Customize AI Agent's tone of voiceUpdated 3 days ago

Tone of voice is how AI Agent sounds when it talks to your customers: the words it chooses, how it opens and closes conversations, and what it never says. Configuring tone of voice ensures that every reply from AI Agent feels consistent and on-brand.

You can set a general personality that AI Agent uses everywhere, then add specific instructions to adjust tone, response length, and format for specific channels where AI Agent is enabled (email, chat, SMS, and socials).

If you want to control the exact steps AI Agent should take to handle specific topics or scenarios (for example, if a customer asks to return an order), use skills instead.

In this article, you'll learn how to:

• Set a personality
• Customize what AI Agent says
• Restrict words and behaviors
• Configure emoji usage
• Add channel-specific instructions
• Test your tone of voice

Navigate to tone of voice settings

1. From the main menu, go to  AI Agent.
   • If you have more than 1 Shopify store connected to Gorgias, use the dropdown at the top of the AI Agent menu to select a store.
2. Under Train, select Tone of voice.

Set a personality

Personality is AI Agent's overall communication style. It applies across all channels unless you add channel-specific instructions on top of it.

There are 4 personalities to choose from:

To set a personality:

1. In Tone of voice, make sure you're on the General tab.
2. Under Personality, select the personality that best fits your brand.
3. Select Save.

Use a custom personality

If your brand has its own tone of voice guidelines, select Custom to write your own instructions. A text field appears where you can describe how AI Agent should communicate in plain language (up to 3,000 characters).

To use a custom personality:

1. Under Personality, select Custom.
2. In the AI Agent personality field, describe your brand's voice and communication style.
3. Select Save.

Focus on style principles: how AI Agent should sound, what words and phrases fit your brand, and what general behaviors to avoid. If your brand guidelines run long, prioritize what applies to every conversation. Instructions about specific situations ("when a customer asks about returns, do X") belong in skills, not in tone of voice.

Customize what AI Agent says

The What to say section lets you define how AI Agent should greet customers, how it should sign-off, and what brand-specific terminology or acronyms it should know.

• Greeting: how AI Agent opens a conversation. For example, "Always greet customers with 'Hi [Customer's First Name]', never 'Dear' or 'Hello'."
• Sign-off: how AI Agent closes a conversation. For example, "Always end with 'If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out.'" On email, the sign-off appears as a line before your email signature.
• Brand-specific terminology or acronyms: words, product names, or phrases your brand prefers, and which to avoid. For example, "Speak on behalf of the brand using 'we/us/our', never the brand name directly, and always capitalize product names."

To customize what AI Agent says:

1. Navigate to the What to say section in your tone of voice settings
2. Enter your instructions in the Greeting, Sign-off, or Brand-specific terminology or acronyms fields (up to 600 characters each).
3. Select Save.

Restrict words and behaviors

Use the What to avoid section to define words, phrases, or behaviors AI Agent should never use. This is useful for enforcing compliance with brand guidelines or avoiding language that could be inappropriate or misleading.

1. Navigate to the What to avoid section in your tone of voice settings.
2. Enter your restrictions in the Forbidden words, phrases, or behaviors field.
3. Select Save.

Configure emoji usage

Use the Emojis section to control whether AI Agent includes emojis in its replies.

• Allow emojis turned on: AI Agent can use emojis when relevant. AI Agent decides when an emoji fits the tone and context of the conversation.
• Allow emojis turned off: AI Agent never uses emojis in any reply.

When Allow emojis is turned on, you can also specify which emojis AI Agent is allowed to use and which it should avoid:

1. Under Emojis, make sure Allow emojis is turned on.
2. Under Allowed emojis, use the emoji picker to add emojis AI Agent can use.
3. Under Forbidden emojis, use the emoji picker to add emojis AI Agent should never use.
4. Select Save.

Add channel-specific instructions

Channel-specific instructions let you tailor AI Agent's tone and response format for email, chat, SMS, and social channels individually. These instructions build on your general personality settings. They don't replace them.

Use channel-specific instructions when you want AI Agent to speak differently on a given channel. For example, you might want shorter, more conversational replies on chat, and more detailed responses on email.

1. In Tone of voice, select the Channel-specific tab.
2. Select the channel you want to configure: Email, Chat, SMS, or Socials.
3. Use the Verbosity dropdown to set how detailed AI Agent's replies should be for that channel:
   • Concise: brief and to the point
   • Balanced: moderate detail
   • Detailed: comprehensive explanations
4. In the Instructions field, add any channel-specific tone or formatting instructions (up to 1,500 characters).
5. Select Save.

You can configure each channel separately. Leave a channel's section empty and AI Agent will use your general tone of voice settings for that channel.

Test your tone of voice

After configuring your settings, use Playground to simulate a customer conversation and verify that AI Agent replies the way you expect. Getting the exact tone of voice you want may take a few iterations, so it's worth testing before you go live.

You can always revisit your tone of voice settings and make adjustments, even after AI Agent begins to handle real customer conversations.

1. Select  Playground at the top right of Tone of voice.
2. In the test panel, configure the channel you want to test (Email, Chat, SMS, or a social channel like Instagram DMs, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp).
3. Type a question in the Ask a question field, then select Send.
4. Review AI Agent's response to confirm the tone, phrasing, and format match your preferences.
5. Adjust your settings as needed, then select Save.

If you've set channel-specific instructions, test each channel separately, since response length and format can vary between channels.

For more advanced testing, including how to simulate conversations with a specific customer profile or order history, see Preview AI Agent responses with test conversations.

Frequently asked questions