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Important: The Shopify integration allows you to embed an AI Employee on your Shopify store to handle customer inquiries, provide product recommendations, assist with orders, and improve the shopping experience.

🔢 Table of Contents

  1. Overview
  2. Prerequisites
  3. Installation Steps
  4. Configuring Your AI Employee
  5. Customization Options
  6. Common Use Cases
  7. Troubleshooting
  8. Best Practices

1. Overview

What This Integration Does

The Shopify integration embeds a chat widget on your store, powered by your AI Employee. Customers can:
  • Ask questions about products
  • Get sizing and specification information
  • Track order status
  • Request returns or exchanges
  • Get shopping recommendations
  • Receive instant support 24/7

Key Features

  • Easy Installation: Add with a simple script tag
  • Customizable Widget: Match your store’s branding
  • Mobile Responsive: Works on all devices
  • Product Knowledge: Connect datastores with product info
  • Order Integration: Can integrate with Shopify APIs (via HTTP Tool)
  • Lead Capture: Collect customer information
  • Multi-language: Support multiple languages

Technical Requirements

  • Active Shopify store (any plan)
  • Access to theme code editor
  • ZappWay AI Employee created and configured
  • Basic familiarity with HTML (helpful but not required)

2. Prerequisites

Before You Begin

1. Create an AI Employee: If you haven’t already:
  1. Go to AI Employees
  2. Click “Create AI Employee”
  3. Configure settings and instructions
  4. See AI Employee Guide for details
2. Add Product Knowledge: Create a datastore with your product information:
  • Product descriptions
  • Sizing guides
  • Shipping policies
  • Return policies
  • FAQs
See Datastore Guide for setup. 3. Connect Datastore to AI Employee:
  1. Open AI Employee settings
  2. Go to Tools tab
  3. Add Datastore Tool
  4. Select your product datastore
  5. Save configuration
4. Obtain Your Agent ID:
  1. Open your AI Employee in the dashboard
  2. Copy the Agent ID from the URL or settings
  3. Keep this handy for installation
Example Agent ID: clf1a2b3c4d5e6f7g8h9

3. Installation Steps

Step 1: Access Theme Code Editor

  1. Log in to your Shopify Admin dashboard
  2. Navigate to Online Store → Themes
  3. Find your current active theme
  4. Click Actions → Edit code
Shopify Theme Editor

Step 2: Copy Integration Script

Copy the following script, replacing YOUR_AGENT_ID with your actual Agent ID:
Example with real Agent ID:

Step 3: Insert Script in Theme

  1. In the theme code editor, locate the theme.liquid file in the Layout folder
  2. Find the closing </head> tag (usually near the top of the file)
  3. Paste the script above the </head> tag
  4. Click Save in the top-right corner
Code Insertion Important: The script must be placed before the </head> tag, not after.

Step 4: Verify Installation

  1. Visit your Shopify store in a new browser tab
  2. Look for the chat bubble in the bottom-right corner
  3. Click the bubble to open the chat widget
  4. Send a test message to your AI Employee
  5. Verify responses are working correctly
If the bubble doesn’t appear, see Troubleshooting.

4. Configuring Your AI Employee

Configure your AI Employee with instructions specific to e-commerce:

Connecting Product Data

Create Product Datastore:
  1. Go to Datastores
  2. Click “Create Datastore”
  3. Name it “Product Catalog” or similar
  4. Add datasources:
    • Product descriptions (copy from Shopify product pages)
    • Sizing guides (PDF or text)
    • Shipping policy
    • Return policy
    • FAQs
Connect to AI Employee:
  1. Open AI Employee → Tools tab
  2. Add Datastore Tool
  3. Select “Product Catalog” datastore
  4. Save

Optional: Order Tracking Integration

To enable order tracking, set up the HTTP Tool to query Shopify’s API: See: HTTP Tool Guide Basic Setup:
  1. Add HTTP Tool to AI Employee
  2. Configure endpoint: https://your-store.myshopify.com/admin/api/2024-01/orders.json
  3. Add authentication (Shopify API key)
  4. Update instructions to mention order tracking capability

5. Customization Options

Widget Appearance

Customize the chat bubble and widget to match your store’s branding:
Available Options:

Show on Specific Pages

To show the widget only on certain pages:
Common Shopify Page Paths:
  • Product pages: /products/
  • Collection pages: /collections/
  • Cart page: /cart
  • Checkout: /checkout
  • All pages: (no condition)

Hide on Mobile

If you want to hide the widget on mobile devices:

6. Common Use Cases

Product Recommendations

Customer: “I’m looking for a gift for my wife” AI Employee:
Setup Required:
  • Product datastore with detailed descriptions
  • Instructions to ask qualifying questions
  • Knowledge of product categories

Order Tracking

Customer: “Where is my order #12345?” AI Employee:
Setup Required:
  • HTTP Tool configured with Shopify API
  • API credentials with order read permission
  • Instructions for handling order queries

