Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about Hikari CS, in one place.

Getting Started

What is Hikari CS and who is it built for?

Hikari CS is an AI-powered helpdesk built specifically for ecommerce businesses and online stores — from early-stage startups to Shopify Plus brands. Whether you're a solo merchant handling your first 50 support tickets or a growing team managing thousands of conversations across multiple stores, Hikari CS is designed to scale with you.

Can I really start for free?

Yes. Our Free plan gives you up to 50 conversations per month at no cost, with no credit card required. You get access to all core features — including our native Shopify integration, live chat, AI tools, and help center — so you can experience the full value of the platform before committing to a paid plan.

How long does it take to set up?

For Shopify stores, setup takes under 5 minutes with a one-click install from the Shopify App Store. For other platforms, simply copy and paste a single code snippet onto your site. No developer needed.

Will Hikari CS slow down my Shopify store?

No. Our app is built with performance as a top priority. It loads asynchronously, which means it never blocks your page content or impacts your Core Web Vitals. You get powerful support capabilities without compromising your store's speed.

Pricing & Plans

How does your pricing work?

We charge per conversation, not per agent seat.
Our plans are:
- Free: €0/month — up to 50 conversations, all core features included
- AI Lite: €0.16 per conversation — unlimited conversations, €10 base fee/month (includes your first 62 conversations)
- AI Pro: €0.32 per conversation — unlimited conversations, €10 base fee/month (includes your first 31 conversations)

What exactly counts as a "conversation"?

A conversation is a single support interaction with a customer, from their first message until the issue is resolved. Whether it takes 2 messages or 20, it counts as one conversation. A conversation is closed for billing purposes after 48 hours of inactivity.

Why is there a €10 minimum base fee on paid plans?

The €10 base fee covers the infrastructure and unlimited agent seats on your account — and it's not just an access fee. It also includes your first batch of conversations each month (62 for AI Lite, 31 for AI Pro), so you're immediately getting value from day one.

Why is your pricing better than per-seat models?

Per-seat models charge you for every agent login, regardless of whether they're a full-time agent or a manager who logs in once a month. Our pay-per-conversation model means you pay for outcomes — actual customer engagement — not headcount. You can have unlimited agents on every plan, including Free.

Are there any setup fees or hidden costs?

None. No setup fees, no surprise add-ons, no required upgrades. Your cost is simply the €10 monthly base fee plus your per-conversation usage beyond what's included. That's it.

Can I change my plan at any time?

Yes. You can upgrade or downgrade between AI Lite and AI Pro at any time from your account dashboard. Billing is prorated accordingly.

Why are some features exclusive to the AI Pro plan?

Features like AI Image Recognition and AI Report Analysis require the most advanced AI models (such as GPT-5 and Gemini Pro). This is a model capability limitation, not an artificial restriction — these features simply aren't possible on lighter models.

What is Hikari CS and who is it built for?

Can I really start for free?

How long does it take to set up?

Will Hikari CS slow down my Shopify store?

How does your pricing work?

What exactly counts as a "conversation"?

Why is there a €10 minimum base fee on paid plans?

Why is your pricing better than per-seat models?

Are there any setup fees or hidden costs?

None. No setup fees, no surprise add-ons, no required upgrades. Your cost is simply the €10 monthly base fee plus your per-conversation usage beyond what's included. That's it.

Can I change my plan at any time?

Yes. You can upgrade or downgrade between AI Lite and AI Pro at any time from your account dashboard. Billing is prorated accordingly.

Why are some features exclusive to the AI Pro plan?

What AI models does Hikari CS use?

We integrate with industry-leading AI providers, including OpenAI, Google Gemini, and Anthropic. AI Lite plans use efficient mini models ideal for most support workflows. AI Pro plans unlock the most advanced available models for complex reasoning, image understanding, and deep analytics.

What does the AI Copilot do for my agents?

The AI Copilot is a real-time assistant embedded in the agent workspace. It suggests contextually relevant replies, rewrites messages for clarity and tone, summarizes long conversation histories, answers internal knowledge questions, and helps agents understand visual issues via image recognition. It makes every agent faster and more accurate.

Can the AI handle customer requests completely on its own?

Yes, for many common inquiries. Our AI Self-Service Agents handle frequent questions like "Where is my order?", "What's your return policy?", and "How much is shipping?" — 24/7, with no human intervention. When a request is too complex, the AI smoothly hands the conversation to a human agent.

Will AI replace my customer service team?

No. Our AI is designed to augment your team, not replace it. By automating repetitive tasks and providing instant information, it frees your agents to focus on high-value, empathetic interactions where human judgment makes the biggest difference. Think of it as giving every agent a superpower, not a pink slip.

Can I customize what the AI knows and how it responds?

