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WooCommerce AI Chatbot Setup: Plugin, Product Feed and Testing

Set up an AI chatbot on WooCommerce: install the plugin, connect in one click, add a product feed so it knows prices and stock, and test it before customers do.

By The Biggest NerdPublished 6 min read

In this guide
  1. Step 1: install and connect the plugin
  2. Step 2: give it your products as a feed
  3. Step 3: switch on what helps a shop
  4. Step 4: test it before your customers do
  5. If something isn't right
  6. What it doesn't do on WooCommerce
  7. Frequently asked questions

To set up an AI chatbot on WooCommerce, install our WordPress plugin and press Connect. That puts the chat on every page and has the assistant read your sitemap. Then add a product feed so it knows current prices and stock. There's no code to paste, and you don't need an API key from an AI provider. The step most shops skip is the feed. Without it, the assistant knows your products from their pages, which a caching plugin may have served it hours ago, rather than from the current price list.

The short version is on our WooCommerce install page. This guide goes through the install, three ways to get a product feed (one free and built into WooCommerce), product suggestions, and a test to run before customers see it.

Step 1: install and connect the plugin

WooCommerce runs on WordPress, so it uses our WordPress plugin. You need an administrator account and WordPress 6.3 or later.

  1. Download the plugin zip. Don't unzip it.
  2. In WordPress, go to Plugins, then Add New, then Upload Plugin. Choose the zip, press Install Now, then Activate.
  3. Go to Settings, then AI Chatbot, and press Connect to The Biggest Nerd.
  4. Make your account, or sign in. New accounts pick a plan and add a card to start the 3-day free trial, and nothing is charged during it.
  5. Press Connect for your shop's address. You're sent back to WordPress with the chat switched on.
  6. Clear your caching plugin's cache (WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, LiteSpeed Cache and so on). Then open the shop in a private window and look for the bubble.

The Connect button saves your shop's address to the assistant, so the chat is allowed to answer there. It also reads your sitemap, Yoast's and Rank Math's included, and switches the chat on. Our WordPress plugin guide covers the plugin's settings in more detail.

The chat shows on the shop, product, category, cart and account pages. The sitemap gives the assistant your product pages and the pages most questions are really about: delivery, returns, sizing and contact.

Step 2: give it your products as a feed

A product page tells the assistant what a product is. A feed tells it the price and stock today, in a structured way it can't misread. We read three formats: the Google Shopping XML that Merchant Center uses, RSS and Atom.

Option A: WooCommerce's own product feed (free, no prices)

WordPress publishes an RSS feed for each content type, products included. For most shops it's at:

https://yourshop.com/?post_type=product&feed=rss2

Open it in your browser first. If you see a list of products, that's your feed. It has each product's name, description and link, which is enough to recognise products by name and link to them. It doesn't include prices or stock, so this suits a shop where the price is on the product page and rarely changes.

Option B: a Google Shopping feed from a feed plugin (prices and stock)

If you advertise on Google Shopping, you may already have one. If not, a free feed plugin will make one. For example, CTX Feed (Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce) on WordPress.org says its free version supports unlimited products and feeds. Choose the Google Shopping template and the XML format, then generate the feed and copy its address. Set the plugin to regenerate the feed on a schedule so prices stay current.

One catch: the official Google for WooCommerce extension sends products to Merchant Center directly, through Google's API, rather than publishing a feed file. If that's what you use, there may be no feed address to paste. Use option A or a feed plugin alongside it.

Adding the feed

In our dashboard, open your assistant's setup page, choose the Products tab, paste the feed address and press Read products. Read it again after a price change or a sale, because it doesn't sync on its own. The product questions page shows the kinds of questions it can then answer.

Step 3: switch on what helps a shop

  • Lead capture. When the assistant can't answer, it offers a short form for a name and an email or phone number, and emails you each lead with the question attached. This is on every plan. See lead capture.
  • Product suggestions (Growth and above). After it has answered, the assistant can suggest one related product, only from your feed, and never on a complaint or a return. It's off until you switch it on. See product suggestions.
  • Clickable questions (Growth and above). Three buttons with the questions your customers ask most, such as "How long is delivery?", so visitors don't have to think of one.

Step 4: test it before your customers do

Ask it ten questions from your real inbox, and include three it shouldn't be able to answer:

  1. Your returns window, and who pays return postage.
  2. Delivery time and cost to a specific postcode or country.
  3. The price and stock of a product you changed this week. If it gives the old price, re-read the feed.
  4. A sizing or compatibility question answered on a product page.
  5. Something your site doesn't say, such as a discount code you've never offered.

On the last one, it should say it doesn't know and offer the lead form. It answers only from what it has read. Our post on stopping a chatbot making up policies explains why, and has a longer pre-launch test. Every question it couldn't answer goes on your list of unanswered questions, which tells you which page to write next.

If something isn't right

  • No bubble. Clear the caching plugin's cache, and your host's or CDN's cache too. Then check Settings, then AI Chatbot, shows the chat as on.
  • Still no bubble. The address customers use may not be saved on the assistant. This usually happens with www versus no www, or when you connected from a staging domain. The chat stays hidden on any address it doesn't know, so add the exact address in our dashboard under Your website.
  • Old prices. Re-read the feed, and check the feed plugin is regenerating it.
  • It quotes a page you've retired, such as an old promotion. Remove that page from the list of pages it learned in the dashboard.

What it doesn't do on WooCommerce

  • No orders. It can't see WooCommerce orders, so it won't answer "where's my parcel". It can point people to your order-tracking page. Our post on where-is-my-order questions covers handling them.
  • No cart or checkout actions. It doesn't add to cart, apply coupons or take payments.
  • No live chat with a person. When it can't help, it takes the visitor's details for you to follow up.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an AI chatbot plugin for WooCommerce?

Yes. Our WordPress plugin works on WooCommerce. Install it, press Connect, and the chat goes on every page with your sitemap already read. You don't paste an AI provider's API key, because the AI runs on our side. Add a product feed for prices and stock.

Can the chatbot answer questions about my products' prices and stock?

Yes, from a product feed. WooCommerce's built-in RSS product feed gives it names and descriptions but no prices. A Google Shopping feed from a feed plugin adds price and availability. Re-read the feed when prices change.

Can a WooCommerce chatbot track orders?

Ours can't. It doesn't connect to WooCommerce orders. Point it to your order-tracking page, and it will send customers there.

Will it work with my caching plugin?

Yes. Clear the cache after connecting, because caching plugins keep serving pages without the chat for a while. After that, nothing needs excluding from the cache.

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