The AI Agents Playbook for Customer Support Teams
A playbook for deploying AI agents in customer support: which agents to build first, how to write instructions, and how to measure results.
Most support teams can hand a large share of their daily conversations to AI agents — but only if they start with the right ones. This playbook covers which agents to build first, how to write their instructions and how to know they are working.
Start with your top intents
Look at what customers actually ask. Intent tagging on every message shows the ranking: order status, size questions, returns, payments, delivery delays. Build agents for the top three first.
The five agents most businesses need
- Order Support — order status, timelines and tracking.
- Sales & Recommendations — products, sizes, pairings and offers.
- Returns & Refunds — policy, eligibility and return steps.
- Abandoned Cart Recovery — reminders and objection handling.
- FAQ & Store Info — shipping, payments, opening hours, policies.
Writing instructions that work
- State the role and the goal.
- List the facts it can use (timelines, prices, policies).
- List what it must collect before finishing.
- State what it must never do (promise refunds outside policy, share other customers’ data).
- Define the handoff: when and how to involve a person.
Measure and improve
Track reply volume by agent versus humans, sentiment trends, and which intents still end in escalation. Improve the instructions for the intents that escalate most, one at a time.
Frequently asked questions
How many AI agents should we start with?
Start with two or three agents for your most common intents, then add more once they perform well.