Build a custom skill for Customer Agent
Custom skills enable you to expand your Customer Agent’s scoped capabilities. They’re a great solution to help solve repeated customer questions that aren’t currently handled by the preset skills.
In the video below, you’ll learn how to create your own custom skill in Klaviyo. As a reminder, the Agent Builder can help you do this!
Remember to test your custom skills to ensure that they’re triggering and working as expected!
Enable your connectors
What are connectors?
Connectors are the underlying integrations that you can sync to Customer Agent. You can think of connectors as the data infrastructure that powers what your Agent knows.
What kinds of connectors are there?
When you enable Customer Agent, you’ll already have some pre-existing connectors; these are the integrations you currently have live in Klaviyo. You might have connectors for your ecommerce site, reviews provider, loyalty provider, etc. As you expand your Agent capabilities, you’ll be able to set up new connectors to support those functions. Some examples include Shopify, Smile.io, or Klaviyo Reviews.
Where can I find connectors?
Head to Customer Agent > Connectors. Here you can see the connectors you already have enabled, and recommendations for ones you can set up to power new actions.
Gain inspiration from example custom skills
Eastie is ramping up their Customer Agent with some new custom skills to solve for their brand’s common use cases. Click the tabs below to explore the types of custom skills they built and what they solve.
Fit and style finder
What this skill does:
Asks about fit preference, activity, style, and support level, then recommends leggings, bras, tops, or sets.
Why it fits this brand’s use case:
Apparel shoppers often do not just want a product search; they want guided recommendations. This also provides the brand with richer preference details for each profile, allowing them to better target future messaging with relevant products.
Tools it may use:
Capabilities Customer Agent can use while handling this request include Search Shop Catalog, Get Customer Orders, Get Product Recommendations, Get Profile, Get Profile Events, Update Profile Property
Size recommendation assistant
What this skill does:
Helps shoppers choose the right size based on product type, fit preference, and body/fit cues.
Why it fits this brand’s use case:
This is great for reducing hesitation and returns, encouraging repeat purchases, and building trust with the brand.
Tools it may use:
Capabilities Customer Agent can use while handling this request include Search Shop Catalog, Search Company Knowledge, Get Customer Orders, Get Profile, Get Profile Events, Update Profile Property
Outfit builder
What it does:
Builds a full outfit for a specific use case (like hot yoga, marathon training, tennis, or travel) by recommending coordinated pieces instead of a single product.
Why it fits this brand’s use case:
Athletic apparel brands often sell systems, not standalone items. This custom skill can ask a few focused follow-ups and then return a small, intentional set of products perfect for the customer’s use case.
Tools it may use:
Capabilities Customer Agent can use while handling this request include Search Product Catalog, Get Customer Orders, Get Profile, Get Profile Events, Get Lists and Segments, Update Profile Property
Gift finder
What it does:
Helps a shopper choose a gift for someone else based on sport, style, budget, or occasion.
Why it fits this brand’s use case:
Gift shopping is a classic guided-selling moment where confidence matters more than breadth of catalog exposure.
Tools it may use:
Capabilities Customer Agent can use while handling this request include Search Product Catalog, Get Profile
Store locator
What it does:
Provides the closest brick-and-mortar store location to the shopper’s current provided location.
Why it fits this brand’s use case:
Many Eastie shoppers may prefer to visit a brick-and-mortar location to see items in person and try on sizes before making a purchase.
Tools it may use:
Capabilities Customer Agent can use while handling this request include Search Company Knowledge, and a custom store locator tool. Learn how to build custom tools (currently in beta).
Launch your agent across channels
Once you’ve gotten your content, guidance, skills and tools all set up, you are ready to start launching across your channels!
What makes Customer Agent is so powerful is that is it works out-of-the-box across your channels. Expand the dropdowns below to learn how to launch across each one. For more details, also review How to launch your Customer agent.
Web chat
Launching Customer Agent on web chat lets customers get quick answers while they’re actively browsing your site.
In these high-intent moments, timely, accurate support can make the difference between a question and a conversion. And if you use Customer Hub, web chat becomes part of a more seamless self-service experience, bringing support and account help together in one place.
Let’s first review how to enable web chat for Customer Agent, if you also use Customer Hub:
- Make sure web chat is enabled in Klaviyo under Settings > Web chat.
- Use the Design tab to design your web chat experience.
- Head to Customer Hub > Extensions > Enable web chat. This is what powers the web chat experience through Customer Hub.
- Head to Customer Agent > Web chat to enable some more web chat settings. Review who Customer Agent should respond to; you can include or exclude specific segments and set exact-match keywords that should always or never trigger the agent, and a welcome message.
