(01) ServicesSample plan
What a plan looks like.A full sample, for a shop.
This is the plan you'd get for $500 – $1,500: what to automate first and what to leave alone, how the first automation works, what stays with a person, and what it costs to build and run.
Sample, not a client
This is a sample. The shop, its team and its numbers are made up, but the method, the safeguards and the format are the ones every plan follows.
Plan cover
- Business
- Northwind Goods, an online homeware shop with 14 staff (fictional)
- Tools today
- Shopify, Gorgias helpdesk, Klaviyo, Google Sheets, Xero
- Scope
- Two calls with the ops and support leads, two weeks of support tickets and every connected tool
- Date
- October 2026
- Planned by
- Hansraj Saini, HS
- Time spent
- 4 days
(02) Summary
What should we automate?The short answer first.
Recommendation
Automate support sorting and drafts first.
It takes about 18 hours a week off the support team, nothing reaches a customer without a person's yes, and it pays for itself in about three months.
Two people answer around 900 tickets a month. Two thirds ask the same two things: where is my order, and how do I return this. Each one means opening Shopify, finding the order and typing a reply.
The plan below sorts every ticket as it arrives, looks up the order and drafts the reply from your own help pages. Your team reads it, edits if needed and sends it with one click. Refunds are drafted too, but always wait for a person.
Two more automations are worth doing after that. Two ideas aren't worth it yet, and one job is already done well by Klaviyo, so I'd leave it alone.
(03) The shortlist
Five ideas, ranked.Including the ones to skip.
01
Support: sort tickets and draft replies
- Today
- Every order-status and returns ticket is answered by hand after looking the order up in Shopify.
- After
- Tickets arrive sorted, with the order details and a drafted reply. A person approves in one click.
Do first18 hsaved a week
Low risk
02
Low-stock alerts and reorder drafts
- Today
- The ops lead checks stock in a spreadsheet every Monday and emails suppliers.
- After
- An alert when stock will run out within three weeks, with the supplier email already drafted.
Next4 hsaved a week
Low risk
03
The weekly numbers
- Today
- Sales, ad spend, support volume and cash are copied from four tools into one sheet each Monday.
- After
- A one-page brief in Slack every Monday at 8am, with the same numbers and what changed.
Next3 hsaved a week
Low risk
04
AI-written product descriptions
- Today
- The founder writes every description, about ten new products a month.
- After
- Drafts would save about two hours a week, but your voice is a big part of the brand. Revisit when the range grows.
Not yet2 hsaved a week
Medium risk
05
Abandoned-cart emails
- Today
- Klaviyo already sends them, and the results are good.
- After
- No change. Custom code here would cost more and do less.
Leave as isNonesaved a week
Low risk
- Do first
- Saves the most time for the least risk.
- Next
- Worth it once the first one is running.
- Not yet
- Possible, but the risk or the savings don't add up today.
- Leave as is
- Already handled well by a tool you pay for.
(04) The first build
How it works.And where a person stays.
A ticket arrives
From email, chat or the contact form, in Gorgias as today.
It's sorted
A model reads it and picks one of six types. Its answer is checked for the right shape; anything unclear goes straight to a person.
The order is looked up
The order number or email is matched in Shopify, with the live delivery status.
A reply is drafted
From your own help pages and the order details, in your tone, with the sources shown next to the draft.
A person approves
Send, edit or reject in one click. Every decision is logged, and the edits teach the next drafts.
Safeguards
- Refunds, discounts and anything that moves money are drafted, never sent without a person.
- Angry or unclear messages skip the draft and go to the team lead.
- A spend cap of $50 a month on model calls, and an off switch that needs no deploy.
- A log of every ticket: what it was sorted as, what was drafted and who sent it.
- Five days running beside your team before it replaces anything.
(05) Costs and timeline
What it costs,and when it's live.
- Build
- $3,800, fixedQuoted from this plan. Half upfront, half on handover; the plan fee comes off it.
- Running costs
- $15 – $30 a monthModel calls and hosting, with a hard cap at $50 a month.
- Time saved
- About 18 hours a weekFrom the two weeks of tickets read for this plan.
- Pays for itself
- In about 3 monthsAt the support team's hourly cost, before the second and third automations.
Four weeks
- Week 1
Connect Gorgias and Shopify, and sort tickets into types.
- Week 2
Drafted replies from the help pages, on staging.
- Week 3
Tested on 200 past tickets; the sorting has to be right at least 85% of the time to go further.
- Week 4
Five days beside the team, then the switch, with the old way one click away.
What we measure
- How many tickets are sorted correctly, checked every week against what the team changes.
- How many drafts are sent unedited, edited or rejected.
- First reply time, before and after.
(06) Your plan
Want one for your team?Quoted per job, a few days.
The plan is $500 – $1,500. Quoted after a free call, a written plan in 3 to 5 days. It's yours to take to anyone, and if I build it, the plan fee comes off the build.
Free 30-minute call · No commitment · Reply within a day