Software stack to automate customer support for an online store in India

Put every query into one system with a knowledge base, so nothing gets lost across channels.

You cannot automate what you cannot see. A help desk gives you a shared inbox, a knowledge base, and SLAs, which is the foundation every bot and channel plugs into. For an Indian store, an INR-billed desk with GST-ready invoicing avoids forex friction from day one.

Zoho Desk is India-built, INR-billed, and has a free tier, with a knowledge base and ticketing that fit an SMB store. Freshdesk is another strong Freshworks desk with a free tier, worth it if you are already in the Freshworks world (it bills in USD). Help Scout is the simplest shared inbox for a small team that wants human, not automated, support. Start with Zoho Desk for the INR billing and free entry; pick Help Scout if you want a plain shared inbox with no complexity.

Answer the where-is-my-order and returns questions instantly so humans handle only the hard ones.

The bulk of store support is a handful of repeat questions. An AI agent trained on your policies deflects those instantly, cutting response time and staff load. This is the one stage where a USD-billed AI tool usually earns its forex plus GST cost.

Chaindesk trains an AI agent on your own data and has a free tier, good for a custom store bot. Tidio is SMB and ecommerce friendly with live chat plus AI, popular with small stores. Freshchat adds live chat and bots and sits close to Freshdesk if you chose that desk. Pick Chaindesk if you want the bot grounded strictly in your docs; pick Tidio or Freshchat if you want chat and bot in one familiar tool. All three bill in USD.

Answer and automate the channel where most Indian shoppers actually message you.

For Indian stores, a large share of support lands on WhatsApp, not email. Using the official Business API with a shared inbox lets you automate first replies and route chats to agents without breaking WhatsApp rules.

Gallabox is India-built, INR-billed, with a shared team inbox and no-code bots, a good default for an SMB store. Wati offers a multi-agent WhatsApp inbox and broadcasts but bills in USD. Gupshup is a high-volume India-origin provider for stores sending very large message volumes on custom pricing. Start with Gallabox for INR billing; consider Gupshup only when volumes run into lakhs of messages a month.

Use calls for COD confirmation and delivery or RTO issues, not for questions a bot can answer.

Chat handles most of it, but COD order confirmation and failed-delivery follow-ups genuinely need a call, and in India that reduces return-to-origin losses. Indian cloud telephony gives you IVR and virtual numbers billed in INR.

Exotel is Indian cloud telephony built for calls, IVR, and SMS at scale, INR-billed. MyOperator is India-built and INR-billed, aimed at SMBs wanting professional call handling and IVR. Knowlarity is another Indian provider with virtual numbers and IVR. Pick MyOperator for a smaller store wanting simple professional call handling; pick Exotel when call volume and automation needs grow. All three bill in INR, so no forex.

Find out whether the automation actually helped or just deflected people.

Deflection can hide unhappy customers who gave up rather than got helped. A short post-resolution survey tells you if automation improved or hurt the experience.

SurveyMonkey supports INR billing and has a free tier for a simple CSAT survey after resolution. Typeform (USD) is more engaging one-question-at-a-time and gets higher completion. Use SurveyMonkey for INR billing and simplicity; use Typeform if survey completion is low and you want a friendlier feel.