Yes. You control the AI's knowledge base through our Knowledge Management tools and AI Playground, where you can test and refine responses before they go live. This ensures the AI reflects your brand voice and business policies accurately.

How does the Shopify MCP integration enhance AI performance?

Our Shopify MCP integration gives the AI real-time access to your store's product catalog, stock levels, pricing, and order data. This means the AI can answer questions like "Is this item in stock in size M?" or "What's the status of my order?" with live, accurate information — no manual lookup required.

How does the native Shopify integration work?

Once you install the Hikari CS app from the Shopify App Store, it automatically and securely syncs your orders, customers, and product catalog. There's no coding required. Every customer conversation shows the agent a full sidebar with that customer's order history, shipment status, and purchase timeline — no tab-switching needed.

Can I manage multiple Shopify stores from one account?

Absolutely. You can connect unlimited Shopify stores and manage all customer conversations from a single unified helpdesk, with data and reporting kept separate per store. Perfect for multi-brand businesses.

Can agents take actions directly in Shopify from the helpdesk?

Yes. Your agents can view and manage orders, process refunds, edit shipping addresses, cancel orders, add order notes, and track shipments — all without leaving the conversation.

Which communication channels does Hikari CS support?

All plans include Email, Live Chat, Facebook, and Instagram in a single unified inbox. WhatsApp support is coming soon.

How does the unified inbox work?

Every customer message — regardless of channel — flows into one smart inbox. Our AI Priority Queue analyzes incoming conversations for urgency, customer history, sentiment, and keywords, then surfaces the most critical tickets at the top so agents always know what to work on next.

What is the AI Priority Queue?

The Priority Queue automatically scores incoming conversations based on multiple factors — urgency signals, customer history, channel, and sentiment — and presents them in order of impact. Your agents can simply pick the next ticket from the top with confidence, rather than manually triaging an overflowing inbox.

How many agent seats can I have?

Unlimited. On every plan, including Free. You are never charged per agent or per seat.

Can we collaborate with people outside the support team, like warehouse or logistics staff?

Yes. Our Internal Tickets feature lets you create a ticket linked to a customer conversation and assign it to anyone — warehouse team, finance department, or even an external shipping partner. All communication stays organized and contextually connected to the original customer issue.

How do you prevent two agents from accidentally responding to the same ticket?

Our "Who's Viewing" indicator shows in real-time when another agent is already viewing or typing a reply to a conversation, preventing duplicate work and awkward double-replies.

What's the difference between Groups and custom Views?

Groups are about people — you create teams of agents (e.g., "Returns Team," "VIP Support"). Views are about conversations — you create filtered lists based on criteria like tag, channel, assignee, or urgency level. An agent in the Returns Group might use a "High Priority Returns" View to see only the most urgent tickets in their area.

How do you support teams across different time zones?

Private notes and @mentions keep full context visible for agents picking up conversations across shifts. Automatic translation removes language barriers for international teams. Custom Views and Groups let you route conversations to the right regional team automatically.

Can I customize the live chat widget to match my brand?

Yes. You have full control over the widget's colors, logo, and welcome text. You can also customize the home screen with self-service shortcuts — like FAQs, order tracking, and your AI agent — so customers get value even before they contact a human.

Does the live chat work on mobile?

Yes. The widget is fully responsive and optimized for mobile devices.

What happens if a customer leaves the chat before getting an answer?

Email continuity kicks in automatically. If a customer goes offline mid-chat, we send their conversation to their email, ensuring no query is ever lost and the conversation can continue seamlessly.

What is coming soon for live chat?

Voice Chat is on the roadmap. Customers will soon be able to leave voice messages directly in the chat or receive AI-generated audio replies.

What is the Help Center feature?

Our built-in Help Center lets you create a fully branded, SEO-optimized knowledge base where customers can find answers independently. It supports multiple languages, custom domains (e.g., support.yourdomain.com), and multi-brand setups — and integrates directly with the AI self-service agent.

How does the Smart Contact Form differ from a standard contact form?

A standard contact form is a static message box. Our Smart Contact Form is an adaptive, multi-step workflow. When a customer selects "Delivery issue," an order tracker appears automatically. When they report a product problem, they're guided to select the exact item and upload photos in a single flow. This means agents receive fully structured, complete tickets — no back-and-forth needed.

Does the Smart Contact Form work outside of Shopify?

Yes. While Shopify gets a native one-click integration, you can generate an embed code and place the form on any platform — Magento, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or a custom-built site.

What reporting features are available?

Every plan includes: Conversion & Revenue Tracking, Agent Performance Reports (First Response Time, Resolution Time, CSAT), Chat Campaign Performance, Conversation Subject & Intent Analysis, and Product Insight Reports. AI Report Analysis — where the AI generates a plain-language summary of your data with key learnings and recommendations — is exclusive to the AI Pro plan.

