If you've built SMS automations before, you know the drill: pick a trigger, write a message, add a few merge tags for personalization, and let it run. Shopper Automations works differently. There are no flows, templated messages, or segments to build. Shopper decides the next best message for each subscriber individually, based on everything you know about them.
This article covers what Shopper Automations takes over, how it decides what to send, and how send volume is managed.
What Shopper Automations Replaces
Shopper Automations takes over your core automation triggers for subscribers in your test group:
Subscriber Created (welcome series)
Subscriber Viewed Product
Product Added to Cart
Checkout Started
Link Click
Subscriber Reply
Where a traditional flow would fire a templated message, Shopper writes one for that specific person.
How Shopper Decides What to Send
For every subscriber and every trigger, Shopper weighs three kinds of context:
Funnel stage — Are they a brand-new subscriber, a repeat purchaser, or somewhere in between?
Onsite behavior — What they've browsed, added to cart, or clicked.
Past conversations — What they've told your brand in previous Shopper conversations: who they're shopping for, what they're looking for, and what's held them back.
From there, Shopper decides what to say, when to send it, and which offer to include (if any). Every message is generated fresh for that subscriber.
When Shopper Starts a Conversation Instead
Sometimes Shopper doesn't know enough about a subscriber to send a strong message. When that happens, it asks — opening a conversation that Shopper Responses picks up. Shopper learns what the subscriber actually wants, then follows up with a message based on what it learned. You don't have to engineer conversational questions into flows; Shopper picks the right moment on its own.
How Send Volume Works
Shopper is seeded with your historical automation data and targets similar volume to your existing program. Subscribers don't suddenly get dramatically more messages — the sending pattern is informed by what your program already does. The unsubscribe rate is tracked in your reporting from day one, so you can verify it against your own baseline.
Common Questions
What happens to my Infinity Testing Automations (ITA) when I turn on Shopper Automations?
What happens to my Infinity Testing Automations (ITA) when I turn on Shopper Automations?
They're automatically disabled. Shopper Automations and Infinity Testing Automations can't run at the same time, so the moment you activate, every active ITA flow is turned off — you'll see an in-app list naming each one before you confirm. Those flows stay visible in your automation list; they just stop sending. If you want your control group to keep receiving an automation experience instead of nothing, you (or your CSM) will need to manually rebuild your top-performing ITA flows as standard flows.
How can I review messages from the Shopper Automations test group?
How can I review messages from the Shopper Automations test group?
On your Shopper Automations settings page, you'll see a View Messages button once the optimizing phase is reached. Clicking it takes you to your Conversations tab with the Tag filter for "Shopper Automations - Enrolled" already applied, pulling up all subscriber threads where Shopper Automations has sent messages.
Is there a way to see what inputs informed a specific Shopper Automations message?
Is there a way to see what inputs informed a specific Shopper Automations message?
Yes. In your Conversations view, click into any Shopper Automations message to open Message Details — a breakdown of the Message Inputs (like Tactic, Urgency Levers, Content, and Offer) and Subscriber Details that Shopper used to decide what to send and how to write it.
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