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Fin for ecommerce

Learn how to train, test, deploy, and analyze Fin for ecommerce.

Written by Beth-Ann Sher
Updated yesterday

Purpose-built for Shopify merchants, Fin for ecommerce combines shopping assistance and ecommerce support in one experience, helping customers find the right products and add them to their cart, get answers quickly, and move smoothly toward checkout.

It performs this role through four core capabilities:

  • Guides discovery - Fin drives product discovery through carousels, comparisons, and contextual recommendations — powered by a deep understanding of your Shopify catalogue.

  • Accelerates purchase - Fin keeps customers moving toward purchase by proactively stepping in to remove friction, resolve hesitation, and prevent drop-off at the right moment.

  • Drives conversion - Fin captures more revenue from every visit. It identifies opportunities to increase order value, keeps carts easy to adjust, and guides shoppers smoothly into checkout.

  • Deeply integrates - Fin natively connects to relevant Shopify APIs to track, update, cancel, return, refund, and exchange orders, handling the most complex post-purchase requests.

Note: Fin for ecommerce is currently in a limited access phase and is only available for new Shopify-integrated customers.


Understand how Fin for ecommerce works

Fin for ecommerce includes all the capabilities of Fin for service, plus purpose-built shopping and support experiences in a single conversation:

  • Shopping assistance for product discovery, recommendations, and purchase support.

  • Support assistance for pre-order, order and post-purchase questions.

Fin detects what a customer needs and seamlessly switches between the two within the same conversation.


Connecting to your Shopify store

Get started by connecting your Shopify store to Intercom. Fin for ecommerce is built for Shopify merchants, with automatic Shopify customer detection and a tailored onboarding experience to help you go live quickly.

When Shopify is connected, Fin will:

  • Sync your product catalogue and storefront content.

  • Keep products, variants, pricing, and availability up to date.

  • Connect APIs for common ecommerce actions.

  • Draft Procedures for common post-purchase requests.

This helps Fin quickly start selling and supporting customers with minimal manual setup.

What Fin uses from Shopify

Fin deeply understands your Shopify catalogue and store content, including:

  • Product data: catalog, variants, pricing, and availability

  • Store content: product pages and blogs

This allows Fin to support both broad catalogue discovery and focused product exploration.

If you are identified as a Shopify customer, you will see a guided setup with the following steps 👇


Train Fin for ecommerce

Fin for ecommerce is powered by your Shopify catalogue, content, Procedures, and Guidance.

1. Connect your Shopify store

Click Connect to Shopify store to begin the one-click connection flow and link one or multiple Shopify stores to Intercom.

Install the Messenger

To install:

  1. Go to your Shopify admin dashboard.

  2. Click Edit theme.

  3. Navigate to App embeds.

  4. Toggle on the Intercom app.

  5. Click Save.

Once enabled, the Messenger will appear on your storefront.

2. Content

Pricing, availability, and variant information are synced directly from your Shopify catalogue. Because this information is synced directly from Shopify, it stays up to date automatically as your catalogue changes.

From Fin AI Agent > Ecommerce > Train > Content you can configure which content Fin can access. Make sure key ecommerce content, especially synced Shopify products is included, as Fin relies on this data to accurately search for and display products.

3. Guidance

For most Shopify stores, Fin works well without additional Guidance. You may want to add Guidance if you have a complex catalogue, specific business rules, or strict tone requirements.

Go to Fin AI Agent > Ecommerce > Train > Guidance to create specific ecommerce guidance for:

  • Communication style

  • Conversation strategy & flow

  • Situation handling & edge cases

  • Context and clarification rules

Examples include:

  • How to explain complex product combinations.

  • Important restrictions or exclusions.

  • Brand tone of voice.

  • Rules for edge cases or special scenarios.

4. Escalation

Fin is designed to resolve customer questions autonomously while escalating to a human teammate at the right moment. You can control when escalation happens, whether Fin offers escalation or escalates immediately, and what Fin says during the handover.

To set up escalation rules and guidance for Fin's ecommerce role, go to Fin AI Agent > Ecommerce > Train > Escalation.

Fin escalation behavior is powered by:

  • Default escalation behavior

  • Escalation Rules (data-driven)

  • Escalation Guidance (natural language)

  • Workflows (post-escalation routing and actions)

5. Procedures

Fin for ecommerce supports common post-purchase flows using Procedures and connected APIs.

Examples include:

  • Where is my order?

  • Returns

  • Refunds

  • Exchanges

  • Order updates or cancellations

Note: Draft Procedures should be reviewed before being set live.