How does revenue attribution work?

When a customer interacts with your support team (via chat or email) and then makes a purchase within a defined attribution window, Hikari CS connects that interaction to the sale. This gives you direct, quantifiable data on how your support team drives revenue.

What are Product Insight Reports?

Product Insight Reports let your agents log product issues — size defects, quality problems, shipping damage — directly against specific SKUs in your Shopify catalog. Over time, these reports surface which products generate the most complaints, giving your QA team and suppliers concrete, data-backed evidence to act on. On AI Pro, the AI can generate a written analysis of trends and recommendations with a single click.

What are Product Insight Reports?

Can Hikari CS handle customers in different languages?

Yes. Our real-time AI Translator works across live chat, email, and all connected channels. Your agents type in their language; customers see it in theirs. The chat widget also automatically localizes to the customer's language and region.

How many translation languages are supported?

The Free plan includes 1 translation language. AI Lite includes 3. AI Pro supports 20 languages.

Can agencies use Hikari CS to manage multiple clients?

Yes. Hikari CS has a dedicated agency setup with white-labeling, multi-client management, and automated billing. Each client lives in its own isolated project space. You can offer the platform under your own brand and have unlimited clients on any plan.

How does client billing work for agencies?

Connect your Stripe account once, and Hikari CS reports each client's conversation usage directly to their Stripe subscription for automated, accurate billing. You set the pricing terms in Stripe — we handle the tracking.

Do agency clients get a portal to view their own data?

Yes. You can grant clients access to a dedicated Client Portal where they can view real-time performance statistics and conversation history.

Is my customer data secure?

Yes. The platform uses industry-standard security protocols and data handling best practices. All data is protected and confidential. Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) and user rights management are available on all plans.

Is there data separation between brands or clients?

Yes. Brand separation is built into the platform at all levels, ensuring that data, conversations, and settings remain fully isolated between brands or client accounts.

AI Features

What AI models does Hikari CS use?

What does the AI Copilot do for my agents?

Can the AI handle customer requests completely on its own?

Will AI replace my customer service team?

Can I customize what the AI knows and how it responds?

How does the Shopify MCP integration enhance AI performance?

Shopify Integration

How does the native Shopify integration work?

Can I manage multiple Shopify stores from one account?

Can agents take actions directly in Shopify from the helpdesk?

Yes. Your agents can view and manage orders, process refunds, edit shipping addresses, cancel orders, add order notes, and track shipments — all without leaving the conversation.

Channels & Inbox

Which communication channels does Hikari CS support?

All plans include Email, Live Chat, Facebook, and Instagram in a single unified inbox. WhatsApp support is coming soon.

How does the unified inbox work?

What is the AI Priority Queue?

Team Collaboration

How many agent seats can I have?

Unlimited. On every plan, including Free. You are never charged per agent or per seat.

Can we collaborate with people outside the support team, like warehouse or logistics staff?

How do you prevent two agents from accidentally responding to the same ticket?

Our "Who's Viewing" indicator shows in real-time when another agent is already viewing or typing a reply to a conversation, preventing duplicate work and awkward double-replies.

What's the difference between Groups and custom Views?

How do you support teams across different time zones?

Live Chat

Can I customize the live chat widget to match my brand?

Does the live chat work on mobile?

Yes. The widget is fully responsive and optimized for mobile devices.

What happens if a customer leaves the chat before getting an answer?

Email continuity kicks in automatically. If a customer goes offline mid-chat, we send their conversation to their email, ensuring no query is ever lost and the conversation can continue seamlessly.

What is coming soon for live chat?

Voice Chat is on the roadmap. Customers will soon be able to leave voice messages directly in the chat or receive AI-generated audio replies.

Help Center & Smart Contact Forms

What is the Help Center feature?

How does the Smart Contact Form differ from a standard contact form?

Does the Smart Contact Form work outside of Shopify?

Yes. While Shopify gets a native one-click integration, you can generate an embed code and place the form on any platform — Magento, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or a custom-built site.

Reporting & Analytics

What reporting features are available?

How does revenue attribution work?

What are Product Insight Reports?

Global & Multi-Language Support

Can Hikari CS handle customers in different languages?

How many translation languages are supported?

The Free plan includes 1 translation language. AI Lite includes 3. AI Pro supports 20 languages.

Agencies

Can agencies use Hikari CS to manage multiple clients?

How does client billing work for agencies?

Do agency clients get a portal to view their own data?

Yes. You can grant clients access to a dedicated Client Portal where they can view real-time performance statistics and conversation history.

Security & Data

Is my customer data secure?

Is there data separation between brands or clients?

Yes. Brand separation is built into the platform at all levels, ensuring that data, conversations, and settings remain fully isolated between brands or client accounts.