place these calls yourself, from a number that belongs to a test customer in your store, before any real customer hears the agent. Score each one: solved, handed off well, or failed.

• 1. Order status: "Hi, where is my order?" It should recognize you and give the real status without asking for an order number.
• 2. A change: "Can I change the shipping address on my last order?" It should either make the change, ask for approval, or explain why it can't, for example because the order shipped.
• 3. A subscription: "Can I skip my next delivery?" Check the change in your store afterward.
• 4. Something it shouldn't do alone: "I want a full refund on my last three orders." It should follow your refund rules and ask for approval or a person, not just agree.
• 5. Off script: "Do you sell gift cards for your stores in Canada?" Check it doesn't invent an answer.
• 6. Ask for a person: "Can I talk to a human?" See how fast someone on your team gets alerted and joins, and whether they know what has already been said.
• 7. An unknown caller: Call from a number that isn't in your store. It should still help, and ask the right questions to find the customer.
• 8. The interruption test: Talk over it, change your mind halfway, or give a messy address. Real callers do.

Then check the record: is every call in the customer's history, with what was said and done? Was the recording notice played before recording started?

Red flags

• It can't see orders without the caller reading out an order number.
• Every request becomes "I'll pass that along."
• No way for a teammate to join a live call.
• Calls live in a separate app with no link to the customer's other conversations.
• Recording is on by default with no notice you can control.
• Pricing you can't estimate for a busy month.

How Chargezen helps

Here is how Concierge answers the checklist:

• Caller recognition and order lookup: It matches the caller's number to their customer profile and pulls up their orders and past conversations. See phone calls.
• Actions within limits: Order status, order changes, and subscription skips and pauses, within your rules, with approvals for consequential actions.
• Teammate join: Listen in from Finn for iPhone or the browser, tap Join the call, and Concierge tells the caller you are here. From the Finn app you can transfer to another teammate or hand the call back.
• Who answers first: Per number: Concierge answers every call, a teammate gets the first ring and Concierge picks up if nobody answers, or only teammates answer.
• One customer history: Calls join the customer's thread with their texts and emails in your team inbox. See the phone channel.
• Recording policy: Your notice plays first, consent mode is saved with each recording, retention is yours to set and every access is logged. See call recording.
• Your number: A new toll-free or local US number, or bring yours, with carrier registration handled. See business phone number and toll-free texting.
• A team line: Teammates can call an admin line to ask Concierge about the business. Those calls are never recorded.
• Pricing: Credits from your Concierge plan, plus phone charges as used.

Concierge Starter is $20 a month with 20,000 credits. Pro is $199 a month with 199,000 credits, or $1,990 a year. Phone and text charges are billed as used, and you can connect your own OpenAI or Anthropic account. See pricing.

Start with an AI receptionist that knows your store. Related terms: voice AI agent, human handoff and approvals. Related guides: AI receptionist vs answering service vs voicemail, conversational AI for ecommerce and call recording consent.

Frequently asked questions

What is an AI voice agent?

Software that answers phone calls and talks with callers in natural conversation. For a store, the useful ones are connected to your orders, so they can help instead of only taking messages.

Does an AI voice agent work with Shopify?

Some do, and how deeply varies a lot. Ask whether it reads orders live, which changes it can make and whether those changes need approval.

Can I test an AI voice agent before customers hear it?

You should. Use the test-call script above from a test customer's number, and only switch your real number over once it passes.

Should the AI answer every call?

Not necessarily. Many stores let a teammate get the first ring and have the AI pick up when nobody answers. Others let the AI answer everything and have a person join when needed.