Test Fin for ecommerce

To test Fin for ecommerce, go to Fin AI Agent > Ecommerce >Deploy and use the preview panel to validate Fin's logic and messaging before deployment.

You can:

  • Run sample shopping conversations.

  • Validate product recommendations and comparisons.

  • Test broad and vague discovery questions.

  • Check cart and checkout actions.

  • Review how Fin handles support requests.

  • Confirm how Fin handles shopping and support queries in the same conversation.

This is especially useful for businesses with complex catalogues, product rules, or post-purchase workflows.


Deploy Fin for ecommerce

Fin for ecommerce can be deployed via Workflows or Simple Deploy from Fin AI Agent > Ecommerce > Deploy.

When deploying via Workflows you can choose to use a pre-configured Workflow – or to configure from scratch.

Pre-configured deployment

The workflow is pre-configured, so you don’t have to manually change anything to set it live.

It includes:

  • A “Let Fin handle” block for ecommerce

  • A greeting message

  • Default trigger (When customer opens a new conversation in the Messenger)

  • Default assignee if Fin is unable to resolve

Configure your deployment

When deploying Fin for ecommerce:

  • Select a workflow trigger such as:

    • When customer opens a new Messenger conversation

    • When customer visits a page (proactive engagement)

  • Choose Messenger as your channel

  • Set the audience, so you determine which customers or visitors see it

  • Add a Let Fin handle step and ensure Fin's role is set to Ecommerce

Once configured, you can continue to build your workflow and choose what happens if Fin can't resolve the conversation, such as assigning it to an inbox.

Note: Fin for ecommerce automatically detects whether a conversation requires shopping assistance or support. There is no need to define routing or handover to Fin for service related queries.

Tip: Before deploying, we recommend reviewing the following:

  • Messenger availability on your storefront.

  • Content and catalogue sources available to Fin.

  • Procedures enabled for ecommerce support.

  • Guidance that may affect ecommerce behavior.


Analyze Fin for ecommerce

From high-level performance metrics to detailed Inbox insights, you can see what’s working and why. ​​The Analyze section gives you real-time Insights after you've set Fin live. This will be your starting point for continuous improvement and optimization. Based on what you learn here, you'll continue to train, test, and deploy Fin to handle more of your customer conversations.

From Fin AI Agent > Ecommerce > Analyze > Performance, you'll find a Fin performance dashboard with key metrics such as Fin for ecommerce automation rate and CX Score when Fin is live. This dashboard is not customizable. Learn more.

A Fin for ecommerce report can still be created, customized, and viewed from Reports.


FAQs

Should I use Shopify MCPs with Fin for ecommerce?

No. Fin for ecommerce uses a native Shopify integration. You don’t need to set up Shopify MCPs, and they should not be used alongside Fin.

Which channels does Fin for ecommerce support?

Fin for ecommerce is best deployed on the web Messenger, where full catalog and cart functionality is supported. On other channels (including iOS and Android) it is restricted to resolving customer support queries. Email, Social, Voice, and Slack are currently not supported.

Can Fin for ecommerce filter my Shopify catalogue?

Yes, Fin can filter your Shopify catalogue so only relevant products are synced and used. You can apply filters based on your store’s metadata (like tags, collections, or custom fields), which vary depending on how your Shopify store is set up.

To set this up, go to Fin AI Agent > Ecommerce > Train > Content, click the three dot menu next to the Shopify catelogue you've synced, and select Configure stock filter.

Can Fin for ecommerce filter my Shopify catalogue?

No. Fin for ecommerce is purpose-built for Shopify-integrated customers.

Can Fin for ecommerce handle both shopping and support in the same conversation?

Yes. Fin for ecommerce inherits all of the functionality of Fin for service and can help customers discover products, answer questions, and handle post-purchase requests like returns or order updates, all within a single conversation.

Does Fin in the ecommerce role work in languages other than English?

Yes. Fin for ecommerce automatically detects and responds in the customer’s language, making it easier to engage and assist customers globally.

Do I need to add ecommerce Guidance?

For most Shopify stores, Fin works well without additional Guidance. You may want to add Guidance if you have a complex catalogue, specific business rules, or strict tone requirements.

Does Fin for ecommerce work across multiple Shopify stores linked to a single workspace?

Yes. Fin supports connecting multiple Shopify stores. It uses dynamic audience attribution across stores, so multi-store setups work seamlessly right out of the box.

How is Fin for ecommerce charged?

Fin for ecommerce is priced at $0.99 per outcome (United States Dollars).

An outcome will be counted when Fin successfully completes the action it was configured to perform, as part of a conversation.

You'll find a breakdown of resolutions between service, sales, and ecommerce under "Fin outcomes" in Settings > Subscription > Usage.


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