- Customize the intro customers see when they open web chat, review which skills are active, and confirm where conversations should go when a human is needed.
- Preview the experience, then click Turn on to launch Customer Agent on web chat. Customer Agent will only respond to new messages received after it’s turned on.
If you do not have Customer Hub enabled, skip step #3. This will power your web chat widget and experience on your website.
Launching Customer Agent on email lets you deliver fast, consistent support in a channel customers already know and use. Because email is often where customers ask more detailed pre- and post-purchase questions, Customer Agent can help deliver timely, on-brand responses at scale while handing off to your team when a human touch is needed.
To set up Customer Agent on email:
- Head to Settings > General > Domains. Click Add domain.
- Follow the steps in the wizard to set up your service branded sender domain. Make sure you select Service from the dropdown. Verify and activate the domain.
- If applicable, then head to Settings > Email > Inbound settings and set up Email forwarding.
- Next, head to Customer Agent and review your content, Guidance, active skills, handoff settings, and test responses.
- Go to Customer Agent > Channels > Email. Your service branded sender domain will be auto-applied as your email support domain.
- Confirm the handoff settings for conversations that need human support.
- Preview sample email responses for accuracy, tone, and handoff behavior.
- Click Turn on.
Text message
Launching Customer Agent on text message gives customers a fast, conversational way to get help right in a channel they already use every day.
Instead of treating text as a one-way marketing avenue, Customer Agent turns replies into two-way conversations where shoppers can ask questions, get recommendations, and resolve common issues in the moment. That means you can deliver faster support, reduce repetitive questions for your team, and create more opportunities to drive conversion from the same thread.
To set up Customer Agent on text message:
- Make sure text messaging is already configured in Klaviyo with a two-way text-enabled sending number. If you use a branded sender ID, Customer Agent can’t respond over text because branded sender IDs don’t support two-way messaging. To use Customer Agent on text messaging, switch your sending number to a two-way option instead. Learn how to apply for a short code.
- Before turning Customer agent for text messaging on, review your content, Guidance, active skills, handoff settings, and test responses so the experience is ready for customers.
- Decide who should be able to interact with Customer Agent on text by setting your audience rules in Customer Agent > Channels > Text messaging. You can allow all profiles, include or exclude specific segments, and require or exclude certain keywords.
- Confirm how unresolved conversations should be handled on the same tab. If Customer Agent can’t resolve the issue, it follows your handoff settings by escalating to Helpdesk or sending a closeout message.
- Before launch, make sure your text message plan can support both Agent conversations and the SMS segments used when customers reply. After launch, monitor performance to understand usage, measure engagement, and see how Customer Agent is performing on text.
- Preview the experience, then click Turn on to launch Customer Agent on text message. Customer Agent will only respond to new messages received after it’s turned on.
Review additional details on how to effectively set up Customer Agent on text messaging.
Launching Customer Agent on WhatsApp gives customers a fast, familiar way to get help in a channel they already use. With real-time, 24/7 support and a more guided messaging experience through rich formats like buttons and lists, your brand can answer questions, resolve common issues, and keep conversations moving.
To set up Customer Agent on WhatsApp:
- Make sure WhatsApp is already configured in Klaviyo with a verified Meta Business account, a connected phone number, and an approved business profile.
- Before turning WhatsApp on, review your content, Guidance, handoff settings, and test responses so the experience is ready for customers.
- In Customer Agent, go to Channels > WhatsApp and review who Customer Agent should respond to. You can include or exclude specific segments and set exact-match keywords that should always or never trigger the agent.
- If you use WhatsApp templates, confirm those templates are approved and active in your WhatsApp settings. Customer Agent uses your existing template library rather than creating templates on its own.
- Preview the experience, then click Turn on to launch Customer Agent on WhatsApp. Customer Agent will only respond to new messages received after it’s turned on.
Review additional details on how to effectively set up Customer Agent on WhatsApp.
Monitor responses once you’re live
Launching Customer Agent is just the beginning. Once you turn it on, you can launch across channels separately while using the same knowledge and guidance everywhere, then review real customer conversations to make sure the agent is answering the way you want it to for your brand. Testing shouldn’t stop at go-live, either; use what you see in live conversations to keep refining performance over time.
If something looks off, Agent Builder can help you troubleshoot faster. Use Preview to test shopper-style questions, review which skill, tools, content, and guidance shaped the response, and then use Agent Builder to build, edit, or troubleshoot the parts of the agent that need adjustment. In general, start by checking whether the right skill is picked, whether the right content and tools are used, and whether Guidance shapes the final answer the way you intended.