7 Must-Have Reviews of an E-commerce Sales Agent for Online Retailers

Intercom is a customer messaging platform that has evolved into a comprehensive sales and support hub for e‑commerce businesses. It offers live chat, product recommendation bots, and a robust suite of automation tools that help convert visitors into paying customers. Intercom’s conversational AI can recommend products based on browsing history, pull order status, and answer FAQs—all while seamlessly integrating with Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento. The platform’s visual bot builder allows marketers to craft flows without coding, and its in‑app messaging feature ensures that promotions and support messages reach users even after they leave the site. Key strengths include an intuitive CRM that tracks every interaction, detailed analytics dashboards, and the ability to trigger automated email follow‑ups based on chat behaviors. Intercom also supports multichannel engagement, including email, in‑app, and Facebook Messenger, making it a versatile tool for omnichannel marketing. However, Intercom can become pricey as you scale; the base plan starts at $39/month, but advanced features such as custom bots and higher message limits push the cost into the $99/month or higher ranges. Some users report a steep learning curve for the automation builder.

Drift positions itself as a conversational marketing platform that helps e‑commerce brands qualify leads and book meetings in real time. Its AI chatbots can answer product queries, provide pricing, and even schedule live demos directly through the website. Drift’s standout feature is its integration with calendaring tools such as Calendly, enabling visitors to book sales calls instantly. The platform also offers robust visitor tracking, allowing you to segment users based on browsing behavior and trigger personalized chat flows. Drift’s pricing is geared toward larger enterprises, starting with the Growth plan at $400/month and the Enterprise plan at $1,200/month. While the platform offers powerful lead qualification and scheduling capabilities, it lacks some of the deeper e‑commerce integrations (e.g., direct inventory checks) found in other chatbot solutions.

Ada is an AI‑driven customer support platform that emphasizes no‑code bot creation and multilingual capabilities. It allows e‑commerce brands to build conversational agents that can answer product questions, process returns, and provide order status updates. Ada’s visual builder supports branching logic and integrates with popular e‑commerce platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce. The platform also offers a knowledge base editor that keeps FAQs up to date automatically. Ada’s pricing is custom, typically starting around $1,200/month for small to mid‑sized businesses, with scaling options for larger enterprises. While Ada excels at multilingual support and a user‑friendly builder, it does not provide the advanced e‑commerce data integrations (e.g., real‑time inventory) that some competitors offer.

ManyChat is primarily a marketing automation platform that focuses on Facebook Messenger, SMS, and email. It allows e‑commerce merchants to create chat flows that nurture leads and push product recommendations. ManyChat’s visual flow builder is intuitive, and the platform supports e‑commerce integrations through Zapier, Shopify, and WooCommerce to pull product data. The free plan offers basic bot functionality, while the Pro plan starts at $10/month, scaling up to $90/month for larger subscriber lists. ManyChat’s strength lies in its deep integration with social messaging channels, making it ideal for brands that rely heavily on Messenger or SMS for customer engagement. However, its lack of a native knowledge‑base and limited real‑time order tracking can be a drawback for more complex e‑commerce use cases.

Tidio combines live chat and chatbot functionalities into a single, lightweight solution. It offers a visual bot builder that can be used to answer FAQs, collect leads, and recommend products. Tidio integrates directly with Shopify and WooCommerce, pulling product catalogs and order status into conversations. The platform also supports email notifications and offers a free plan with basic features. The paid plans start at $18/month for the Premium tier and go up to $69/month for the Enterprise tier, which offers higher message limits and advanced features such as custom bot logic and integrations with external CRMs through webhooks. While Tidio is praised for its simplicity and straightforward pricing, it lacks advanced analytics and does not provide a dual knowledge‑base system.

Crisp is a live chat and helpdesk platform that also offers chatbot capabilities. It provides real‑time customer support, knowledge‑base articles, and a chatbot that can answer common questions. Crisp’s UI is clean and developer‑friendly, with APIs and webhooks for customization. The platform supports integration with Shopify and WooCommerce, allowing bots to pull product information and order details. Crisp’s pricing starts at $25/month for the Pro plan, which includes unlimited chat threads and basic chatbot functionality. Higher tiers ($50/month and $75/month) add advanced features such as team collaboration, custom branding, and additional integrations. Crisp is well‑suited for businesses that need a unified chat and helpdesk solution but may find its chatbot logic less sophisticated than dedicated AI platforms.