Customer Support - Setup Guide

How to set up Gorgias

Otto's honest, no-fluff walkthrough. Every step here is what we'd actually do if we were sitting at your keyboard. Real gotchas first, real steps second, and a link to the personalized version at the bottom.

Read these before you start

• Billing shock is the #1 recurring complaint theme, driven by overage charges, a 72-hour reopen rule (a reopened ticket can count as a new billable ticket), and the AI Agent's double-billing structure combining to make monthly costs genuinely unpredictable, especially in peak season, walk any client through their realistic ticket volume including peak months before recommending a tier (Source: cost analysis via WebSearch summary, 2026)
• Every AI Agent-resolved conversation is charged as BOTH a standard ticket AND a separate automation fee, this compounds cost in a way that isn't obvious from the plan pricing page, confirm this explicitly with the client if they plan to lean on AI automation for volume reduction (Source: cost analysis via WebSearch summary, 2026)
• Reopened and spam conversations can silently count against the billable ticket pool, request a real usage report from Gorgias during a trial period rather than estimating from raw order volume

The 7-step setup

1. 1

   Create your Gorgias account

   Sign up at the link below. Card required for the paid tier - most plans include a trial period; check the pricing section on this page first so you know what you're committing to.

   Open Gorgias signup
2. 2

   Complete the initial onboarding

   Skip the marketing questionnaires when you can. Fill only the fields that actually configure the product - name, timezone, your first workspace or project. If Gorgias pushes you into a setup wizard, take it - it usually accelerates the first productive session.

3. 3

   Connect your existing tools

   Wire Gorgias into the rest of your stack. The integrations that most people set up first: Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, Instagram, Facebook.. Do these before importing data - clean integration first, data second.

4. 4

   Import your existing data (only what you'll actually use)

   Do NOT bulk-import everything. Import the last 30 days of the ONE workflow you're moving over first. Prove it works. Then import more. Big-bang migrations are how Gorgias deployments die in month 3.

5. 5

   Set up your first real workflow

   Pick the single most-frequent task you'll do in Gorgias - the daily-driver workflow. Configure it end-to-end. Use it live for a week. Do not touch any other feature yet. Adoption failure comes from teams trying to use everything on day one instead of the one thing that actually pays.

6. 6

   Add your team (if applicable) and set access

   Once your solo workflow works, invite one teammate at a time. Watch them use it. The friction points you missed are the ones they hit. Fix those before scaling to more users. Never invite 20 people at once - you'll get 20 confused people and 0 useful feedback.

7. 7

   Compound with the right pairings

   Recommend Gorgias for Shopify/BigCommerce/Magento e-commerce brands needing order-data-integrated support, it's genuinely the category leader there. This is one of the highest billing-risk tools in Otto's catalog due to the ticket-metered, double-billed-AI structure, always get the client's real historical ticket volume (including their busiest month) before recommending a tier, and explicitly flag the AI Agent double-billing and 72-hour reopen rule so a peak-season bill doesn't blindside them.