Sizing Assistance

Customer: “What size should I get for the Classic T-Shirt?” AI Employee:
Setup Required:
  • Sizing guide uploaded to datastore
  • Instructions to ask clarifying questions
  • Product-specific sizing information

Returns and Exchanges

Customer: “I want to return my order” AI Employee:
Setup Required:
  • Return policy in datastore
  • Form Tool for collecting return details
  • Instructions for return process

Abandoned Cart Recovery

Trigger: Customer has items in cart but hasn’t checked out AI Employee:
Setup Required:
  • Proactive message trigger (custom implementation)
  • Instructions for cart recovery
  • Knowledge of current promotions

7. Troubleshooting

Chat Bubble Not Appearing

Problem: Widget doesn’t show on your store Checks:
  1. Verify Agent ID is correct:
    • Check for typos in the script
    • Ensure Agent ID matches your dashboard
  2. Check script placement:
    • Must be before </head> tag
    • Not inside any other script tags
    • Saved correctly in theme.liquid
  3. Clear browser cache:
    • Hard refresh: Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+R (Mac)
    • Try incognito/private browsing mode
  4. Check browser console for errors:
    • Open DevTools (F12)
    • Go to Console tab
    • Look for error messages
    • Common error: “Failed to load module”
  5. Verify theme file:
    • Ensure you edited the active theme
    • Check that changes were saved
    • Preview theme before publishing

AI Not Responding

Problem: Chat opens but AI doesn’t reply Checks:
  1. Test AI Employee directly:
    • Go to AI Employee in ZappWay dashboard
    • Use test chat interface
    • If it works there, issue is with integration
  2. Check AI Employee status:
    • Ensure AI Employee is not disabled
    • Verify instructions are configured
    • Check that datastores are connected
  3. Review rate limits:
  4. Check datastore status:
    • Ensure datastores are processed (not “Processing”)
    • Verify content is indexed

Widget Styling Issues

Problem: Widget doesn’t match store design Solutions:
  1. Customize colors:
  1. Adjust position:
  1. Change widget size:

Script Loading Slowly

Problem: Widget takes time to appear Causes:
  • CDN loading delay (rare)
  • Slow network connection
  • Other scripts blocking
Solutions:
  1. Use async loading:
  1. Self-host the script (advanced):
    • Download library from CDN
    • Upload to Shopify theme assets
    • Update script src to point to local file

8. Best Practices

Content Strategy

Keep Product Info Updated: Do:
  • Update datastore when products change
  • Include seasonal product info
  • Add new products to datastore immediately
  • Remove discontinued products
Avoid:
  • Outdated pricing information
  • Products no longer in stock
  • Inconsistent product descriptions
Comprehensive Product Knowledge: Include in your datastore:
  • Detailed product descriptions
  • Materials and specifications
  • Care instructions
  • Sizing charts (with measurements)
  • Color options and variations
  • Product use cases and benefits
  • Customer reviews and testimonials
  • Comparison with similar products

AI Employee Configuration

Encourage Browsing:
Handle Price Questions:
Product Links: Train your AI to provide direct product links:

Customer Experience

Response Time:
  • AI should respond within 2-3 seconds
  • If processing longer (e.g., API calls), show typing indicator
  • Provide status updates for complex queries
Tone and Voice: Match your store’s brand voice: Luxury Brand:
Casual/Fun Brand:
Professional/Technical:

Analytics and Improvement

Track Key Metrics:
  • Most common customer questions
  • Products frequently asked about
  • Drop-off points in conversations
  • Questions AI couldn’t answer
Regular Reviews: Weekly:
  • Check conversation logs
  • Identify knowledge gaps
  • Update datastore with missing info
Monthly:
  • Analyze top product inquiries
  • Update AI instructions based on trends
  • Add new FAQs to datastore
Quarterly:
  • Major knowledge base overhaul
  • Review and refine AI personality
  • A/B test different approaches

Security

Protect Customer Data:
  • Don’t store payment information in chat
  • Don’t ask for sensitive data (passwords, full card numbers)
  • Comply with privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA)
  • Use secure connections (HTTPS) only
What AI Should NOT Do: ❌ Process payments directly
❌ Access customer credit cards
❌ Modify orders without confirmation
❌ Share other customers’ information
❌ Make unauthorized discounts

📞 Support & Resources

Getting Help

In-App Support:
  • Help button in ZappWay dashboard
  • Live chat (available on Pro+ plans)
Shopify Resources: Common Resources:

Feedback

Report Issues:
  • Email: support@zappway.ai
  • Include:
    • Shopify store URL
    • Agent ID
    • Screenshots of issue
    • Browser console errors (if any)

✅ Quick Reference

Installation Checklist

Script Template

Common Customizations

Change bubble position to left:
Show only on product pages:
Hide on mobile:

Last Updated: March 2026
Platform: ZappWay × Shopify Integration