Launch checklist for admins

Work down this list in order: each step uses something set up in the one before. Most brands get through it in a day or two. You need the admin role for nearly all of it.

1. Bring your history over#

Do this first, so the tickets your team needs to look back on are there from the start and so imported tags and macros can be tidied before you build on them.

Skip this step if you are starting fresh.

2. Connect your channels#

1. Email. Connect your support address with Google, or forward it from any other mail host. Then add a signature and check that your replies are delivered. Guides: Connect Gmail, Forward email, Email signatures, Email delivery.

2. Chat. Add chat to your store and set its hours and offline form. Guides: Set up chat, Chat hours and offline messages.

3. Contact form and help center, if you want customers to find answers before writing. Guides: Contact forms, Create a help center.

3. Connect your store#

Connect Shopify so each ticket shows the customer's orders, tracking and refunds, and so agents can act on orders from the ticket. Guide: Connect your store.

4. Set your hours#

In Settings > Business hours and holidays, set when your team works. Reports, SLAs, chat availability and the urgency score all count waiting time against these hours. Guide: Business hours.

5. Bring in your team#

1. Create teams for the groups that share work, such as "Orders & Shipping" or "Wholesale". Guide: Teams.

2. Invite everyone with the right role. Guides: Invite your team, Roles and what each can do.

3. Set the notification defaults new people start with, and the custom away statuses they can pick. Guides: Notifications, Agent availability.

6. Organize tickets#

1. Tags for the topics you want to count and route. Keep the list short. Guide: Tags.

2. Ticket fields for facts you record on every ticket, such as the contact reason, and which must be filled before closing. Guide: Ticket fields.

3. Views for each queue your team works from, shared by team or topic. Guide: Views.

7. Answer faster#

1. Macros for your most common answers: order status, returns, damaged items, address changes. Guide: Create and manage macros.

2. Rules to tag, prioritize and route new tickets, starting from the templates. Guides: How rules work, Rule templates.

3. Service levels and quality: reply targets, auto-merge of repeat messages, and the satisfaction survey. Guides: SLAs, Auto-merge, Satisfaction surveys.

You can also ask Haylee for macros, rules, tags, views and ticket fields; she builds them for you to review. Rules she makes are saved switched off until you turn them on.

8. Set up the AI agent#

Link Haylee, write skills for the questions you get most, and choose in AI Agent > Actions what she may do on her own. Guides: How the AI agent works, Link Haylee, Skills, Actions.

9. Test before you switch over#

1. From a personal address, email your support address. Check that a ticket appears in Unassigned within a minute or two, with the tags and team your rules should give it.

2. Reply to it with a macro and confirm the reply reaches your personal inbox with your signature.

3. Open your store, start a chat and answer it from the helpdesk.

4. Close the test tickets.

10. Go live#

Point your mail, chat and forms at the helpdesk, run any import once more to pick up the last changes, and tell your team which views to work from. Check Analytics > Live view during the first days to see that nothing is piling up unassigned. Guide: Live view.