Starshipit delivers smarter CX with Zendesk AI

Starshipit, a leading shipping automation platform based in Auckland, New Zealand, helps retailers integrate with over 60 couriers to automate fulfillment and reduce shipping costs. With over 30,000 global customers, the company’s mission is to help online retailers increase productivity and expand around the world.

The platform has helped retailers achieve over 50 percent savings in handling time, establishing itself as a game changer for eCommerce and logistics. By driving efficiencies at scale, Starshipit has fueled retailer growth and solidified its position as a global industry leader.

Managing high ticket volumes with a small team

Handling an increasing number of inquiries with limited resources was a major challenge for Starshipit. The customer support team was manually triaging tickets, responding to repetitive queries, and escalating urgent requests on a daily basis.

Agents handled a large volume of support requests, primarily through web forms, emails, and messaging channels. Common inquiries included account configuration, shipping label issues, and carrier integrations.

“Email tickets were overwhelming our team. We needed a smarter way to manage inquiries and free up agents for high-value tasks,” recalls Anne Cho, Knowledge and Content Lead at Starshipit.

Manual processes could no longer keep up with the growing complexity of customer operations. To scale effectively, the team needed automation—enter Zendesk AI to transform the way the team works.

Empowering shipping assistance with AI

To keep pace with growing customer interactions, Starshipit turned to AI-powered automation to redefine its customer care strategy—leveraging intelligent workflows to minimize manual effort, automate tasks, and empower agents to focus on high-value solutions.

Zendesk AI is at the core of this transformation, which provides real-time writing assistance. Agents can adjust response tone, expand messages, and structure replies to complex tickets effortlessly, making communication more seamless.

According to Cho, “Our agents use Zendesk AI to adjust messaging tone and expand responses when needed. It’s a small but powerful tool that makes communication more effective.”

Automating customer care ticket prioritization

Efficiency also means handling tickets strategically. By leveraging Intelligent Triage, a core feature of Zendesk AI, inquiries are automatically categorized and summarized, allowing agents to immediately understand ticket context without having to sift through long email conversations.

“Summarization has been a game changer for our agents. Instead of scrolling through endless threads, they can now quickly understand ticket context at a glance, saving valuable time and improving response effectiveness,” she explains.​

Sentiment analysis empowers managers to detect and prioritize urgent cases instantly, ensuring swift intervention and a proactive resolution process. By streamlining issue escalation, response quality is enhanced and minor issues are prevented from turning into major concerns.

Reducing workload with instant answers

The AI auto-replies feature has been particularly valuable in handling frequently asked questions. Many of the most common issues, like printing errors, are now resolved automatically.

“When customers submit a ticket, they receive a confirmation email with suggested articles based on their inquiry. Many resolve their issues on their own, reducing ticket volume and deflecting cases before they reach an agent,” explains Cho.

Automation has revolutionized Starshipit’s support–saving time, equipping agents with intelligent tools, and delivering fast, exceptional assistance. Operations are now optimized, delivering measurable and game-changing results.

Unlocking growth & impact

By leveraging intelligent ticket summaries, Starshipit has significantly improved response times—cutting first reply time by an average of 39 percent YoY, with a peak of 73 percent. Customers now receive faster, more seamless support, setting a new standard for responsiveness.

Additionally, instant auto-replies have helped reduce ticket volume by an average of 13 percent YoY, providing immediate, relevant responses and deflecting common inquiries before they reach an agent.

“The tone shift and expanded summarization features have been an absolute game changer for our team, significantly improving the clarity and efficiency of our responses,” Cho shares.

The team also achieved a 27 percent peak increase in SLA-achieved tickets, ensuring more inquiries were handled within the expected timeframe.

According to Cho, managers can now act in line with customer sentiment, identifying and prioritizing urgent cases while ensuring swift intervention—ultimately turning dissatisfaction into loyalty.

“Understanding customer intent has been key to promptly addressing unhappy customers, turning pain points into positive experiences and strengthening customer relationships,” she points out.

AI-powered assistance has bolstered Starshipit’s CX impact, equipping the team with the confidence and tools needed to take on future challenges and stay ahead.

Expanding capabilities for what’s next

Starshipit is exploring further AI applications, including intent-based routing and skills-based assignments.

“Our goal is to automate ticket routing based on intent, ensuring cases are assigned to agents with the right skills,” says Cho. “While we’re not fully utilizing intent categorization yet, we plan to leverage it for automatic ticket assignments as AI accuracy improves.”

Looking ahead, Starshipit plans to expand AI agent capabilities to handle routine messaging inquiries, ensuring human agents focus on deeper customer engagements.

“AI isn’t replacing agents—it’s empowering them. The optimizations we’ve gained let us focus on delivering personalized, high-quality support where it matters most,” concludes Cho.